Otis

Build a 'fleet manager' for elevators on top of Otis & Kone

Sam pitches a SaaS layer (like Automate or UK's We Maintain) that acts as a managing agent for the ~2M elevators in America, negotiating with the big four manufacturers and handling maintenance for owners. Charge a subscription or, better, a percentage of savings like TurboTax.

“And there's two new companies. One is called Automate. That's who I talked to. But there's one in Britain called We Maintain that's raised $40 million. And basically what they do is they manage your elevator and escalator, like it's like fleet management, you know what I mean? They determine what— and I thought that this was so fascinating and very interesting.”

Steal thisCharge a percentage of the savings you negotiate, not a flat fee — it becomes found money for the customer and the easiest thing ever to sell.

Otis Elevator is worth almost as much as Twitter

The Otis elevator company, founded in 1853 in Yonkers, is a ~$40 billion public company on roughly $12 billion in revenue — nearly as valuable as Twitter at the time (~$55/share). A striking example of an old, durable, physical-product business.

“Otis, the elevator company. Yeah, Twitter had been hovering below that and then now it's at $55. $560 or something like that because the stock went up recently. But, um, basically Otis Elevator Company is worth almost as much as Twitter, which is insane.”

Sam's Type: 1800s-founded, physical product, Midwest, family-named, profitable

Shaan articulates Sam's business 'type' — companies started in the 1800s with a tangible physical product, founded in the Midwest or heartland, named after a family (Rockefeller, Schindler, Otis), and absurdly profitable. Sam optimizes for durability and freedom; Shaan optimizes for excitement.

“Basically, Sam's type on companies. Did you start in the 1800s? In some way? Did you, um, did you have a physical product that you could, that you could touch and feel? Were you started in the Midwest or some, some part of America? You know, are you named after a family like Rockefeller or Schindler or Otis or, or something like that? Um, let's see, what else, what else is it? You know, are you absurdly profitable?”

Collectibles platforms are the Wild West with no insider-trading rules

Otis wants to be the 'NASDAQ of everything,' but unlike NASDAQ these fractional-collectibles markets have no insider-trading or manipulation regulations yet, which is exactly where the arbitrage opportunity lives.

“So actually, Otis, their tagline is they want to be the NASDAQ of everything. However, unlike the NASDAQ, NASDAQ has all these regulations that you can't do insider trading and stuff. Here, it's the Wild West, like anything goes. There's no insider trading rules or whatever.”