S-1 — Independent Company Studies
Official home page of S-1. A small public library for understanding how companies make money, build moats, and change shape.
How S-1 works
S-1 is organized like a research file rather than a news feed. Each study asks what the business is becoming, where the economics come from, and what could invalidate the thesis.
Business model What is the company actually selling?Relationship Who owns the customer and distribution?Economics Where do cash flow and leverage come from?Open questions What would change the conclusion?
Company files
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001The Failure of Disney+: Monetizing Content in Unique WaysAugust 12, 2026 · Disney + & Movie Studios
002Uber, Disruption and AVsAugust 08, 2026 · There is a major debate around Uber as of late, on one hand from many valuation perspectives that it is undervalued, and the bear case being this is for good reason, centrally that in a world of AV’s you need to be vertically integrated.
003Bending Spoons: A Capital Cycle PlayAugust 05, 2026 · Learning about history's great capital allocators makes me wonder who will be the great allocators of the future.
004The Struggle of OpenAIAugust 04, 2026 · OpenAI has a unique consumer opportunity.
005What Stripe Can Become: Broader Tech ConsolidationAugust 01, 2026 · I think Stripe’s internal strategy is a consolidation of products within its sector.
006Apple Has the Lowest Disruption RiskJuly 30, 2026 · Why has Apple stuck around?
007The Capital Cycle TheoryJuly 26, 2026 · Fiber in the 90s, Data Centers today.
008Marketplaces, Monetization & AirbnbJuly 23, 2026 · Advertising is inherently about monetizing user attention.
009Why OpenRouter Could Be the Next Great PlatformJuly 17, 2026 · I think of OpenRouter as a great business.
010Nintendo, the Media Company?July 11, 2026 · Nintendo today is a quasi-diversified media company.
011Xbox, Game Pass, Aggregators, and Free-to-Play GamesJuly 09, 2026 · Xbox has had messy restructuring recently, and it is sort of the end of the Game Pass era.
012Why Dropbox Is an Obvious PE TargetJuly 06, 2026 · I have been doing research on companies, reading 10-Ks, etc.
013Snapchat's New BusinessApril 21, 2026 · Summary -
014UNH: Value Trap or Chronically Undervalued?March 31, 2026 · UNH, a Steady Compounder At a Discount
015The Problem with Heuristics in InvestingJanuary 26, 2026 · And more random ideas.
Files are sourced from Tech&Media on Substack. Articles open in the S-1 archive.