Sid Bhandari's Profile

Great post. I use Reddit almost daily. Real enjoyed your analysis of what makes their operating model effective, especially given the anonymity of its members. I wonder if they could leverage ideas from the community itself to come up with better ideas of how to monetize the site to ensure it can at least break even.

Nice post. Great to see how a well executed operating model through strategic expansion in to sustainable markets and vertical integration can lead to a company’s success.

I was wondering if First Solar has any collaborators that help it connect to a overall electric grid. One of the main challenges of solar energy is the ability to store the energy for a time when it is actually needed. Are there opportunities for them to partner with companies like Tesla who are designing battery systems for the home that can be used in combination with PV manufacturers?

Very interesting read!

It certainly has been a strong year for food related IPOs – Shake Shack and Bojangles are just some examples.

Do you know who Fogo views as competitors in this space? I don’t know of any other churssaco establishments that operate on a scale anywhere near to Fogo de Chao. What do you think are key barriers to entry in this market?

Thanks for the comment Roger. I think Target was a somewhat naive entering the Canadian market. Given the geographical proximity of the two countries, Target assumed that Canadian shopping habits would be similar to that in the US.

The other big issue I think affected them was the lack of trying to understand local demographics. They simply took over existing leases of Zeller’s stores without understanding the need for a Target in the given area. Other US retailers such as Walmart, Costco and Home Depot have successfully launched operations in Canada but at a much slower pace. By gleaning information from in-store sales and customer preferences, they were able to gradually expand operations to other parts of Canada.