The Six-Billion Dollar Stare

An explanation of why The Generalist’s initial piece on compounders was removed from the website, and why it has returned in a revised form.

As many of you will remember, on October 18, 2020, The Generalist published “C.R.E.A.M.” the first part in a series on “compounders,” companies that grow double-digits over an extended period.

It was a piece I’d written with a collaborator. I’d enjoyed the research and writing, and I was proud of it. As with most of my work, the goal was to explain a concept many might have heard about, framing it in a way that contributes to the conversation, making it more memorable. I thought we’d taken a dry topic and made it accessible, fun.

Then I was told I had to take it down.

I woke up the day after publication to a flurry of frantic text messages and four missed calls from my collaborator. Out of respect for his desire for privacy, let’s call him Frank.

Proud of our work, Frank had sent our briefing to one of his Columbia Business School professors. Let’s call her Ana. She was one of the people that had introduced Frank to the concept of “compounders,” along with the class’s co-professor. He’d enjoyed the course, continued to research the topic himself and even gone on to contract for the $6 billion hedge fund at which Ana is a partner: Durable Capital.