Clay is joined by Cristiano Souza to discuss his three primary criteria in identifying an excellent business. Cristiano Souza founded Zeno Equity Partners in 2022 after 28 years at Dynamo, where he managed a fund that returned 24% annually in US dollars. What you’ll learn here: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:48 - Joining Dynamo 00:02:30 - Investing in Brazil 00:08:30 - Filtering process 00:13:35 - LVMH 00:17:50 - Investing in the US 00:29:20 - Risk management 00:32:31 - Assessing management 00:38:35 - Linde PLC 00:42:48 - Linde’s competitive advantage 00:45:58 - AppFolio 00:57:46 - Outro Transcript & Guest Info: https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/episodes/the-founders-mindset-w-cristiano-souza/ Join our highly vetted community of value investors: https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/mastermind/ Our Sponsors:  📊 Add the Fundrise Flagship Fund to your portfolio in just minutes and with as little as $10. http://fundrise.com/wsb ✍️ Get your paper tablet at reMarkable.com today. https://remarkable.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=westudybillionaires|remarkableaudio2025&utm_term=a&utm_content=marchread ▶️ Related Episodes: - Investing in Exceptional Businesses for the Long Run w/ Dev Kantesaria: https://youtu.be/nt5jnCCW2iM - The Nvidia Way w/ Tae Kim | Jensen Huang, The Future of AI, & DeepSeek: https://youtu.be/q6aQDkGSOKs - Investing in Quality Businesses & the Art of Lifelong Learning w/ Gautam Baid: https://youtu.be/_9l5XTZY5b0 📖 Book Mentioned: - Mastery by Robert Greene: https://amzn.to/3FeYask - The Nvidia Way by Tae Kim: https://amzn.to/4hq8Q4G Listen to our episodes here: https://open.spotify.com/show/28RHOkXkuHuotUrkCdvlOP Visit our website: https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/we-study-billionaires/ Free PDF: Investing for Beginners: 4 Principles of Stock-Picking: https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/subscribe-youtube/ ⚠️ Disclaimer: This show is for entertainment purposes only. Before making any decisions consult a professional. This show is copyrighted by The Investor’s Podcast Network. Written permission must be granted before syndication or rebroadcasting. #IdentifyingAnExcellentBusiness #CristianoSouza #InvestinginBrazil #LVMH #RiskManagement