ROI Podcast® Episode 517 | Host-only with Eric Readinger and Law Smith
Private equity price hikes have a tell: the product you already rely on suddenly costs a lot more, and absolutely nothing about it got better. In episode 517, Eric Readinger and Law Smith start with Law's 15-year Evernote habit and work outward to a much bigger question: who actually owns everything?
When the price jumps and the product does not
Law says his Evernote subscription went from about $7 a month to $22 after the company changed hands. That is what happens when a buyer realizes your notes are basically hostages with a login screen. The pattern shows up offline too. A family bowling night now runs about $100, which is a lot of money to rent shoes that other people's feet have already broken in.
The business lesson cuts both ways. Switching costs are an asset to an acquirer, and raising prices on customers who cannot easily leave is a predictable play. For operators, the warning is just as useful: if customers stay only because leaving is painful, that is not loyalty. It is a countdown.
Who owns whom
Eric walks through Ian Carroll's research on how BlackRock, State Street, and J.P. Morgan hold large stakes in nearly every major corporation, plus stakes in each other. The market starts to look less like competition and more like a group chat where everyone is also the admin. Law asks the uncomfortable follow-up: how do you regulate something everybody is doing by the book?
Quick reality check, because this show likes evidence with its jokes. BlackRock and State Street are mostly index-fund managers, not private equity firms. Their funds own a slice of almost every big public company because the index says so. Less corporate raider, more landlord with a key to every building on the block.
From there, Eric pulls up Nestlé's shareholder list live, Law argues that a handful of companies make most of America's packaged food, and both hosts revisit why the old food pyramid built its foundation out of bread. Law also pitches a practical AI use: having Claude build a Sankey chart of everything BlackRock touches. Eric's first question is whether former Titans running back Bishop Sankey is involved.
Logos, layovers, and laugh tracks
Law delivers his logo power rankings, with FedEx on top for corporate and the Brewers' hidden-letter glove leading the sports category, praised by two Tampa guys the night the Brewers opened the World Series against the Rays. Bold. Possibly treasonous.
The episode also covers reverse-engineering a Walgreens manager's salary from her Mercedes, the Tesla flying car versus basic Hot Wheels physics, a hover jet ski that may be an AI hoax, A/B testing a stand-up tagline against Matt Rife, why cable news feels true during an Atlanta layover, and a M*A*S*H laugh-track argument that does not go well for M*A*S*H.
Key Takeaways
A sudden price jump after an acquisition, with no product improvement, usually means the buyer is monetizing switching costs.
Index-fund ownership and private equity ownership are different things, even when the same names show up everywhere.
Concentrated ownership is hard to regulate when everyone is following the rules as written.
AI can turn messy ownership data into a readable visual, like a Sankey chart, far faster than a spreadsheet marathon.
Links and Resources
About ROI Podcast
ROI Podcast® is hosted by Law Smith and Eric Readinger. The show combines practical business conversations with comedy for founders, operators, marketers, and executives who prefer useful ideas without the corporate anesthesia.
ROI Podcast® | ROIShow.com
