NASDAQ 100
59 companies
Apple
Consumer Electronics / Technology
Apple defied every Silicon Valley orthodoxy - and captured 80% of smartphone industry profits with 25% market share. The lesson: boundaries aren't bar...
Netflix
Entertainment / Streaming
Netflix has died and been reborn three times - DVD rental (1997-2007), streaming service (2007-2013), global content studio (2013-present). Most compa...
Amazon
E-commerce & Cloud Computing
Amazon mastered what kills most companies: strategic reallocation across time horizons. From 1997-2000, Jeff Bezos executed the Pacific Salmon strateg...
Microsoft
Software & Cloud Computing
Microsoft's transformation under Satya Nadella represents one of the most successful metabolic pathway shifts in business history. By 2014, the compan...
Airbnb
Travel & Hospitality Technology
Airbnb's origin story reads like a case study in biological stress response. In September 2008, three founders had $5,000 in the bank, $20,000 in cred...
Intel
Semiconductor Manufacturing
Intel created the x86 architecture in 1978 and spent four decades running the Red Queen's race - investing $15-20 billion annually in R&D just to main...
Uber
Transportation / Ride-sharing
Uber achieved $130 billion valuation by experiencing ecological release - entering markets where normal predators (taxi regulations, insurance require...
Shopify
E-commerce Platform & Technology
Shopify started when Tobias Lütke wanted to sell snowboards online and found every platform inadequate. So he built his own - then realized the infras...
Alphabet (Google)
Technology / Holding Company
Alphabet's 2015 restructuring promised moonshots at scale - autonomous vehicles, longevity research, delivery drones. Google would become a holding co...
ASML Holding
Semiconductor Equipment
ASML holds a 100% monopoly on the machines that make modern computing possible - and impossibly expensive. The Dutch company's extreme ultraviolet (EU...
Starbucks
Coffee Retail
Starbucks' Australian failure represents the definitive case study of the Phenotype Fallacy - copying the visible expression of success without unders...
Texas Instruments
Semiconductors
Texas Instruments plays two roles in the chapter: as the company that rejected Morris Chang's foundry model in 1985 (later becoming dependent on the e...
Zoom
Video Communications / SaaS
Eric Yuan founded Zoom in 2011 after leaving Cisco WebEx, detecting signals others missed: terrible video quality, desktop-first products in a mobile-...
Coinbase
Cryptocurrency
Coinbase is mentioned as one of Y Combinator's large successful companies that participate in the mycelial network, supporting early-stage startups th...
Costco
Retail / Warehouse Club
Costco disrupted retail not with technology or logistics, but with a $60 membership fee. When the company launched in 1983, conventional wisdom said t...
DoorDash
Food Delivery
DoorDash is mentioned as a beneficiary of Y Combinator's mycelial network - receiving technical support from Airbnb's infrastructure engineers when fa...
Intuit
Financial Software
Financial software company known for its innovative approach to failure through 'failure parties.' When a project is killed, the team throws a party t...
Nvidia Corporation
Semiconductors / AI Hardware
NVIDIA functions as the rate-limiting enzyme of AI development. At $4.63 trillion market cap (December 2025), the company's GPUs process every major A...
PayPal
Financial Technology / Payments
PayPal's story is about strategic focus under pressure. During the 2000 dot-com crash, the company demonstrated what biologists call 'shivering thermo...
Tesla
Automotive / Electric Vehicles
Tesla went all-in on battery electric vehicles in 2008 when every other automaker was hedging. That single strategic bet - choosing speed over optiona...
Adobe
Software/Design
Adobe spent $20 billion trying to acquire Figma in 2022 - the price of admitting that building browser-native design tools would cost more than buying...
AMD (Advanced Micro Devices)
Semiconductors
AMD's stock was at $3 in 2014, its CPU architecture was failing, and extinction seemed inevitable. CEO Lisa Su made the ultimate company-betting decis...
Amgen
Biotechnology
Amgen exhibits vertical integration in biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing of complex biologics. First-mover advantage in protein therapeu...
Applied Materials
Semiconductor Equipment
Applied Materials dominates semiconductor equipment with first-mover advantage in deposition and etching. Network effects from fab customer relationsh...
ARM Holdings
Semiconductor IP/Technology Licensing
ARM Holdings designs the processor architecture used in 95% of smartphones, nearly all tablets, and billions of embedded devices. The company doesn't...
Atlassian
Collaboration Software
Atlassian provides collaboration software including Jira and Confluence. Platform economics create network effects within organizations with viral dis...
Autodesk
Design Software
Autodesk provides design software including AutoCAD and Revit. First-mover advantage in CAD with network effects through file format standards.
Block
Financial Technology
Block operates Square payment processing and Cash App peer-to-peer payments. Two-sided network effects with platform economics enabling cross-selling.
Booking Holdings
Online Travel
Booking Holdings operates online travel platforms including Booking.com and Priceline. Two-sided network effects where more properties attract more tr...
Broadcom
Semiconductors & Infrastructure Software
Broadcom demonstrates vertical integration in semiconductor design and enterprise software through strategic acquisitions. Platform economics emerge f...
Cadence Design Systems
Electronic Design Automation
Cadence provides EDA software in oligopoly with Synopsys. Resource partitioning through specialization with platform economics creating lock-in.
Cisco
Technology / Networking
Exemplar of network organization era (1990-2010) operating as a virtual corporation with extensive outsourcing, representing the shift to centralized...
Cloudflare
Internet Infrastructure & Security
Cloudflare provides CDN, security, and edge computing services. Network effects where each new customer improves performance for all users with econom...
CrowdStrike
Cybersecurity
CrowdStrike provides cloud-native endpoint security through its Falcon platform. Network effects where each new customer improves threat detection for...
Datadog
Cloud Monitoring & Analytics
Datadog provides monitoring and analytics platform for developers and IT operations. Platform economics enable land-and-expand growth with network eff...
DocuSign
Digital Transaction Management
DocuSign provides electronic signature and digital transaction management. First-mover advantage in e-signature with network effects where each signed...
Electronic Arts
Video Games
EA develops interactive entertainment including FIFA and Madden. Economies of scale in game development with network effects in multiplayer games.
Fortinet
Cybersecurity
Fortinet provides cybersecurity solutions through its Security Fabric platform. Vertical integration designing custom ASICs with economies of scale in...
Kraft Heinz
Packaged Foods
Kraft Heinz combines iconic American food brands with aggressive cost-cutting. Economies of scale in manufacturing with resource partitioning across g...
Lululemon
Athletic Apparel
Lululemon creates premium athletic apparel through vertical integration and community building. Mutualistic networks with ambassadors and resource par...
Meta
Technology / Social Media
Meta exemplifies both the power and peril of thermal regulation at scale. The company (formerly Facebook) operates within a thermal window, having kil...
Micron Technology
Semiconductors
Micron operates memory semiconductors with economies of scale in DRAM and NAND production. Convergent evolution with Samsung and exponential growth th...
Mondelez International
Packaged Foods & Snacks
Mondelez operates global snack brands including Oreo and Cadbury with economies of scale. First-mover advantage in emerging market brand building.
MongoDB
Database Software
MongoDB provides document-oriented database platform with flexible schemas. First-mover advantage in NoSQL databases with strong developer network eff...
Monster Beverage
Beverages
Monster Beverage capitalized on energy drink growth through Coca-Cola distribution partnership. Convergent evolution with Red Bull and mutualistic net...
Okta
Identity Management
Okta provides identity and access management with first-mover advantage in cloud-native identity. Platform economics through integration network.
Palantir Technologies
Enterprise Software / Data Analytics
Palantir evolved from obligate symbiont to facultative mutualist. Founded in 2003 to serve intelligence agencies, the company could not survive withou...
Palo Alto Networks
Cybersecurity
Palo Alto Networks provides cybersecurity solutions including next-generation firewalls. First-mover advantage in NGFW and platform economics as custo...
Qualcomm
Semiconductors
Qualcomm exemplifies success as an ecosystem participant rather than keystone controller. As an ARM licensee, the company designs chips using ARM's in...
Roblox
Gaming Platform
Roblox operates gaming platform with multi-sided network effects. More players attract more developers in exponential feedback loops with platform eco...
Roku
Streaming Platform
Roku provides streaming platform with two-sided network effects. Platform economics create high-margin advertising with first-mover advantage.
ServiceNow
Enterprise Software
ServiceNow dominates IT service management through platform economics and network effects. First-mover advantage in cloud-based workflow automation wi...
Snowflake
Cloud Data Platform
Snowflake's consumption-based pricing mirrors torpor metabolism in endotherms. Like a bear that pays metabolic cost only when active, Snowflake charge...
Synopsys
Electronic Design Automation
Synopsys provides EDA software and semiconductor IP with oligopoly position. Network effects through design libraries with mutualistic networks in sem...
Twilio
Cloud Communications
Twilio provides cloud communications platform for developers. Platform economics create lock-in through API integrations with network effects from com...
Ulta Beauty
Beauty Retail
Ulta Beauty combines prestige and mass beauty in one destination. Resource partitioning distinct from Sephora with mutualistic networks from salon ser...
VeriSign
Internet Infrastructure
VeriSign operates .com and .net domain registry with monopoly position. Extreme first-mover advantage with network effects from established standards.
Workday
Technology/Enterprise Software
The cloud HR company that turned a 7-year head start into a $70 billion business - then watched competitors converge on the same solution anyway. Fou...
Zscaler
Cloud Security
Zscaler operates cloud-native security platform for zero trust architecture. First-mover advantage in cloud security with network effects strengthenin...