Stock Stories, Vol. 12: Time Travel Investing

In this episode of Motley Fool Rule Breaker Investing, Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner gathers together five Fools for five investing lessons. For this 12th edition, Gardner and guests discuss:

• A biotech shell company that refused to die.
• An old gift of IBM stock has been quietly compounding for decades.
• A Fool who finally bought Alphabet nearly 20 years after he first meant to.
• A company called Life360 is proving that “obvious” doesn’t mean “fully valued.”
• A producer awakening to stock-market investing in his 50s.

To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center. When you're ready to invest, check out this top 10 list of stocks to buy.

A full transcript is below.

This podcast was recorded on June 10, 2026.

David Gardner: Some people love superhero stories enough to spend, I don't know, like $1 billion at the box office in a single weekend. Others prefer tear jerkers. We all have a favorite bedtime story. Humans are a storytelling species from prehistoric campfires, $2 billion industries like celebrity gossip or sports or the nightly news, all stories that shape how we see the world. Investing is stories, too. Every stock has a mission, a tag line, a roller coaster arc. Look across your portfolio, you'll see tales of innovation, resilience, and wealth creation sometimes destruction stories. Well, for the 12th time we gather around the campfire this week for stock stories, five Motley Fool guests join me with tales Anew freshly told to make you smarter, happier, and richer. Only on this week's Rule Breaker Investing.

Welcome back to Rule Breaker Investing. We tell a lot of stories on this podcast. Over the years, my golly, I can't even imagine how many stories we have shared. But one thing's for sure, we have done stock stories as an episodic series for 12 times now, counting this week. If you're a new listener, welcome. There's a campfire. Oh, my gosh. Listen to it. I'm going to be joined at the campfire by five special Fools, each of whom will have a story to tell. We're so happy you're here to join us, grab a couple of marshmallows. Oh, and a skewer, too, by the way. We're going to have fun together this week. Let's aim to leave the campsite better than we found it. We're aiming to leave at the end of this episode, smarter, happier, and richer, and I'm excited to get ready to welcome these five Fools. Before we do that, I just want to mention next week's podcast, it's the Market Cap Game Show. Three contestants will be joining me as we kick off the 2026, 2027 season. With two competitors in studio, and, of course, the third is you at home playing right along with us. By the way, we're going to have a new rule we're adding to the game, which that rule will debut next week, which does occasion the question. Will next week's Rule Breaker Investing podcast be the best market cap game show yet? You be the judge. Same fool time, same fool channel. See you next week. But without further ado, let's get started. Let's settle in. I want to start by welcoming my first guest, my friend and longtime Rule Breaker associate Karl Thiel. Karl, a delight to have you.

Karl Thiel: Great to be here after, I guess, a fairly long absence.

David Gardner: You've definitely been around my campfire before, and you've been on this podcast a number of times over the years. But in terms of stock stories, we have to go back several volumes for your last contribution, but I was just listening to it the other day going, I need to have Carl back, and here you are. Thank you. Welcome to our foolish campfire. Carl, before your story, could you just remind us in a sentence or two, what you're doing around Fooldom these days?

Karl Thiel: I am still working on the Rule Breaker service, as I have since I started with the Fool Law 20 plus years ago, which is great. But in addition to that, I'm doing some stuff on newer services we have around quantum computing, around energy, and around the intersection of health and artificial intelligence.

David Gardner: I'm glad to know that we're spreading your foolish wisdom across more than just Rule Breakers, but I'm also really delighted, Carl, to think that that service that you were there at the start for and that we worked on so many years together, you're right there, and you're not the only one. It's wonderful team that's been around for so many years makes me really happy as the co founder. Carl, before we get started with your story, icebreaker question for each of my guests here. Let's go with this one. Carl Teal, audiobook, eBook or physical book?

Karl Thiel: I do do all three of those to some extent, audiobook honestly for sleeping. I am a recent eBook convert. My wife got me Kindle Paper White, the passive one.

David Gardner: Nice.

Karl Thiel: Oh, I love that thing. I've been all eBook since then.

David Gardner: As Am I, my friend. Let's get started. Carl, what is the title of your story?

Karl Thiel: My story is called The Shell Game or Five Memes One stock.

David Gardner: Take it away.

Karl Thiel: Once upon a time, I worked at a small biotech consulting firm in the Bay Area. This was the early 1990s, and the whole biotech industry was pretty small, very young, pretty small. I was in my 20s and I knew very, very little. But I worked for a really smart person, and I got to meet a lot of smart, incredible people. Some folks who went on to become industry luminaries would, at the time, schlep up the stairs to our little office and sit at our unfinished kitchen table and present their slide decks to us on literal, flip paper slides. One day, a guy named H Lawrence Shaw came into the company, and he was pitching a company called Pacific Pharmaceuticals that he had founded. Now, he had previously founded an antisense company called Atlantic Pharmaceuticals, so creative naming here and had taken that public. But Pacific was totally different. It was doing photodynamic therapy for cancer.

And I won't really get in too much to that, but the idea was you took a drug, and it went to where you wanted it to go, and then it only was active when you shine a light on it. I thought that sounds super cool. That was all I needed. It was one of the first individual stocks I ever bought in my life. The company didn't fail per se. It didn't fail out in clinical trials. It just did what a lot of companies did back then. They just ran out of money. Here's what happened. With some of these stocks, when they really go badly, I should get out of them, but sometimes they become worth so little that I just don't bother to do anything. I can relate to that. I continued to hold this company, and here's what happened to it. It got acquired by a company called Procept in an all stock merger back in November 1998, they wanted the pipeline, and so they were going to do something else. Well, they also ran out of money. To the point that they just threw in the towel on being a biotech company at all. The only asset they really were left with was the shell of their public structure. I continue to hold in 2000, Procept was acquired by HeavenlyDoor.com.

David Gardner: That sounds like the first real shell company that we're talking about here.

Karl Thiel: Well, HeavenlyDoor.com their business was online funerals and online casket sales.

David Gardner: No, it's a little bit of a change in the core focus.

Karl Thiel: Yes. This was a change. The company actually is somewhat famously mentioned in Fd companies, spectacular.com flameouts which was published in 2002 by Phil Kaplan. He was the guy who started Fd company.com. It was a spectacularly bad business idea. What about as you'd expect? In 2001, HeavenlyDoor gave up the ghost, so to speak, and just became palagent, which was a pivot to nothing. It was just a name for a shell company. It sat around and I continued to hold my now, whatever $1 worth of stock. In 2006, it became International Fight League. International Fight League. This was team based mixed martial arts. It was supposed to be a friendly family alternative to UFC cage matches. People got paid salaries and stuff. They actually had a moment. They landed a deal with Fox. My shares, I think went from like $5 to $60 at some point. People got a little bit excited about this.

David Gardner: Incredible.

Karl Thiel: But they burned through the cash like water, and they went bankrupt in 2008. In 2011, International Fight League become Simple Pons.

David Gardner: You can probably guess what that's all about. That's a Group pons rip off.

Karl Thiel: I honestly don't know a whole lot about how that went, but in 2013, Simple Pons became EcoShift Corp, which was supposed to be energy as a service. It was converting large warehouses to green energy. I think it was basically screwing in LED light bulbs for people. It did not really do anything as far as I'm aware. It still sits in my portfolio today, one of the first stocks I ever bought.

David Gardner: Incredible.

Karl Thiel: Not a ticker, but just as QCP27888e109 with a value of $0, and I will never get rid of it.

David Gardner: At no point did anyone want to just let the thing die? You still keep coming up with suitors here and there, total changes in business. Many of our Motley Fool stories of buying and holding ultimately lead to glory, right?

Karl Thiel: Right.

David Gardner: Like the person who bought and held Amazon or Apple or NVIDIA. Yet, Carl, those are few and far between. In the grander scheme, there are heavenly doors that we all have to step through to get to the big winners.

Karl Thiel: Yeah.

David Gardner: Carl, I might be able to guess at the bottom line lesson here, but I would like for you to spell it out to all of us. What are we to learn from QCP? I can't remember the number.

Karl Thiel: Well, despite making myself maybe stupider and poorer in the process of all this, I will say, hot trends make for hot stocks, but even hotter garbage. This is five means it's biotech, it's dot com, it's mixed martial arts, online coupons, green energy, all mixed up because people were just chasing something using a shell corporation.

David Gardner: I feel like the story should be captured somewhere, and it turns out, actually, it was just captured right here at this campfire. So I'm not sure there's ever going to be a big magazine article telling the story here. But Carl, you did just share it with us, and thank you so much. We've had a lot of fun Rule Breakers together. You've picked some fantastic stocks, and I think we all have something rattling around at the bottom of our portfolio. I particularly appreciate your long term commitment to that security.

Karl Thiel: Thank you.

David Gardner: Oh, my gosh, there's a second sound starting to creep into the night air, and a second friend has arrived. Bill Mann, great to see you again. Welcome back to Rule Breaker Investing.

Bill Mann: How are you, David?

David Gardner: I'm doing toasty. I'm doing toasty this evening. Thank you. Bill before your story, could you just remind us in a sentence or two what you're doing around Fooldom these days?

Bill Mann: David, I'm the chief investing Strategist for Motley Fool Asset Management, which is the part of our company that manages other people's money. We have about $2.5 billion in managed ETFS.

David Gardner: Thank you for that, and thank you for that work. Bill, like many of my favorite Fools, has done 17 different things around our company. Over generally more than 17 years, which is the case for Bill and what a delight. Bill, before I ask you for the title of your story, quick question for you, beach vacation or mountain vacation.

Bill Mann: Full stop mountain vacation. Fool, fool, fool stop.

David Gardner: You got to give a sentence or two about why, 'cause you just offended approximately half of our audience.

Bill Mann: I do love a beach. In fact, I'm very close to a beach right now, but I find that the air in the mountains. I love hiking. To me, that is much more nurturing to my soul than a beach tends to be.

David Gardner: There is no wrong answer to the question. I would say you just gave a very right answer. Bill, what is the title of your story?

Bill Mann: My story is called The Benevolence of neglect.

David Gardner: Take it away.

Bill Mann: It is mildly interactive, David, so I will require responses from you. Once upon a time, there was a man, and this man wished to give his child a gift. He decided to give this child a gift of stock. This was way back in the old days, David, back in 1983. This man turns out to have been my father. He gave the gift to his favorite child, who is my sister, fellow UNC alumna. Elizabeth then man now Elizabeth Fisher. What he did is he gave her three shares of IBM stock.

David Gardner: You can't go wrong recommending Big Blue.

Bill Mann: You can't go wrong recommending Big Blue. But, David, I would ask you this. In the time between 1982, and today, would you describe IBM as having been a higher profile company then or a higher profile company now?

David Gardner: I would say emphatically, it was a higher profile company then.

Bill Mann: You would not describe IBM as having been a world beater in the same way that some companies that have come on in its space have beaten the world. Now, David, there is an apocryphal story in the markets, and we all know the story, and I say apocryphal because I've never actually found that it's true that it exists, it is about a study that says that the people who do best in the stock market are ones who either forget their accounts or die.

David Gardner: Yes, I've heard that many times. In fact, I feel like I've told that story before, Bill, possibly more than once.

Bill Mann: Look, lean into it. It's fine. It doesn't have to be true. It could be truthy. We know this. I've never found evidence that the story was true, but, David, you are not alone in suggesting it's true many times. And there are studies that show that people who trade the most perform the least well. But I am here to tell you that we do have an anecdote in the form of this campfire story because my father bought these shares directly from IBM, so they were not in a brokerage account, and so everyone involved forgot that they existed. From 1983 until the end of 2024, when another Bill Mann, me, received a letter from IBM saying, Hey, we have these shares for you. Where do you want us to send them? They were trying to find the Bill Mann who owned these shares, which was not me. It was my dad and my sister. Those three shares, which at the time, cost $32 apiece, so about $100 are now through the magic of compounding and reinvesting dividends, 23.31 shares worth $6,423.77.

David Gardner: Beautiful.

Bill Mann: Again, David, this is not one of the companies that you would suggest was a world beater. It just so happened that the US economy has taken companies like IBM along, and they are much more profitable now than they were in 1983. It is the power of forgetting what you own.

David Gardner: I love it. My first question, Bill, is, did you tell your sister, or did you just hang on to these things?

Bill Mann: Look, it's sent to Bill Lan. What am I supposed to do? Yes, she does know about them.

David Gardner: I thought you probably had told her, but if not, you could have shared this episode, and we could have brought in our television cameras and probably done a reality TV one-off that no one would watch on Hulu.

Bill Mann: It would have been a vanity recording. We would have felt great about it.

David Gardner: I'm really impressed that IBM. Obviously, it's a going concern. It's a big company. It's one of those that makes me smile because it's not really part of our culture anymore. People don't really talk about business machines. Then International has almost taken for granted these days. It definitely has that old school ring, but I love that they took the time. They've documented all. They contacted you years later, and it's a beautiful story, the benevolence of neglect.

Bill Mann: Thank you, David. We feel very good about having discovered this benevolent neglect and the results.

David Gardner: Bill, maybe I can stop telling the apocryphal story that has been captured in any number of investing guides. Often, it's a study that has been done with a brokerage firm. That's how I've told it, where the people who forgot they had an account did best. But now we have the real McCoy. You have provided us numbers, data, and even a ticker symbol and made it real for so many Fools everywhere. Bill Mann always great to have you, especially around this campfire. Fool on, my friend.

Bill Mann: Take care, David.

David Gardner: We bid adieu to Bill Mann. Just as Bill exits the clearing, here comes my friend, Sanmeet, The Sanmeet. Welcome back to Rule Breaker Investing and our campfire.

Sanmeet Deo: Hi, David. Nice to be here.

David Gardner: Thank you. There's a new sound playing because with each guest that joins me at the campfire, he or she brings a new sound. Now, the behind the curtain Wizard of Oz truth is that it's all post produced. Sanmeet, don't tell anybody else, but we don't actually know what the new sound is. But isn't it delightful, and doesn't it give you a campy feel?

Sanmeet Deo: Oh, definitely.

David Gardner: Sanmeet what are you doing around folding these days?

Sanmeet Deo: I'm still working on Super Nova, which has been a blast, and also on our new health AI portfolio, which has been scratching an itch of mine to have a health focus, longevity focused portfolio, so that's been a lot of fun.

David Gardner: Am I not right? Did you not partly own a gym? Was it kickboxing in New York City?

Sanmeet Deo: Yes. I got some first-hand experience in actually operating a gym, and still that was an investment in itself. It's fun to be in the stock market, though, with investments.

David Gardner: That is awesome.

Sanmeet Deo: Rather than putting up all that massive capital and operational work.

David Gardner: I hear you. We've talked about this before. My favorite Buffett quote, "I'm a better investor because I'm a businessman and a better businessman because I'm an investor." We always appreciate people who pick stocks for us and contribute to our analysis that they have had some entrepreneurial experience. That is pretty great. Before you give the title of your story, Sanmeet, I have an important icebreaker question for you. If you're ordering takeout tonight, let's just say right here to our campfire. Pizza, tacos, or sushi?

Sanmeet Deo: Oh, I would definitely say tacos. My kids would answer that for me, as well. They know me so well.

David Gardner: Why?

Sanmeet Deo: I grew up in Texas, and Tex-Mex, and that food I just loved. Tacos are easy to eat. They're quick, they're fun, they're flavorful, and it's just a joy.

David Gardner: Makes a lot of sense to be Texas Hooker. Sanmeet Deo, what is the title of your story?

Sanmeet Deo: It is time travel investing, why it's never too late to buy greatness. Once upon a time, all the way back in August 2004, I was on the cusp of doing something monumental. I was going to buy my very first individual stock ever. The company was probably a name you guys know already a young search engine named Google. I was ready to go. I print out the perspective, I'd looked through it. At its IPO, the split-adjusted price was $2.13. But as I did the analysis, looking into it, I was a new investor, and all the pundits on CNBC and the financial news were, Google's overvalued. The company is stretched. The best growth is already behind it. I listened to the skeptics, and it froze up and decided not to buy. For almost two decades, I just watched that stock just march relentlessly upward, transforming the global economy, being labeled the best business model of all time. I was trapped in that investor purgatory anchored to the pass. I was kicking myself and believing I'd just missed the boat. As you always tell us, David, it's never too late to buy great Rule Breakers.

David Gardner: Thank you.

Sanmeet Deo: Nearly after 18 years of just watching this and regretting it, I swallowed my pride and decided, don't look backwards, took the plunge. May 5, 2022, I bought my very first shares of Alphabet at a cost basis of $116.23. Now, I'm a long-term investor, so I was like, I'm going to stick with this, no matter what. Just shortly, a few months after, ChatGPT and Generative AI burst onto the scene, upending the whole narrative on Google and their unbeatable monopoly. Now they're saying it's a walking dinosaur. Search is dead. The stock went down almost to the high '80s by early 2023. I was like, What did I learn from that lesson in 2004? Don't listen to all the pundits. That's when I adopted a new mindset, time travel Investing. We always say, Man, I wish I had a time machine to go back and buy at the beginning. But we don't have a time machine, so we freeze. Time travel investing is, I can always buy an elite compounding Rule Breaker at any point. Even if it's 18 years late, you're still securing a price today for your future self. Instead of selling during the panic, I held tight, and I trusted the business, the moat, their innovations in AI. Now it's roared past 360, giving me almost a 3X game.

David Gardner: Wow.

Sanmeet Deo: It's taught me a lot about never thinking about being too late to the party.

David Gardner: I love stories like that. I think if I could chisel out on my Mount Rushmore of biggest investor mistakes, which I don't think would really make a Mount Rushmore because of their faces. This doesn't actually work. But if I can chisel out some language, it would be I missed it. I guess I missed it. That is the most consistently made mistake by people who follow and love the stock market, missing the great stories or great stocks of their time. I especially appreciate Sanmeet. You were there right at the start of Google as a public company. It was down at like two split adjusted. When you said 116, that was something like a 58 bagger, and you were finally buying a 50 bagger later, and look what's happened. I also appreciate your point about as soon as you buy it, finally, out comes ChatGPT, the stock gets drilled. I think all of us can relate to that we finally decide to buy the stock, and this is always how it feels to me. The next day or week or month or quarter, it's about to go down, but that's not the game we're playing, is it?

Sanmeet Deo: No. It does shake you, and you wonder, did I make a mistake, and those past regrets start kicking in. You just keep doing the work on the business. You think about what the company's doing, and Google started coming out with their own models, which I tried and used, and they were fantastic, and the narrative shifted again.

David Gardner: I'm not sure any company is better positioned for the future in terms of being defensible with a huge balance sheet and such an innovative culture. I don't think there's any better position company globally than Alphabet. It doesn't mean it'll be the best stock, and it doesn't mean I'm right. It just means when I think about who has the cash and the culture to evolve with the changing times that are inevitable with tech revolutions, there are not many safer, better bets in my mind than Alphabet's. Sanmeet, welcome home. I love that you've already held it for several years. Punch it home for us. What's the takeaway?

Sanmeet Deo: Stop wishing for a time machine to rewrite your past investing mistakes. Use time travel Investing and buy those companies that are the compounding Rule Breakers because you're not going to be late to the party.

David Gardner: Very well said and very true. I think there are lots of heads nodding around the world, Rule Breaker, listeners, all, especially people with a lot of experience who've seen this happen again and again. Sanmeet always a pleasure to be with you. Thanks for joining us around the campfire this week.

Sanmeet Deo: Thank you, David.

David Gardner: What a delight to welcome back one of my longest-time Motley Fool friends. Rick Munarriz and I first met. Rick was reminding me just before we came on here in 1997 at a Rainforest Cafe. Rick, where was it again?

Rick Munarriz: It was now downtown Disney. It was the first Rainforest Cafe at a Disney theme park. They would eventually add more to France and two in Disney World now, but, yes, that's where it was.

David Gardner: A fan stock back in the day. A company that's still around today. It has some history. Still some fans out there.

Rick Munarriz: Obviously, it didn't end up being one of the raging Rule Breakers that we, fortunately, you and I have managed to identify multiple times for Rule Breaker members. Rainforest Cafe, not so much. But it got me together with you, and to that, that makes it one of my best stocks, I think, regardless of performance.

David Gardner: Thank you, Rick. Let me just start by asking if you refresh our memory. What is Rick Munarriz doing around Fooldom these days?

Rick Munarriz: I continue to be part of the Rule Breakers service team that you started, and I was there at the start, so I'm very excited to still be there 22 years later. Do I have the [OVERLAPPING] years. Yes, 22 years. I am also part of the Super Nova Phoenix team. I'm the co-captain with Emily Flippen. I continue to write stuff on the fool.com side. I do some research reports on the stock advisor side, on the Rule Breakers side, do some of the research reports there. Yet, just keep busy with all things Fooldom, 34 years later, it's been a long time. It's been a great time.

David Gardner: It has been a great time, Rick, and I can think of a few better and more prolific storytellers. No pressure around the campfire here. Because even if you lay an egg, Rick, it won't matter. You've told so many great stories across time for so many Motley, not just our members, but those free articles that are out there on many portals, the way that people discover the Motley Fool is through Rick Munarriz' stories often. A delight to have you back here at the campfire. Rick, before I ask you the title of your story, are you the person who gets to the airport two hours early or are you the person who arrives 47 minutes before departure?

Rick Munarriz: Depends on the airport. Is that a terrible answer?

David Gardner: That is actually a smart answer.

Rick Munarriz: In Miami, if I'm flying out of Miami, I'm there two hours and hopefully have some airline status in the lounge. But if I'm at, like my son's, it's up in Sleepy Hollow at the Westchester Airport, a small airport. I can get there 30 minutes before. No check-in problems. I will get there as close as I can to the flight.

David Gardner: Don't you love small airport? I think we all do. It's just so much more efficient, quieter, easy. Fewer gates. You don't have to schlep your bag to Terminal 4. Love me some small airports. Very well said, Rick. Rick, what is the title of your story for this episode, Stock Stories Volume 12?

Rick Munarriz: It's sometimes the stock finds you.

David Gardner: Love it. Take it away.

Rick Munarriz: Once upon a time, on May 10, 2019, to be exact, a pair of San Francisco Bay Area companies went public. One of them was Uber. Now, you probably know the iconic ride-sharing and local delivery specialist. Today, Uber is a thriving business with a market cap of $140 billion, completing more than a billion trips a month. But I'm not here to talk about super Uber, David. [LAUGHTER] I'm here to talk about the other Bay Area company that went public that day. It didn't get the same attention, and understandably. Uber's IPO twin was a much smaller company with a different consumer connectivity tech platform. It didn't go public on the NASDAQ or the New York Stock Exchange. It didn't even go this back route that was trending back then in 2019. It chose to travel 7,000 miles around the world to make its market debut on the Australian Securities Exchange. It finally made it stateside official with a US listing in 2024. This company, David, is Life360.

David Gardner: I have to admit, Rick. I don't really recognize this company.

Rick Munarriz: A lot of people don't. Founders Alex Haro and former CEO Chris Hulls, they credit the devastation and desperation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 as the inspiration for Life360. The inability of families to know their loved ones whereabouts called for a high tech and economically accessible solution to track friends and family members who are willing to share their location. It was just an idea without a practical form of amplification until Apple and Google rolled out their iOS and Android App stores in the summer of 2008. Life360 was able to launch its at free ad supported platform where families were apps and stall away from keeping tabs on their aging parents, lead foot teenage drivers, and others willing to opt in to have everyone in their circle know exactly where their smartphone is in real time. Now, Life360 wasn't the only one with an idea for a family safety and location sharing app. Apple and Alphabet have their own smartphone locator apps. The problem for them and the opportunity for Life360 is that folks generally don't like them. Apple's own Fine My Locator App has a score of 2.8 out of five stars on the consumer Tech Giants Appstore. Life360 has a rating of 4.8 out of five stars. The homegrown solutions lack the rich features that Life360 offers, and perhaps more importantly, the cross platform visibility. Nearly half of those willing to pay Life360 for additional features have both Android and iOS devices in their circles. You need more than just a great concept to stand out as an app these days.

Alternatives are a double click or Install button at Tap away. As police, Chief Martin Brodie and Joes once advised app developers, back in 1975, you're going to need a bigger moat. For Life360, this mot may have happened in late 2021 when it acquired Bluetooth Tracking Pioneer Tile. Just months earlier, Apple had launched a similar air tags product, allowing Life360 to swoop in and buy a desperate tile at a fire sale price. Now Life360 had a phone free hardware solution to keep its growing user base close and growing. It is a growing user base. Life360 had 97.8 million monthly active users at the end of March, a 70% increase over the past year. Revenue rose more than twice as fast as advertising efforts and premium subscriptions ramp up. Now, this is the second time I mentioned Life360 users paying, but I want to make it clear that most of its users continue to be welcomed as freeloaders.

You receive free real time location tracking, driving summaries that include crash alerts, and other emergency notifications at no cost. However, three million accounts pay between $8 and $25 a month to have access to roadside and emergency assistance, longer data storage, and other features for themselves and everyone in their circles. This means the vast majority of its users are monetized through advertising. It's also worth pointing out that I did say former CEO Chris Hulls earlier. Last year, he handled the corner office to COO, Chief Operating Officer, Lauren Antonoff, who launched Life360's advertising business a few years earlier. She came to Life360 after spending two decades at Microsoft, largely marketing leadership roles. As a new CEO, she is the right person to take Life360 to the next level. Safety check, performance, platform stickiness, check, a plan to grow its global business, David, check, and meet.

David Gardner: This is a company that I'm surprised I don't know more about, Rick. I do know tile. Back in the day, I was buying my tile and then buying another one, putting one on my wallet, another my luggage. I wondered what had happened to that company.

Rick Engdahl: Life360 knows where those tiles are, we need to get ready find them, David.

David Gardner: Are you saying that if we leave our marshmallows too long on this fire, and things start going a little bit up and smoke and crazy around this. Are you presently being tracked by Live360, and are we safe?

Rick Engdahl: Yes, we are safe. I am being tracked by Life360. Again, when those marshmallows start to roast, that's shows you when Life360 is a buying opportunity. They may acquire that tile company. It all works out in the end, David.

David Gardner: That is really interesting. I was just thinking of another app that I've been enjoying, Rick. Have you ever seen what3words?

Rick Engdahl: No, tell me.

David Gardner: This looks like the company that might eventually merge or be acquired in this industry. What3words puts three words on every 10 foot by 10 foot patch of ground on planet Earth. They've basically remapped the planet using randomized three words. What three words? For example, it might be tile.fire.now. That probably is a 10 foot by 10 foot patch somewhere on planet Earth and it enables hyperspecific locations. This can be used anything from, let's say, you and I are in a national forest. One of us gets lost, and we're trying to locate that person. If they have what3words, rather than just say that third tree over four acres over to the left, you can really specifically find people. This is being integrated into car GPSs, etc. I love the innovation there, it's such a simple concept. It maps in some ways to Life360, but thank you for bringing not just a story but a lot of business background for a company that obviously has your interest.

Rick Engdahl: Thanks. I definitely have to look up at what3words. I can bring it all home now and say that Life360 outside of the Gardner household is literally a household name. Even if many may not realize it trades publicly in the ticker symbol L-I-F-E. One in every seven US smartphone owners, not David, but yes, Rick, has the app installed on their device. Life360 active users check the app on average of five times a day. This is truly a global business with nearly half of its almost 100 million active users located outside of the US. Life360 has come a long way, and I'm not just talking about the Australian Securities Exchange. Trailing revenue has gone from 32 million when it went public seven years ago to 529 million. A 16-fold jump. It finally turned profitable last year, so at least that's one more good thing for it. Finally, the stock has more than quadrupled since going public in Australia in 2019. Uber, the much larger company that went public the same day to greater fanfare, has done reasonably well, but has yet to double right now from its original IPO price. Sometimes, David, the tortoise beats the hair.

David Gardner: Very well said, and it's ironic in light of the SpaceX IPO this month, sometimes the biggest, most expected IPOs don't end up providing the best returns because often the ones that get our attention are already so huge and well known. Something to think about. Well, Rick, thank you once again for joining us around the campfire, not just bringing a stock story but a stock idea. Which is always welcome on this podcast, as well. Thank you, my friend.

Rick Engdahl: I appreciate it. I could sum it up in one line if you'd like. Don't be afraid to bet on the underdog at the starting line.

David Gardner: A surprise guest here around the campfire, guest Number 5, because so often over the years, when I have stock stories or many other stock-focused episodes, I have somebody who is a Motley Fool advisor or analyst, maybe a fund manager, sometimes, people who do this regularly and professionally, writers, as well. Sometimes I have special guests. for this particular campfire, as we close out this week's episode, I am delighted to welcome my producer, Bart Shannon. Bart, welcome to our Foolish Campfire.

Bart Shannon: Thank you, David. Beautiful flyer you have.

David Gardner: Thank you, and thank you for making the sounds that made this and many other episodes possible. Bart, I was looking back over our time together, and I realized it was this week last year that was your first solo produced, Rule Breaker Investing Podcast. I thought, first of all, thank you. I wanted to thank you for a solid year together. In fact, an incredibly enjoyable year together. I so appreciate Bart, your professionalism, your good sense of humor, your foolish sensibility of course, and your passion for the things that you're interested in. We probably won't get into all of your passions today. I know comedy is one of them, and I know that you've produced your own stuff, not just this podcast. You have a podcast, you also have a documentary film. Maybe you could just tell us a little bit about your background and what you're doing around Fooled on these days.

Bart Shannon: Absolutely. By the way, listen. Do you hear that? That is a red-breasted lake loon in the background. I have been a multimedia producer, director for the past 25-plus years and worked at agencies and production companies in the past. As you said, at the production company I worked at most recently, we made a documentary film together called Show Business is My Life, But I Can't Prove It. A documentary on an 84-year-old stand up comedian. Got David Letterman, Steve Martin, Conan O'Brien.

David Gardner: Amazing.

Bart Shannon: All these people that I love to sit down and talk to. But at the Fool, I'm a multimedia producer, as well. Along with the Rule Breaker Investing Podcast. I also produce the weekend shows for the Hidden Gems podcasts and Stock Advisor Roundtable and the Epic Opportunities podcasts.

David Gardner: We're keeping you busy, Bart?

Bart Shannon: Yes, sir, and I am grateful.

David Gardner: Excellent. Well, this is a restful moment, therefore, for you around the campfire, except I can't let you rest on your haunches too long because I need you to tell a story. Bart, what is the title of your story going to be?

Bart Shannon: The title of my story, and first, I will say what Rick Engdahl said when you put him on the podcast. This is very unnerving and takes a moment to get used to, to not have to sit here and not be heard. The title of my story is when the phrase, if it ain't broke, don't fix it becomes the lazy optimist strategy for doing the bare minimum.

David Gardner: That is a mouthful, Bart. Thank you. I'm looking forward to your story. Before, though, I have to ask you the icebreaker question. I arguably have saved the lamest of all five of these for you. My apologies ahead of time, Bart Shannon, coffee, tea or neither?

Bart Shannon: Coffee. I don't go a day without coffee, but I have recently started drinking tea in the afternoons, and I'm exploring the world of teas beyond my limited experience and my limited palate in the tea world.

David Gardner: Beautiful. What is that you have cooking just above our campfire? What have you brought?

Bart Shannon: That is just a simple Earl Grey. It's got a nice zestiness to it and a little bit of a bite. I brought extra, so help yourself as much as you want.

David Gardner: Thank you, Bart. I delight to share it together. Take it away.

Bart Shannon: This is the flip side of Bill's the benevolence of neglect. Once upon a time, there was a man who thought he was doing what he needed to do. At every job he'd had, he took advantage of the full 401(k) employer match. He tried to max out his contributions or went as high as he could afford during those times. I could switch from third person to first now, can I?

David Gardner: You can. Although you can stay in third. It was charming. I think I know who we're talking about.

Bart Shannon: I feel like Rickey Henderson or Bo Jackson being in a third person. I learned this path from my father. He had done well. He had followed a similar path, there were similar 401(k) journey and invested in index funds and retired happily. That was the blueprint I had followed. You have had guests on who have talked about the value of teaching young kids, the importance of investing. I didn't have that. Anytime you have a guest on that preaches that, I'm so excited because I wish that had been the case. I was happy with my returns the way they were. If it wasn't broke, no need to fix it. But also, there are also these old voices in my head like, maybe you're not smart enough to invest in individual stocks. These insecurities crept in about investing. Because with index funds, I can pick a little bit, choose who I don't want, and just leave it alone. I was comfortable with that, and I didn't feel intimidated by it.

Despite having friends that did not seem the sharpest tools in the shed, who would come to me and tell me about the stocks that they were investing in that were doing excellent, it took me a long time for that to seep in and also for that insecurity level to go down. But without fail, also, the stocks that my friends that were telling me about their great gains were telling me about were typically companies that I did not feel comfortable aligning with in my view of how I want to leave the world when I'm gone. That was another roadblock for me, as well. Fast forward a few years, and the Rule Breakers Investing Podcast, by chance, was the first podcast of the Motley Fool that I worked on. One of the first episodes I ever produced for you, I heard you mention how you didn't invest in companies that didn't align with how you wanted to leave the world, and that was exactly what I needed to hear. Because there were probably roadblocks that I was just putting in my way. I'm at the beginning of my investing journey. At an age I'm a little embarrassed to admit for this journey, but I will also occasionally talk to old friends who still haven't even started the journey. If you've got time to spend on a fantasy lineup, you've got time to research stocks and listen to a Motley Fool podcast and do more than the bare minimum. Some of my contract labor friends, they're just freelancers and have for years. They're only putting money into a SEP IRA. That's it. That's their strategy. Some are investing a penny stocks, and some are just sports betting. Seeing that as some strategy for now or the future, I don't, as you and I have talked a lot. We're both huge sports fans, but that's just a path I've never taken because it's so arbitrary and my heart's been broken so many times without money involved. I know if money gets involved, it's really going to be heartbreaking.

David Gardner: Well said.

Bart Shannon: I am always now excited to preach the gospel to those friends about investing. The things that I've learned in this short time I've been at the Motley Fool. Even though my toe is barely to the water of this, I love sharing what I've heard. I guess my main takeaway is it's just never too late.

David Gardner: Thank you, Bart. That's really well said. You said just a few minutes ago that you're just at the start of your investing, but I do want to say you've been investing for your whole life because even before you started with an index fund, which, by the way, is a perfectly valid way, just as your dad did succeed. For many people, that is where investing starts and ends for them. But even before that index fund, we're investing our time, we're putting ourselves into the things around us and the people around us. I think of investing as a constant throughout our lives where we're taking a risk or trying something and then seeing what works and then what compounds over time, and friendships compound and ideas or initiatives compound. Not everything works, by the way. Bad news. We take risks sometimes and we get hurt. But I want to say, reflecting now on our year together, I've so enjoyed you, Bart, and I see somebody who is, I would say, a lifelong investor, somebody who's been there, done that in many ways. We benefit at the Motley Fool from your experience and your wisdom in terms of how to edit all of our stuff, and we keep asking you to do more and more stuff, which makes me happy.

But Bart, most of all, I'd say, I'm excited that you are at a new place in your journey where you're thinking about buying an individual stock or two or three, even if you don't want to buy, and a lot of people don't, 20 stocks or 40 stocks, even just having one. In fact, if every American had one stock in addition to their funds, it might just be a small percentage of their overall net worth. I think we would be more invested as a country. We'd all be paying a little bit more attention and care a little bit more. I want to close Bart by saying, I love that you said that some of your friends were talking about stocks that you wouldn't want yourself to be invested in, and that's great, because we each should be invested. As you well know, we should be making our portfolio reflect our best vision for the future, and you are such a wise, smart, fun, distinguishing person who has a good sense of the future that he wants to live in and so we invest into that future. I wasn't expecting you around the Campfire here near the end. As we kick the embers a little bit, it's starting to get quite dark. I wasn't expecting to give a pep talk necessarily. I don't think I was talking to somebody who needed a pep talk. I still just gave you one because, Bart, in a lot of ways, I think you've just articulated what so many people, not just in America, but around the world, start to realize or sense, some of the truths and some of the challenges that we all think about when it comes to investing our whole lives long. This was mainly just my way of saying thanks. I look forward to having you on the show again. We'll have you back to the Campfire, but I wanted to nail down this time together because it's been a fantastic first year, and I really appreciate all you're doing for Rule Breaker Investing.

Bart Shannon: Thank you, David. I appreciate it. I enjoy getting to work with you on this podcast, as I am sure the listeners feel the same way, getting to hear your insight every week. It's an absolute joy to do. Now, I do have a closer, if you want me too.

David Gardner: I do. Close this out.

Bart Shannon: A closer for my if it ain't broke, don't fix it strategy. Just because you see something as not broken never means that it can't be improved. It can't be renovated or sometimes totally replaced with something better. To quote a Yogi Berra-ism that isn't actually a Yogi Berra "ABI" Always Be Improvifying.

David Gardner: Which is just another form of investing, at least according to me. Thank you, Bart. That was great. Dear listeners we hope you enjoyed this edition of Stock Stories, Volume 12. If you did, by the way, there are 11 others you could listen to for didactic lessons, other companies, other voices in the past, but some of the same voices you heard this week. You can find all of those stories at rulebreakerinvesting.com, where at the podcast tab, you will see each of our previous 11 stock stories. Thank you again to Karl Theil to Bill Mann, to Sanmeet Deo, to Rick Munarriz and my producer, Bart Shannon for helping make the world a little bit smarter, happier, and richer. We're going to kick the coals dark now. Make sure the fire is out, Bart, thanks a lot for a great first year and see you next week on the Market Cap Game Show.

Bart Shannon: Fool on.

Bill Mann has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. David Gardner has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, and Apple. Karl Thiel has positions in Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia. Rick Munarriz has positions in Alphabet, Apple, Life360, and Nvidia. Sanmeet Deo, CFA has positions in Alphabet and Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, International Business Machines, Life360, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.