Pitch The PM Podcast, feat. Edward Salib

Short Overview

EdwardSalib, Co-Portfolio Manager of the TimesSquare Quality Mid Cap Growth ETF($TSCM), joins host Doug Garber to make the case for one of his highestconviction names, DoorDash ($DASH). Drawing on nearly 25 years at the firm, Edexplains why a business TimesSquare once passed on became a core holding, andhow patience and disciplined research created the opportunity.

The conversation tracesDoorDash from an unprofitable public debut into a scaled marketplace with adurable logistics advantage, a loyal membership base, and a growinginternational footprint. Along the way, Ed unpacks the current investmentcycle, the profitability debate, the bull and bear cases, and how the team usesAI to sharpen its research.

Timestamped Sections

0:01 – 3:15 | 25 Years at TimesSquare and Growth With a Conscience

Summary

Ed reflects on nearly 25 years at TimesSquare, where he began as the firm’s first intern and grew into a Portfolio Manager covering consumer and related sectors. He describes a bottom-up, fundamentally driven culture that partners closely with management teams and favors companies that grow quickly but responsibly, an approach the firm sums up as growth with a conscience rather than growth at any cost.

Key Takeaways

• TimesSquare’s edge comes from deep fundamental research and long-tenured analysts who act as specialists within their sectors.

• Our growth with a conscience philosophy favors durable, responsibly funded companies over those chasing growth at any cost.

3:15 to 7:40 | What Makes a Durable Consumer Holding

Summary

Ed explains that consumer is a crowded, cyclical space where strong returns quickly attract competition, so the team looks first for durable, needs-based demand rather than single-product or fashion-driven businesses. Ed dives in on an approach that Doug describes as Peter Lynch's on-the-ground checks blended with the enduring moats favored by Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, aiming for steady compounders that reinvest for the long term.

Key Takeaways

• The team seeks durable, needs-based demand and diversified business models while avoiding fashion and single-product risk.
• TimesSquare pairs Lynch style fundamental checks with Buffett and Munger moat analysis, favoring long-duration compounders.

7:40 to 14:40 | The DoorDash Thesis and Its Marketplace Moat

Summary

Ed frames DoorDash as a scaled marketplace across restaurants, other retail, and international markets, where the real barrier is a national logistics network built over years of heavy investment. Cash flow from a profitable core restaurant business, where DoorDash holds roughly two-thirds market share, funds a flywheel that widens selection and deepens loyalty, anchored by a large “Costco like” membership base whose customers order more often over time.

Key Takeaways

• DoorDash’s advantage is a hard-to-replicate logistics network funded by a profitable core restaurant business with roughly two-thirds share.
• A large and growing membership base drives a flywheel of higher frequency and bigger orders across an expanding set of categories.

14:40 to 18:42 | Network Density and Future Optionality

Summary

Ed and Doug discuss how order sizes rise as customers add groceries and other items, letting a single driver complete more stops per trip and improving economics for everyone involved. Ed also addresses longer term bets such as autonomous delivery and drones, which the firm treats as upside in its bull case rather than something it needs today, supported by the company’s willingness to “fail quickly” and move on if an idea does not work.

Key Takeaways

• Rising order sizes and denser routes create leverage that benefits customers, drivers, and the platform at once.
• Autonomous delivery and drones offer longer-dated upside the team models in its bull case, backed by a test-and-move-on approach.

18:42 to 23:28 | Finding the Entry Point

Summary

Ed recounts why the firm passed on the initial public offering, when newer categories were still unprofitable and lacked proof, and how the team stayed patient through a difficult stretch for growth names. Outsized results and hands-on channel checks eventually built conviction, and a sharp selloff on conservative guidance gave the firm the opportunity it had been waiting for to start a position.

Key Takeaways

• Patience and hands-on channel checks convinced the team that DoorDash was gaining share well before it committed capital.
• A sharp selloff on cautious guidance reset expectations well below the team's own view, creating the opportunistic entry point the team had been waiting for.

23:28 to 28:13 | The 2026 Setup and a Contrarian Growth Call

Summary

Ed explains that fears about software and AI pushed the stock sharply lower even as the underlying business stayed strong, giving the firm another chance to add during an intentional investment period that included a sizable acquisition to gain scale in Europe. He lays out a view above consensus, expecting faster growth driven by more frequent ordering, larger baskets, and quicker expansion abroad.

Key Takeaways

• Worries about AI disruption and a visible spending cycle created a contrarian entry while the actual fundamentals kept strengthening.
• TimesSquare’s above-consensus growth call rests on more frequent orders, larger baskets, and faster international expansion.

28:13 to 32:25 | Earnings Flow Through and Duration

Summary

Ed focuses on the central debate over how much of the recent spending is temporary versus permanent, arguing that as large investments are absorbed, profitability can recover and drive positive earnings revisions in future years. He notes that the major integration is roughly halfway complete, management is guiding conservatively, and owning a durable, wide-moat business through a transition year is where the firm’s long-term horizon pays off.

Key Takeaways

• Profitability is the crux of the debate, and the team expects a recovery as heavy investments are absorbed.
• With the major integration roughly halfway done, the firm's long time horizon lets it hold through to the profitability inflection.

32:25 to 36:00 | Signposts and Alternative Data

Summary

Ed describes how the team tracks the thesis with alternative data and expert interviews, watching not just spending but user counts, frequency, basket growth, and subscriber trends for signs of continued momentum. He also relies on real-world checks and partnership conversations, and points to low-to no-cost entry offers that get new users into the membership before they convert to paying customers.

Key Takeaways

• TimesSquare blends alternative data, expert interviews, and partnership checks to confirm momentum in new customers and maturing usage.
• Low-cost entry offers are designed to turn trial users into loyal, paying members over time.

36:00 to 44:40 | The Bear Case and Widening the Moat

Summary

With the stock trading toward the low end of its valuation range, Ed walks through the bear case around profitability durability, competition, and grocery, then counters that newer categories are on track to turn profitable and that merchants view the DoorDash customer as incremental. He explains how the company widens its moat through transparency, added services such as reservations and loyalty, and lower markups, reinforcing a flywheel that benefits every side of the marketplace.

Key Takeaways

• The bear case centers on the durability of profitability, competition, and grocery, points Ed believes the company can disprove over time.
• DoorDash widens its moat through transparency, added merchant services, and lower markups that deepen the flywheel.

44:40 to 47:05 | Valuation Discipline

Summary

Ed outlines a disciplined framework in which every holding is assigned probability-weighted base, bull, and bear cases, and describes staying grounded by not assuming the firm is smarter than the market in its base case. He is deliberately skeptical of the very large market opportunities management cites, applying meaningful haircuts, yet still sees real upside if the company reaches even a fraction of those targets while the valuation compresses.

Key Takeaways

• TimesSquare anchors on probability-weighted base, bull, and bear cases and stays disciplined in the base case.
• Even after haircutting ambitious market claims, the framework points to real upside as estimates grow and the valuation compresses.

47:05 to 51:29 | AI in the Research Process

Summary

Closing on a topic clients ask about often, Ed describes TimesSquare as a “Claude shop ”that links internal documents and models so the team can speed up notes and thesis work, freeing analysts and managers for more primary research and company diligence. He places AI adoption in the early innings and stresses that the firm keeps its work protected internally, using public information to supplement rather than replace its own research.

Key Takeaways

• TimesSquare uses AI as a research accelerator to free the team for higher-value primary work.
• The firm protects its edge by keeping proprietary work internal, treating AI as a supplement to its own research.