Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
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602 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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[REPLAY] Pat Dorsey - Buying Companies With Economic Moats - [Invest Like the Best, EP.51]
27 augustus 2019 · 53 min
My guest this week is Pat Dorsey, who was the longtime director of equity research at Morningstar, where he specialized in economic moats: sources of sustained competitive advantage that allow a few companies to deliver huge returns over time. Several years ago he left Morningstar to form his own asset management firm, Dorsey asset management, and build a portfolio of companies with wide moats like those he studied at Morningstar. And while moats are critical, equally important is how companies allocate the capital generated--or made possible--by the existence of the moat.
A special thank you to Brian Bares who introduced me to Pat, and to Will Thorndike--an earlier guest on the show. In the vast majority of conversations you hear on this show, I'm meeting the guest for the first time. I mention this to encourage you to connect me with anyone whose story or way of looking at the world might resonate. Always feel free to contact me with ideas.
Pat and I begin our discussion with the key differences between the sell side and the buy side, and then discuss all aspects of moats and capital allocation. Lees meerFor comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/dorsey
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
To get involved with Project Frontier, head to InvestorFieldGuide.com/frontier.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshagShow Notes
2:23 – (First question) – Transition from the sell side to the buy side and the biggest surprise
3:40 – What is a moat
5:16 – What part of the stock market universe has a moat
6:57 – Pat’s framework for identifying moat, starting with intangibles
8:32 – The power of brands
9:44 – what chance does an upstart have to come in and usurp a well-established brand
12:24 – Switching costs as part of the framework for identifying a moat
14:55 – The third component… -
Joe McLean – How to be a Pro’s Pro - [Invest Like the Best, EP.143]
20 augustus 2019 · 55 min
My guest this week is Joe McLean, the founder of Intersect Capital, which provides financial advisory services to a variety of clients, including a number of NBA players and other professional athletes.
What I loved about this conversation was the weaving of sport, coaching, and finance into a cohesive whole. There’s so much to take from this discussion—from the importance of service and low self-orientation to the impact of strict standards for who you work with, to common mistakes we all tend to make with money.
Please enjoy my conversation with Joe McLean. Lees meerFor more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshagShow Notes
1:18 - (First Question) – His backstory and the combination of athleticism and finance
2:43 – His time in Ireland
3:29 – Moving away from basketball and into finance
6:08 – What the Intersect business is today and his early lessons
7:55 – Most important coach/mentor
8:59 – Where the name Intersect came from
10:22 – Setting high standards early on
12:35 – Biggest mistakes he saw in his early clients
14:04 – Developing his value proposition to clients
14:24 – Michael Kitces Podcast Episode
16:57 – Process when he’s working with a client signing a new athletic contract
19:53 – The concept of a Pro’s Pro and Top 50 Reasons Professional Athletes Remain Wealthy
22:40 – Managing clients’ interest in creating businesses off their brand
24:20 – The role media plays in athletes’ long-term strategies
25:40 – Getting early clients into compliance with his strategy
28:24 – Daily maintenance role he plays with clients
32:24 – What has impressed him most from his young clients
33:36 – What makes for a great coach
34:50 – The meaning of “all in” to Joe
35:54 – His assessment of the financial services industry today
37:32 – Where his value in service came from
39:05 – Longer… -
Zack Kanter – All Things Business - [Invest Like the Best, EP.142]
13 augustus 2019 · 1 uur 25 min
This week’s guest is, Zack Kanter, the founder and CEO of the Stedi. Zack and I decided not to talk much about his business on this podcast and opted instead to explore more generally, so a bit of an introduction to what they do may be helpful here for some extra context. Stedi is a platform for exchanging and automating 300+ types of business-to-business transactions - transactions like purchase orders, invoices, etc. It’s a modern take on an archaic protocol called EDI - electronic data interchange, something I’d never even heard of until several months ago. Learning about EDI is a bit like finding out about the Matrix - every physical object you come across, from the food you ate for breakfast to the clothes you’re wearing and consumer electronics you use - anything with a barcode on it - was likely touched by EDI, often dozens of times before making it into your hands. Stedi is the first update to this messaging later in decades.
Our conversation in this podcast is about business in general, starting with Zack’s fascination with Walmart and Amazon. I should also not that my family is a recent investor in Stedi, and I’m thankful to have learned a great deal from him over the past few months. Please enjoy our conversation.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:52 - (First Question) – Interest in Walmart and Amazon
4:02 – Sam Walton: Made In America
4:49 – What from their success can be applied elsewhere
11:07– The idea of tempo with a business
17:17 – Ability for a business to expand laterally
24:33 - Magic of Amazon as a constitution
26:24 – The concept of the OODA loop
26:40 – Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War
31:51 – Orientation within software businesses
32:24 – The Systems Bible: The Beginner's Guide to Systems Large and Smal… -
Chris Bloomstran – What Makes a Quality Company - [Invest Like the Best, EP.141]
6 augustus 2019 · 1 uur 20 min
My guest this week is Chris Bloomstran, the president and chief investment officer of Semper Augustus Investments Group. He became famous in investing circles a few years back for his incredibly detailed investigations of Berkshire Hathaway. While we do cover Berkshire towards the end of the conversation, we spend most of our time talking about what makes for a quality business. I loved some of his angles on the current landscape, including our discussion of companies like Richemont and Disney which are actively taking distribution back in house. Please enjoy our conversation.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:18 - (First Question) – Largest investing error
4:52 – Defining quality investor and their investment strategy
11:48 – Incremental return on capital and other themes that they focus on with investments
15:33 – Importance of unique business models
22:58 – Ownership of the customer relationship
28:06 – Bringing distribution back in house
29:55 – Doing something unique with owned distribution
32:40 – His thoughts on growth and value
32:42 – Chuck Akre podcast episode
37:12 – History of his interest in Berkshire Hathaway and he characterizes the business
53:29 – How is Berkshire protected into the future
59:17 – Most important trends in adjustments
1:08:00 – Which sectors or industries would he focus on
1:10:02 – Most intriguing business he’s unlikely to own
1:11:44 – Kindest thing anyone has done for himLearn More
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub
Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag -
Brian Christian – How to Live with Computers - [Invest Like the Best, EP.140]
30 juli 2019 · 1 uur 3 min
My guest this week is Brian Christian, the author of two of my favorite recent books: Algorithms to Live By and The Most Human Human. Our conversation covers the present and future of how humans interact with and use computers. Brian’s thoughts on the nature of intelligence and what it means to be human continue to make me think about what works, and life, will be like in the future. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:11 - (First Question) – Summarizing his collection of interests that led to his three books
2:59 – Biggest questions in AI
3:43 – Defining AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) and its history
5:18 – Computing Machinery and Intelligence
7:54 – The idea of the most human human
9:59 – Tactics that have changed the most in learning to be the most human human
16:10 –Tests for measuring AGI and updates made to them
20:12 – Concerns for once we have AGI
26:06 – Self-awareness as a threshold for AGI
31:58 – Skeptics’ take on AGI
37:14 – Advice for people building careers and how AGI will impact work
38:16 – Explore/Exploit trade-off
44:57 – How to explore/exploit applies to business concepts
49:16 – Impacts of AGI on the economy
52:40 – Highlights from his second book
57:39 – Kindest thing anyone has done for BrianLearn More
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub
Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag -
Eric Sorensen - How Quant Evolves - [Invest Like the Best, EP.139]
23 juli 2019 · 1 uur
My guest this week is Eric Sorensen, the CEO of Panagora asset management, which manages more than $46B for clients across a variety of strategies.
Eric began his career serving in the Air Force as both a pilot and instructor in high-performance jet aircraft. He then accumulated 40 years of quantitative research and investment experience, with a Ph.D. along the way.
Please enjoy our conversation on the changing landscape of quantitative investment strategies.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:15 - (First Question) – His background in the Air Force
1:23 – Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War
3:18 – Training people on high-performance machines
4:47 – Traits that made for better pilots
5:51 – The evolution of quantitative equity research and its stages
7:56 – How his research led to becoming a practitioner
9:10 - The early feature sets in his research
10:44 – Tradeoffs in the spectrum of interpretability
12:08 – Early days of his practitioner career
13:24 – Risk Premia and the 5 C’s
14:28 – Quantitative Equity Portfolio Management: Modern Techniques and Applications
17:13 – Applying the 5 C’s to value investing
18:38 – Knowing when a strategy/signal is broken
21:24 – What does this strategy plan mean for his firm today
24:56 – Mixing expert systems and portfolio construction
30:07 – Natural language processing
32:00 – The cultivating the power and creativity to ask good questions
35:13 – The concept of a research graveyard
37:45 – State of risk premia today
40:04 – Active equity process
46:37 – Frontiers of research that he’s excited about
48:53 – Safe havens for non-quantitative investors
52:16– Advice for young quants
54:36 – Quants on the buy-side that he admires
55:41 – Kindest thing anyone has done for himLearn More
For more ep… -
Jane McGonigal – How Games Make Life Better - [Invest Like the Best, EP.138]
16 juli 2019 · 1 uur 13 min
Jane McGonigal, PhD is a world-renowned designer of alternate reality games — or, games that are designed to improve real lives and solve real problems.
She is the Author of Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World and is the inventor and co-founder of SuperBetter, a game that has helped nearly a million players tackle real-life health challenges such as depression, anxiety, chronic pain, and traumatic brain injury.
Our conversation is about how to design useful games, how games effect us and our kids, and what the future might hold. Please enjoy.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:22 - (First Question) – Her take on the history of gaming and studying the players themselves
3:44 – Where her passion for gaming really started
4:55 – Her take on flow states
7:47 – Kids and gaming
10:32 – Advice for parents when it comes to the role of games
11:06 – SuperBetter: A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient--Powered by the Science of Games
13:53 – Types of games that develop the right skills for kids
16:20 – Four things all games share in common
16:23 – Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World
20:50 – Her take on Carse’s theory about infinite gaming
21:04 – Finite and Infinite Games
26:28 – How to understand gaming culture if you’ve never played a game before
28:28 – Amazon and gaming
31:18 – How fun makes anything more enjoyable
34:55 – How game designers calibrate feedback loops
39:14 – The good and bad of gamifying life
45:01 – What is the superbetter app
52:43 - Why powerups and bad guys are so important in games
57:03 – Secret identity
59:04 – Playing with boundaries
1:00:36 – Most worried about in the gaming world, and most exited about
… -
Bill Gurley – All Things Business and Investing - [Invest Like the Best, EP.137]
2 juli 2019 · 1 uur 11 min
My guest this week is Bill Gurley, a general partner at Benchmark Capital and one my favorite investment thinkers. As you’ll hear, despite enormous success through his career, Bill is clearly still in love with business and investing. Where many might discuss past glories, I’ve been incredibly impressed with how both Bill and his partners emphasize the current portfolio and market landscape. I’m thankful to have had the chance to speak with him in this format. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:13 - (First Question) – The idea of increasing returns
1:21 – Competiting Technologies, Increasing Returns, and Lock-in By Historical Events
2:07 – Complex Systems Theory – Santa Fe Institute
4:35 – Markers that could be a sign of network effect in a company
6:27 – The opportunities for companies to capture network effect
8:46 – Are there certain teams/leaders that are more conducive to leading a network effect company
11:55 – Liquidity quality
13:35 – How important is the revenue model at the beginning
15:59 – Fascination with Nextdoor
17:56 – Paradox of Choice
18:39 – Finding opportunities
20:17 – Potential marketplaces and assets that could be commoditized
20:20 – All Markets Are Not Created Equal: 10 Factors To Consider When Evaluating Digital Marketplaces
21:39 – Usage yield on the world’s assets
23:50 – Has technology changed the world of value investing
26:28 – Hyper niche marketplaces
27:52 – Challenges of labor marketplaces
30:12 – User generated content businesses
32:44 – People who are capable of building UGC businesses
33:16 – His interest in Discord
34:31 – Factors of a healthy marketplace
37:57 – Fools’ gold in marketplace businesses
39:04 – How influx of cash is impacting the marketplace business landscape
… -
Jesse Livermore – The Search for the Truth with the Anonymous Master - [Invest Like the Best, EP.136]
25 juni 2019 · 1 uur 40 min
This week I have a very special guest years in the making. Like another favorite episode, with anonymous guest Modest Proposal, this conversation is with one of the stars of the financial twitter universe who writes anonymously and goes by the pseudonym Jesse Livermore. I met Jesse 6 years ago after reading his unbelievably unique investing research, which tackled all the big and interesting issues in markets. He now also works with me as a research partner at OSAM, where’s he’s used our data to continue to his search for truth in markets. Despite being one of the brightest minds I’ve encountered he is also as humble and unassuming as they come. I’m at least a slightly better person because of trying to emulate how he conducts himself. I get to have many conversations with him that go from 0-100 fast, and I’m thrilled to be able to share one of those with you.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:33 - (First Question) – Jesse’s origin story for investing
4:37 – Exploring his ways of problem solving starting with intuitive
7:53 – David Epstein Podcast Episode
11:46 – Looking at the analytical way of problem solving
15:42 – Statistical inference
24:45 – Should we opt for simplicity in the investment process
25:26 – Does his own investing include all three, intuition, analysis, and statistics
26:09 – The evolution of his research, process, and thinking on various investment factors.
31:38 – Thoughts on inflation and its impact on market valuation
40:05 – The Earnings Mirage
46:25 – Free Cash flow and valuations
50:51 – What should investors take away from this research
53:01 – Thoughts on trend as an interesting market signal
59:00 – The problems with trend
1:00:34 – Post on “The Single Greatest Predictor of Future Stock Market Returns”
1:11:15 – His … -
Chuck Akre – The Three-Legged Stool - [Invest Like the Best, EP.135]
18 juni 2019 · 50 min
My guest today is Chuck Akre, a now widely famous investor who founded Akre Capital Management in 1989, which now manages approximately $10B dollars. We discuss his investing style and his “three-legged stool” for evaluating companies. Please enjoy this great conversation.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag
Show Notes
1:06 - (First Question) – Advantage of being in Middleburg, Virginia
2:11 – What a day looks like for Chuck
3:06 – Why imagination is more important than knowledge
3:38 – Difference between curiosity and imagination
4:38 – The origins of the Nirvana Three-Legged Stool concept
10:14 – First leg of the stool, Extraordinary business and ROE’s with a focus on Bandag.
14:36 – How his evaluations of value has changed over the last 10-15 years
16:10 – A look at recent businesses that he’s bought and why they are interesting
19:56 – Why they keep things simple
21:35 – Second leg of the stool, the people involved and characteristics of managers he has invested in
23:20 – Role of capital allocation in the people he focuses on
28:03 – Favorite biographies
28:22 – 100 to 1 in the Stock Market: A Distinguished Security Analyst Tells How to Make More of Your Investment Opportunities
29:34 – Third leg of the stool, reinvestment
21:09 – How does he think about diversifying across an investment area
33:32 – Great businesses wrapped in a bad balance sheet
37:35 – What would cause him to sell
38:52 – What does he look for in people
43:27 – How curiosity has impacted his interest in land conservation
43:51 – Advice for investors, especially younger ones
46:14 – Kindest thing anyone has done for him
Learn More
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every m… Lees meer -
Jerry Neumann – Why Venture is Hard - [Invest Like the Best, EP.134]
11 juni 2019 · 1 uur 3 min
My guest this week is Jerry Neumann. Jerry is one of the most thoughtful early stage investors that I’ve encountered, and his writings at reactionwheel.net are my favorite on this topic. He applies an incredibly structured way of thinking to a notoriously mysterious investment category. This is our second conversation, in which we cover why investing with one’s gut is a bad idea and why some of the popular edges in startups, like network effects, may be picked over. Please enjoy our conversation.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:17 - (First Question) – His take on the venture landscape and the type of investments new VC’s are making vs what they should be making
3:44 – Most important implications of excess VC firms
5:32 – Misalignment of incentives in the VC space
8:19 – What he does differently from angel investors or VC’s
10:11 – The notion of risk and the types of risk the people he invests in takes
14:33 – Protections that he thinks about when it comes to the ideas he invests in
19:37 – Is there an area of expertise that provides an edge for startups
20:11 – Network effects are picked over
21:35 – IP protection
23:08 – One of the two most interesting things for VC’s to go after, brands
25:13 – The other most important thing, the value chain
27:42 – A current example of a disruptive value chain
29:14 – Innovation as the source of profit
29:16 – Schumpeter on Strategy
31:50 – Efficiency innovation vs value innovation
31:52 – Energy and Civilization: A History
35:50 – Efficiency investments he’s made
37:13 – Investment in Unsupervised and the machine learning landscape
41:25 – Investment in Sila
43:14 – Investment in Edmit
44:44 – investing on gut
50:32 – Black boxes and their value in investments
53:23 – Metrics about the predictive level of … -
[REPLAY] Sam Hinkie – Data, Decisions, and Basketball - [Invest Like the Best, EP.88]
4 juni 2019 · 1 uur 9 min
I came across this week’s guest thanks to the overlap of three passions of mine: data informed investing, value creation, and basketball. Sam Hinkie worked for more than a decade in the NBA with the Houston Rockets, and then most recently as the President and GM of the Philadelphia 76ers. He helped launch basketball's analytics movement when he joined the Houston Rockets in 2005, and is known for unique trade structuring and a keen focus on acquiring undervalued players. Today, he is also an investor and advisor to a limited number of young companies in which he feels his experience can improve outcomes.
Please enjoy this unique episode with Sam Hinkie. Lees meerShow Notes
3:24 – (First Question) Advantages of having a long view and how to structurally harness one
6:08 – Using technology to foster an innovative culture
6:18– Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History
10:16 – Favorite example of applied innovation from Sam’s career
11:34 - Most fun aspect of doing data analytics early on the Houston Rockets
13:38 - Is there anything more important than courage in asymmetric outcomes
14:29 – How does Sam know when to let the art of decision making finish where the data started
16:29 - Pros and cons of a contrarian mindset
17:26 – Where he wanted to apply his knowledge in sports when first getting out of school and how his thinking is best applied in the current sports landscape
21:39 – How does he think about trying to find the equivalent of mispriced assets in the NBA
23:12 – Where tradition can be an impediment to innovation
25:07 – What did the team and workflow of the team look like in the front office
27:03 - The measure of truth in a sports complex
29:10 – What were the early factors coming out of the data that helped to shape NBA teams
30:42 – Best tactics for hiring
33:59 – Process of recruiting spectacular people
35:39 – Thoughts on fostering a good marriage
37:57 – Picking your… -
David Epstein – Wide or Deep? - [Invest Like the Best, EP.133]
28 mei 2019 · 1 uur 26 min
My guest this week is David Epstein. David is a writer and researcher extraordinaire and the author of two great books. His second, Range, is out today and I highly recommend it. We discuss the pros and cons of both the generalist and specialist mindsets in detail and go down many interesting trails along the way. Please enjoy our conversation.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:12 - (First Question) – What he uncovered in “The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance” that led him to his latest book
2:38 – Debate with Malcolm Gladwell (YouTube)
4:12 – What did the public pay most attention to and what did they gloss over
7:56 – How his views on nature vs nurture shifted during the process of writing The Sports Gene
10:05 – Blending practice with your nature
13:04 – His process of reading 10 journal articles a day as part of his research
19:06 – Exploring his new book “Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World”, and his idea of Martian tennis
23:03 – Idea of the cult of the head start and how we set up our own feedback loops
28:58 – What does his research say about the nations education system
30:42 – The Flynn Effect chapter
33:54 – Hacks for learning
37:52 – The concept of struggle and harnessing the power of it
46:31 – Personality changes and how to drive those changes in a positive way
52:00 – Using the outside perspective in businesses for more productive outcomes and how it applied to Nintendo
52:59 – Josh Wolfe Podcast Episode
1:04:45 – Other examples of using withered technologies, 3M
1:09:00 – The arc of his work and how it has evolved
1:13:54 – Taking a different view on problems
1:17:52 – Ending Medical Reversal: Improving Outcomes, Saving Lives
1:18:04– Anyway to change these bad trends with ne… -
Priya Parker – The Art of Gathering - [Invest Like the Best, EP.132]
21 mei 2019 · 59 min
This week I’m hosting an investor retreat and so thought it fitting to release this conversation with Priya Parker on the art of gathering.
I’ve been interested in the topic of community and gathering for some time and along with the book The Art of Community, Priya’s book on the art of gathering is by far the best I’ve read. It is both conceptually interesting and extremely practical. In the book there is literally a table for how big a gathering space should be per person, sorted by the type of vibe you are after.
We had a time constraint but I could have talked to Priya for much longer. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did, and that it inspires you to do something new and different with friends, family, or colleagues.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:23 - (First Question) – Overview on what she does as a conflict resolution facilitator
1:38 – The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters
4:45 – Lessons about structuring a gathering from her early very difficult work and the idea of sustained dialogue
7:43 – First event she facilitated
9:38 – Importance of a good opening for any gathering
12:30 – Identifying a good purpose for a gathering
15:06 – Why being specific on rules/code of conduct leads to more success
18:54 – Do rules help facilitate more creativity in groups
21:22 – Segregating a good from bad purpose
24:34 – Identity and good/bad gatherings
26:50 – Purpose and the guest list for a gathering
31:03 – Community building is line drawing
32:27 – Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
34:29 – Importance of well crafted invitations
35:17 – Making the middle of gatherings interesting
39:21 – Exploring risk at gatherings
41:28 – Patterns of Transformation
41:43 – The hero’s journey
46:54 – Making a mean… -
[REPLAY] Tim Urban - Grand Theft Life - [Invest Like the Best, EP.59]
14 mei 2019 · 1 uur 23 min
This week’s conversation is about artificial intelligence and interplanetary travel. Its about content creation, thinking from first principles, and death progress units. Its about brain machine interfaces and why it is crucial that you be a chef and not a cook.
My guest is Tim Urban, along with his business partner Andrew Finn. Tim is the most entertaining writer I’ve come across in years, who explains complicated and interesting topics to his millions of dedicated readers on the website “Wait, But Why.” As an example, Tim’s last post on Elon Musk’s neurlink venture is 40,000 words long, roughly the length of a short book. It explains almost all of human progress and our potential future using drawings and cartoons. Its impossible to stop reading.
While this conversation is wildly entertaining, it is also chock full of metaphors and lessons that will be useful to anyone doing creative work or building a company. I hope this leaves you as energized as it left me. I called this episode Grand Theft Life because that is the name that Tim and Andrew give to their worldview, which I think will change the way you behave, too. Please enjoy my conversation with Tim Urban. Lees meerFor comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/urban
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
To get involved with Project Frontier, head to InvestorFieldGuide.com/frontier.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshagBooks Referenced
Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, StrategiesLinks Referenced
The Cook and the Chef: Musk’s Secret Sauce
Wait But Why
Neuralink and the Brain’s Magical Future
Wait But Hi
YouTube Channel Kurzgesagt – In a NutshellShow Notes
1:50 – (First question) – Explaining his concept of planets 1, 2, 3 and 4 and understanding the human colossus
5:46 – Tim’s favorite idea of the human knowled… -
Stephanie Cohen – The Evolution of M&A and Corporate Strategy - [Invest Like the Best, EP.131]
7 mei 2019 · 58 min
My guest this week is Stephanie Cohen, who is the chief strategy officer for Goldman Sachs and a member of their management committee. Prior to her current role, she spent the majority of her career in the investment banking and M&A divisions at Goldman.
We discuss lessons learned from her career in M&A and the many initiatives she now leads at the firm. I really enjoyed her perspective on how a big, established firm like Goldman can balance innovation with improving existing businesses. Please enjoy our conversation.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:15 - (First Question) – Motives on both sides for doing M&A
3:26 – Most difficult deal she worked on
4:50 – Biggest value add she brought from her seat on the Fiat deal
5:59 – Biggest changes since she started to today
8:31 – Smartest ways for companies who want to be acquired to be prepared
10:14 – Best M&A banker she’s seen
11:13 – What should businesses looking to make an acquisition be thinking about
15:16 – What does a strategy from her perspective mean
17:16 – Tension between innovation and change
19:46 – Difference between bottom-up and top-down components of strategy
22:15 – Exploration vs exploitation
26:28 – Submission process within accelerate
29:37 – Next step after you see a good idea
31:05 – Her take on FinTech and Industrials and their collision
35:15 – Lessons from elite early stage investors
37:21 – The origins of the LAUNCH program
40:06 – Important pieces beyond just the capital
42:42 – How they market to women starting business
44:56 – Lessons that she has learned about narrative and communications
47:07 – How she handles developing talent internally
49:28 – Managing her time
59:28 – Biggest concerns about OKR’s?
52:09 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Stephanie
53:07 – Kids i… -
[REPLAY] Will Thorndike - How Skilled Capital Allocators Compound Capital - [Invest Like the Best, EP.36]
30 april 2019 · 1 uur 12 min
This week’s guest is Will Thorndike, an author and investor whose book The Outsiders is an all-time favorite of mine. Our conversation is in two parts. First, we dive deep into the lessons of his 8-year research project studying CEOs who were master capital allocators. These CEOs include Henry Singleton, John Malone, Tom Murphy, Katherine Graham, and Warren Buffett. We discuss how these CEOs tended to be contrarians on topics like dividends, buybacks, acquisitions, and the use of debt. As we go through each of the tools in the capital allocators toolkit, you’ll hear several useful lessons for running or evaluating a business.
In the second part, we cover Will’s career in private equity. Will founded and continues to run Housatonic Partners, investing in buyouts, recaps, and search funds. Will has been one of the most active search fund investors for decades, and given how much time I’ve spent in past episodes on the searchers or operators in the micro-cap, permanent equity space, it was great to get the perspective of an experienced LP. As always, we also take time to survey the dangers and opportunities in today’s private equity market.
For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/thorndike
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
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Josh Wolfe – The Tech Imperative - [Invest Like the Best, EP.130]
23 april 2019 · 1 uur 6 min
My guest this week is Josh Wolfe, co-founder and managing partner at Lux Capital. I had Josh on the podcast last year which was one of the most popular episodes in the shows history. This is a continuation of our ongoing conversation about investing in the frontiers of technology. My favorite thing about Josh and the way that he invests is the mosaic that he and his team at Lux are constantly building to understand the world and where new companies may fit in. We cover a crazy variety of topics from business model innovation, roles of a CEO, the military, the death of privacy, and arrows of human progress. Please enjoy round two with Josh Wolfe.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
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Show Notes
1:22 - (First Question) –Ability to tackle massive scale problems
4:05 – Key roles of leaders and his checklist for evaluating them
5:55 – Common traits among founders that make them incredible storytellers and leaders
10:22 – The concept of ill-liquidity
14:53 – Thoughts on the types of companies going public
16:41 – Most innovative business models
19:14 - Advice for LP’s
23:51 – Common devil
24:01 – The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements
25:09 – Big internal debates at his firm, starting with price discipline
28:45 – The value debate internally
33:34 – CRISPR from an investment standpoint
36:50 – Edge cases they are looking at
46:52 – How they target ideas in a single concept
50:01 – The Coast of Utopia: Voyage, Shipwreck, Salvage
51:04 – New theses that they chase
56:31 – Recent adventure with special operations guys
Learn More
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub
Follow Patrick on twitter a… Lees meer -
Katherine Collins – Impact and ESG Investing - [Invest Like the Best, EP.129]
16 april 2019 · 1 uur 2 min
My guest this week is Katherine Collins, who is the head of sustainable investing at Putnam Investments, a portfolio manager on two of Putnam’s sustainable investing funds, and the author of the book The Nature of Investing: Resilient Investment Strategies through Biomimicry.
Our conversation is on the ins and outs of ESG and impact investing, a young but increasingly common topic in the investing world. This is challenging ground for me as a quant, because the data available is so new and limited—so Katherine’s perspective was very helpful as we continue to learn. Given the importance of this topic, I’m also searching for more guests with both positive and negative views on the role of ESG in an investing framework, and welcome suggestions for future guests. Please enjoy my conversation with Katherine Collins. Lees meerFor more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshagShow Notes
1:29 - (First Question) –Mechanical vs human judgement processes
4:21 – ESG, and the non-utility portion of it.
7:11 – Data behind the objective function that is different from returns
12:34 – What are the most interesting data sets
16:04 – How does she determine what factors to target
19:31 – Why do we know that diversity of experience/opinion/background is good for a company
21:30 – The social vertical and how it plays into her investing system and better returns
25:51 – Corporate Sustainability: First Evidence on Materiality
27:00 – Environmental factors and the issues that jump to mind
29:48 – Importance of signing the UNPRI and is it just box checking
32:33 – Data for companies on the solution oriented companies
34:53 – Why doesn’t the market recognize the Alpha
36:17 – LP interest in ESG investing
38:25 – How other groups of investors approach ESG
40:03 – Best practices at business making an impact i… -
Geoffrey Batt – The Nature of Transformational Returns - [Invest Like the Best, EP.128]
9 april 2019 · 59 min
My guest this week Geoffrey Batt and the topic of our conversation is how to earn transformational returns in very hard markets. In his case, that means Iraqi equities which we cover in detail. He now runs a large pool of capital in Iraqi stocks through his firm Euphrates, but the journey was arduous to say the least. This is one of my favorite boots on the ground contrarian investments stories thus far on the podcast. I hope you enjoy the story and the lessons that Geoff has to offer.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:15 - (First Question) – What does it take to earn transformational returns
4:43 – How he deals with LPs, especially given the volatility of the market he invests in
10:26 – Why LPs have to think about the other investors in a fund
1:17 – How Geoffrey got interested in the Iraqi market
16:15 – Factors he was considering when exploring Iraq
16:53 – Harvey Sawikin Podcast Episode
19:20 – Visiting companies in Iraq
22:30 – Most memorable meeting with a company on his first trip
27:18 – Size and nature of Iraqi market when he first got interested
30:44 – A specific allocator in Iraq
34:37 – Does price reflect the work over there
37:51 - What does he perceive as his role in the changes to Iraq’s equity market
40:12 - How do Iraqi equities look today compared to when he started and is the opportunity still interesting
44:14 – How businesses perceive him now that the market has opened up more
47:28 – Scale of potential return and where it comes from
49:51 – Advice for younger aspiring investors exploring frontier markets
52:16 – Kindest thing anyone has done for GeoffreyLearn More
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every … -
Brian Singerman – Investing in the Best Founders - [Invest Like the Best, EP.127]
2 april 2019 · 45 min
My guest this week is Brian Singerman, a partner at the venture capital firm Founders Fund. Founder’s Fund is widely considered one of the top VC firms and its partners are known to have diverse investment strategies.
Brian invests across industries and focuses on backing exceptional founders. You’ll hear right off the bat that he cares about moat, market, and strong execution. I love his point that the only way to become a good investor is to do a lot of investing. He describes himself an investor who uses his gut a lot, which took me a while to get used to in our conversation. But I have to say that at the end of this episode I felt refreshed and generally excited to keep putting in reps in my own way, both in the podcast and the quant research settings. I hope you enjoy.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notesd
1:28 - (First Question) – What Brian looks for when evaluating companies
2:38 – What a moat looks like in investing
3:11 – Most memorable initial moat
4:17 – How he evaluates a potential market
5:28 – Attributes they look for in founders
6:24 – Most significant technological changes and how they have impacted his investment strategy
8:57 – The sourcing of his deals
13:00 – Qualities he likes at various stages of deal sourcing
13:46 – How he evaluates the teams he may fund
15:17 – His take on the pricing landscape for deals
16:13 – How he allocates his time as a board member
17:16 – Thoughts on long term stock exchange
18:26 – How much research does he do on an industry in order to stay on top of his investments
20:10 – Outside information he follows
21:20 - Other investors he’s learned a lot from
23:12 – What values does Peter Thiel instill in the partners
24:05 – Process of StemCentrics
26:03 – Other places holding his interest today
26:57 – … -
Michael Mauboussin – The Four Sources of Alpha - [Invest Like the Best, EP.126]
26 maart 2019 · 1 uur 10 min
My guest this week for the third time is Michael Mauboussin. If there is a major question about markets and investing, Michael has usually written one of the best pieces of research on that topic. Today’s conversation is a mix of several of his research pieces, but focuses on the sources of alpha. The framing of the conversation is the brilliant question “who is on the other side” of a given trade. If you are buying, who is selling, and why? Knowing the answer to this question is one key to understanding where excess return comes from. As is usual with Michael, we also explore tons of other interesting ideas that will serve as food for thought. Please enjoy.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:23 - (First Question) – An outline of the syllabus for the course he teaches
4:02 – What are smart people missing when it comes to decision making
5:33 – Why Michael went down the path of defining major investing concepts
7:41 – On the impossibility of informational inefficient markets
9:14 – Beware behavioral finance
12:03 – What are the behavioral errors that people can take advantage of in a trade
15:14 – Timing opportunities
17:25 – Modest Proposal Podcast Episode
17:47 – Where the analytical edge comes from
21:16 – Is there an advantage to exhibit time arbitrage
23:53 – Technical arbitrage
29:34 – What impact do flows into ETFs play on the market
32:25 – Informational edge and how you source that edge
36:39 – Biggest changes that he has seen on the buy side
43:18 - How would Michael apply this as a sports GM
48:35 – His views on stock buybacks
51:02 – The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success
52:55 – EBIT to EBITDA paper
54:43 – What Does a PE Multiple Mean?
59:28 – The concept of benign myths
1:02:06 – … -
Annie Duke – Wanna Bet? - [Invest Like the Best, EP.125]
19 maart 2019 · 1 uur 13 min
My guest this week is with Annie Duke, and the topic of our discussion is how to improve decision making.
We break decisions down into their component parts: values, beliefs, decisions, randomness, and outcomes. After diving into each, we discuss how to make better decisions, how to work in group settings, and how to harness power of tribes and identity to improve our behavior.
Annie has thought about this as much as anyone, and her various tricks for getting us to think in probabilities and to stop evaluating decisions based on outcomes that have been tainted by randomness will be useful for anyone listening.
Please enjoy.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:23 - (First Question) – Why people don’t take the best investing advice
2:11 – Investing tribes
4:21 – Jay Van Bavel twitter
6:34 – Rule setting as a way of crafting an investment strategy
11:13 – How much control do we have in choosing our values
15:52 – Anatomy of a decision
19:28 – Her concept of resulting
26:47 - How beliefs impact your decision making
34:28 – Tact’s for making the best decision
42:40 – Ego and decision making
47:06 – People who are exceptional at changing their decision making
48:18 – How often do people who change their decision making, stick with the rules of the game
50:07 – Finite and Infinite Games
50:28 – Psychology of making decision that involves other people
59:20 - Never close doors on other people
1:01:57 – Best decision that Annie made
1:04:24 – Kindest thing anyone has done for AnnieLearn More
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub
Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag -
Michael Mayer – Pseudonymous Social Capital and Bottomless Coffee - [Invest Like the Best, EP.124]
12 maart 2019 · 1 uur 10 min
My guest this week is unique and so requires a short story.
I met our guest Michael Mayer because of twitter. I followed and enjoyed one of several pseudonymous accounts that he maintains to experiment with ideas. His various accounts have wide followings.
I think many of the best accounts on twitter are anonymous or pseudonymous, and I’ve always made a point to get to know the ones I like best. As it turns out, Michael was also an entrepreneur. He’d been building a new company and was raising a small amount of outside capital.
I didn’t invest personally, in part because he raised it so quickly after I spoke with him. Ever since, I’ve gotten to know him better and followed his company, Bottomless, with interest. You know that I am always hyper transparent about any potential conflicts of interest, so it’s worth noting that while I am not an investor in this company, I expect to be at some point in the future.
The topic of our conversation is both his social media activity and his company. I am a coffee fanatic, and the problem he is solving is one I live. I order a weekly bag of coffee beans, but I often have too much coffee or run out. Bottomless solves this by shipping you a simple scale which you keep wherever you store your coffee, connect to your Wi-Fi, and set your bag of coffee on. It automatically orders new coffee for you at the right time. Thus the name: Bottomless. If you like the conversation, check out bottomless.com
With this podcast, all I’m really trying to do is find, meet, and learn from interesting people. Michael certainly qualifies. I hope you enjoy this unique episode. Lees meerFor more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshagShow Notes
2:06 - (First Question) – Why he writes under a pseudonym online
2:58 – Positive impacts of writing this way
3:45 – His back… -
Peter Zeihan – The Future of Geopolitics - [Invest Like the Best, EP.123]
5 maart 2019 · 1 uur 12 min
Peter is a geopolitical strategist who combines expertise in demography, economics, energy, politics, technology, and security to assess an uncertain future. Before founding his own strategy firm, Peter helped develop the analytical models for Stratfor, one of the world’s premier private intelligence companies.
I came across Peter via his books the Accidental Superpower and the Absent Superpower. We discuss America’s changing place in the world and four additional countries poised to do well in the future. Spoiler alert: he believes the U.S. is particularly well positioned.
While we don’t discuss equity markets per se, all of what we talk about will obviously impact companies across the world for the remainder of our careers. Please enjoy our conversation.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:32 - (First Question) – His model of the world
4:05 – What makes for a strategically advantaged country
5:35 – History of the Bretton Woods agreement and the order that it created
8:47 – The security apparatus that has made globalization of manufacturing possible
12:04 – The US’s pullback from being the naval police of global trade
12:08 – The Absent Superpower: The Shale Revolution and a World Without America
14:57 – How energy has played into America’s disinterest abroad
21:52 – Moving towards global disorder
24:55 – Characterizing factors that will impact countries in any collapse
27:38 – How this manifest in physical conflict
32:44 – How the new world order will end the ease of innovation we are accustomed to today
34:13 – What gets the US to reengage before this new world order
38:08 – Demographics that make a country prepared for this, Japan as an example
40:57 – A look at China
43:59 – What the story is about Argentina
45:52 – How North America fares ba… -
Michael Kitces – The Past, Present & Future of Financial Advice - [Invest Like the Best, EP.122]
26 februari 2019 · 1 uur 18 min
My guest this week is Michael Kitces, who is one of our industries go-to experts on all things financial advise and financial planning.
We discuss the past, present, and future of financial advise, financial technology, and investing. If you are a financial advisor or use one, this conversation is full of great history and perspective. Please enjoy.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:08 - (First Question) – History of financial planning/advice model
5:26 – Fee changes in the 1970’s
10:01 – The start of the AUM model
10:44 – Value proposition for financial advisors beyond trading vs robo-advsiors
11:49 – Why Robo-Advisors Will Be No Threat To Real Advisors
18:20 – Why are humans still dominating the space
23:58 – Future of advisor fees
32:50 – Viability of the human driven flat fee model
37:50 – The dominance of flat fee models
43:13 – What services are financial advisors offering to justify their fees
47:17 – Dimensions to divide potential customers
52:20 – Exciting updates on the investment side that will help differentiate managers
55:37 – Any investment function beyond the basics that is intriguing to him
58:45 – Most interesting problems to be solved on the investing and non-investing sides
1:04:52 – Advice for young advisors
1:09:24 – How does he invest his own money
1:11:31 – Kindest thing anyone has done for MichaelLearn More
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub
Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag -
Alex Danco – Scarcity, Abundance and Bubbles - [Invest Like the Best, EP.121]
12 februari 2019 · 1 uur 31 min
My guest this week is Alex Danco. Alex is a member of the Discover Team at Social Capital, has a background in biology, and has written about all things tech and business. While Alex is only 30, it seems like he has spent decades thinking about all the topics that we discuss, from changing business models, to railroads, to the shift from products to functions, and the rise and fall of asset bubbles. I hope you enjoy this wide ranging conversation.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:15 - (First Question) – A look at his day job on the discover team
2:20 – 40 problems doc
4:27 – How companies get on the list and the turnover
5:21 – Hardest problem they are looking at…housing
11:37 – The investment component that fixes housing
15:35 – Where we are in the technology cycle in the view of abundance vs scarcity
20:54 – Change in distribution and the business vs utility business idea.
28:40 – Bifurcation of small and larger businesses
32:48 – New forms of scarcity today
38:31 – The trend of massive company incumbency
41:07 – The utility of bubbles
49:08 – His favorite bubble
51:18 – Challenges and nuances of bubbles
53:35 – Zero to One Notes on Start-Ups, or How to Build the Future
1:02:22 – Future for VC funding in Silicon Valley
1:04:07 – Advice for business builders
1:08:23 – The Three True Outcomes
1:13:04 – His background in biology and innovation in that space that is coming
1:19:46 – Company examples that are of interest to him and that encapsulate his way of investing
1:24:56 – Kindest thing anyone has done for AlexLearn More
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub
Follow Patrick on twitt… -
Keith Wasserman – Real Estate Investing - [Invest Like the Best, EP.120]
5 februari 2019 · 1 uur 2 min
My guest this week is Keith Wasserman, co-founder of the real estate investment firm Gelt.
This was my first fully dedicated conversation on direct real estate investing, so we cover many different topics, including the pros and cons of different types of real estate, current valuations, risk vs. reward, tax protection, and the most interesting emergent areas.
You can tell Keith is an entrepreneur at heart so I enjoyed his energy and all that he has learned. Please enjoy. Lees meerFor more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshagShow Notes
1:15 - (First Question) – Their interest in apartments and mobile homes as investments
2:32 – The returns spectrum for different classes of real estate
4:03 – His early entrepreneurial ventures and the start of Gelt
7:45 – Don’t be afraid of negotiating
8:34 – Going through early deals in real estate
11:57 – How he determines when it’s time to sell a property
14:13 – How do they think about taxes in their investment offerings
16:57 – Depreciation strategies in real estate investing
18:27 – The evolution of the types of real estate properties they’ve invested in
21:41 – Most important factors when evaluating a building to invest in
23:50 – Barriers to entry
25:41 – Changes in his cost of capital
28:51 – Cost of debt and deciding how much to put into a building
30:33 – A look at the competition
34:51 – Effective marketing strategies
37:07 – How demographics impact their strategies
39:11 – The co-living space
40:34 – Cloud kitchens and how he would invest in these
46:11 – How autonomous vehicles will impact real estate
47:52 – Pros and cons of developing new properties vs buying existing ones
49:59 – Early stage investing interest
53:48 – Favorite business/entrepreneur story
55:10 – Advice for younger entrepreneurs
57:09 – Kindest thing anyone has … -
Alex Mittal – Early Stage Investing - [Invest Like the Best, EP.119]
29 januari 2019 · 1 uur 2 min
My guest this week is Alex Mittal, co-founder of Funders Club. Following past guest Jeremiah Lowin, Alex is my second elementary school friend to appear on the podcast—a trend I hope continues.
Funders club is a unique venture firm, because it is build around a network of investors and entrepreneurs who submit deals for consideration and invest together. But as you’ll hear, Alex and his co-founder Boris aren’t just building an open platform for early stage investing: they also then take a very traditional venture approach, making investing decisions themselves when it comes to building a centralized portfolio.
Our conversation is about what Alex has learned investing in almost 300 early stage companies over the past 7 years.
Please enjoy. Lees meerFor more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshagShow Notes
1:30 - (First Question) – Inception of the Founder’s Club
1:36 – Jeremiah Lowin Podcast Episode
3:59 – How the process of their platform works
5:40 – Role of the network in Founders Club setup and success
8:26 – What he has learned from all of the data he has access to
16:00 – Early stage investing and finding the sweet spot
22:17 – What makes a really intriguing bad idea
25:23 – Why he remains so excited about Ethereum
31:18 – More bad ideas
31:55 – Apoorva Mehta on How I Built This Podcast
37:15 – Thoughts on retail and logistics and how they fit his Venn diagram of boring and crazy
43:13 – Chip and electronic design
45:47 – Companies that are not just increasing efficiencies but actually making foundational changes
45:54 – Energy and Civilization: A History
52:34 – What does he look for in founders
55:26 – Pivot or Fail
57:05 – Kindest thing anyone has done for AlexLearn More
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get… -
Eugene Wei – Tech, Media, and Culture - [Invest Like the Best, EP.118]
22 januari 2019 · 1 uur 24 min
My guest this week, Eugene Wei, has one of the most interesting backgrounds of anyone I’ve had on the podcast. He worked at Amazon early in its life, was the head of product at Hulu and Flipboard, and head of video and Oculus. Lees meer
Our conversation is about the intersection of technology, media, culture. We discuss Eugene’s concept of invisible asymptotes: why growth slows down (for both companies and people) and how some can burst through. I’d list more of the topics, but we covered so much that you should just listen.
Finally, I’ll say that after spending a day with Eugene (including a wildly interesting dinner with Eugene, past podcast guest Sam Hinkie, and future podcast guest Kevin Kwok) that he is the type of uniquely interesting and kind person I am always searching for and one that I wish I could bet on somehow. If you know more people like this, reach out and suggest them for this podcast. Now, enjoy our conversation.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshagShow Notes
1:38 - (First Question) – Idea of cuisine and empire
1:52 – Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History
4:20 – Key takeaways from the Defiant Ones Documentary
8;25 – Being convinced to buy a sports coat
11:10 – The concept of invisible asymptote
17:43 – How the medium shapes the messaging and the impact of cameras everywhere on society
17:48– Invisible asymptotes
17:56 – Selfies as a second language
22:57 – Proof of work in building a social network
32:51 – Magnification of inequalities in digital networks
34:01 – The Lessons of History
36:47 – His thoughts on the media industry’s impact on society as a whole
39:42 – His time at Hulu
44:48 – Places where video could replace text
47:30 – The need for media for any business looking to grow
49:35 – Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in… -
Michael Duda – Investing In Brands - [Invest Like the Best, EP.117]
15 januari 2019 · 59 min
My guest this week is Michael Duda, and the topic of our conversation is the role that brand plays in business and investing. Michael has worked on and invested in a wide-range of brands including Birchbox, Casper, Harry's, Citibank, DirecTV, Google, TripAdvisor, Under Armour and vineyard vines. His background in advertising made this a unique and interesting conversation. please enjoy.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:11 - (First Question) – Mission of Bullish
2:15 – Typical relationship they have with companies
3:01 – Defining brand
4:35 – Ryan Caldbeck Podcast Episode
5:51 – A dive into how brands make people feel
7:54 – Does the emphasis on brand still matter to consumers and if so, where
10:01 – Process of building up a brand
14:53 – What has changed most in the planning of a brand strategy
18:35 – How does his thinking impact his investing strategy
21:48 – Where does he differ from the rest of the market
23:34 – Advice he would give to companies in general
26:18 – How advertising has changed in the current landscape
28:35 – The screening process for picking potential investments
35:16 – How they analyze valuation
37:31 – Unusual traits he likes in founders
40:12 – Categories most ripe for young companies to disrupt
44:03 – Most interesting marketing channel for direct to consumer businesses
46:45 – Marketing piece he is most proud of
49:23 – Companies that embody the best of what has been discussed
52:31 – His love for people in business
53:41 – Kindest thing done for MichaelLearn More
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub
Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag -
Abby Johnson – Future of Finance - [Invest Like the Best, EP.116]
8 januari 2019 · 1 uur 6 min
Over the summer. I spent time with Abby Johnson, who is the chairman and CEO of Fidelity Investments and several other business leads at Fidelity to understand how a very large firm like theirs is navigating change in our industry. What follows is a condensed version of my various conversations with Abby and her team. We discuss the big buzzwords like blockchain and machine learning, but also thoughts on leadership, client centricity and measures of success.
I hope you enjoyed this exploration
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:16 - (First Question) – [Abby] A look at the early part of Abby’s career
2:45 – Analyzing the skill of capital allocators
3:27 – A look at the asset management world of today and what to focus on today
7:23 – A set of decision-making principles that guide Abby
12:55 – Their strategy around the digitization of the world
16:07 – Balance between robo-advisors and humans and the markers of a good relationship
18:24 – What is the future of the role of the human in these relationships
20:15 – Their interest in emerging technologies like Blockchain
24:50 – Will crypto be its own asset class in the future
25:58 – [TOM] State of the business and the most interesting points of change
28:14 – Who is winning the battle for the next generation of investors
29:24 – How much of the change in financial business is cyclical
30:17 – What are businesses doing right to bridge that generational gap
31:01 – What does the future of the asset management industry look like
32:13 – What technologies could impact the asset management business the most
33:44 – The difference between machine learning and AI in this format
35:26 – In what way will AI impact these processes and replace humans
36:41 – What has him most excited about the future
37:54 – Ad… -
Keith Rabois - If You Can’t Sell Them, Compete with Them - [Invest Like the Best, EP.115]
18 december 2018 · 1 uur 1 min
My guest this week is Keith Rabois. Keith is currently an investment partner at Khosla Ventures, but has a storied and diverse background as an investor, entrepreneur, and executive. He has worked in senior positions at Paypal, LinkedIn, and Square; has led investments in companies like Stripe, YouTube, Palantir, and AirBnB; and started the company OpenDoor, which aims to transform the process of selling a home through technology.
One fun fact about Keith is that he may have the most impressive list of bosses I’ve ever seen, which we discuss during the episode.
We cover a lot, but one thing we kept returning to was business strategy. Keith’s frameworks for gaining and building strategic power helped me clarify my thinking on the topic, and his examples of contrarian thinking will hopefully make you question some commonly held beliefs.
Please enjoy our conversation. Lees meerFor more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshagShow Notes
1:35 (First Question) – A look at his investing philosophy
3:16 – Favorite examples of his own investment history
4:40 – 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy
5:07 – Understanding what is anomalous in a given investment
7:07 – How much a secret needs to be protected within a business
11:51 – Why accumulating advantage with data is of interest to Keith
15:12 – Digital health companies and ideas that he finds compelling
16:17 – Nuance around financial services that investors should be mindful of
17:56 – How do they evaluate managers ability to recruit talent
19:36 – How similar are the roles of entrepreneur, board member, investor, etc that Keith has had in his career
24:02 – Ways that Keith is a contrarian, including his feelings on “lean startup.”
27:04 – Is problem identification a specific skill set
28:29 – Objection with experimentation/ite… -
Bryan Krug – High Yield Credit Investing - [Invest Like the Best, EP.114]
11 december 2018 · 55 min
My guest today is Bryan Krug, who manages the Artisan Partners Credit Team and overseas more than $3B in high yield credit investments for the firm. This was my first conversation on high yield, so I took it as an opportunity to get an overview on the investment universe and home in on the tools used for analysis and security selection. As an equity investor, I think one of the most fruitful areas of research is into ways that companies fail or go wrong, and credit investors focus almost entirely on this potential for impairment. My guess is that all equity investors will learn something useful from this conversation. Please enjoy.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
2:11 – Overview of the high yield debt markets
5:05 – Why should investors consider this investment class
7:11 – How analyzing a company’s debt is different from what equity analysts look for
8:42 – Primary factors when exploring a company’s ability to de-lever
9:43 – What is their alpha vs others in the space
12:02 – Deep dive into the quantitative factors for them to look into a deal
14:25 – Benchmarks he uses
16:08 – Portfolio construction
17:15 – Their preference for broadband providers over cable tv networks
20:01 – What piques his interest about spreads
21:50 – The ratings of debt
25:40 – A recent example of an opportunity and how the mispricing was identified
29:17 – Most valuable data sets in this world
31:51 – Favorite part of this process
32:26 – Most surprising new learning
33:01 Maintaining your advantage
34:49 – The biggest pools of error in this industry
48:00 – What industries interest Bryan
40:50 – Dedication to this market
41:45 – Evolution of his healthy skepticism
42:38 – Can things in the debt market help to project what will happen in the equity markets
44:56 – Curr… -
Maureen Chiquet – Leadership Through Hard Conversations - [Invest Like the Best, EP.113]
4 december 2018 · 1 uur 2 min
My guest this week is Maureen Chiquet, the former longtime CEO of Chanel. Maureen also spent much of her career at the Gap, growing Old Navy from scratch, and serving as the president of Banana Republic. The topic of discussion is her experience running large businesses and of finding one’s way in a career and as a leader of others. I hope you enjoy this unique conversation and that it encourages you to, among other things, travel somewhere new and interesting in the coming year.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:15 - (First Question) – The importance of being able to put yourself in other people’s shoes
3:05 – Scott Norton Podcast Episode
4:36 – Most memorable sale from her early career
5:03 – The intersection of facts and emotions in sales
6:40 – Most important emotions in business
7:30 – The importance of identity as part of the selling/marketing of sales and products
9:10 – Difference in strategy for luxury brands vs others
9:21 – The Luxury Strategy: Break the Rules of Marketing to Build Luxury Brands
10:55 – Striking a balance between tradition and innovation
13:46 – Advice for new brand company related to rarity
14:59 – Importance of being organic with your brand purpose
15:01 – Wild Company: The Untold Story of Banana Republic
16:26 – Maureen’s purpose over the years
18:44 – How to harness your purpose for your job
20:53 – Her process for writing and desire to do TV
24:01 – Her time with Micky Drexler
27:40 – As a leader, guiding people to succeed.
32:33 – Strategy for shifting culture at a company
37:54 – The importance of courageous conversations we should all be having
43:45 – Markers of courageous conversations
46:43 – How she thinks about introspection
50:12 – What draws here to certain locations
55:15 – Advice for younger people st… -
Hunter Walk – Building Picks and Shovels - [Invest Like the Best, EP.112]
27 november 2018 · 1 uur 22 min
My guest this week is Hunter Walk, the co-founder of Homebrew, a unique venture capital firm. Hunter is a tool builder, having spent his career before venture at companies like Google and YouTube. The topic of our conversation is the intersection of creative expression, technology, human behavior, and problem solving.
We discuss his time at the company behind the video game Second Life, building tools for creators at YouTube, and why a very hands-on style of early stage venture investing represents an interesting use of his skillset at this stage of his career.
Please enjoy my conversation with Hunter Walk.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:24 - (First Question) – Background on Second Life and what role Hunter had there
6:10 – The virtual currency system at use in Second Life
9:51 – Measuring how people behaved in this virtual world
12:21 – How closely is the Second Life world mimicking real life
15:13 – The market for platforms that lets people take on creative ventures
17:58 – Investments that interest Homebrew
20:21 – Lessons learned while working at YouTube
28:34 – The idea behind Homebrew
33:44 – How to best describe good problems to solve for
36:10 – The Shadow economy and investing in companies operating there
42:17 – Monetization of attention
47:22 – His interest in fintech companies
54:03 – Major trends of change he’s observed over his first three funds
1:04:13 – What is there take on the state of returns for VC’s
1:09:52 – What is the most common way that founders need help and what advice is more helpful
1:14:35 – Kindest thing anyone has done for HunterLearn More
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at Inve… -
[REPLAY] Alex Moazed – Building Modern Monopolies - [Invest Like the Best, EP.25]
20 november 2018 · 1 uur 16 min
[REPLAY]
Modern Monopolies: What It Takes to Dominate the 21st Century Economy, which explores the platform business model (Uber, Airbnb, Github). Alex is also the founder and CEO of Applico, a company that he started in his dorm room that is since grown into a huge enterprise that helps startups and Fortune 500 innovate with platforms. Alex and I talk about history and future of businesses and different types of business models. There’s a lot in here for investors, entrepreneurs, and historians. Please enjoy!
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub
Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag
Books Referenced
Modern Monopolies: What It Takes to Dominate the 21st Century Economy
The Systems Bible: The Beginner's Guide to Systems Large and Small
The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future Lees meerLinks Referenced
Failed Color App
ApplicoShow Notes
2:39 – (first question) – Exploring the history of business models from linear to platform.
5:46 – A look at the share of overall business platform companies have taken over
7:06 - Modern Monopolies: What It Takes to Dominate the 21st Century Economy
7:48 – The potential for platform businesses over the next 20 years
9:18 – Detailing the difference between a linear and a platform business
12:08 – Exploring transaction costs and core transactions across different business models
19:49 – Is the platform business model good for investors and VC’s since so many can get crushed when there’s a sole victor, or is it just for the founders and entrepreneurs.
24:35 – How the self-driving car is going to deliver more opportunity for consumer consumption
27:15 – Untapped supplies as the opportunity for new platforms and where we could see new openings
30:24 – How consolidated will things become across all platf… -
Cliff Asness – The Past, The Present & Future of Quant [Invest Like the Best, EP.111]
13 november 2018 · 1 uur 27 min
My guest this week is Cliff Asness, the managing and founding principal at AQR Capital Management. 20 years after its founding in 1998, AQR manages $226 Billion dollars across a number of quantitatively based investing strategies. Cliff was an original quant researcher and he has long been one of the financial writers and thinkers that I look to for education and for inspiration. I distinctly remember reading one paper in particular—value and momentum everywhere—somewhat early in my career and thinking: this is the kind of research I want to do forever. You can always tell when talking to Cliff or hearing him speak that he just loves researching markets. There is a deep intellectual honesty in his work, and a respect for thinkers at different ends of the market spectrum, from Gene Fama and Ken French, to Jack Bogle, to Dick Thaler and Robert Shiller. Our conversation is about all things quant—past, present, and future. Cliff touches on many of the big issues facing quant investing and tells some great strong along the way. I hope you enjoy our discussion. Let’s dive in.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:47 - (First Question) – Favorite superhero
2:43 – Why ‘Ka nama kaa lajerama’ is part of his twitter profile.
3:38 – How portfolios have shifted the way they use factors in a portfolio
10:15 – What are good questions clients are asking right now
13:24 – Contrarian Factor Timing Is Deceptively Difficult
15:40 – Does technology impact investing strategy
22:14 – When to share information vs keep it proprietary for clients sake
26:40 – How their research process is governed
31:14 – How they will incorporate machine learning into their process
34:21 – What they will do when red flags show up
37:01 – Wackiest question from a client
41:47 – The Three Sha… -
[REPLAY] Peter Attia, M.D. - How to Live a Longer, Higher Quality Life - [Invest Like the Best, EP.27]
6 november 2018 · 1 uur 30 min
[REPLAY]
My guest this week is Peter Attia, M.D., whose mission is to understand and improve human lifespan and healthspan (or quality of life). Reading Peter’s research, you find that there are many similarities between health and investing—ideas like compounding—which we explore in detail.
We spend a lot of time on mind, body, spirit and performance as it relates to living a better life. Of particular interest is the strategic problem that we face when studying longevity. As Peter puts it in our conversation: we are the species of interest, but we can’t conduct the kinds of experiments on humans—randomized trials, with control groups—that we apply to solve other big problems. So we have to back our way into a better understanding of longevity and quality of life.
To that end, we discuss what we can learn from studying centenarians, the problem of progress in science, a drug called Rapamycin (which Peter believes could be revolutionary), eating, the importance of muscle mass, and the idea of distressed tolerance. We emerge with a framework for thinking about health and well-being which can hopefully help us all live longer, better lives. Please enjoy!
For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/attia
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub
Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag
Posts From Peter Attia That You Should Read
Do Calories Matter
How You Move Defines How You Live
2016 Update
Long List of Questions Answered: Part 1 and Part 2
Links Referenced
The Scientific Method-Richard Feynman
Knowing Versus Understanding-Feynman again
Books Referenced
Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco
Diffusion of Innovations
Good Calories, Bad Calories
Show Notes
2:31 – (first question) – Getting Peter to define the concept of wealth and how it might have changed in his li… Lees meer -
Ryan Caldbeck – Quant in Private Markets - [Invest Like the Best, EP.110]
30 oktober 2018 · 1 uur 12 min
My guest this week is Ryan Caldbeck, a private equity investor who wants to bring quantitative rigor to the private markets. Ryan is the CEO of Circle Up, which uses a system it calls Helio to identify attractive investments in early stage consumer brands.
While I am of course a fan of quantitative investing, I also know from experience how much harder private markets are than public markets when it comes to the transactions themselves. We discuss this and many other potential roadblocks to bringing models to private markets.
Using many individual companies as examples, Ryan explains some of the major predictive factors they’ve uncovered in their research. We also discuss which parts of the private markets might be infiltrated by quant processes first, and which may never be.
I expect many more to go on a journey similar to Ryan’s in the years to come. They serve as an interesting example for ambitious investors out there.
Please enjoy our conversation.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:39 - (First Question) – Formation of Helio
6:57 – How they handle the relationship building needed to make investments in private markets
10:26 – Why consumer and retail are interesting spaces to apply their quantitative approach in private markets
12:54 – Searching for new relevant data
16:14 – How do they stay ahead of the commoditization of uniqueness
16:21 – Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning
17:24 – Sam Hinkie Podcast Episode
18:00 – Dominant predictive factors in this world
21:05 – Which is more important, relative value or rate of change
21:48 – What does the data say about online sales vs offline (being in a store)
23:30 – Variable that consumer investors think matters but it doesn’t
24:53 – Valuing companies and accounting for mispricing’s
25:36 – … -
Howard Lindzon – Fintech and Trend Following - [Invest Like the Best, EP.109]
23 oktober 2018 · 51 min
My guest this week aspires to be the Larry David of investing, and we discuss why. Howard Lindzon is hard to categorize. He’s primarily an early stage investor right now, but he’s participated in all types of investing. He describes himself as a trend follower and always has a unique take on popular topics.
In this conversation, we cover his investing history and his take on the fintech investing landscape. What I’ll remember most is the idea that we should focus on what is happening versus what we think will happen or might happen. There is a Peter Lynch like quality to some of Howard’s thinking, and a willingness to embrace the weird that I find very appealing. The few times I’ve met Howard, I’ve smiled or laughed most of the time, which is about as nice a thing as I could say about someone.
He’s a good example of why I like this podcast format. His investing style bears literally no resemblance to my own, but it got me thinking about a lot of new things. I hope you enjoy our chat.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:42 - (First Question) – Why he wants to be the Larry David of investing
2:00 – Why his investing style is best described as trend following
4:05 – The biggest inspirations/influencers on Howard’s investing
6:39 – What made his second mentor, Fred Wilson such a great investor
9:52 – Formation of Wall Strip
12:33 – Why weird is so important in his investment philosophy
14:56 – Understanding his investment philosophy through his investment in Rally Road.
21:02 – His assessment of the fintech space
28:54 – Why fintech pushes away from human nature
30:50 – Major trends in fintech that have his attention
35:02 – What stands out about the teams at these companies he invests in
36:37 – Thoughts on fractionalization plays
36:44 – Capital All… -
CoVenture Credit - Esoteric Credit with Ail Hamed, Brian Harwitt, and Marc Porzecanski - [Invest Like the Best, EP.108]
16 oktober 2018 · 1 uur 10 min
My guests this week are Ali Hamed, Brian Harwitt and Marc Porzecanski who work together at CoVenture Credit. When I first had Ali on as a podcast guest, we discussed the many aspects of what his firm does, ranging from venture, to crypto, to credit. We glossed over the lending side of the business, but having since learned a lot from them on the topic, I was excited to get the chance to talk with members of their credit team for today’s longer exploration of esoteric high yield lending.
I am always proselytizing the value of investor education, s this week we have a podcast first. The CoVenture team has prepared a long series of posts that correspond to our conversation and go even deeper into the topic of credit investing. You can find them in the shownotes at investorfieldguide.com/credit
This is entirely differently from any conversation I’ve shared before, so I hope you learn as much as I did. Please enjoy my discussion with team CoVenture Credit.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag
Show Notes
1:42 - (First Question) – The formation of their unique credit business
7:09 – Their advantage in seeing both the equity and credit side of their investments
10:23 – Looking at the Returnly deal as an example
14:07 – How they view these deals and are able to sustain them as long-term investments
18:09 – Their interest in payroll deduction lending
20:08 – Finding unique types of default risk
21:31 – What stands out in a platform that makes CoVenture want to take a deeper look
26:43 – Most interesting types of problem they have come across that they have yet to do a deal in
31:35 – What is going to change to make for more thoughtful underwriting of subprime lending
35:51 – Major structures of asset backed lending
39:49 – Whether the home serves as an interesting playgro… Lees meer -
Saifedean Ammous – The Bitcoin Standard - [Invest Like the Best, EP.107]
9 oktober 2018 · 1 uur 12 min
My guest this week is Saifedean Ammous, author of the book the Bitcoin Standard. This was one of the more interesting conversations I’ve had in the world of cryptocurrency, primarily because we don’t talk about Bitcoin or Crypto until 25 minutes into the talk. Instead, we focus on history, economics, sound money, low time preference, and gold—all interesting topics.
Saif’s thinking on cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin—which is that they are worthless—is unique and thought provoking. His reasoning around why gold shouldn’t be compared to the returns generated by assets like equities was also compelling. If you’ve followed my Hash Power episodes, this is a new a differentiated interpretation of Bitcoin as a technology for the store of value use case. Please enjoy our conversation.
Hash Power is presented by Fidelity Investments Lees meerFor more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshagShow Notes
2:10 - (First Question) – Explain Sound Money
4:25 – Examples of hard vs easy money
7:36 – the even money trap
9:36 – The benefits of hard money vs today’s standards
14:05 – Why this interests him
14:16 – Gold Wars: The Battle Against Sound Money As Seen From A Swiss Perspective
14:56 – Democracy – The God That Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy and Natural Order
16:17 – Correlation between time preference and people’s ability to succeed in life
19:59 – How money markets worked in the late 18th century vs today
27:57 – How he came across Bitcoin and how he thinks of it as a digital gold
35:42 – How will the world transition to a sound money standard
42:15 – The impacts of hyperinflation on crypto currencies
45:04 – The idea of a orderly upgrade of the world currency
48:20 – His thinking on alternative coins
54:05 – What it takes to compete with bitcoin
1:01:43 – How … -
Jeremiah Lowin – Machine Learning in Investing – [Invest Like the Best, EP.105]
25 september 2018 · 1 uur 1 min
My guest this week is one of my best and oldest friends, Jeremiah Lowin. Jeremiah has had a fascinating career, starting with advanced work in statistics before moving into the risk management field in the hedge fund world. Through his career he has studied data, risk, statistics, and machine learning—the last of which is the topic of our conversation today.
He has now left the world of finance to found a company called Prefect, which is a framework for building data infrastructure. Prefect was inspired by observing frictions between data scientists and data engineers, and solves these problems with a functional API for defining and executing data workflows. These problems, while wonky, are ones I can relate to working in quantitative investing—and others that suffer from them out there will be nodding their heads. In full and fair disclosure, both me and my family are investors in Jeremiah’s business.
You won’t have to worry about that potential conflict of interest in today’s conversation, though, because our focus is on the deployment of machine learning technologies in the realm of investing. What I love about talking to Jeremiah is that he is an optimist and a skeptic. He loves working with new statistical learning technologies, but often thinks they are overhyped or entirely unsuited to the tasks they are being used for. We get into some deep detail on how tests are set up, the importance of data, and how the minimization of error is a guiding light in machine learning and perhaps all of human learning, too. Let’s dive in.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag
Show Notes
2:06 - (First Question) – What do people need to think about when considering using machine learning tools
3:19 – Types of problems that AI is perfect for
6:09 – Walking through an actual t… Lees meer -
Trail Magic - Lessons from Two Years of the Podcast [Invest Like the Best, EP.104]
18 september 2018 · 14 min
This week, to mark the two-year anniversary of the podcast, I offer a quick summary looking back and forward.
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Kathryn Minshew - How Employers and Employees Should Build Careers - [Invest Like the Best, EP.103]
11 september 2018 · 32 min
My guest this week is Kathryn Minshew, the co-founder and CEO of the Muse, and the co-author of The New Rules for Work: the Modern Playbook for Navigating Your Career. I’ve learned in business is that the quality of people and the culture they create dictate outcomes. Having made plenty of mistakes hiring, and having had many enormous successes, I am always interested in best practices for finding and successfully recruiting the right people.
Given that Kathryn runs a jobs marketplace and has written a book on the topic, she is the perfect person to explore some the core concepts around pairing people with the right positions. We discuss how companies should market to prospective employees, how employees should represent themselves to employers, and the most common mistakes she sees across the hiring landscape.
Please enjoy our conversation.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:31 - (First Question) Largest changes in the nature of work and how people approach finding the right job for them
3:27 – Can this work be jammed into a formula
5:18 – What strategies is she sharing with employers when it comes to hiring
8:31 – How long should the process take
9:33 – Biggest mistakes employers make in this process
10:39 – Besides the usual stuff, what can perspective employees do to bolster their chances
12:50 – How much more efficient will matching technology get in the years to come
16:00 – What will be the largest changes to work itself
19:09 – Will we move away from full time work into parsels of work units
20:50 – Most successful piece of content or content strategy the Muse has employed
22:34 – Advice for early stage entrepreneurs
26:24 – Kindest thing anyone has done for KathrynLearn More
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign … -
Richard Craib - Crowdsourcing Predictive Algorithms - [Invest Like the Best, EP.102]
4 september 2018 · 51 min
I intentionally avoid the world of quantitative investing on this podcast. The whole point of this format is to learn about many different fields, and the vast majority of my time is already spent in quant world. Occasionally I’ve broken this rule because of something unique, including this week’s conversation with Richard Craib, the founder and CEO of Numerai. If you listen to the podcast often you’ll have heard me reference Numerai, a hedge fund which blends quant investing, cryptocurrencies, crowdsourcing, and machine learning — talk about a PR company’s dream. One important note: Numerai is both incredibly open and very secretive. You may sense a bit of frustration on my part, but that is only because, as a fellow quant who loves details about data and modeling, we couldn’t go deeper into the details on the record. We discuss how Numerai has created an incentive structure to work with data scientists around the world in an attempt to build better investing models. The idea of having data scientists stake cryptocurrency in support of the quality of their models is fascinating. Like many hedge funds, Numerai doesn’t share its track record, so we don’t know if this works—but I hope you, like me, use this conversation as inspiration for how different technologies can intersect.
Hash Power is presented by Fidelity Investments
Please enjoy my conversation with Richard Craib. Lees meerFor more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshagShow Notes
2:32 - (First Question) – How he came up with Numerai and how its related to his background
4:08 – How he works with and models the data for his system
5:24 – Describing machine learning as it relates to his work, and specifically linear regression
7:11 – The important stages in his sequence
8:46 – How the scale in the number of data scientists… -
Elad Gil – How to Identify Interesting Markets - [Invest Like the Best, EP.101]
28 augustus 2018 · 39 min
My guest this week has a fascinating background. He has a PhD in biology but has split his time as both an investor and an operator. As an investor, he’s involved in companies like Airbnb, Coinbase, Instacart, Opendoor, Stripe, Square, and Pinterest—not too shabby. As an operator, he helped both Google and Twitter scale their businesses, in the case of Twitter from 100 employees to 1500 over two years. He’s just written a book about these experiences called the High Growth Handbook.
Our talk centered on what makes for a good investment and more specifically how Elad identifies an interesting market. Operators and early stage investors will find lots of nuggets in this fun conversation. Please enjoy.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
1:31 - (First Question) – Process for evaluating a young business
2:43 – Andy Rachleff Podcast Episode
3:09 – Data factors for evaluating a business
5:08 – Reference checks
6:42 – Advice for companies that are reliant on product cyclicality
7:01 – Where to Go After Product-Market Fit: An Interview with Marc Andreessen
7:31 – High Growth Handbook
9:30 - Lessons learned from marketing and growing companies
12:09 – How do you hire the best people to improve your distribution
13:16 – How does he think about lifetime customer value vs customer acquisition cost
15:57 – Should companies just focus on the high margin power users
16:35 – Best ways to organize a company hierarchy
19:16 – His interest and background in the area of longevity research
21:52 – Changes he has made in his own life as a result of this longevity research
22:56 – Most effective use of a CEO’s time
24:58 – How he evaluates or identifies interesting markets for potential businesses
28:03 – Any markets that fit his criteria that are underappreciated by inve… -
What You Learn About Business Deals After: 12,000 Deals Reviewed, 1,500 Deep Dives, 125 Site Visits, and 7 Portfolio Companies with Brent Beshore - [Invest Like the Best, EP.100]
21 augustus 2018 · 53 min
For the 100th episode, I’ve brought back my good friend Brent Beshore. Brent was the 10th guest on the podcast, after we met because of a mutual interest in capital allocation. I quickly learned that Brent was one of the most unique and thoughtful investors around. He was an entrepreneur from the moment he left school, trying many different things before finding a fit buying smaller business with the intention of owning them forever. What amazes me about Brent is his encyclopedic understanding of business and the nuances of different business models and deal structures. This comes from reps. He and his team have looked at about 12,000 deals over the years, at every kind of business that you could imagine. I’ve been with him when he goes through this process and it’s fun to hear what makes certain businesses stand out from others, which is largely the topic of this conversation. You all know transparency is key for me, so it’s important to know that my family and I are investors in a fund called permanent equity, run by Brent and his firm Adventure.es. To commemorate this milestone episode, I can think of no one better than Brent, because he exemplifies what has made this podcast so fun for me: learning from other people who are willing to share what they themselves have learned through fun, blood, sweat, and tears. Please enjoy our conversation, and thank you so much for coming along on this journey. I can’t tell you how much it means to me.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Lees meerShow Notes
2:02 - (First Question) – How does he think about optimizing risk in terms of the capital stack when looking at deals
5:27 – What conditions would they add debt down the road after investing in a company
6:52 – What business sectors are most intriguing for Morgan to invest in … -
Boyd and Bronwyn Varty – Track Your Life - [Invest Like the Best, EP.99b]
15 augustus 2018 · 1 uur 7 min
Today’s conversation is a continuation of my discussion on applying the lessons of tracking animals in the wild to tracking in your own life. I encourage to listen to that episode first. In this second part, Boyd’s sister Bronwyn joins and offers perspective on business and life. Given that Boyd and Bron grew up in this wild place, their perspective on the world is refreshing and very different. We discuss a wide range of things, But the section on restoration near the end is just phenomenal stuff. Please enjoy part two of my conversation with the Varty family. Lees meer
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshagShow Notes
1:21 - (First Question) – Concept of shame and the role it plays in the lives of the people that visit
3:11 – Bron’s take on shame and if this is uniquely male issue
5:15 – How the Varty’s think about the concept of presence, and time with Nelson Mandela
13:34 – Selfishness as an impediment to presence
20:26 – Tending the cup
20:37 – Life is not a zero-sum game
23:15 – How they run the reserve as a business
30:18 – Importance of motivation as a business
33:55 – Cultivating a culture that makes a business a family
40:15 – How they help other family businesses
45:29 – The idea of restoration as a business and legacy
51:23 -Restoration model in investment
53:49 – The age of restoration will be born on the age of information
54:48 – Places that have given Varty’s deep connections (other than Africa)
1:00:46 – Kindest thing anyone has done for BronLearn More
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub
Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag