My guest this week is Anthony Pompliano. Pomp began his career in the military, and has since been a successful entrepreneur, worked as a head of growth at Facebook, and started Full Tilt Capital, an early stage investing firm in North Carolina.
This conversation has three memorable sections. Early on, we discuss the four traits Pomp looks for in founders, which we cover in detail. These double as traits that are important when hiring anyone. Next, we discuss his unique take on cryptocurrencies, where he is excited about the prospects for tokenized securities. Finally, we explore a unique media company, Bar Stool Sports, and what makes it such a powerful brand.
Please enjoy our somewhat abbreviated discussion and know we will continue the conversation soon.
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
Links Referenced
Dave Portnoy and Barstool Sports’ Secret Billion Dollar Plan
Books Referenced
Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter
Show Notes
2:06 - (First Question) – Recap of Anthony’s military career
4:07 – Most memorable experience while deployed
5:27 – Transition out of the military and how it shaped his investing philosophy
11:19 – investing philosophy of Full Tilt, starting with deal economics
10:00 – Attributes of an ideal founder
13:50 - Where you actual learn the attributes that make you a good founder
14:40 – Time that Anthony has taken the biggest risk in life
16:45 – What is the viewpoint that Full Tilt has today that gives it Alpha in the market
18:47 – Why tokenized securities could be advantageous for investors in a company
19:51 – Anthony’s explanation of a tokenized security and what needs to happen for this idea to be fully realized in the market
22:22 – What could be the impact on the markets of making liquidity in venture so readily available
24:39 – What are tokenized securities actually invested in in the real world
27:42 – What does Anthony think about the commodity risk
29:04 – Describing Standard American Mining, a company they incubated
29:58 – Exploring the shift from a CPU world to a GPU world
31:49 – Getting involved in places where we haven’t caught up with the rest of the world
33:05 – Anthony’s interest in Barstool Sports
33:11 – Dave Portnoy and Barstool Sports’ Secret Billion Dollar Plan
37:09 – Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter
39:02 – What lessons from Full Tilt world would Anthony share with others in the more traditional business world
40:35 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Anthony
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 at @patrick_oshag
My guest this week is Dr. Ben Hunt, the chief investment strategist at Salient and the author of the extremely popular epsilon theory.
I’ve always enjoyed Ben’s writing style, particularly his use of farm and animal based analogies to describe market phenomenon.
In this conversation, we discuss his recent post the three body problem, why growth has been beating value, and why a strategy that he calls profound agnosticism—a take on risk parity—may be the most appropriate investing strategy in what he views as a very uncertain world. We also discuss some of his favorite lessons from the farm.
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
Links Referenced
Show Notes
1:54 - (First Question) – Applying the three-body problem to investing
7:24 – Fundamental view of investing, Profound Agnosticism
8:24 – Why has value done so poorly relative to growth in this framework
11:01 - Ben’s thoughts on why value has been underperforming for so long
13:52 – Investors should be able to adapt
17:49 – Thoughts on the risk parity approach
23:23 – Ben’s strategy for working with several teams
26:48 – What’s the best way to gain an edge, top down factors vs company/bond individual analysis
28:29 – How do you measure risk amid the large amount of uncertainty that exists in markets
32:40 – How does Ben personally think about investing
34:41 – Ben’s farm and the investing lessons learned by some of the animals
39:55 – How bees can plan out their entire work structure by the angle of the sun
42:58 – Defining basis risk
44:59 – Personal risk vs portfolio risk
49:30 – The concept of fingernail clean and our perception of what eggs are
53:57 – How ETFs are like mass produced eggs
54:56 – Exploring the idea of quality vs scaling
58:39 – What is the current challenge/puzzle that Ben is focused on right now
1:01:59 – What is Ben looking for when looking into game theory and applying it to the words that are published and spoken about investing
1:03:57 – Most memorable day on Ben’s farm
1:05:04 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Ben
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 at @patrick_oshag
My guest this week is Preston Byrne. Preston is vocal critic of crazy prices and projects in the world cryptocurrencies. His background is in the legal world and also as a founder and former COO of Monax, which made the first open-source permissioned blockchain client.
As Preston says, he is a “blockchain without bitcoin” guy, who believes that this crypto mania will end in some sort of apocalypse for token holders and ICO issuers .
We tackle several issues, from his broad skepticism of crypto assets, to the potential regulatory reaction from major governments, to types of coins like stable coins, which Preston views as analogous to perpetual motion machines.
Please enjoy our conversation and for any crypto investors out there, let me know if this conversation affects your opinion of the investing prospects for cryptocurrencies.
Hash Power is presented by Fidelity Investments
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
Links Referenced
Preston tweet on Reverse network effect
Show Notes
2:12 - (First Question) –Ponzi scheme vs pyramid scheme vs Nakimoto scheme
5:29 – Why there are regulatory challenges to cryptocurrency
5:33 – The Bear Case for Crypto
9:59 – Who are the most influential people supporting this and how are they swaying the regulatory minefield on this issue
10:28 – Hash Power series
13:23 – Looking into the idea of a digital asset and the difference between blockchain and the token itself
16:09 – What about the idea that cryptocurrency’s only feature is that it’s censorship resistant
18:39 – Why cryptocurrencies become less usable the more successful they are
18:59 – Zero Hedge
21:04 – Why can’t we rely on offchain solutions to solve the scaling issue
22:29 – The idea of bubbles and what happens next in this one
25:41 – What are the incentives to build technology to support cryptocurrencies
29:23 – Explaining Ripple
31:21 – What would precipitate a massive reversal in the inflated valuations of cryptocurrencies
34:52 – Understanding reverse network effects
34:36 – Preston tweet on Reverse network effect
37:45 – The principles behind Stablecoin
42:20 – What has been the greatest lesson that Preston has learned about blockchain he wish he knew when he first got started
44:05 – How embedded will blockchain be by 2024/2025
45:12 – ICO’s, why Preston is not a fan and if there are any positives to them
50:20 – What are the conditions under which these things will be viewed legally.
54:00 – Preston’s history owning cryptocurrencies
55:35 – What has Preston most excited in the space
59:02 – Utility settlement coin
1:00:36 – Why the fascination with marmots
1:02:10 – What to reference before getting started with cryptocurrencies
1:04:03 – Understanding supply chains in block chain
1:07:14 – Some smart people on block chain to follow
1:08:24 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Preston
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 at @patrick_oshag
I have a special request this week: share this episode with every curious person in your life.
The conversation, with a 26-year old investor named Ali Hamed, serves as an example of what’s possible when you think creatively.
Ali views the world with a fresh set of eyes, and has already become an expert at identifying new investment opportunities where others have not. As the second prodigy 26 year old in as many weeks on the podcast, these young guns are making me feel like an ancient 32 year old.
We talk a lot about “alpha” in our world, earning returns better than the market. But the key word in that last sentence isn’t alpha, it’s earning. Hopefully you, like me, will use this conversation as a reminder of what it takes to earn differentiated returns. It’s not just the hard work, but also the mindset. We explore many examples of how to create new investment opportunities, from rolling up Instagram accounts, to financing perishable fruit like watermelons, to heavy machinery software.
Please enjoy this special conversation with Ali Hamed. Follow him and his partners. And then go figure out how to earn success yourself in whatever it is you do by helping other people solve problems with empathy.
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
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
Links Referenced
Seed Investing is a B2C Business, While Growth Stage investing is a B2B Business
Free Content and Digital Media Are Increasing Socio-Economic Disparity
Show Notes
2:24 - (First Question) Ali’s investment philosophy
3:33 – History of Coventure and its unique structure
6:30 – The story of how Coventure was seeded
12:29 – What makes cost of capital such an interesting topic for Ali
14:13 – Exploring fee structures and the expectations for return in the current environment
17:02 – The current state of the VC world
21:42 – Ali’s investment process on the VC side
25:32 – What other requirements are there for Ali to make a VC investment
28:00 – Understanding the difference between judgement and empathy in founders
28:20 – The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
29:47 – Dealing with LP’s
32:47 – Sheel Tyle Podcast
33:39 – At one point did Ali feel the most personally at risk in his career
37:55 – Why did they get involved in cryptocurrency
43:30 – What excites Ali most about crypto
46:09 – Lending as an alternative way to invest in businesses
48:09 – An overview of their lending business
50:21 – How does deal flow and sourcing work in these arrangements
52:54 – How much encroachment will Ali face from competitors
54:28 – Exploring the idea of valuing and buying digital accounts
59:36 – How Ali thinks about marketing for his own firm and the ones he invests in
1:00:06 – Seed Investing is a B2C Business, While Growth Stage investing is a B2B Business
1:03:59 – Longer term aspirations for Ali and industries that he would avoid
1:04:25 – Ira Judelson podcast
1:08:05 – Ali’s view on the potential negative impact of free content
1:08:19 - Free Content and Digital Media Are Increasing Socio-Economic Disparity
1:12:48 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Ali
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 at @patrick_oshag
My guest this week is Sheel Tyle, who at just 26 years old has already had a successful career in venture capital. His most recent stint was as the co-head of the seed investing business at NEA, the largest venture capital firm in the world, where Sheel was also a partner. Now, Sheel has set off on his own, setting up his own firm called Amplo and having recently raised a $100M venture fund where he is the sole general partner. He aims to invest with young, mission driven entrepreneurs with a global focus. As you can tell from this resume, which also includes a degree from Stanford and a law degree from Harvard, this is one ambitious guy.
There are several aspects of this conversation that will really stick with me, specifically his points on networking and the smartest decision that he’s seen entrepreneurs make. I also loved our discussion of some of the same trends we explored last week with Chris Dixon—topics like drones, automated cars, and blockchain, where Sheel often has a different take than the consensus.
Please enjoy my conversation on Africa, entrepreneurship, venture capital trends, technology, and more with Sheel Tyle.
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
Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World
Links Referenced
Show Notes
2:20 - (First Question) Sheel’s upbringing and how it shaped his interest in Africa
4:43 – The outlook for Africa
6:10 – Primary differences in valuations and momentum in Africa vs opportunities in other places which Sheel conveys through the story of Andela
10:45 – The perspective returns of venture capital investments
15:16 – Does the hyperfroth in ICO’s serve as a threat to traditional venture capital
17:53 – Where Sheel falls on the importance of networking in terms of his venture capital interests
20:38 – The stronger impact of a smaller, more tight-knit network
22:46 – Sheel’s feelings on driverless cars and the timeline for this sector
27:17 – What are the positive side effects of driverless cars taking over
29:01 – What is the best way to invest in driverless cars from a venture capital standpoint
31:30 – Sheel’s overrated/underrated take on different technology spaces
31:30 – VR/AR
32:21 – Blockchain
32:54 – Machine learning/AI
33:41 – Drones
34:53 – Other categories that we should be thinking about
36:54 – OneConcern
38:21 – Should entrepreneurs be raising more money over future liquidity concerns of the venture capital markets
39:40 – What are the places that Sheel can help a founder in the early stage formation of the company
40:02 – Andy Rachleff Podcast Episode
42:53 – What does the breakdown of domestic vs international investments potentially look like in fund 1 for Sheel
44:53 – Sheel’s most memorable travel experience
47:34 – what is the best decision Sheel saw a founder make
48:10 – Mark43
50:31 – Resources for people interested in venture capital
51:06 – TechCrunch
51:07 – VentureBeat
51:17 – Bill Draper (author)
51:25 – Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World
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 at @patrick_oshag