My guest today is Ben Savage, a partner at Clocktower ventures. Ben is focused on financial technology, fintech, investing which is the topic of our conversation.
I’ve been making the fintech is rounds of late, and plan on making a few of these conversations public. Ben is the first in what may be a mini-series because of the sheer amount I learned in our discussion.
We cover all aspects of the fintech ecosystem. 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
Show Notes
1:15 (First Question) – The market portfolio and how technology will move us away from liquid markets
7:24 – Businesses that are making assets that weren’t investable, investable
9:11 – Ryan Caldbeck Podcast Episode
12:03 – Most interesting places where technology is creating investment opportunities
18:33 – Assets that are likely to tap into new sources of beta
23:46 – How well are investors prepared for the changes that are coming
28:35 – Trends in asset management with technology
33:05 – View on cryptocurrency and blockchain
36:45 – Places where startups can reduce costs/fees and create efficiencies
40:17 – Views on private equity markets and their future
45:40 – Privilege of access problem
48:50 – Verticals in fintech that are interesting to him
59:53 – The importance of focus and niche
1:02:26 – 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 Jeff Ma. Jeff was on the famous MIT Blackjack team from the book Bringing Down the House but has spent his career in an around fields of analytics and data science. He’s studied sports betting and analytics, built companies for analyzing human capital, and ran the data science and analytics group at Twitter. Here are links to his book, blog, and podcast.
Our discussion is about a number of fascinating ways data is being used to make decisions in the worlds of sports and business. 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
Show Notes
1:20 - (First Question) – How quantitative analytics have evolved in sports and how they’re being used
4:26 – Best role of humans in the analysis process
8:38 – Sports that are most interesting to observe through analytics
10:26 – How does luck play into sports analysis
11:54 – Team analytics vs better analytics
12:38 – Concentration of success among sports betters and their moats
14:58 – Favorite lessons learned from professional gamblers
16:45 – How analytics got introduced into gambling
19:21 – Understanding one’s own biases
24:04 – How he became VP of analytics at Twitter
28:37 – Primary lessons from the work evaluating human capital and talent with analytics
28:59 – Niel Roberson Podcast Episode
31:40 – How to model people for success when hiring
33:29 – How to hire the right data scientists’ team
37:54 – Most interesting problems they tackled at twitter
42:31 – Responsibility of social platforms to police itself
45:34 – Areas that would interest him in the future as an investor
49:24 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Jeff
51:50 – Values instilled in him by his parents.
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 today is Vaughn Tan, who studies quality, innovation, and organizational behavior. His resume is bonkers. He’s a PhD from Harvard, Was an infantry signals logistician in the Republic of Singapore Army, then worked at Google on advertising, Earth, Maps, spaceflight, and Fusion Tables. He’s also been a wood sculptor.
But the topic of our conversation is how to foster quality and innovation in ourselves and inside of companies—lessons he learned in part by studying inside some of the world’s best restaurants.
If you enjoy this conversation, I recommend you also check out his new book, The Uncertainty Mindset Innovation Insights from the Frontiers of Food. Please enjoy my conversation with Vaughn Tan.
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
1:33 - (First Question) – Interesting ways to identify high quality
5:06 – The current problem with the way we think about the world
8:56 – How people think about their careers and college
11:21 – Uncertainty vs risk, and productive discomfort
19:08 – Cultivation of discomfort for an individual
24:05 – Successful innovation cultures
32:25 – Analyzing quality and restaurant bread
37:43 – The Slug idea
40:43 – His research project where he observed restaurants
45:44 – How do people mandate their own structure in the face of uncertainty
53:46 – How employees should approach this rent-to-buy hiring structure
57:17 – Example of someone who took advantage of uncertainty time
1:00:05 – Playful adults
1:00:07 – Jerry Neumann Podcast Episode
1:03:10 – Other changes companies can make to their culture to be more innovative
1:08:19 – The difference between simplicity and complexity
1:11:12 – How he applies his thinking into several different ideas, like Cannabis
1:16:17 – Asking the right question
1:19:05 – Andy Rachleff Podcast Episode
1:20:19 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Vaughn
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