My guest this week is Eric Balchunas, the senior ETF analyst for Bloomberg and the author of the Institutional ETF toolbox. This episode is intended for those in the asset or wealth management industry who have considered using ETFs in their portfolios, or for the individual investor who likes to stay up to date on trends in the market for asset management products. We cover all aspects of ETFs in some detail, and luckily in ways that have little overlap with a few other recent ETF-centric episodes on two of my favorite podcasts: the Meb Faber Show and Capital Allocators with Ted Seides with Matt Hougan and Tom Lydon respectively.
We open with Eric’s favorite ETF tickers, discuss the pros and cons of ETFs versus other investment vehicles, and explore the largest areas of opportunities for new ETFs coming to market in the years to come. ETFs have become the vehicle of choice for many investors, so it was about time we covered them in depth in this forum. As you’ll hear, Eric is the right person to teach the world about ETFs, thanks to deep domain knowledge and unflagging enthusiasm. Please enjoy my conversation with Eric Balchunas on the past, present, and future of ETFs.
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
Quantitative Momentum: A Practitioner's Guide to Building a Momentum-Based Stock Selection System
Links Referenced
Chart – There Are Now More Indexes Than Stocks
Show Notes
2:32 - (First Question) – Eric’s favorite ETF tickers
4:07 – How Eric got started into his career and how it led him into the ETF world
8:04 – An overview of the ETF landscape
10:10 – Active managed ETFs
12:17 – Chart – There Are Now More Indexes Than Stocks
13:32 – Key variables he thinks about when assessing a new ETF
15:18 – Evaluating shiny object ETFs
17:30 – The appeal of ETFs
20:18 – Future regulatory concern of the tax treatments of ETFs
22:10 – The liquidity advantage of ETFs and why that can actually be bad for investors
24:19 – What would Eric do to build the perfect ETF
26:03 – What are the future trends for new ETF’s launched
29:40 – Categories that work well in the ALT world of ETFs
31:32 – Most effective marketing strategy for ETFs
35:50 – Quantitative Momentum: A Practitioner's Guide to Building a Momentum-Based Stock Selection System
36:28 – How will the winning asset managers have done differently in this space
41:56 – How the next downturn could impact ETFs
46:17 – Do ETF’s create pricing distortions
50:33 – What trend is Eric most interested in right now
53:21 – Alpha through Beta
55:51 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Eric
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 guests this week are Kyle Samani and Tushar Jain, both managing partners at Multicoin Capital.
I’ve taken a bit of a break from crypto because I hadn’t sensed many new angles to explore in this forum, from an investor’s point of view. I felt that while things keep evolving, the major investment theses have been established and explored.
Kyle and Tushar are interesting because of their often divergent views. For example, Kyle has been an outspoken supporter of Ethereum relative to bitcoin.
This conversation, which is meant for those still curious about crypto, offers lots of new food for thought. We discuss smart contract platforms, network effects, the coming platform wars, and why blockchains may not matter in ten years. Please enjoy my conversation with the partners of Multicoin Capital.
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
An (Institutional) Investor’s Take on Cryptoassets
On the Network Effects of Store Value
If SaaS Products Sell Themselves, Why Do We Need Sales?
Money, blockchains, and social scalability
Show Notes
2:11 - (First Question) – What would get the entire cryptocurrencies ecosphere to 5-10 trillion dollars
2:53 – Paths to Tens of Trillions
4:37 – What will be the effective uses for crypto currencies, store value vs utility value
4:38 – An (Institutional) Investor’s Take on Cryptoassets
8:48 – Why they are negative on bitcoin and more positive on Ethereum
10:07 – Where will start to see widespread adaption of the utility value of cryptocurrencies
14:44 – What is the major breakthrough that cryptocurrencies create
21:21 – How do we gain confidence that a utility token will become a sound investment
25:16 – The different type of network effects
25:47 – On the Network Effects of Store Value
31:18 – How do you convince institutional investors to consider the crypto space
34:21 – Factors that they care about when first evaluating a crypto currency
39:21 – How does technological development and marketing factor into their decision when picking a crypto currency
40:31 – If SaaS Products Sell Themselves, Why Do We Need Sales?
41:42 – Where these two men disagree the most right now
44:07 – Why there’s a chance blockchain technology as we know it today could be irrelevant
44:25 – Money, blockchains, and social scalability
47:56 – Most compelling trends in this world today
51:51 – A favorite resource or person people can look into if they want to learn more
52:22 – Nakamoto Institute
52:57 – Token Economy
53:24 – Multicoin.capital
53:30 – Crypto Cannon
54:14 – Kindest thing anyone has done for them
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 Michael Recce, the chief data scientist for Neuberger Berman. The topic of our conversation is the use of data in the investment process, to help cultivate what is commonly referred to as an information edge.
I call the episode “Tim Cook’s Dashboard” because of an interesting question that Michael poses: if you armed the best apple analyst in the world with Tim Cook’s private business dashboard, what might that be worth? Effectively Michael’s goal is to recreate the equivalent of a company dashboard for many businesses, helping analysts understand the fundamental health and direction of companies a bit better than the market does, and in so doing create an actionable edge.
This is a daunting task, and you will hear why. It requires both a fundamental understanding of business and of data, statistics, and methods like machine learning. In our own work, we’ve found machine learning to be useless for predicting future stock prices, but extremely useful for other things, like extracting and classifying data.
This conversation can get wonky at times, but as listeners know that is the best kind of conversation, even if it requires a second, slower listen. I hope you enjoy this talk with Michael Reece. Afterwards, I highly recommend you invest the time to read a series of posts called Machine Learning for Humans, which I will link to in the show notes. It helps demystify the buzz words and explain how these new technologies are being used.
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
Links Referenced
Show Notes
2:44 - (First Question) – Changes in data science through the lens of Michael’s career
5:17 – The basic overview of using data and machine learning to create an edge
6:58 – How the state of business is more than just a single data point
7:53 – How you know when you’ve pulled a real signal from the noise of data
10:49 – The advantages that data provides
13:01 – Is there still an edge in decaying data
15:34 – Building data that would predict stock prices
19:43 – Prospectors vs miners in data mining
22:18 – Knowing when your prospectors are on to truth
27:09 – Understanding machine learning
30:10 – Defining partition
32:17 – Applying the parameters of selection process to stocks
36:05 – What’s the first step people could take to use data and machine learning to improve their investment process
38:54 – Building a sustainable advantage within data science
41:35 – Predicting the uncapped positive vs what’s seemingly easier, eliminating the negative
43:58 – How do we know to stop using a signal
46:22 – The importance of asking the right question
47:09 – Categories of objective functions that are interesting to measure data against
47:42- Crossing the Chasm
48:37 – Most exciting things he’s found with data
51:17 – What investors, individual or firms, has impressed him most with their use of data
52:17 – Will everyone eventually shift to being data informed or data driven
55:33 – Wall Street’s use of data vs other industries
55:36 – Sam Hinkie Podcast Episode
57:48 – Why everyone should know how to code
58:52 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Michael
59:22 – One Two Three Infinity
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 Ash Fontana, a managing partner at venture capital firm Zetta, who invests in companies which build software that uses artificial intelligence methods like machine learning to predict and prescribe outcomes. Ash’s combined experience as a founder, entrepreneur, and investor give him the perfect background to discuss with us one of the hottest topics in business and investing.
This conversation is useful for anyone trying to evolve their own way of dealing with data. Of particular interest are the ways that Ash and his team evaluate data sets and how they think about competitive advantage in this new world—where he advocates a new term to replace the concept of moat: loops.
If we can use data to do things better than humans, or if we can supercharge our intuitions with predictive models, we can harness the power of this new technology. What Ash has taught me is that data itself is dumb. But great data sets can represent the fuel for incredible companies. Let’s dive into how that may be. Please enjoy this conversation on how AI is changing business, and how we might profit from that change.
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 Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for The Thoughtful Investor
Links Referenced
Show Notes
2:25 - (First Question) – A look at their very specific investment strategy
3:35 – Future of competitive advantage in the SaaS industry
6:45 – How startups and new companies can compete against software giants that are pretty well entrenched in the market
8:38 – How do copies with narrow focuses attract VC money which is looking for massive returns
12:28 – The stages in which AI will be enabled
15:55 – Framework of an AI company
18:49 – Importance of the feedback in the AI company framework
20:56 – Examples of AI companies
23:50 – Why companies that are AI from the start will have a significant advantage in the space
26:21 – How do companies change their thinking about compiling useful data
32:18 – Regulation of AI
35:03 – Preventing other companies from leap frogging you in the AI space
37:57 – Some of his favorite AI companies
40:43 – How much has he seen in the finance world
41:07 – Jerry Neumann Podcast Episode
43:10 – Why the focus on B2B AI companies
45:34 – Major components of the enterprise stack that he focuses on for AI
49:30 – What impact will all of this AI have the daily lives of people
51:38 – Biggest problems that he is excited to see AI tacklet
53:04 – How do you value the intangible asset of an AI model
57:13 – How Ash thinks about getting other investors into firms they seeded
1::00:27 – Other investors that Ash really respects
1:01:15 – The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for The Thoughtful Investor
1:03:29 – Ali Hamed Podcast Episode
1:04:04 – Where would Ash invest outside of AI
1:07:11 – More about his family nut business
1:11:18 – Favorite macadamia nut story
1:12:05 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Ash
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 remarkable. He now applies his talents on Wall Street, searching for smaller cap companies trading at huge discounts in an effort to compound wealth for his investors. He is classically trained, having earned his graduate degree from Colombia, a school known for producing value investors. But his method also reflects what he learned across more than a decade of active duty in the U.S. military.
Mike Zapata served us all as a Navy SEAL in the aftermath of 9/11 and ultimately as a member of the SEAL’s “Development Group,” commonly known as SEAL team 6. I think everyone listening strives for excellence in what they do. This week we get to hear from someone who has pursued excellence on our behalf.
I’ll let him explain the meaning of his firm’s name, Sententia, but for now suffice to say we are lucky to have quiet professionals like Mike. If you are interested in supporting the families of soldiers who fought with Mike and lost their lives, I encourage you to check out the Tip of the Spear foundation and make a donation along with me, small or large.
Please enjoy my conversation with Mike Zapata.
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 Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of Practical Counsel
Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown
Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War
Show Notes
2:23
2:23 – (First Question) – A quick overview of Mike’s career leading up to his time at Columbia
3:43 – What led him down the path of value investing at Columbia
3:51 – The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of Practical Counsel
5:57 – The focus and goal of the firm
7:12 – Where the name of the firm, Sententia comes from
8:04 – His experience in the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) program and lessons learned from it
13:14 – How much grit is innate vs can be learned
14:59 – What the actual job was in BUD/S
17:33 – Difference between the broader SEAL community and being part of the more exclusive development group
19:03 – The team dynamic within the SEALS
20:26 – Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown
21:18 – The sacrifice that SEALs make with the story of Adam Brown as an example
24:35 – Waiting for darkness before deployment
27:23 – How do you know when to violate your best practices for a risk
29:26 – A look at three pictures in his office and why they are meaningful
31:36 – Lessons that would be useful to other people
33:10 – Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War
33:17 – How is Mike’s skillset applied to the investing world
39:24 – Factors that would be seen as good alignment in businesses
40:18 – How the view the profiles of other investors in these small businesses
41:46 – Examples of “smoke and fire”, markers of an attractive investment
43:42 – Other investors that he has learned the most from and what those lessons were
44:54 – Importance of balance sheets in value investing
47:33 – Is value investment oversaturated
50:28 – Market blind spots that are attractive to Mike
52:03 – What point in Mike’s career has he felt the most alive
53:14 – Any other lessons Mike would want to share
55:12 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Mike
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 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.
At one point in our conversation, Sam mentions that he tracked success via future financial outcomes, so I did some research and found many interesting stats about the 76ers surrounding Sam’s tenure. When he took over the franchise, it was 24th in ESPN’s franchise rankings, and today it is 4th. This is the result of an impressive crop of young talent—players like All-Star Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons—which resulted in large part from unconventional decisions Sam and his team made.
While I’m sure these estimates are imperfect, Forbes estimated the 76ers value at around $418M when Sam took over and $1.2B a few months ago. NBA teams in general have grown in value, so a lot of that appreciation is obviously “beta,” but given that the 76ers had the top percentage growth number more recently of any team, some of it is “alpha,” too. While we can’t parse the exact amount, it seems his unique approach to building a team clearly created some large amount of current franchise equity value. And it looks like the dividends from those decisions will compound for many years to come.
While basketball was where Sam plied his talents in the past, his approach is more elemental. It is about finding great people, using data, and structuring decisions that create the possibility of huge returns, be they financial or otherwise. I don’t know what Sam will do next, be it investing in companies, running one, or taking over another team, but I know it will be fun to watch.
Please enjoy this unique episode with Sam Hinkie.
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
Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: Why Being a Great Parent is Less Work and More Fun Than You Think
Links Referenced
Show 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
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 kids traits in your spouse
38:02 – Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: Why Being a Great Parent is Less Work and More Fun Than You Think
40:45 – What kind of markers does he look for when evaluating long term investment ideas
42:44 – His interest in machine learning
45:55 – What’s more exciting, the actual advances in machine learning or the applications that can be imagined as a result
47:15– International Justice Mission
48:11 – How he got started teaching negotiations and some of the points he makes in that class
49:16 – Effective techniques for negotiating
50:03 – Is negotiating contentious, do you need empathy
50:41 – A Rorschach test of Sam based on his reading of Lessons of History (book)
53:01 – Biggest risk Sam took in his career
54:37 – Biggest risks Sam took while with the 76ers
58:09 – Do people undervalue asymmetric outcomes in the NBA
1:00:11 – The players Sam has enjoyed watching over the years
1:02:45 – Why Robert Caro is a favorite author of his
1:04:30 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Sam
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
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My guest this week is a bundle of curiosity, and that is one of the nicest things I could say about someone. For several years, Tren Griffin has been writing a weekly blog post that highlights things he has learned from various investors, businesspeople, musicians, comedians, and more. Lately, he has also been tackling individual businesses, and broad topics like scaling, competitive forces, and product market fit.
Tren’s full time job is serving as a director at Microsoft. He’s also worked with or for several well know businesspeople and investors like Craig McCaw, and written several books including one on lessons for entrepreneurs, one on Charlie Munger, and another on negotiation.
We discuss value creation vs. value capture, alpha in investing, sales, hip hop, and why he’d teach high school students about convexity through a drunk driving analogy. I could have talked to Tren for much longer than I did, but sadly, we both had flights to catch.
If you take anything away from this, I hope its just how much fun it is to just be curious about business, and how you can learn a tremendous amount if you just keep reading about the things that interest you and talking to others. Please enjoy my conversation with Tren Griffin.
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
2:26 – (First question) – key levers of the universal business model
4:26 – How do you know when you’ve achieved real value creation
6:24 – Importance of value capture and how they enhance value creation
6:31 – Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
9:08 – Price power
10:28 – Are discussions of moats more useful to businesses than to investors
13:12 - What Tren learned during his early years working with Craig McCaw
16:28 – The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success
16:36 – The skill of capital allocation
18:37 – How would Buffett and Munger bet on tech if they were starting out today and their philosophy of betting against change
21:57 – How Tren became so fascinated with Charlie and what he’s learned from him
22:32 – The Alchemy of Finance
23:17 – Damn Right: Behind the Scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger
23:19 – Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger
25:21 – Most memorable moment or lesson from Charlie
28:19 – There are more pockets of Alpha
19:20 – How he thinks about factor investing
31:25 – What are the scalability features that make a business attractive
31:28 – A Dozen Attributes of a Scalable Business
35:37 – Exploring some of the other important levers of businesses, such as subscriptions, customer acquisition cost, and more.
36:20 – Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
37:11 – Wholesale transfer pricing
39:18 – Pros and cons of subscription business models
43:14 – Magic of getting products distributed
44:58 – Best sale Tren’s ever made
46:46 – Most important lesson for young people
49:01 – Any businesses that are piquing Tren’s interest right now
50:16 – Tren’s interest in hip-hop and how it helps him reach more people
53:49 – A look at some interesting quotes from Jim Barksdale
58:22 – Learning by doing
1:00:48 – Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed
1:01:06 – Period of his career that he felt most alive
1:03:03 – Advice for young people thinking about business and entrepreneurship
1:04:56 – Why are so few people passionate about what they do for a living
1:10:44 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Tren
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 believe that any investment strategy that will deliver strong returns in the future must evolve. Any strategy should rest on rock solid foundational principles, which change rarely if ever—things like price discipline, or business growth. But the features of the strategy must keep getting better, because the marketplace is incredibly competitive.
That evolution is the topic of today’s conversation with Jason Karp. Jason is the founder and CIO of Tourbillon Capital Partners, a multi-billion dollar asset manager based in New York City.
We cover a ton of interesting ground. We start with what has happened in public and private markets, discussing the role of quants, passive indexes, and value vs. deep value investing. We compare the relative merits of investing in private equities, and where and how opportunities arise.
We then focus in on two interesting private investing trends: the health and wellness sector and the cannabis industry. First, we discuss Hu kitchen and Hu Products, the food business that Jason started with his family several years ago in response to personal health challenges. Second, we discuss his evolved views on Cannabis as an investment space and why it may also represent a massive growth opportunity.
You all know I value transparency, so it is important to note that since I recorded the conversation, my family became an investor in Hu Products. It has been a fascinating means to learn about the food, health, and wellness industry which has grown rapidly in recent years. We were customers of Hu in New York City long before I even knew Jason, which made that part of the conversation especially interesting for me.
This episode re-enforced my believe in pushing one’s investing strategy to adapt to change market conditions and competitive pressures. If we have any hope of beating Vanguard, we can’t ever rest on our laurels.
This was an especially eclectic and fun conversation, I hope you enjoy my chat with Jason Karp.
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
3:06 – (First question) – Jason’s view on private markets vs public markets and how his view has evolved
6:02 – Phase of the private markets where companies can achieve huge size and scale without going public
10:31 – Framework of Jason’s value-based investing strategy
13:47 – Reverse discounted cash flow
16:27 – Are there areas of the market that are easier to predict using Jason’s models
20:29 – Tech dominance the longer they are around
21:01 – Jerry Neumann Podcast Episode
22:08 – How markets have changed over Jason’s career
25:58 – Types of edge that you can have in the market
30:00 – Broad examples of sectors that are high-quality, but momentum is hurting them
31:32 – Backstory of Hu Kitchen
38:33 – Investment research into health and wellness
42:56 – State of acquisitions, particularly in consumer product goods
47:13 – Jason’s research into Cannabis
50:43 – The misperceptions of Cannabis
56:30 – Why cannabis is a more important sector to consider than crypto
57:51 – What are the most important levers to growing a business
1:02:24 – Biggest lessons learned in hiring good people
1:06:10 – Investing lessons
1:09:27 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Jason
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 Chris Douvos, a managing partner at Venture Investment Associates, which allocates 1.6B in behalf of investors.
Chris is the first professional allocator I’ve spoken with who focuses specifically on venture capital funds, so I had a ton of questions for him on how to build a portfolio in an asset class known for uncertain, but often enormous, outcomes.
We discuss the major recent changes in the asset class and where things might be going.
I sought Chris out because while this is an investment style that is full of creativity and hope, I’ve always felt it could use a healthy dose of skepticism and a value investor’s mindset. He delivers in spades as we try to separate the real from the ideal.
We didn’t record it, but Chris’s tour of Palo Alto was one of the most interesting and entertaining hours I’ve spent. He is a student of history and markets, and I look forward to learning more from him in the future.
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
Books Referenced
Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment
Links Referenced
Show Notes
2:18 – (First question) – Four factors that Chris thinks are important for future success of venture firms; portfolio concentration; repeatability; being early; size discipline
7:40 – What the venture landscape looks like today from Chris’s viewpoint
8:32 – Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment
14:07 – Is there a glut of startups making it difficult for investors
17:33 – How does Chris think about the investments that are a bit different from what everyone else is investing in in Silicon Valley
19:17 – Why he focuses on college campuses for innovation
20:54 – The role that geography plays in venture
25:06 – The Four M’s; money, momentum, mentorship, entrepreneurial management
27:13 – Chris’s perspective on crypto currency as a threat to venture capital
31:44 – The idea of venture capitalists as service providers to the companies they are investing in
35:15 - Views on investing in hyper focused VC’s vs those that are generalists and just go after the best opportunities in any sector
39:00 – What hot button areas are of most interest to Chris and why, from an investment standpoint
39:38 – Domino Rally Business Models
42:22 - What can a public market investor learn from a value venture investor who mostly has to rely on qualitative metrics
43:08 – All About the Benjamins
44:38 – Portfolio construction in the world of venture
46:40 – Speak Like the Locals
48:00 - What are the characteristics that Chris looks for in managers, as an allocator
53:52 – What type of investors should and should not be in venture
59:15 – What type of allocator would Chris give all of his money to
59:47 – David Salem podcast episode
1:01:06 – Curveball
1:01:40 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Chris
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 Arianna Simpson, who has spent her career in an around the world of technology working at startups, Facebook, and now in venture capital as an investor focused on the world of cryptocurrencies.
I met Arianna when I hosted a panel at a big investing conference in New York City and she was one of the panelists. On the panel, I found her style to be very straightforward and compelling. It is clear that she loves to learn and that the best manifestation of her style of learning is investing in technology.
In our conversation we discuss broad trends in crypto that we haven’t spent much time on before: decentralized versus centralized exchanges, privacy coins, and evaluating a found or early team. We build a framework for learning about this new asset class, discuss the importance of travel, and the value of pushing oneself outside of comfort zones.
Hash Power is presented by Fidelity Investments
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
Show Notes
2:12 – (First question) – How to teach someone else to build an investing philosophy around crypto
4:00 – The major risk factors to investing in crypto
6:28 – best practices for mitigating risk
7:39 – What factors to think about when it comes to whether a token will lose all value or not
8:39 - Taking a pulse of the investment community on crypto
11:36 – How she heard about and became interested in crypto currencies
12:34 – Are people really using crypto currency as a hedge against rampant inflation
13:52 – Investing thesis in the space
14:07 – Arianna’s systems for learning about cryptocurrencies and staying up to date on them
15:19 – Arianna’s take on the issue of increasing transactional through put
16:49 – Layer 1 solutions and making it all scalable on a blockchain
17:56 – her take on the fat protocol thesis
20:32 – Defining utility vs security tokens
21:54 – evaluating different coins
21:02 – Why cross currency swaps are important and how they work
26:17 – What are the chances of a scenario where there’s just one token and everything is built off of that one
28:02 - Comparing centralized and decentralized exchanges
29:47 – How the traditional investing world is going to regulate transaction involving cryptocurrencies and view security around those transactions
31:54– Impact this will have on capital formation
33:44 – Evaluating teams behind crypto companies
35:48 – The importance of gut when evaluating people
38:47 – How Arianna’s global upbringing impacts her thinking on the technology
39:51 – What countries or regions have had the largest impact on Arianna’s investing philosophy
42:41 – Doing things you’re not qualified for
43:59 – Gender imbalance in crypto and what can be done to shift that
45:28 – Most recent thing that has gotten Arianna excited in the crypto space
46:15 – Explaining Zero X
47:33 – How her views on reading have evolved
48:54 - Kindest thing anyone has done for Arianna
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
We’ve always found that even in public equities, you learn more once you have a live portfolio. One of the best ways to learn is to put some capital at risk.
To learn about the venture capital world, for example, I made an investment in a startup called Ladder, a platform business which connects coaches (fitness trainers to begin with) with consumers who need or want a coach to help them improve their fitness and their health. The idea is by making the entire coaching system more efficient, Ladder can provide consumers with a real person as a coach, but at a fraction of the cost, and provide coaches with both new customers and a much better way of managing their existing businesses. If you are interested in the businesses backstory, you can listen to episode #60 of the podcast to hear founder Brett Maloley’s story and his vision for Ladder.
We are now six months into the launch of the business, with thousands of users and coaches on the platform and run rate revenue past a million dollars. What I was most curious about at this stage, aside from building something useful, was the relationship between a startup and institutional venture capitalists, who are allocating capital from their funds into startups at various stages.
For this episode, I asked two VCs to sit down with me and Brett and treat the conversation as they would a normal pitch meeting, so that we, the audience, can get a peek into their world and the types of questions they ask.
The venture capitalists in question are Thatcher Bell, of CoVenture, and Taylor Greene, of Collaborative Fund. Both have experience evaluating new companies, but also have specifically spent time on companies like ladder, which follow the platform or marketplace model.
While we do cover a little bit of background on the company, I’ve edited most of that part out so we can talk about the business model itself. While I don’t spend much time talking in this episode, you will hear me asking Thatcher and Taylor some questions to better understand why they care or don’t care about certain aspects of a business.
Lastly, I love the data aspect of all this. The interaction between coaches and customers produces a wealth of data of different types, all of which is analyzed and used to improve each aspect of the process. To help gather more data—about onboarding, working with a coach, and tracking results—Brett and the Ladder team set up a little promo code for listeners, which can be accessed by going to joinladder.com and using the promo code ILTB2 as in Invest Like the Best 2.
The first voice that you’ll hear is Thatcher, and the next person asking questions is Taylor. I began by asking Thatcher to give us a bit of background on how he approaches young companies before diving in with questions of his own.
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
3:12 – (First Question) – getting a flywheel business going
4:49 – Brett’s background and how that led to the formation of Ladder
7:58 – Breakdown of the product
9:29 – The sign-up process
10:29 – Key problem for each party of the ladder transaction
12:34 – Diving deeper into the problem of being a health coach
14:29 – How does Ladder differentiate itself from other apps that help people locate a trainer
17:01 – A deeper dive into the consumer using this product
20:28 – The accountability factor being the moat for Ladder
24:12 - How successful is the product right now in terms of recruiting new customers and trainers
28:38 – Their pre-launch interview and research process
31:49 – Going from hypothesis to product development
35:25 – What should founders think about when doing customer discovery, even after they have a product in the market
39:22 – Optimizing in the early stage of a business
43:24 – The defensive moat of a startup
46:20 – Their take on their ability to corner the coaches in this market
49:57 – Is there a side of the producer/consumer side of the equation that is more important.
55:42 – Getting and giving value to your supply, in this case the coaches
58:22 – How to view different phases of a business
1:00:43 – Growing the supply and demand so that neither side gets aggravated
1:02:28 – Market opportunity for Ladder
1:10:55 – Top 2 or 3 goals that Ladder has over the next 12-18 months
1:13:00 – Looking at Ladder, what are the strengths and weaknesses as a potential investment
1:20:40 – Pros and cons of a startup seeking institutional VC money
1:25:11 – Reviewing the pitch
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 helps me complete the first trilogy of guests on the podcast. His name is Nikhil Kalghatgi. Along with past guests Ali Hamed and Savneet Singh, Nikhil is a partner at the asset management firm CoVenture. If you liked those two conversations, you will love this one—it is somehow even more wide-ranging than the first two.
Nikhil is the CEO of CoVenture Crypto, but he ended up there because of an overarching investing style that he calls moonshot investing, which we explore right from the start and in great detail.
He is obsessed with productivity and happiness, and we spend a long time on those topics. One of the most interesting experiments I’ve heard about on the podcast is his Happiness project, for which he interviewed more than 100 of the wealthiest people in the world. The lessons he gleaned from those conversations are very helpful, and I won’t soon forget the lesson related to sacrifice.
We also discuss asteroid mining, networking, shared experience, and philosophy. Oh and crypto currencies. Nikhil’s take on crypto has always been refreshing to me. In fact the first time I met him he was throwing cold water on a room full of enthusiastic crypto investors. Within crypto we discuss business opportunities, mining, and how new retail and institutional capital will affect the asset class.
Hash Power is presented by Fidelity Investments.
Please enjoy this sparkling conversation with Nikhil Kalghatgi.
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
2:42 – (First Question) – What moonshot investing is
4:41 – Creating sustainable differential investment advantage
9:30 – Assessing the market for moonshots
12:15 – Types of people suited for moonshots
13:42 – The Happiness Project
17:45 – Commonalities among successful people
25:15 – The importance of humor in life
17:16 – Recipe for a good joke
28:00 – The night Patrick and Nikhil met
29:17 – His perspective on the world of venture capital
33:26 – What did Nikhil learn from his time at SoftBank
34:52 – Craziest thing Nikhil has done
40:27 – What he took away from his time in military intelligence
46:10 – The idea of manufactured serendipity
47:13 – Nikhil’s approach to investing in cryptocurrency and what he finds interesting about it
53:23 – How Nikhil reconciles the excitement of crypto with the lack of tangible asset
58:10– The timeline of retail and institutional investors becoming more involved in crypto
1:02:43– Exploring their liquidity strategy
1:04:10 – What happens if regulators shut down the cryptomarkets
1:09:48– The role of miners in crypto and how that might change moving forward
1:10:43 – What is the frontier of crypto mining
1:12:31 – What’s the most compelling rabbit hole in crypto
1:16:23 – How would the original creators of crypto currency feel about the current state of the market
1:20:01 – What Nikhil sees as the value proposition for the whole ecosystem.
1:21:00 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Nikhil
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
This week’s episode was the first one that I’ve recorded live. It was the second dinner in what I expect to be a long series where I bring together 30 people from a variety of backgrounds to discuss an interesting and emerging topic, whether that be cryptocurrencies, health, cannabis investing, or some other compelling, emergent thing.
My guest, for the second time on the podcast, is Peter Attia, who has lead one of the more interesting careers I’ve ever come across and who is focused on understanding longevity, health span, and quality of life. We dive into many dimensions of health, scientific research, what we can and cannot learn from evolution and our ancestors, and the 7 primary modalities we should focus on when it comes to our health and well-being.
Excuse the lack of clear audio quality on some of the audience questions—the ones that are a little difficult to hear are fairly short and I felt it was better to include them for some context.
As have all of my conversations with Peter, this one has sparked countless subsequent conversations with my wife, my friends, and my colleagues on what is important and how we can change out behavior to improve our quality of life. My partner and sponsor at these events is Peter Tiboris of Strongpoint Wealth Advisors, who with me loves exploring these topics and understanding how they might affect our lives and out portfolios. Thanks to Peter for helping me realize this series in New York City. Now, please enjoy my live conversation with Peter 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
Links Referenced
Marvin HAGLER vs Tommy HEARNS: FULL FIGHT
Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life
Show Notes
2:07 – (First Question) – Peter’s career journey that led him to where he is today
2:31 – Marvin HAGLER vs Tommy HEARNS: FULL FIGHT
3:46 – How he thinks about longevity
4:37 – Peter’s longevity chart
6:31 – Four things most likely to kill you
7:47 – The quality of your life in the later part of your life
9:03 – Four ways he defines health span; cognition, physical dimension, sense of purpose and social support, capacity to cope with distress or distress tolerance.
10:56 – The problem with clinical studies in analyzing longevity and his mission to get from medicine 1.0 to 2.0 to 3.0
12:15 – Medicine 1.0 and major leaps in longevity
13:01 – Medicine 2.0 and clinical trials
14:52 – Medicine 3.0 and personalized medicine
16:22 – The playbook for living longer
19:26 - Senescence, the cells that are programmed to do bad things
22:17 – Understanding our evolutionary needs to learn what as individuals do to increase lifespan and quality of life as it pertains to food, sleep, and movement.
30:32 – Where evolution doesn’t offer insight into living a better life; mindfulness
33:27 – What are the changes that Peter has made that he’s been doing the longest and most recently
33:35 – Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life
37:54 – Peter’s philosophy on mastery
40:13 – Audience Question: How does something who seemingly doesn’t take care of themselves seem to be in such good health?
38:38 - Audience Question: Peter’s favorite car to race and how it effects his health
51:19 – Audience Question: Is the key to life a minimalist lifestyle
53:54 – Audience Question: the role of the microbiome
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
[After talking to the brilliant string of guests the past several weeks, Patrick’s brain needed a rest—oh and a concussion didn’t help matters. To hold you over until next week, here is one of the most interesting but less well known conversations from the invest like the best archives.]
This week’s episode is the most unique to date. My guest is Boyd Varty, who grew up in the South African Bush, living among and tracking wild leopards. The main theme of our conversation is tracking, and how the same strategy for pursuing animals in the wild can be applied to all aspects of our lives. Boyd’s family has been tracking animals for four generations, and he is bringing what they have learned to a larger audience around the world.
The episode includes the best answer I’ve ever heard (which comes when I ask Boyd to describe his most memorable experience). We also discuss the dangers of an achievement or goal oriented mindset, and what he learned from spending time with Nelson Mandela as a boy.
This episode is one I hope you share with those you love, because I think Boyd’s ideas will have a profound impact on many who are thinking about what to do with their lives—whether they are young or old.
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
0:00 – Exploring Boyd’s childhood through a story about a black mamba
3:13 – Looking at the early history of Boyd’s family and their foundation in the bush of South Africa
7:00 – The launch of their safari business
8:06 – How they connected with an ecologist that encouraged them to “partner” with the land and how that led to the leopards of Londolozi
14:25 – Expanding their model to other areas and creating an economy of wildlife.
15:12 – How Boyd discovered what he wanted to do with his life in healing
20:49 – The concept of Ubuntu, the African value “I am, because of you.”
25:18 – How Patrick got to meet Boyd
26:15 – Exploring the idea of building your villages and some of the forces that combat that in our daily lives.
31:23 – The difficulty in following your inner compass
32:06 – Mr. Money Mustache
36:55 – Looking at Boyd’s early experiences in tracking and how he applies those principles in his current life.
42:23 – Exploring the two different types of confidence and why there’s a benefit to throwing yourself into difficult situations, especially as a tracker.
47:13 – Identifying the places where you can be relentless in life
49:56 – The single most memorable tracking experience for Boyd, which is an incredible tale of tracking lions. (Also one of the best answers to a question yet)
1:01:49 – What can people do to get the holistic experience of the African bush
1:02:20 – The PResencing Institute
1:04:15 – Ways that people can learn more about Boyd.
1:04:31 – Ted Talk
1:04:43 – The book
1:04:48 – Workshops/Tracking Retreats
1:05:05 – Seminar in Deer Valley
1:05:13 – Martha Beck’s work
1:05:15 – Finding Your Way in a Wild New World: Reclaim Your True Nature to Create the Life You Want
1:05:36 – Website
1:06:56 – When Nelson Mandela stayed with his family after getting out of prison
1:13:34 – Kindest thing anyone has ever done for Boyd
1:15:15 – A story of how his friend Sully saved his life from a crocodile
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 Albert Wenger, a managing partner at Union Square Ventures and the author of the book World After Capital.
Albert studied economics at Harvard and earned a PhD in information from technology, but if you’d asked me to guess before looking those up, I’d have guessed that he studied philosophy because of how widely he has thought about the world and the impact of technology.
Our conversation is about how technology is changing the world from an Industrial Age to a knowledge age. We explore how cryptocurrencies, low cost computing, and regulation will impact our future and why the transition may require delicate care.
I loved this conversation because of my obsession with the concept of scarcity. We explore what has been scarce through time and what may be scarce in the future. Albert is one of the most interesting thinkers I’ve come across and was a pleasure to speak with. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
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
Show Notes
2:16 – (First Question) – Defining what it means to be human
2:58 – World After Capital
3:56 – Trans-humans vs neo-humans
4:37 – The concept of Qualia
5:25 – Albert’s investment philosophy=
8:27 – How Albert began his exploration into cryptocurrencies
12:59 – Most exciting things blockchains could enable
14:27 – How does Albert view blockchain technology from the view of an venture capital investor
17:00 - Why Albert thinks that the dominate cryptocurrency of our time may not exist just yet and what he is looking for in protocols that will become the leader in the space
20:16 – What are the central functions that will be important in cryptocurrencies
21:22 - The state of regulation in the cryptocurrency space
27:37 – What has Albert most excited for the future of blockchain
29:10 – The idea of universal basic income
32:26 – How do you solve the problem of giving money value in a world of universal basic income
35:00 – How scarcity has changed over time
39:01 – Role of financial capital in the last 200 years of civilization
42:39 – Are we as a society only capable of solving problems once they become an immediate threat
44:15 – Explaining the idea of attention as a scarce resource
47:56 – The two key drivers of change; zero marginal cost distribution and universality of computational power
53:13 - What should we as investors and inventors be focusing on as the new objective function
57:24 – Scariest aspect of this transition into the knowledge age
59:45 – Three basic freedoms we all seek; informational, economic, psychological
1:02:13 – Fermi’s paradox and the scarcity of attention
1:02:56 – How Albert thinks about his own day and wellbeing given all of this information
1:05:01 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Albert
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 another in a recent series of people that makes me want to work harder, learn more, and do more for others. His name is Savneet Singh, and he has already accomplished a remarkable amount in the worlds of business and investing. He’s preferred to keep a bit of a low profile, but I’m hoping, for everyone’s sake, to change that a little bit.
Savneet has invested in unique things like Spanish real estate, famous startups like Uber, cryptocurrencies before they were cool, and even websites. He founded and built a fintech company. And now, he both a partner at the wide-ranging investment firm CoVenture, with my previous guest Ali Hamed, and the co-founder of Tera Holdings, which is trying to become the Berkshire Hathaway of software companies.
To say this conversation is wide-ranging is an understatement. What’s neat is that my favorite parts aren’t even on investing, but are instead on principles for living.
Savneet is one of the best people I’ve met in this journey. I’ve had several other conversations with him with shockingly low overlap with the one you are about to hear—a testament to his active and curious mind. I hope you enjoy learning from him as much as I have.
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
Ali Hamed podcast episolde
The VERY simple bear case for bitcoin
Books Referenced
Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist
The Gorilla Game: Picking Winners in High Technology
Show Notes
2:30 – (First Question) – How Savneet started thinking about Spanish real estate.
4:29 – Why Airbnb could be the most impactful and interesting of the companies like this
5:25 – Savneet’s early entrepreneurial ventures
6:42 – His big investing influences
7:02 – Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist
7:40 – What did Savneet learn in his two years on the sell-side of Wall Street
8:50 – How the financial crisis impacted Savneet
10:11 – The entrepreneurial journey and GBI
11:40 – Savneet’s observations on the FinTech space and investing in it
14:59 – How we can use FinTech to get into an actual new business
16:22 – His thoughts on venture capital style investing
18:36 – Transition out of GBI into his partnership with Ali Hamed
20:46 – What Savneet took from his tennis career
22:13 – The impactful things that his parents did for him
23:23 – How Savneet thinks about justice in his life
24:39 – Most memorable trip Savneet took
25:50 - Why you have to take action
26:19 – Why value investing struck a chord with Savneet
27:22 – How culture plays an important role in the compounding companies he would invest in
28:14 – Defining the proper long-term mindset when starting a company
29:44 – Back to culture of successful compounding companies
31:21 – Knowing what he knows now, what does he think about Berkshire today
33:22 – The strategy behind Terra and how it came together
35:00 – His checklist for deciding to invest in a firm
37:31 – How do they think about the defensibility of the companies they invest in
39:58 – The importance of cyclicality in the customer base of companies they invest in
41:38 – Why does Savneet think this is the space he wants to remain in for the long-term
44:39 – How they are thinking about pricing a company they invest in
47:03 – Lessons learned in sales and marketing that he can and will bring to the software world
52:05 – What Savneet has learned from Constellation
54:39 – What does Savneet’s funnel for bringing in new companies look like
56:31 – What helps to drive a lot of conversion for them
59:08 – What lessons has Savneet learned about taxes in their company structure
1:00:32 – How does Terra think about diversification
1:02:13 – How they think about capital sourcing
1:05:08 – His balanced view on crypto as an asset class
1:05:18 – The VERY simple bear case for bitcoin
1:09:45 – Savneet shares the Sikh philosophy with Patrick
1:11:43 – What Sikh traditions does Savneet take part in and what are their significance to him
1:13:21 – A look at Owl Mountain
1:15:59 – The Gorilla Game: Picking Winners in High Technology
1:16:42 – Any other areas that people are underestimating
1:17:22 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Savneet
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
It has been a while since we discussed private equity on the show, so I was excited for this week’s conversation. My guest is Dan Rasmussen, the founder of Verdad advisers. Dan worked in private equity and has spent years studying the entire field.
Dan identified several key drivers of private equity’s outsized returns: size, value, and leverage. His firm uses these factors as a starting point to build a portfolio of public equities that behave like their private brethren.
We cover a ton of ground, discussing the prospective returns for equities, forecasting, and tons of investing strategies.
Please enjoy this conversation with Dan Rasmussen.
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
The Gospel According to Michael Porter
Books Referenced
Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know?
Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction
Show Notes
2:03 – (First Question) – The current state of private equity investing
4:09 – The three myths of private equity
6:51 – Taking a deeper dive into the myth of growth through operational improvements
11:25 – Valuations for private market investment and where they’re going
14:03 – Private equity companies that have a higher chance of delivering results that exceed expectation
16:39 – Other observations on the private equity space that would be interesting to investors considering the asset class
19:33 – Importance of being very purposeful in picking your reference classes
19:42 – Subscribe to Dan
22:03 – How do the lessons Dan has learned in private equity translate to his investment strategies
25:21 – How do you apply purely technical, systematic thinking into public market investing
29:23 – Analyzing leveraged stocks and the value they could create
30:06 – How Dan thinks about the direction of debt vs just the level
33:11 – Predicting a firms ability to deleverage
35:20 – How Dan’s company whittle down a company and are able to see value beyond their quantitative screens
41:29 – How does Dan think about the global vs US opportunity set
44:22 – What originally drew Dan to the Japan market
47:03 – How do rising rates impact Dan’s strategy in investing in highly leveraged companies
51:19 – Importance of having investor money locked up for a longer period of time both for the fund and investor
55:03 – Porter’s five forces
55:25 - The Gospel According to Michael Porter
1:00:51 – How Dan thinks about competitive advantage
1:04:41 – Exploring Dan’s personal process in pursuit of his ideal strategy
1:05:20 – Tobias Carlisle
1:06:27 – Steven Pinker
1:06:28 – E.O. Wilson
1:07:11 – What other markets pique Dan’s interest
1:09:39 – Why there is such a focus on small for Dan
1:11:11 – Source or person that Dan has learned the most from that might surprise people
1:11:24 – Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know?
1:11:28– Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction
1:12:54– What was it like writing the book
1:17:19 – If Dan was going to write another book today, what would it be about
1:19:08– Kindest thing anyone has done for Dan
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, back for a second conversation, is Pat Dorsey. Pat ran equity research at Morningstar before leaving to start his own asset management company: Dorsey Asset Management. His areas of deep interest are competitive advantage and capital allocation. He believes that capital allocation should be in service of competitive advantage and invests in a concentrated portfolio that he and his team feel embody these ideas.
If you have not already, I strongly recommend listening to our first conversation, which is a sort of crash course on moats. In this conversation, we cover different ground. We spend much more time on individual stocks like Facebook, Google, and Chegg, using them as examples to explore Pat’s investment philosophy and strategy.
Across a few conversations with Pat, I can tell he is in love with this stuff, and I always enjoy talking to investors like him who so passionately pursue and edge. Please enjoy round two with Pat Dorsey.
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
Pat Dorsey's first appearance on the podcast
Books Referenced
Show Notes
2:15 – (First Question) – Pat’s methods for valuing a business
4:17 – Is this process done after they would first identify potential targets for investment
5:11 – Pat’s take on how the market classifies stocks as growth vs value
6:40 – Qualitative insights and why the market can’t price them very accurately
9:57 – The business model behind zero marginal cost distribution business model
12:00 – Network effects and the potential downside to them down the road
13:54 – Valuing Facebook as a business heavily reliant on network effects
16:45 – What would have to change for Pat’s position on Facebook to radically change
18:58 – Most important lessons that a smaller/private business could learn from Facebook or Google’s business models
19:48 – Where is Amazon in Pat’s portfolio
20:27 – Primary research and the value that is derived from it
22:06 – An example of where primary research led to a big surprise about a company
24:05 – The value of travel in this business, starting with recent travel to India
26:05 – Why are they targeting India and Japan
27:24 – How does he think about the risk of investing in foreign markets
29:52 – His thinking on relative vs absolute market share
31:26 – Exploring the SaaS business model
34:35 – The application of moats and pricing power with SaaS businesses
34:36 – Pat Dorsey's first appearance on the podcast
36:17 – Understanding how to evaluate a SaaS or subscription-based business (Lifetime Value of the Customer vs Acquisition Cost)
40:07 – Other models that Pat explores and how to screen for them
41:37 – How does he parse the difference between attention and demand
43:19 – How would Pat monetize something like HQ - Live Trivia Game Show that has aggregated massive amount of attention
45:19 – How does Pat react to the idea that attention is scarce and human capital is so crucial
45:14 – World After Capital
47:04 – How does Pat evaluate human capital in a business
48:09 – Experience in starting an asset management business
50:20 – What are the levers that are biggest value drivers in the asset management business
53:57 – Pat’s view on the strength of the relationship between risk and return
57:06 – The most risk Pat has taken in the face of uncertainty
59:23 – Favorite recent learning resource
59:43 – Principles: Life and Work
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
Long-time listeners will have heard me joke before that this podcast should really be called “this is who are you up against.” I’ve been waiting for the right episode to deploy the joke as a title, and this week we have it.
The joke is meant to convey how incredibly impressive these people are who we get to hear from every week. My guest this week is Josh Wolfe, a founding and managing partner at Lux Capital in New York City. Lux is a venture capital firm, but a highly unique one. They’ve spent more time in hard sciences and interesting nooks and crannies of the market than the typical VC firm.
Some of investing is zero sum: my outperformance is someone else’s underperformance. Sometimes, though, investing is positive sum. The combination of capital, ideas, people, drive, and raw energy leads to amazing new things.
I think the best investing and best investors of the future will be more collaborative than competitive. After finishing with Josh, I couldn’t stop thinking “god, do I want to be involved with whatever he’s doing, if only just to learn.”
This conversation made me rethink my joke “this is who are you up against.” Now I won’t think of it as a zero-sum joke, but instead as a reminder: this is the kind of person who is out there. You better find your niche, and still be the absolute best you can within that niche.
Please enjoy this killer conversation with Josh Wolfe. We cover just about everything.
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
Investing in Biofuels or Biofools?
Books Referenced
Modern Monopolies: What It Takes to Dominate the 21st Century Economy
Show Notes
2:35 – (First Question) – Lux Capital and the kind of investments they have made over the years
5:42 – The formation of the investment philosophy for Lux
8:17 – Why randomness and optionality are important cornerstones to the philosophy
9:52 – Investment philosophy 100-0-100 (ambition, arrogance, intellectual humility)
10:40 – How Josh manages his time and attention
12:53 – Investing in Biofuels or Biofools?
13:29 – Obsession with nuclear
15:15 – Investment in metamaterials
18:28 – Focus on autonomous vehicles
21:02 – How all of these gambles are viewed by Josh’s investors
22:56 – Tattoo technology
24:20 – Ali Hamed podcast
24:36 – How Josh evaluates people when considering early stage investments
24:45 – Alex Moazed podcast
24:49 – Modern Monopolies: What It Takes to Dominate the 21st Century Economy
28:10 – Why the minority opinion tends to lead to the best outcomes
29:50 – Memorable experience investing in a founder
30:44 – The idea of thesis driven approach to private investment
30:56 – Andy Rachleff podcast
32:38 – Crazy thesis – understanding the emotional needs of our pets
34:59 – Crazy thesis – Turning genetic abnormalities into treatments and cures for common conditions
38:03 – Josh’s learning process through these theses
38:34 – Popplet
39:56 – Understanding rebel scientists when it’s impossible to predict what is going to happen
44:35 – Can the charge forward mindset be cultivated, or does it have to come naturally
45:49 – Investors that Josh has learned the most from
47:37 – Josh’s comfort investing outside of his usual asset class
49:03 – @wolfejosh
50:56 – What is the thinking with the short strategy at Lux
52:31 – SpaceX vs Tesla, good business vs bad business
53:42 – How Josh approaches the quality of a business
54:15 – World After Capital
55:16 – How does Josh evaluate competitive advantage
56:45 – Where are we in the venture capital landscape
1:01:42 – How does his outlook on venture capital affect the way Lux is run
1:02:48 – thoughts on cryptocurrency
1:05:28 – An overview of Santa Fe Institute
1:07:22 – What is the most memorable conversation Josh has ever had
1:09:34 – What is Josh’s objective function in life
1:12:43 – Are there people that Josh disagrees with but deeply respects
1:13:32 – Kindest thing anyone has ever done for Josh
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 Harvey Sawikin, a co-founder and lead portfolio manager at Firebird Management, which manages funds dedicated to investing in emerging market equities. Emerging markets are often a blind spot for investors of all types: most of us have never traveled to the far east or eastern Europe, where many of the thousands of emerging market public equities operate.
I’ve been very lucky to travel quite a bit in Asia and the Middle East, but never to eastern Europe, which where Firebird focuses its investments. Harvey and I discuss his 24 years of experience evaluating emerging and frontier market countries, industries, and individual stocks. We discuss his experience buying privatization vouchers in Russia, banks in the Baltics, and how today’s emerging market opportunity set compares to the past.
Like so many of these conversations with investors who have earned significant excess returns, its clear investing opportunities in emerging markets are often disguised. Finding them requires risk, hard work, discipline, and a dose of luck and timing. Please enjoy my conversation with Harvey on Emerging Market Opportunities.
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
Books Referenced
The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of Practical Counsel
Education of Rick Green, Esquire
Show Notes
2:26 – (First Question) – Most memorable travel experience since the beginning of Firebird
5:41 - How Harvey got interested in emerging markets investing, specifically, Eastern Europe and Russia
10:00 – How does the landscape for emerging markets today compare to when he first started
12:30 – What are the factors of an emerging market to look at and why do some not pan out
15:04 – Do countries have to meet minimum criteria before Harvey and his team will even start to do work on an emerging market
17:33 – How does Harvey distinguish between frontier and emerging markets
18:37 – Thoughts on the access points that regular investors have into emerging markets, such as ETF’s and Mutual Funds
23:48 – How does Harvey think about risk exposure when constructing a portfolio
25:56 – Looking at the bottom up part of the equation, what factors within a company or sector are considered as part of the investing decision
31:05 – Dividends in emerging markets
33:09 – How do US equities stack up as an investment against fixed income
34:53 - The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of Practical Counsel
36:52 - How do US equities stack up as an investment against emerging markets
39:38 – What type of investor allocate funds to emerging markets
42:37 – The value of travel in understanding emerging markets
50:19 – Biggest mistakes that emerging market investors make
54:49 – What in today’s markets has the smell of opportunity
55:53 – Harvey’s interest in Via
56:58 – Interest in buying gold coins
1:00:05 – If Harvey could only choose one country to visit, business or pleasure, where would he go
1:01:09 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Harvey
1:01:38 – Education of Rick Green, Esquire
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 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