My guest this week for the third time is Michael Mauboussin. If there is a major question about markets and investing, Michael has usually written one of the best pieces of research on that topic. Today’s conversation is a mix of several of his research pieces, but focuses on the sources of alpha.
The framing of the conversation is the brilliant question “who is on the other side” of a given trade. If you are buying, who is selling, and why? Knowing the answer to this question is one key to understanding where excess return comes from. As is usual with Michael, we also explore tons of other interesting ideas that will serve as food for thought. Please enjoy.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag
Show Notes
1:23 - (First Question) – An outline of the syllabus for the course he teaches
4:02 – What are smart people missing when it comes to decision making
5:33 – Why Michael went down the path of defining major investing concepts
7:41 – On the impossibility of informational inefficient markets
9:14 – Beware behavioral finance
12:03 – What are the behavioral errors that people can take advantage of in a trade
15:14 – Timing opportunities
17:25 – Modest Proposal Podcast Episode
17:47 – Where the analytical edge comes from
21:16 – Is there an advantage to exhibit time arbitrage
23:53 – Technical arbitrage
29:34 – What impact do flows into ETFs play on the market
32:25 – Informational edge and how you source that edge
36:39 – Biggest changes that he has seen on the buy side
43:18 - How would Michael apply this as a sports GM
48:35 – His views on stock buybacks
51:02 – The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success
52:55 – EBIT to EBITDA paper
54:43 – What Does a PE Multiple Mean?
59:28 – The concept of benign myths
1:02:06 – What the future holds of Michael
1:04:17 – The Myth of Capitalism: Monopolies and the Death of Competition
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 with Annie Duke, and the topic of our discussion is how to improve decision making.
We break decisions down into their component parts: values, beliefs, decisions, randomness, and outcomes. After diving into each, we discuss how to make better decisions, how to work in group settings, and how to harness power of tribes and identity to improve our behavior.
Annie has thought about this as much as anyone, and her various tricks for getting us to think in probabilities and to stop evaluating decisions based on outcomes that have been tainted by randomness will be useful for anyone listening.
Please enjoy.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag
Show Notes
1:23 - (First Question) – Why people don’t take the best investing advice
2:11 – Investing tribes
4:21 – Jay Van Bavel twitter
6:34 – Rule setting as a way of crafting an investment strategy
11:13 – How much control do we have in choosing our values
15:52 – Anatomy of a decision
19:28 – Her concept of resulting
26:47 - How beliefs impact your decision making
34:28 – Tact’s for making the best decision
42:40 – Ego and decision making
47:06 – People who are exceptional at changing their decision making
48:18 – How often do people who change their decision making, stick with the rules of the game
50:07 – Finite and Infinite Games
50:28 – Psychology of making decision that involves other people
59:20 - Never close doors on other people
1:01:57 – Best decision that Annie made
1:04:24 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Annie
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 unique and so requires a short story.
I met our guest Michael Mayer because of twitter. I followed and enjoyed one of several pseudonymous accounts that he maintains to experiment with ideas. His various accounts have wide followings.
I think many of the best accounts on twitter are anonymous or pseudonymous, and I’ve always made a point to get to know the ones I like best. As it turns out, Michael was also an entrepreneur. He’d been building a new company and was raising a small amount of outside capital.
I didn’t invest personally, in part because he raised it so quickly after I spoke with him. Ever since, I’ve gotten to know him better and followed his company, Bottomless, with interest. You know that I am always hyper transparent about any potential conflicts of interest, so it’s worth noting that while I am not an investor in this company, I expect to be at some point in the future.
The topic of our conversation is both his social media activity and his company. I am a coffee fanatic, and the problem he is solving is one I live. I order a weekly bag of coffee beans, but I often have too much coffee or run out. Bottomless solves this by shipping you a simple scale which you keep wherever you store your coffee, connect to your Wi-Fi, and set your bag of coffee on. It automatically orders new coffee for you at the right time. Thus the name: Bottomless. If you like the conversation, check out bottomless.com
With this podcast, all I’m really trying to do is find, meet, and learn from interesting people. Michael certainly qualifies. I hope you enjoy this unique episode.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag
Show Notes
2:06 - (First Question) – Why he writes under a pseudonym online
2:58 – Positive impacts of writing this way
3:45 – His background
5:02 – Habits he improved upon
7:03 – Where did his exploration into technology and start-ups come from
7:33 – Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions
10:32 – Elements of business that interest him most
13:26 – Building social capital vs the current state of education
17:06 – What information does he like to consume
18:17 – Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
18:34 – Jerry Neumann blog Reaction Wheel | Podcast episode
18:39 – Kevin Simler’s blog Melting Asphalt| Podcast Episode
21:01 – Why the current education system is busted
22:54 – Formation of his business
24:04 – Importance of making things legible
25:54 – On demand delivery vs subscription business models
30:16 – Early day in developing the scale for his business
33:50 – What he learned about coffee roasters
35:29 – thoughts on supplier power
36:17 – The customer relationship
39:50 – Best objections to his business
41:58 – Biggest operational/emotional challenges
42:56 – Best moment
44:39 – Time at Y combinator
46:28 – His unique co-founder story
49:47 – Marketing strategies and acquisition costs
51:37 – The idea of a commercial loop
53:27 – Discarded ideas, such as spaced repetition social networks
57:38 – Having a long-term plan vs reformatting a business into success
1:00:35 – What works on twitter based on his experience
1:03:09 – Most controversial opinion
1:05:59 – Kindest thing anyone has done
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
Peter is a geopolitical strategist who combines expertise in demography, economics, energy, politics, technology, and security to assess an uncertain future. Before founding his own strategy firm, Peter helped develop the analytical models for Stratfor, one of the world’s premier private intelligence companies.
I came across Peter via his books the Accidental Superpower and the Absent Superpower. We discuss America’s changing place in the world and four additional countries poised to do well in the future. Spoiler alert: he believes the U.S. is particularly well positioned.
While we don’t discuss equity markets per se, all of what we talk about will obviously impact companies across the world for the remainder of our careers. Please enjoy our conversation.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag
Show Notes
1:32 - (First Question) – His model of the world
4:05 – What makes for a strategically advantaged country
5:35 – History of the Bretton Woods agreement and the order that it created
8:47 – The security apparatus that has made globalization of manufacturing possible
12:04 – The US’s pullback from being the naval police of global trade
12:08 – The Absent Superpower: The Shale Revolution and a World Without America
14:57 – How energy has played into America’s disinterest abroad
21:52 – Moving towards global disorder
24:55 – Characterizing factors that will impact countries in any collapse
27:38 – How this manifest in physical conflict
32:44 – How the new world order will end the ease of innovation we are accustomed to today
34:13 – What gets the US to reengage before this new world order
38:08 – Demographics that make a country prepared for this, Japan as an example
40:57 – A look at China
43:59 – What the story is about Argentina
45:52 – How North America fares based on their geography and relationships
49:50 – The trader wars that are currently ongoing
52:17 – US political system
56:15 – Most important policy issues moving forward
58:27 – His view on American infrastructure
1:00:33 – Technologies that interest him the most
1:02:55 – What he is watching most closely in his research, starting with media
1:05:59 – What are and should be the countries of the future
1:06:55 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Peter
1:07:32 – Favorite places he’s been
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