Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

If you told me a year ago that I’d be learning critical life and business lessons from the founder of a ketchup company, and that thirty to fifty thousand people would listen to our conversation, well, I’d have told you that’s impossible. But the fact that it is true proves many of the points laid out by this week’s guest Scott Norton, co-founder of Sir Kensington’s which was recently acquired by Uni-Lever. Sir Kensington’s, which makes “condiments with character” is no ordinary Ketchup company, and Scott is no ordinary founder.

We talk about the most elemental aspects of business: product, relationships, sales, marketing, and culture. I love that we can do so through the lens of such a seemingly simple product, something that we use all the time with our families at a BBQ. Scott’s observations on culture, the importance of relationships in sales, and competitive edge are all memorable. But above all, I’ll remember his line: seek to learn that which cannot be taught. And I will continually return to the mental image of the Temple of Poseidon.

Oh, and as a bonus we also talk about biking around Asia, which like all of Scott’s stories comes complete with thought provoking lessons.

Enjoy this unique conversation with one of the most interesting people I’ve met on this journey. We begin with the history of ketchup.

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/norton

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

They Call Me Supermensch: A Backstage Pass to the Amazing Worlds of Film, Food, and Rock’n’Roll (Movie)

Books Referenced

Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In

How to Win Friends & Influence People

They Call Me Supermensch: A Backstage Pass to the Amazing Worlds of Film, Food, and Rock’n’Roll (Book)

Show Notes

2:40 – (First question) – A look at the history of ketchup

5:16 – The milestones of ketchup’s history in the US

10:26 – What were the early days like to compete in a market where the leaders have such a stronghold on the consumer

14:41 – Effective ways to negotiate

14:57 – Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In

16:32 – How may stages were there in the early products

19:04 – A look at kaizen and what it means to Scott

20:38 – Scandinavian business principles that they bring to the company

23:40 – As the company has grown, has Scott seen downsides to the stakeholder model especially when competing against larger companies that use the shareholder model

28:19 – How did they use outside capital in getting started

31:07 – What was the most memorable story from the early days of disrupting this legacy industry, especially as it relates to the sales of this product

 33:30 – How to Win Friends & Influence People

33:58 – How do you create trust and show the benefits of your product in sales

37:48 – How culture started for the company, how it’s shifted since then and what competitive advantage the right culture creates

41:47 – Some of the best outcomes are the result of mindset and culture

43:28 – What new frontiers is Scott and the company looking at today

51:41 – The power of giving and how it will bring large returns, especially when you don’t expect them as part of the giving

53:04 – They Call Me Supermensch: A Backstage Pass to the Amazing Worlds of Film, Food, and Rock’n’Roll (Book and Movie)

55:37 – Look at Scott’s decision to bike around Asia and what he experienced during that time

1:02:49 – Best advice for someone in their early 20’s

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 Andy Rachleff, who is the CEO of the automated investing platform Wealthfront. Andy was also a co-founder and long-time partner at Benchmark capital--one of the most interesting and successful venture capital firms in the world.

We spend most of our conversation discussing venture capital investing and entrepreneurship. Andy coined the now ubiquitous term “product/market fit,” and has great insight into how investors and entrepreneurs should think about business. In that vein, we discuss both what we refer to as the value hypothesis: building a product or service that customers love, and the growth hypothesis: scaling that product or service to a large market.

We finish our conversation by talking about Andy and his teams mission at Wealthfront, and this conversation is perfectly timed, as Wealthfront just released a new feature that allows investors to buy factor portfolios, similar to Smart Beta ETFs.

Above all, I’ll remember Andy’s advice to “put the gun in the other person’s hand,” a strategy that we explore in the middle of our talk.

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/andy

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 Four Steps to the Epiphany

The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses

Millennial Money: How Young Investors Can Build a Fortune

Diffusion of Innovations

Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers

Show Notes

2:36 – (First question) – The partnership setup and how they came to be 5 equal partners

7:57 – Why benchmark would not take on the chairman role in companies they invested in

9:28 – What made John Doerr the greatest capitalist investor ever

11:59 – Looking at the venture process and what made it an attractive investment for Benchmark, using eBay as an example.

18:06 – If you are willing to help other people, without an expectation of return, it can create other opportunities

20:08 – Andy is asked to explain the idea of Product Market Fit, a term that he coined

22:18 – How does one go about finding a Product Market Fit

            23:05 – The Four Steps to the Epiphany

            23:19 – The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses

25:55 – What are the components of the Growth hypothesis

26:51 – Why you can learn more professionally from success vs failure

28:13 – What it’s like to shift from venture capitalist to operator/CEO

30:24 – The rate at which technology gets adopted and what will help Wealthfront

            30:53 – Millennial Money: How Young Investors Can Build a Fortune

            31:26 – Diffusion of Innovations

            31:38 – Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers

32:38 – What does it look like to innovate on top of current platforms

41:07 – Will platforms like Wealthfront help to democratize access to private markets

44:23 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Andy

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’ve often joked that this show should be called “this is who you are up against,” because I am so often having conversations with brilliant people across the investment landscape who are effectively my competition and yours. This week’s conversation fits that description because it gives you an inside view into how things work among some of Wall Street’s most competitive investment firms. My guest is Leigh Drogen, who has worked as a statistical arbitrage portfolio manager and who founded and now runs Estimize, a data company which works with some of the world’s largest hedge funds.

Our conversation centers on the massive shift from what we call discretionary portfolio management—basically stock picking—to a landscape that is increasingly dominated by quantitative investors of various types. We talk about how any investor might hope to earn alpha, and how doing so is harder and harder.

There are so many great stories in this episode, told by someone with the perfect career experience to know how the system actually works. After many episodes where I’ve been learning on the fly about topics like venture capital, permanent equity, or health, this episode marks a return to my world of quantitative investing. I think you’ll learn a lot, and that you’ll likely finish with an even deeper appreciation of just the type of investors that we are all up against. 

Books Referenced

Revenge of the Humans: How Discretionary Managers Can Crush Systematics

Links Referenced

The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds

Force Rank (App)

Founder of Estimize Explains How He Plans To Disrupt The World Of Wall Street Research

Show Notes

2:45 – (First question) – A look at Leigh’s early career and how he got started in investing

3:13 – Revenge of the Humans: How Discretionary Managers Can Crush Systematics

8:04 – What happened when things stopped working towards the end of 2007.

9:35 – The proper dimensions to separate any sort of potential Alpha edge

11:15 – The traits that help a fund perform well

11:42 – The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds

14:05 – Force Rank (App)

14:49 – How the scientific process plays into Leigh’s research strategies

19:18 – Explain what Estimize is and what it does

20:55 – How people are compensated for the estimates

23:33 – The scale of how many estimates they get per company

24:57 – Why you need to be part of this informational arms race if you hope to survive

28:30 – What happens if everyone buys Estimize data and the Alpha built into it goes away

31:04 – What has been the evolution in these hedge fund platform type companies

35:00 – If Leigh was designing a firm from scratch, what would it look like

37:25 – Understanding Numerai and crowdsourcing in funds

41:41 – What is an example of interesting data set that Leigh as come across

45:38 – What is the potential for a hybrid model between a quant only with a discretionary picker.

51:35 – How do you know when something is busted or broken?

55:33 – Exploring his most memorable individual day in his career – Flash Crash

58:16 – With all the algorithms and automation, will we continue to see more of these unforeseeable dislocations like the flash crash?

1:01:00 – Bloomberg article about passive investing rates

1:07:50 – What is Leigh most excited about the future

1:13:15 – Kindest thing anyone has ever done for Leigh

           1:13:41 – Founder of Estimize Explains How He Plans To Disrupt The World Of Wall Street Research

Learn More

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/drogen

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 is very unique. It is the first episode devoted to bonds, just not the kind of bonds you are used to. My guest is Ira Judelson, who is the leading bail bondsman in New York City. I met Ira through my friend and former podcast guest Danny Moses, who is also a part of this conversation.

I have always had a passion for understanding how different businesses work. In this case, this week we are exploring a different business, but also a different world. Ira’s story is larger than life. He is as authentic and hard working as they come. In both his book and this conversation, there is a lot about family, loyalty, and hard work—principles which really resonate with me.

You’ll emerge from this hour with an appreciation of hustle and what it takes to get ahead. I can’t stop thinking about our discussion on how sources of power in any career morph through time, a framework that can help anyone think about their work and where to apply effort.

The conversation goes all over the place, but suffice it to say we discuss bond collateral, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and DMX—and that is but one small fraction.

Please enjoy my conversation with Ira Judelson and Danny Moses.

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/ira

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 Fixer: The Notorious Life of a Front-Page Bail Bondsman

Links Referenced

Rao’s Restaurant

Show Notes

1:55 – (First question) – The role that Rao’s restaurant has meant to Ira’s business and career

6:11 – A look at Ira’s bail bonds business and how that industry works

            6:22 – The Fixer: The Notorious Life of a Front-Page Bail Bondsman

8:31 – The story of how a pizzeria was a bad piece of collateral

11:10 – How often does Ira deal with bail jumpers

12:10 – What is the size of the open liabilities

13:14 – How long will the open liabilities last

14:55 – Ira’s relationship with his clients and the importance of character in this business

17:46 – the amazing story of how Ira got started in this business

31:05 – His early years of being a bail bondsman and how important his wife was to his success

29:52 – How Ira balances family with this kind of work

32:22 – Ira’s ability to be amazingly efficient on the phone when in social settings and a work call comes in

33:14 – Ira is the fixer

36:40 – Exploring the “Sources of Power” and where the balance for Ira of who he knows vs who he has shifted in this line of work.   

38:29 – The importance of intense reliability, consistency and empathy, and why Ira can trust his clients may be considered bad people

30:19 – Two cases where Ira got emotionally involved

47:26 – Why Ira is not worried about people coming after him

48:57 – When a bunch of detainees were wailing to wait an extra day in jail for Ira because his wife was pregnant with their first daughter

54:06 – Ira’s relationships with Ja Rule and DMX

58:32 – What does Ira enjoy most about the business still

1:01:51 – Will Ira ever stop?

1:04:02 – What advice would Ira give to someone early in their career just getting started

1:08:42 – The importance in having a willingness to fail mixed with the passion for what you are doing

1:10:11 – Ira’s health scare and what it taught him about appreciating life

This week's conversation was especially fun. I have a long history with my guest, Dave Chilton, but this was the first time we'd met in person. I'd heard stories about him from people I work with for twenty years, so getting to finally spend time with him was a real treat. I'll let him reveal the connection.

This episode will also be fun for listeners in the US, as Dave is one of the best-known people in Canada because of his famous book the wealthy barber and his more recent stint as a dragon on Dragon’s Den, which is Canada's version of shark tank.

I called this episode the human blitzkrieg because of Dave's relentlessly positive style and curiosity. He has dabbled in many parts of the business and investing worlds. He is one of the most successful authors in history, has invested in dozens of interesting businesses, and is a Jedi master in the long-lost art of the phone conversation.

We discuss business, investing, and writing. If you enjoy this conversation and have any aspirations as a writer, I highly recommend you check out the series of videos Dave and his son recently released called the Chilton method, which I will link in the show notes. I have no financial interest in this recommendation, and neither does Dave! He put it together in large part to stop people from calling him for advice. We discuss a few of the hundred plus lessons from his course in this conversation.

As you'll be able to tell early and often, it is hard not to have a good time with Dave.

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/chilton

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 David Salem. David was the founding president and CIO for The Investment Fund for Foundations, which served 800 endowed charities under David’s 18-year tenure. He's now the CIO of the Windhorse Group, which focuses on long-term, value oriented investing.

This conversation wanders into and explores many different areas of investing and life. The theme is how to think about asset allocation and investing holistically--from first principles--but we talk a lot about motivation, incentives, human behavior, and the fear of missing out as key variables in money management.

We discuss the history of the Yale and Harvard endowment models and how their success has affected the asset management world for better or worse. I had never heard such an interesting take on two very important institutions.

I also can't stop thinking about David’s "Mt. Everest" question, which we explore early in our conversation. I'd love to hear your answers to that question, so email me or message me with your thoughts.

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/salem

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 Michael Mauboussin, who is the head of global financial strategies at Credit Suisse and is on my short list of must read writers on all things investing. If you read his entire catalogue, Howard Marks's memos, and Buffett's shareholder letters, you be sitting pretty. Michael was also a big reason for the early success of this show appearing as my second guest and now my 37th. He and his team have been prolific in the last six months, publishing several long research reports on the most interesting aspects of the investing landscape. In this conversation, we talk about business moats, industry analysis, and how to combine man and machine when building an investment strategy and portfolio. As I tell Michael at the end, you won't be able to listen to this episode at two times speed, because we go deep quickly.

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/michael

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 guest is Will Thorndike, an author and investor whose book The Outsiders is an all-time favorite of mine. Our conversation is in two parts. First, we dive deep into the lessons of his 8-year research project studying CEOs who were master capital allocators. These CEOs include Henry Singleton, John Malone, Tom Murphy, Katherine Graham, and Warren Buffett. We discuss how these CEOs tended to be contrarians on topics like dividends, buybacks, acquisitions, and the use of debt. As we go through each of the tools in the capital allocators toolkit, you’ll hear several useful lessons for running or evaluating a business.

In the second part, we cover Will’s career in private equity. Will founded and continues to run Housatonic Partners, investing in buyouts, recaps, and search funds. Will has been one of the most active search fund investors for decades, and given how much time I’ve spent in past episodes on the searchers or operators in the micro-cap, permanent equity space, it was great to get the perspective of an experienced LP. As always, we also take time to survey the dangers and opportunities in today’s private equity market.

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/thorndike

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.

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 coming weekend is the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting in Omaha. That means this week is the perfect opportunity to discuss a topic which will likely figure prominently at Berkshire this weekend: Ted Seides’s famous bet with Buffett. Ted and I discuss the origins of the bet, the nuances beneath the headlines, and whether he’d make the bet again for the next ten years. Along the way, we cover many hot topics like hedge funds, alternatives, fees, and indexing. Please enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/bet

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 Danny Moses, who was directly in the middle of the biggest trades in market history, chronicled by Michael Lewis in his book the Big Short. Danny was the head trader on the Frontpoint team led by Steve Eisman, which was one of a small group of firms that figured out, in real time, the dire situation with mortgage-backed securities during the financial crisis, and how to build a portfolio to bet against the U.S. housing market. We cover his part in the Big Short story, but also lots of other interesting ground, including the state of sell-side research and financial markets. I love conversations with traders because they live and breathe market risk. You’ll be able to see why quickly in this great conversation with Danny Moses.

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/danny

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

In this episode, I continue to pull on one of the most interesting threads that I have uncovered while producing this podcast: the world of permanent equity. My guests today are Royce Yudkoff and Rick Ruback, two Harvard Business School professors who have partnered to create a popular class that teaches students how to search for, acquire, and run a small business directly after graduation.

I approach this conversation from an investors standpoint. LP investors usually partner with these searchers to form what is called a search fund. A search fund allows recent MBA grads to spend time looking for a business and ultimately acquire it. The result is a small scale but often high return proposition for investors. I loved our discussion of what to look for in a business and what to avoid. The principles we list are useful for investors of any kind, and will particularly appeal to those from the buy and hold, value investing, and quality investing camps.

One point of note which wasn’t captured during the recording. One of the reasons this style of investing isn’t more well known that it is extremely costly upfront. It can take years to find a company, and once found, the transaction costs can be 20% of the total purchase price. Rick calls this category “REALLY private equity.

If you enjoy this conversation, be sure to check our Royce and Rick’s book. HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business, which goes into many of the topics we cover in even greater detail.

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/hbs

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

SPECIAL EPISODE: Introducing Capital Allocators Podcast with Host Ted Seides This is a special episode to premiere a new podcast from my friend, Ted Seides. In this show, Capital Allocators, Ted will feature a broad range of people that control the flow of money through the capital markets.  Ted is in a unique position to this; he knows this world as well as anyone having spent with both allocators and the money managers who invest on their behalf.  Below is the information about this first episode including a link to the homepage of this show, where you can subscribe.   Enjoy the first full episode of Capital Allocators. ———————————————————————— Steven Galbraith is best known as the former Chief Investment Strategist at Morgan Stanley. He also sat in every seat in the asset management industry – credit and equity analyst, portfolio manager, business executive, entrepreneur, and Board member at an endowment and a large family office. We discuss Steve's journey, incorporating his deep insights in the investing world alongside colorful anecdotes of market inefficiencies in European football, college sports gambling, local breweries, and Charter Schools. For more episodes, go to capitalallocatorspodcast.com/podcast Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides

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 comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/boyd

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 Khe Hy. Khe has a very interesting, two-part story. We start with Khe's career at Blackrock, where he rose to be one of the youngest MDs at the firm, specializing in quantitative hedge funds. Khe shares his perspective on how the hedge fund landscape has changed and what investors should look for in hedge fund managers in the future.

The second part of the story is about Khe's attempt to understand himself. We get into fear, joy, and all that he has learned across several years of introspection and exploration. His lessons coalesce around four key pillars--compassion, stillness, uncomfortable introspection, and finding truth. We explore what he means by each of these ideas in detail. I don’t think that Khe is capable of lying. He is one of the most honest people I've met, for better or worse, and was kind to share both his struggles and moments of clarity on investing and life.

With Deep questions about purpose and deep questions about how to evaluate a quant hedge fund, This was my kind of conversation. Please enjoy

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/khe

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, my good friends Ted Seides and Brent Beshore join me to discuss the future of asset management and a ton of fun side topics. While we are all passionate about investing, we’ve had very different careers: Ted in alternatives, hedge funds and fund of funds, Brent in lower middle market private equity, and my own in quantitative equities. What we share is a passion for investing in general, and a deep interest in where the asset management business and profession is going.

This conversation starts like most episodes—a somewhat structured exploration of the investing business –but morphs to be a bit more fun and informal as we work our way through a bottle or two of wine. In the later half, we talk about how to dissect an industry, common features of good businesses within a given industry, books we’d like to write, books we wish existed, and things we’ve learned in our careers.

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/brentandted

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 my father, Jim O’Shaughnessy. He was a pioneer in quantitative equity research, part of an early group of explorers who combed through data to find factors which predicted future stock returns. While we’ve both written extensively on factor investing, we chose to mostly avoid that topic for this conversation. Instead, we discuss what has been a fascinating and colorful career on Wall Street. We talk about the power of premeditation, formative books, and his crazy experience during the dot-com boom when he ran a robo-advisor 15-years ahead of its time.

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/jim

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 Trish and James Higgins, who run Chenmark Capital Management.  In this episode we continue to explore a style of investing I call Permanent Equity.  Returns in permanent equity come first from the ongoing cash flows of portfolio companies, not from reselling businesses down the line.  The partners are Chenmark are pioneering this style of small business investing and share their experience with us thus far.

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/chenmark

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 Peter Attia, M.D., whose mission is to understand and improve human lifespan and healthspan (or quality of life).  Reading Peter’s research, you find that there are many similarities between health and investing—ideas like compounding—which we explore in detail.

We spend a lot of time on mind, body, spirit and performance as it relates to living a better life. Of particular interest is the strategic problem that we face when studying longevity. As Peter puts it in our conversation: we are the species of interest, but we can’t conduct the kinds of experiments on humans—randomized trials, with control groups—that we apply to solve other big problems. So we have to back our way into a better understanding of longevity and quality of life.

To that end, we discuss what we can learn from studying centenarians, the problem of progress in science, a drug called Rapamycin (which Peter believes could be revolutionary), eating, the importance of muscle mass, and the idea of distressed tolerance.  We emerge with a framework for thinking about health and well-being which can hopefully help us all live longer, better lives. Please enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/attia

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub

Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag

My guest this week is John Rogers, founder, CEO and CIO of Ariel investments, one of the longest standing asset management businesses still in existence.  John has a very impressive resume.  In addition to his success at Ariel, he was the captain of the Princeton University men’s basketball team, he was the co-chair of Barack Obama’s Presidential Inauguration, he sits on the board of McDonald’s, and he has given back to his community more than I can list here.  John and I discuss Ariel’s investment process and its evolution over the years, lessons from John’s basketball career, value investing, and asset management’s diversity problem among many other interesting issues. Please enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/rogers/

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 Alex Moazed, the co-author of Modern Monopolies: What It Takes to Dominate the 21st Century Economy, which explores the platform business model (Uber, Airbnb, Github).  Alex is also the founder and CEO of Applico, a company that he started in his dorm room that is since grown into a huge enterprise that helps startups and Fortune 500 innovate with platforms.  Alex and I talk about history and future of businesses and different types of business models.  There’s a lot in here for investors, entrepreneurs, and historians.  Please enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/alex/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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My guest this week is Ian Cassel, a microcap investor who is always on the lookout for small companies which are run by men and women who are what he calls intelligent fanatics. Ian’s livelihood is based on the success or failure of a small group of companies that you have never heard of—he takes the idea of “skin in the game” to another level. We explore what Ian looks for in managers, why investors might want to invest in microcap companies, and the benefits of a frugal approach to life. Buying public companies that are as small as the ones which Ian considers is an entirely different style of investing than what most of us are used to in the public markets. Please enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/ian/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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My guest this week is Joe Mansueto, the founder, longtime CEO and current executive chairman of Morningstar, Inc.  Joe is an entrepreneur at heart. He has the gene for spotting good business ideas and building them out with the customer in mind, so it is no surprise that the story behind Morningstar’s birth and growth is both entertaining and enlightening. While there are many business lessons in this episode, there is just as much to be learned from the way Joe conducts himself. He was kind, welcoming, and humble—you’ll see what I mean. There is something timeless and classic about his journey—I hope you enjoy hearing about it as much as I did.

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/joe/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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Brent Beshore and I spoke for 10 hours about all things investing and business, and decided to record a 2-hour chunk of our conversation. We start by discussing private equity, venture capital, and the importance of brand. We then explore the difference between public and private company valuation, and the potent idea of peer mentorship.  The conversation wraps up with Brent’s recent experience with one of the greatest investors and thinkers of all time.  Above all, this is a conversation about what is right and wrong in the world of money management and investing, and where the business is heading.  Please enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/adventures/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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My guest this week is writer, director, producer, and podcast host Brian Koppelman, who’s film credits include ‘Rounders’, ‘Oceans 13’, and ‘Solitary Man’. More recently he co-created the Showtime show, ‘Billions’, which allowed us to have some fun talking about the world of hedge funds and investing.  Brian’s method for chasing curiosity is something that everyone can learn apply in their own lives.  In this chat, we discuss creativity, the importance of storytelling and why we are all so intrigued by billionaires.  Please enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/koppelman/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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Jeremiah Lowin is probably the smartest guy I know, and that is saying something. He is an expert in the fields of statistics, artificial intelligence, and risk management—among many other things.  He is currently the Director of Risk Management for a private investment firm in the New York area, but has spent years working with machine learning and AI.  This conversation is broken up into two parts.  In the first part, we explore artificial intelligence, machine learning, and models.  Then we shift to what risk means in a portfolio and how it can be managed or at least redistributed (which starts around 40 minutes into the conversation).  Please enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/lowin/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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This week’s episode features the partners of the Collaborative Fund, a venture-capital firm based in New York City.  This is a unique, group interview with Lauren Loktev, Kanyi Maqubela, and Craig Shapiro that explores all aspects of their search and investing process, including how they identify thematic change in the world and then build a portfolio around those themes.  The quality of a team is crucial to success in investing and this is a great example of a team with chemistry on a singular mission.  They all offer great advice on how to operate a business, build a team, and find interesting new investments. 

Also, stay tuned to the end for a bonus segment captured while the tape was still rolling.

Please enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/collaborative/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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My guest today is Dan Egan, who is the managing director of Behavioral Finance and Investing at Betterment.  In this wide-ranging role, Dan has his hands is most of the ways that Betterment interacts with its clients and how it invests their money. This is one very interested and smart guy who is clearly passionate about helping investors make better decisions.  In this conversation, we explore everything from science fiction, automation, investor behavior and how Betterment tries to solve problems that goes beyond the automated asset allocation that is their bread and butter.

Please enjoy.

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/egan/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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My guest this week is Shane Parrish, who created the extremely popular Farnam Street—a website dedicated to understanding the world by mastering the best of what others have already figured out.  More than 100,000 people subscribe to the Farnam Street Newsletter which summarizes what Shane and his team learned and wrote that week. I read it every Sunday. Shane and I cover a lot of ground including the future of work, automation, mental models, and reading.  Shane is a voracious reader and offers unique suggestions for finding your next great book.

Please enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/parrish/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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Joining me on the podcast this week is Jeff Ptak, head of global manager research at Morningstar.  Jeff’s role puts him in the unique position to discuss the state of active management because he gets to see mutual funds from both the bottom-up, through deep diligence on investment strategies and firms, and top-down, using Morningstar’s data to assess industry-wide trends.  Jeff is one of my favorite myth busters and discuss different variables for assessing active managers and mutual funds, but we also cover his favorite punk rock bands.

Please enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/ptak/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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This week we explore a rare and underappreciated skill through the lens of an incredible story. My guest is Eric Maddox, whose name you probably don’t know but won’t soon forget. Just trust me that you need to listen to this entire episode, and listen carefully—because that is what the episode is ultimately all about: how to listen to others, with care and empathy, in the age of distraction.

Sometimes it’s fun not to know what’s coming and be surprised, so I won’t say anymore. After the episode, you can learn more about Eric at Ericmaddox.com.

On his wall, Eric has a framed Cuban cigar, he starts his story by explaining the significance of that cigar. Enjoy this episode, and try Eric’s method. It has worked wonders for me.

Please enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/maddox/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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My guest this week is one of the reasons that this podcast exists.  Josh Brown is a financial advisor and the CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management. He is also the creator of TheReformedBroker.com, a blog about markets, politics, economics, media, culture, and finance that has become one of the most widely-read sites on the financial web.  He is the author of Backstage Wall Street and Clash of the Financial Pundits. Josh was instrumental in finding me an audience years ago when he shared one of my research pieces with his rapid base of fans.  This conversation includes a look at his journey, what he’s learned along the way, and most importantly, his top five, dead or alive.

Please enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/brown/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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My guest this week is Christopher Cole, founder and managing partner at Artemis Capital Management. Chris’s specialty is in long volatility strategies, setting up portfolios that will benefit from significant change and volatility in markets.  We discuss how a series of small bets can lead to disproportionally large nonlinear payoffs, in both life and in markets.  We also discuss the kind of watch Chris wears, Dennis Rodman, and movies, all as metaphors for his life philosophy. 

Please enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/cole/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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Today’s episode features one of my favorite thinkers and writers: Kevin Simler.  Kevin has a background in technology and was one of the earliest employees at Palantir Technologies.  Palantir specializes in big data and has worked closely with clients ranging from the Department of Defense to the world’s largest hedge funds.  In this conversation, Patrick and Kevin explore startup culture, how to spark creativity, how social status functions like money, and how to think about the universe.  This will be one of the most unique conversations you will hear on this podcast.  Please Enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/simler/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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This week Patrick takes a deep dive in the world of Venture Capital with Craig Shapiro, founder and CEO of the New York based Collaborative Fund, which was an early investor in companies like Lyft, Kickstarter, and Reddit.  We cover Craig’s investing roots, his process for sourcing and evaluating investment opportunities, and the very useful “villain test.”  Please enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/shapiro/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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This week’s guest is Brent Beshore, Founder and CEO of adventur.es, a family of companies that invests in family-owned companies. Brent has a very specific mission with this company, to cultivate a disaster resistant, compound interest machine. At just 33 years of age he has already built a portfolio of private companies that has produced impressive results.  He’s done all this out of the limelight and with no outside investors.  Brent discusses his rewarding but difficult journey and what he has learned, including sourcing and evaluating businesses, how he and his team have improved profitability at his portfolio companies after acquisition and so much more.

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/beshore/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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Would you be comfortable with a robo-advisor running your entire investment portfolio?  That’s the hope of our guest this week, Jon Stein, founder and CEO of Betterment.  Betterment manages $5 billion dollars for over 175,000 clients.  Patrick and Jon explore the challenge of getting young people to invest, Betterment’s recent foray into areas like the 401(k) market, and how Betterment works with financial advisors.  If you’re unsure about robo-advisors, this conversation will make you better understand what they can do for you. Please Enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/stein/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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This episode is a major departure from the norm.  My guest, Kiley Adams, is only 21 years old. She has crammed more learning and adventure into two decades than most people could hope to in a lifetime.  She’s track-and-field star, valedictorian, varsity soccer player, Tae Kwon Do fourth degree master black belt, and philanthropic researcher.  She has traveled all over the country and the globe, recently spending two months by herself in India.  I had the pleasure to meet here while teaching an investing class at Notre Dame and am thrilled to share her incredible story and her attitude that makes all of this possible.

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/adams/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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This week’s guest has forgotten more about hedge funds than most people will ever know. This episode will appeal to managers, allocators and any investor interested in the world of hedge funds.  Ted Seides worked under David Swensen at Yale’s endowment and was a co-founder, President and Co-chief investment officer at Protégé Partners, a multibillion dollar alternative investment firm. I met Ted after reading his book, “So You Want to Start a Hedge Fund: Lessons for Managers and Allocators.” He has taught me a lot ever since. Hedge funds have taken a beating, so this very nuanced investigation into the industry comes at the right time.  Please enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/seides/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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There is a good chance that this week’s guests manage your money. This episode is a rare and fascinating look into the world’s largest asset manager. My first guest is Gerry O’Reilly, who is the portfolio manager for the largest mutual fund in the world, and oversees more than $800 billion for Vanguard. My second guest is Jim Rowley, a Senior Investments Analyst with deep knowledge of indexing and ETF’s.  The two provide incredible insight into some of the particulars that make Vanguard and its funds tick.  Please enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/vanguard/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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In this episode Patrick talks to Christian Rudder, who is the co-founder of dating service OK Cupid, a NY Times best-selling author, data and math junky, and musician. Patrick and Christian discuss interesting trends in OK Cupids dating data, artificial intelligence, the NSA, great books on the Civil War, and more.  Please enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/rudder/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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In this week’s episode, Patrick and Morgan Housel explore the differences between private and public market investing, how to foster innovation and creativity, how businesses are structured and organized, and how Morgan finds interesting books and topics to write about.  Morgan is a prolific writer and researcher, who recently left the Motley Fool and is now a partner at the Collaborative Fund, a venture capital fund in New York City.  Enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/housel/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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In this episode, Patrick and Jason Zweig reflect on investing, financial advice, books, and life in general. The method for living discussed in the last 30 minutes will be useful for everyone.

Jason is the Intelligent Investor columnist for the Wall Street Journal and author of several books including his latest “The Devil’s Financial Dictionary.”  His insights and advice are the results a life of critical thinking, reading, writing, humility, and curiosity.  I think you are going to get a lot from this in-depth conversation.  

Enjoy!

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/zweig/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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Michael Mauboussin, Managing Director and Head of Global Financial Strategies at Credit Suisse, joins Patrick to discuss the current state of the asset management business, explore all of the stages of the investment process, and what edges might exist for those trying to beat the market. 

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/mauboussin/

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

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Hedge Fund Manager and author Jeff Gramm talks with Patrick O'Shaughnessy about the history and current state of shareholder activism and discusses how Jeff invests himself, taking large positions and often board seats in undervalued companies.

For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to investorfieldguide.com/gramm/

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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