3min chapter

#680: Richard Koch — Revisiting the 80/20 Principle, The Power of Optimistic Journaling, Studying History to Improve Investing, and The Grand Beliefs of Winners (Plus: The Toxic Beliefs of Losers)

The Tim Ferriss Show

notes

CHAPTER

How to Be a Successful Investor in Star Businesses

A cash cow is something that throws off cash because it's low growth. A star business is in a high growth market, and therefore it's going to grow much faster. It enabled BCG and then later Bowne Company to make tens of millions of dollars when they weren't very large.

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Episode notes

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Richard Koch (@RichardKoch8020) is an entrepreneur, investor, former strategy consultant, and author of several books on business and ideas, including four on how to apply the 80/20 principle in all walks of life.

His investments have grown at 22 percent compounded annually over 37 years and have included Filofax, Plymouth Gin, Belgo, Betfair, FanDuel, and Auto1. He has worked for Boston Consulting Group and was a partner at Bain & Co. before joining Jim Lawrence and Iain Evans to start LEK, which expanded from three to 350 professionals during the six years Richard was there.

In 1997, Richard’s book The 80/20 Principle reinterpreted the Pareto Rule—which states that most results come from a small minority of causes—and extended it beyond its well-known application in business into personal life, happiness, and success. The book, rewritten in 2022, has sold more than a million copies, been translated into roughly 40 languages, and has become a business classic. It was named by GQ as one of the top 25 business books of all time. Richard’s latest book is Unreasonable Success and How to Achieve It.

He has two upcoming books: 80/20 Beliefs, which identifies the very few beliefs in our lives that strongly influence what we do, and, therefore, the results we get, as well as 80/20 Daily, a collection of 365 short daily readings using the 80/20 philosophy to achieve the good life.

Please enjoy!

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[06:18] What3Words.

[12:59] Upbeat fish pond reflections.

[15:04] Journaling toward optimistic investment.

[17:14] Betfair vs. bookmakers.

[27:42] How history ties in with investment strategy.

[33:47] Assigning probabilities.

[36:56] The cows, the stars, and the question marks.

[45:41] 80/20 happiness.

[57:36] A qué será, será quandary.

[1:06:48] Toxic beliefs and terrible templates.

[1:11:24] A meeting with Bill Bain.

[1:14:41] Charm school.