Mohnish Pabrai’s Interview session at The Diary of a CEO on July 13, 2025

13 snips

Oct 1, 2025

In this engaging discussion, Mohnish Pabrai, a leading value investor and author of The Dhandho Investor, shares invaluable insights on entrepreneurship and investing. He explains 'cloning' as a mental model for business success, emphasizing that entrepreneurs minimize risk rather than embrace it. Mohnish advocates listening to customers for product refinement and stresses cost discipline using examples from Walmart and LVMH. He also explores the importance of finding one’s calling and balancing passion with pragmatic investment strategies.

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INSIGHT

Clone To Win Faster

Cloning existing successful businesses is a powerful mental model for entrepreneurs.
Copying and tweaking proven ideas often gives you a 90% head start over inventing from scratch.

INSIGHT

Entrepreneurship Isn't As Risky As You Think

Starting a business is commonly misperceived as high risk.
Entrepreneurs actually structure ventures to minimize downside and often approach near-zero risk.

ADVICE

Bootstrap With Time, Not Immediate Quit

Reallocate free time to build your startup without disrupting income.
Keep your job performance at 'just above firing' level while you focus evenings and weekends on your venture.

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Mohnish Pabrai’s Interview session with Steven Bartlett at The Diary of a CEO on July 13, 2025.

(00:00:26) - Cloning as a mental model; Bill Gates and Sam Walton (00:05:11) - Entrepreneurs do not take risk (00:09:23) - Focus on offering gaps (00:13:11) - Understand customer requirement; Google Glass vs. Meta (00:16:20) - Make your business cost-effective; Walmart & LVMH (00:18:24) - Getting your music out; Bill Gates & Paul Allen (00:21:40) - Find the calling in your life (00:23:54) - My Owner's Manual (00:29:04) - Capital investment in start-ups; Sir Richard Branson (00:36:59) - Successfully reaching out to stakeholders (00:41:16) - My family startups in the childhood; Cold calling (00:46:21) - Adam Grant: Givers, takers and matchers (00:48:26) - Recruiting the right people; Elon Musk & Steve Jobs (00:50:43) - Fire fast, Hire slow (00:51:54) - The three pillars of investing (00:53:01) - Sale of Manhattan by Indians in 1623 & Rule of 72 (00:58:07) - Rules of investing; Saving the first dollar; Index investing (01:01:52) - The Dhandho Investor; Minimising risk with intact returns (01:06:20) - Heads I win, Tails I don't lose too much (01:07:15) - Offering gaps (01:11:30) - Business moat (01:12:29) - Apple (01:14:07) - Traits of great founders; IKEA (01:16:49) - Fewer, bigger and infrequent bets; Venture businesses vs. Stock markets (01:19:07) - Day trade (01:19:34) - Circle the wagons (01:22:00) - Learning from mistakes; Fiat Chrysler's Ferrari (01:24:31) - Golf The contents of this website are for educational and entertainment purposes only, and do not purport to be, and are not intended to be, financial, legal, accounting, tax or investment advice. Investments or strategies that are discussed may not be suitable for you, do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and are not intended to provide investment advice or recommendations appropriate for you. Before making any investment or trade, consider whether it is suitable for you and consider seeking advice from your own financial or investment adviser. Views expressed on Chai with Pabrai are exclusively those of Mohnish Pabrai and not of any affiliated firm or organization.