In 'Investing: The Last Liberal Art', Robert G. Hagstrom delves into fundamental investing concepts by drawing from multiple fields outside of economics. Inspired by Charlie Munger's 'latticework of mental models', Hagstrom argues that good investment decisions cannot be made solely on finance theory. The book discusses how theories from physics, biology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, and literature can be applied to investing research. It also includes a new chapter on mathematics and updates reflecting the economic developments since 2008. The book emphasizes the importance of a broad education and critical thinking in investment performance[1][3][4].
Red Notice is a gripping narrative that combines elements of a financial caper, a crime thriller, and a political crusade. The book chronicles Bill Browder’s journey from being a successful hedge fund manager in Russia to becoming a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin’s regime. After exposing corruption among Russian oligarchs, Browder was expelled from Russia, and his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was tortured and killed in a Moscow jail. This event transformed Browder’s life, leading him to embark on an unrelenting quest for justice, including the successful passage of the Magnitsky Act in the United States to punish those implicated in Magnitsky’s murder.
Angela Strange is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, one of the leading venture firms of the last decade with a portfolio including the likes of Facebook, Github, Slack, Airbnb, Asana and more. As for Angela, she largely focuses on investments in financial services and is currently a board member of Addi, SynapseFi, and Tally. Prior to a16z, Angela was a product manager at Google where she launched and grew Chrome for Android and Chrome for iOS into two of Google's most successful mobile products.
In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Angela made her way into the world of venture and came to be one of the leading fintech VCs with Andreesen Horowitz?
2.) Why does Angela believe that every company is going to be a fintech company? What is driving this shift? How does removing the barriers to entry for more products change both product quality and cost? How does Angela think about the role of regulation here?
3.) How does Angela think about what makes the best insertion points? How big does the initial wedge into the market have to be? When do you need to be able to prove you can transition from the insertion to the wider market? How does Angela fundamentally assess market size today?
4.) How does one transition to being the system of record? Do you have to be the system of record from day 1? Which examples are most striking for Angela on becoming a system of record? What are the biggest challenges in making this transition? Which metric tells you if you have become it?
5.) Does Angela think we are in a period of bundling or unbundling? What are the leading indicators of each? How does Angela assess the Fintech M&A market today? Will we continue to see large consolidatory moves in the form of Credit Karma, Plaid etc etc?
Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:
Angela’s Fave Book: Investing: The Last Liberal Art
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