Wharton FinTech Podcast Graham Weaver - Founder & CEO, Alpine Investors - On Finding Purpose & Exceptional Investing
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Mar 18, 2024 
Graham Weaver, founder of Alpine Investors, discusses his journey from dorm room startup to $16B AUM, investment philosophies, and Alpine's $4.5B fund. Topics include unique hiring philosophy, screening for will to win in candidates, entrepreneurial choices, and navigating social media self-help content.
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Alpine's Dorm Room Origin Story
- Graham Weaver started Alpine Investors from his Stanford dorm room, financing his initial equity investments with credit cards.
- He made many mistakes early on, losing money on more than half of his first eight deals but persisted to establish a formal private equity structure by 2001.
Prioritize Talent Retention Early
- Prioritize creating a workplace where top talent wants to stay long term by investing in their growth and engagement.
- Losing valuable employees early is extremely expensive; retaining them increases firm success and culture strength.
Hire for Attributes Over Experience
- Hire talented individuals based on attributes like grit, will to win, and persistence, not just experience.
- These innate qualities cannot be taught and predict long-term performance beyond initial advantage of experience.