In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen Mala Gaonkar: Building SurgoCap, Identifying Great Businesses and Learning from Mistakes
35 snips
Jan 21, 2026 
Mala Gaonkar, founder of SurgoCap Partners and former partner at Lone Pine Capital, dives into the art of identifying businesses with strong competitive advantages. She discusses the disruptive potential of old technologies and her unique approach of maintaining a small investment team to enhance collaboration. Candid stories reveal lessons learned from shorting Nokia and the early sale of NVIDIA. Additionally, she reflects on balancing a thriving career with creative writing and philanthropy, showcasing how curiosity and systemic thinking drive her success.
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Duration Trumps Temporary Advantages
- A great business is one with very long-duration moats that are hard to compete away.
- Duration of competitive advantage is the primary differentiator for lasting returns.
Old Tech Recombines To Create New Disruption
- Old technologies often re-emerge to disrupt in new ways when recombined with modern stacks.
- Spotting those recombinations in non-tech industries reveals hidden disruption opportunities.
Keep Teams Small And Focused
- Keep the investment team deliberately small to preserve deep collaboration and cross-border idea generation.
- Limit team size so discussions stay tabletop and creative thinking remains concentrated.
