The Business Brew

Erick Mokaya stops by The Business Brew to chat with Bill about what they have learned as investors.  Erick has an inspiring story of dedication, drive, and learning.  He describes himself as a Kenyan living in Sweden, who has a passion for financial markets.  He is a  regular contributor on Seeking Alpha and also the Lead Author the Transcript, a weekly capital markets newsletter that summarizes earnings calls. He invests in US and Nordic equities and, on a small scale, in small businesses in Kenya. He was fun to speak with and we hope you enjoy the discussion.  You can find Erick's blog at https://themokaya.com/ and follow him on twitter at @ekmokaya. This episode is brought to you by Bastiat Partners, a boutique investment banking firm.  See https://bastiatpartners.com/.  Detailed show notes below. Please leave us a rating in your favorite podcast player. Album art photo taken by Mike Ando. Please see https://www.mikeando.com Thank you to @mathewpassy (on Twitter) for the show production. Please leave us a rating in your favorite podcast player! Detailed Show Notes 2:53 - Erick’s background 4:59 - Seeing people struggle 8:45 - Being self driven 12:25 - Having people’s support 15:02 - Erik’s intro to investing 18:26 - Value investing 25:20 - The value of growth (Apple) 29:26 - Cash flows & management 33:10 - Networking via Twitter 38:36 - Learning from Patrick O'Shaughnessy & Chris Bloomstran 41:13 - Adding value to a community 44:35 - Erick’s newsletter 48:28- Restoration Hardware 58:47 - Holding through volatility 1:02:08 - Managing emotion 1:03:49 - Learning every day 1:08:15 - Twitter’s potential 1:14:19 - African Markets 1:17:01 - Activism 1:21:02 - Takeaways from Michael Mauboussin

Josh Horowitz and Liz Gulliver stop by The Business Brew to discuss employer-employee relationships. Josh and Liz co-founded Kunik to help employers build sustainable, scalable cultures that work for everyone, everywhere they are working. How and where we work has permanently changed. Kunik helps organizations build thriving cultures by fueling the workplace with community and conversation. Kunik Conversations are facilitated, expert-led discussions that deliver intentional moments of connection, learning, and growth inside a company. Whether it’s DEI, hybrid work, leadership, new managers, burnout, or another challenge, Kunik helps its clients, ranging from nonprofits to large multinationals, build better relationships with and among their employees. Josh and Liz, met at Columbia Business School. Both came from, and returned to, careers in finance before starting Kunik. Josh spent 10+ years on the buyside (Perry Capital, Citi, & Mackenzie Cundill) and graduated from Columbia’s Value Investing Program. Liz worked in corporate finance and consulting. They built Kunik to help companies build the workplace culture they always wanted but could never find. We hope you enjoy this discussion This episode is brought to you by Bastiat Partners, a boutique investment banking firm.  See https://bastiatpartners.com/.  Detailed show notes below. Please leave us a rating in your favorite podcast player! Album art photo taken by Mike Ando. Please see https://www.mikeando.com/ Thank you to @mathewpassy (on Twitter) for the show production. Please leave us a rating in your favorite podcast player! Detailed Show Notes 2:15 - Liz’s background 2:55 - Josh’s background 6:00 - What does Kunik do? 8:35 - Culture and retaining talent 15:27 - The new employer/employee relationship 18:25 - How to change culture in a big company 28:03 - Customers factoring in culture 37:02 - Facilitating conversations to connect people 42:44 - Retention and the ROI on people 55:47 - T-mobile’s culture 58:28 - Being a founder 1:04:39 - Diversity + Psychological safety 1:09:39 - How to get employees interested 1:24:09 - Managing burnout 1:29:00 - Resilience 1:31:54 - Being vulnerable

Mark S.F. Mahaney stops by The Business Brew to discuss tech investing and his book Nothing But Net.  Mark is a senior managing director and head of the Internet Research Team at Evercore ISI.  He has covered internet stocks for almost 25 years, and has been consistently recognized by Institutional Investor for his research, including 15 years as a “top 3” ranked analyst and five years as a No. 1-ranked analyst. Previously, Mr. Mahaney worked on both the sell-side and the buy-side for American Technology Research, Morgan Stanley, Citibank and Royal Bank of Canada, among others. He began his career in management consulting with Deloitte & Touche and with the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Senate, and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Mr. Mahaney received his B.A. in political science and history from Amherst College, his M.A. from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and his MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He is also the former lead bassist for Monkey Funk. This episode is brought to you by Bastiat Partners, a boutique investment banking firm.  See https://bastiatpartners.com/.  Detailed show notes below. Please leave us a rating in your favorite podcast player! Album art photo taken by Mike Ando. Please see https://www.mikeando.com/ Thank you to @mathewpassy (on Twitter) for the show production. Please leave us a rating in your favorite podcast player! Detailed Show Notes 5:35 - Living through the 99-00 bubble crash 7:30 - Riding the growth curve of the internet sector 12:25 - The importance of revenue growth 19:55 - Thinking through growth vs maintenance spend 23:55 - The four questions to ask when trying to figure out what profitability might look like in the "out" years 27:25 - Facebook discussion 36:55 - Thoughts on stock based compensation 40:23 - Mark's ideal investment situation 44:45 - Mark's prescient warning about lapping COVID comps 50:35 - The potential soft patch for growth equities 56:45 - Dont get hung up on false precision

Dan Katz and Stephen Miran Ph.D. stop by The Business Brew to discuss JSG Investing.  JSG investing is investing that focuses on Jobs, Security, and Growth.  Their firm, Amberwave partners (see https://www.amberwavepartners.com/) helps investors align their portfolios and values, putting their savings to work for the good of American communities. Dan and Stephen have very interesting bios.  They read as follows: Steve Miran is a co-founder and lead portfolio manager at Amberwave. Steve has ten years of successful investing experience including as a hedge fund portfolio manager and head of macro strategy, and before that as an analyst at Fidelity Investments. He has invested in major asset classes in both developed and emerging economies. Before Amberwave, Steve was senior advisor for economic policy at the United States Department of the Treasury, which he entered in April 2020 to assist with fiscal support to the economy. He contributed to the implementation and evaluation of several CARES Act programs, in particular the Paycheck Protection Program, which provided over $800 billion of job-preserving investments in American small businesses and supported over 50 million workers. Steve holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. He received a B.A. summa cum laude from Boston University, where he studied economics, philosophy and mathematics. His academic work has focused on fiscal policy, and his writing has been published in the American Economic Journal, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and RealClearMarkets. Dan Katz is a co-founder and portfolio manager at Amberwave. Dan served as a senior advisor at the United States Department of the Treasury from September 2019 to January 2021, where he helped lead the Treasury’s efforts to rescue the U.S. aviation industry during the COVID-19 recession. Dan served as the Chairman of the National Security Loan Program Credit Committee and a member of the Airline Loan Program Credit Committee, which collectively oversaw more than $20 billion of emergency loan transactions. Dan also oversaw the implementation of the Payroll Support Program, which supported hundreds of thousands of jobs in the aviation industry. Earlier in Dan’s career, he worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. He also served as a policy advisor at Treasury, where he focused on financial threats to U.S. national security, and as an advisor to the commander of U.S. forces in Kabul, Afghanistan. Dan holds a B.A. from Yale College and a J.D. magna cum laude and Order of the Coif from New York University School of Law. We hope you enjoy the conversation. Please leave us a rating in your favorite podcast player! Album art photo taken by Mike Ando.  Please see https://www.mikeando.com/ Thank you to @mathewpassy (on Twitter) for the show production. Detailed Show Notes 2:48 - What is JSG Investing? 9:05 - Sanctions & their mechanisms 16:33 - Commodities 21:03 - Knowing your supply chain exposure 25:48 - How is JSG measured? 31:14 - The impact of ESG 37:55 - What is “green washing”? 42:58 - Quantitative vs. qualitative 45:03 - Creating growth in the US 48:03 - Shale & energy 49:28 - Working at the US Treasury 56:18 - The cost of time deploying stimulus 57:38 - Moral hazard & airlines 1:07:03 - The “American Recovery Plan” act 1:10:33 - Inflation 1:17:08 - Supply chains 1:20:38 - Asia & semiconductors 1:23:20 - Innovation 1:28:08 - Investing in rural communities

Dave Girouard stops by The Business Brew to discuss how Upstart is attempting to change the way credit is underwritten.  Upstart uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to expand loan underwriting beyond FICO scores.  The company’s goal is to make the underwriting process more efficient; creating a win-win for consumers and lenders.   Dave also talks about Upstart’s early struggles, what artificial intelligence actually does, how First Round Capital stepped up when Upstart really needed them to, and much more. We hope you enjoy the conversation.   Thank you for joining the show Dave!   We will be on break for 1-2 months following this show.  “See” you in April/May.   Please leave us a rating in your favorite podcast player!   Album art photo taken by Mike Ando.  Please see https://www.mikeando.com/   Thank you to @mathewpassy (on Twitter) for the show production.   Detailed Show Notes   2:15 – Intro to Dave   7:40 – The problem Upstart is looking to solve   12:45 – What will machine learning do for the world?   16:35 – Dave’s history at Google   19:33 – Upstart’s history as a company   22:21 – Upstart’s financing problem as a young company – Shoutout to First Round Capital!   27:15 – Who held the credit risk when Upstart’s loans were first funded   30:45 – Upstart’s relationship with Cross River Bank   37:15 – How Dave thinks about operating for growth vs. profits   40:42 – The right team is necessary   47:53 – Running Upstart through COVID and remotely   55:45 – How does Dave thinks about Share Based Comp   58:46 – What it’s like to manage when a stock is super volatile   1:02:00 – Will Upstart begin to hold credit risk?  Hint: No.

Simeon Siegel, Managing Director and Senior Analyst at BMO Captial Markets, stops by The Business Brew to discuss his prescient call to sell Peloton, the oddity that brands peak at $3Bn in sales, the role of “Sell Side” analysts, and a whole lot of retail.  His views on how COVID saved retail were particularly interesting.  Simeon and Bill met at the dinner before Liberty Media’s Investor Day, hit it off, and this conversation is the follow up.  We hope you enjoy!   Simeon’s official bio reads as follows: Simeon Siegel is a Managing Director and award-winning Senior Analyst specializing in Retail and E-commerce. Simeon began his career at Goldman Sachs and has since worked on the #1 ranked Retail franchise at JPMorgan, Nomura | Instinet and BMO Capital Markets.   Dubbed "one of the more intellectual students of retail on Wall Street" by WWD, Simeon has been named a Top Retail Influencer by RETHINK Retail, a Top Stock Picker by StarMine, a Rising Star of Wall Street by Institutional Investor, a Rising Star of Equity Research by Business Insider, and a Top Earnings Estimator by Thomson Reuters and Refinitiv. He has worked on the Institutional Investor #1 ranked All America Research Team for Specialty Retail and the Wall Street Journal's "Best on the Street" list of top analysts.   Simeon is in constant dialogue with investors and C-Level Management across the industry, analyzing and advising on the ever-evolving retail landscape. He has guest lectured at Harvard Business School and NYU Stern School of Business and has been featured in a Harvard Business School case study. Simeon is a regular guest on CNBC and frequently quoted across the media including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Women's Wear Daily, The Business of Fashion, Barron's, Bloomberg and others.   Simeon received a BA from Columbia University in Economics and Philosophy and is a CFA® charterholder. He serves on the Boards of the Hebrew Free Loan Society and the UJA Entertainment, Tech & Lifestyle Board and is Vice Chair of the UJA Retail, Fashion & Lifestyle Division. He previously served on the Board of Read Ahead.   Detailed show notes below the Stream by Mosaic sponsor copy and thank yous. Please leave us a rating in your favorite podcast player! This episode is brought to you by Stream by Mosaic, a product that is integral to any fundamental research process.  Stream has developed an extensive library of expert interviews that cover a variety of industries.  Today, https://streamrg.co/BB features over 300 expert interviews per week. 70% of Stream's experts are found exclusively on https://streamrg.co/BB. Visit

Michael Green stops by The Business Brew to discuss his inelastic market theory, the outlook for inflation, why the market might be too excited about rate normalization, and much more.  Michael is a frequent contributor to Real Vision and has done some phenomenal interviews, which can be found on YouTube. He has been a student of markets and market structure, for nearly 30 years. His proprietary research into the shift from actively managed portfolios and investment funds to systematic passive investment strategies has been presented to the Federal Reserve, the BIS, the IMF and numerous other industry groups and associations. Michael joined Simplify in April 2021 after serving as Chief Strategist and Portfolio Manager for Logica Capital Advisers, LLC. Prior to Logica, Michael managed macro strategies at Thiel Macro, LLC, an investment firm that manages the personal capital of Peter Thiel. Prior to Thiel, Michael founded Ice Farm Capital, a discretionary global macro hedge fund seeded by Soros Fund Management. From 2006-2014, Michael founded and managed the New York office of Canyon Capital Advisors, a $23B multi-strategy hedge fund based in Los Angeles, CA, where he established their global macro strategies, managing in excess of $5B of exposure across equity, credit, FX, commodity and derivative markets. In addition to his work as a market theorist and portfolio manager, Michael has been noted for his work as a public speaker and financial media participant. He is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a CFA holder. Detailed show notes below the Stream by Mosiac sponsor copy and thank yous. Please leave us a rating in your favorite podcast player! This episode is brought to you by Stream by Mosaic, a product that is integral to any fundamental research process.  Stream has developed an extensive library of expert interviews that cover a variety of industries.  https://streamrg.co/BB features over 300 expert interviews per week.  70% of Stream's experts are found exclusively on https://streamrg.co/BB.  Visit

Chris Cerrone, a Partner at Akre Capital Management, stops by The Business Brew for a discussion about his investment philosophy, simplicity, the definition of quality, and much more.  Chris’ paper, The Art of (Not) Selling, really made an impression on Bill.  This discussion follows up on that paper, among other topics.   Prior to joining Akre Capital Management in 2012, Chris served as an equity research analyst for Goldman Sachs & Co. in New York from 2010 to 2012. In that position, he covered restaurant and retail companies. He began his investment management career in 2007 as a junior equity research analyst with Century Capital Management in Boston. Chris graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in economics from Tufts University.   Bill really enjoyed listening to Chris talk about how Mr. Akre would push Chris to find the essence of a business.  That enables an analyst to then focus on THE most important question.   Books mentioned include: https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycle-Maintenance-Inquiry/dp/0060589469 https://www.amazon.com/Lila-Inquiry-Robert-M-Pirsig/dp/0553299611/ref=pd_lpo_2?pd_rd_i=0553299611&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/The-Art-of-Learning-Josh-Waitzkin-audiobook/dp/B00JE2WEEK/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3DQ5DXHBNOWB7&keywords=the+art+of+learning&qid=1643803876&s=books&sprefix=the+art+of+learning%2Cstripbooks%2C83&sr=1-1   Detailed show notes below the Stream by Mosiac sponsor copy and thank yous.   Please leave us a rating in your favorite podcast player!   This episode is brought to you by Stream by Mosaic, a product that is integral to any fundamental research process.  Stream has developed an extensive library of expert interviews that cover a variety of industries.  https://streamrg.co/BB features over 300 expert interviews per week.  70% of Stream's experts are found exclusively on https://streamrg.co/BB.  Visit

Andrew Freedman stops by The Business Brew for a discussion about the ever changing media landscape.  In this discussion, Andrew articulates how he views valuation, what makes stocks good “long” and “short” candidates, and how his process has evolved over time.  There’s a lot of company specific discussion here.  We hope it is beneficial, educational, and entertaining.   Andrew’s official bio reads as follows:   Andrew Freedman, CFA, is a Managing Director and Communications Sector Head at Hedgeye. In addition, he holds Senior Analyst responsibilities on the Health Care Team where he specializes in Information Technology. Before joining Hedgeye in 2014, Andrew worked for an institutional consulting firm where he was responsible for client asset allocation and investment manager due-diligence. Andrew is a CFA® charterholder and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Marquette University in Finance and Business Economics.   Hedgeye is an independent investment research firm covering 10 fundamental/industry sectors, macro and policy. We provide actionable long/short ideas to institutions (hedge funds, mutual funds, and family offices) and RIAs/Individuals. Institutional research includes access to deep dive fundamental reports (black books) on individual stocks, thematic/industry analysis, proprietary and third party datasets, industry thought leader calls, company models, one-on-one analyst access and more. We do not have a broker dealer and don't do banking. Please contact sales@hedgeye.com if you are interested in learning more about Hedgeye's research offerings.   Detailed show notes below the Stream by Mosiac sponsor copy and thank yous.   Please leave us a rating in your favorite podcast player!   This episode is brought to you by Stream by Mosaic, a product that is integral to any fundamental research process.  Stream has developed an extensive library of expert interviews that cover a variety of industries.  https://streamrg.co/BB features over 300 expert interviews per week.  70% of Stream's experts are found exclusively on https://streamrg.co/BB.  Visit

Troy Lavinia, founder of Stream by Mosaic, stops by The Business Brew to discuss creating Stream, building teams, and strategic thinking.  Troy is a really interesting thinker, approaches life with an abundance mentality, and is always looking to find the right partners to grow a business.  Interesting tidbits about Troy include his time at Elliott Management and playing football fullback and tight end at University of Pennsylvania. At one point in the conversation Bill asks Troy how he got comfortable delegating work.  Troy responded by saying something to the effect of “You have to associate joy with creating a meaningful job for someone else.”  That answer struck Bill as a very positive association for delegation.  We hope you enjoy this conversation.  It is a peek into the financial services industry and an introduction to the person behind our sponsor.  Please leave us a rating in your favorite podcast player! This episode is brought to you Bill.  Stream by Mosaic is a product that is integral to any fundamental research process.  Stream has developed an extensive library of expert interviews that cover a variety of industries.  https://streamrg.co/BB features over 300 expert interviews per week.  70% of Stream's experts are found exclusively on https://streamrg.co/BB.  Visit https://streamrg.co/BB for a 14 day trial. Album art photo taken by Mike Ando.  Please see https://www.mikeando.com/ Thank you to @mathewpassy (on Twitter) for the show production. Detailed Show Notes 3:00 – Troy’s background, including time at Elliott Management   6:00 – How Stream was incubated within Mosaic and then spun out for growth reasons   8:00 – How Troy thought about partnering with AlphaSense   11:30 – Why expert transcript libraries are similar to media streaming services   16:15 – Did COVID “help” Stream by Mosaic as a business?   19:00 – Why does Troy like running startups vs. more mature businesses?   21:20  - Team building and the power of delegation   33:00 – Listening to the interviews on Stream by Mosaic   35:00 – Troy’s association with selling St