The Business Brew

David Fauchier stops by The Business Brew to discuss crypto and market neutral strategies in crypto assets.  David works at Nickel Digital Asset Management, an investment manager connecting traditional finance with the digital assets market. The firm deploys highly sophisticated low-latency algorithmic trading, pursuing a range of arbitrage strategies in both spot and derivative markets, as well as a range of directional buy-and-hold products. All funds are designed with institutional clients in mind, but we hope the discussion is broadly applicable. You can reach David at @dfauchier on Twitter. We hope you enjoy the discussion.  Detailed show notes below the Stream by Mosiac sponsor copy and thank yous. Please leave us a rating in your favorite app store. 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 https://streamrg.co/BB today 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. Youtube: 4:19 - What David does - market neutral strategies in crypto   6:04 - How to look at market neutral strategies when there is not "value" in a coin   8:48 - David's take on crypto and monetary regimes   14:39 - H

Alexandra Blumenfeld stops by The Business Brew to discuss her business, Red Rover.  Alex is a Junior at Vanderbuilt University and founded Red Rover, an expert network.  Bill, Josh Tarasoff, Trey Kuppin, and Elliot Turner have all used Alex's service and all recommend the service.  This conversation will highlight the value Alex provides.  See show notes below for details of the conversation. Red Rover Website: redrovernetwork.com Red Rover Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/RedRoverNetwork   If you'd like to order a poll please see the website and click on "order polls" or contact Alex at alex@redrovernetwork.com.    NOTE:  The timestamps should be accurate for those listening to the podcast on a dedicated podcast player.  YouTube's timing is different because of how we edit the podcast audio.   In this show you will hear about: 3:33 - 15:33 - Alex's path to entreprenuership 16:25 - The type of data Alex's business provides 18:21 - Whether there is geographical bias in Red Rover sampling 21:50 - How Alex is thinking about expanding Red Rover's capabilities 22:50 - Examples of surveys Red Rover has run 23:45 - Alcohol consumption among college students 25:45 - Video streaming services 30:00 - Insights on Spotify vs. audio streaming 35:20 - Discussion about podcasts 35:15 - How Gen Z ranks social media 37:15 - Gen Z is comfortable with a lack of privacy 39:50 - What Red Rover is doing to monitor levels of engagement 43:10 - Cultivating an Instagram account to make sure people don't say no to friendship 45:30 - How much time does video get with Gen Z? 48:10 - Body image and Instagram 50:30 - Metaverse (note: this was recorded before Facebook's announcement) 52:40 - Growing up with the internet and whether that is tough on the mind 58:50 - Subscription billing practices 60:00 - How Alex thinks about building a culture that will last.

Kyler Hasson (Kyler@hassoninvestments.com) stops by The Business Brew to discuss how he has morphed as an investor and as a Registered Investment Advisor.  Kyler is one of Bill's good friends and they've chatted about investments for a number of years now.  Kyler is an investor that has gravitated to high quality businesses.  He has also gravitated towards a less concentrated portfolio in order to fulfill client objectives.  We hope you enjoy listening to the two of them sharing lessons they've learned. We hope you enjoy the discussion.  Detailed show notes below the Koyfin sponsor and thank yous. Please leave us a rating in your favorite app store. This episode is brought to you by Koyfin, one of the fastest-growing platforms for financial data and analytics to research stocks and understand market trends. Check out Koyfin.com to see what a Bloomberg-lite, with tons of high-quality fundamental data and a powerful graph engine looks like. Album art photo taken by Mike Ando.  Please see https://www.mikeando.com/ Thank you to Mathew Passy for the podcast production.  You can find Mathew at @MathewPassy on Twitter or at thepodcastconsultant.com In this episode you will learn how Kyler and Bill think about: 1:35 - How Kyler started his investing career 4:22 - How Kyler views being an RIA (Registered Investment Advisor) 7:17 - Tax drag and how that can hurt investment performance 11:04 - Why finding a great business that can compound returns over time may be a better strategy 15:00 - Mean reversion and risk   18:49 - Moving towards a more diversified portfolio and avoiding overconfidence bias 24:49 - Whether investors *really* want to be like Charlie Munger.   26:02 - A very cool class Kyler took in college   30:32 - Why certain tribe of investors talk past each other   34:12 - Being aware of behavioral biases   36:00 - Lessons from an energy investment   40:36 - Lessons from Altice and why demanding execution might have been a better idea   42:19 - Looking for high quality companies that sell off for non core reasons 48:00 - Culture compounding as a competitive advantage 52:54 - The individual investor's greatest advantage 56:40 - Buying a new position or adding to an existing position 58:00 - Whether buying "cheap" is harder than owning fairly priced quality companies

This week Chris Bloomstran stops by The Business Brew to catch up.  Part of this conversation are a bit scary.  Parts you may disagree with.  Regardless, it's very apparent that Chris thinks A LOT about what he is investing in. Chris is the President and Chief Investment Officer of Semper Augustus Investments Group. He is best known for his annual letters; most of which have an incredibly detailed analysis of Berkshire Hathaway. See https://www.semperaugustus.com/clientletter We hope you enjoy the discussion.  Detailed show notes below the Koyfin sponsor and thank yous. Please leave us a rating in your favorite app store.   This episode is brought to you by Koyfin, one of the fastest-growing platforms for financial data and analytics to research stocks and understand market trends. Check out Koyfin.com to see what a Bloomberg-lite, with tons of high-quality fundamental data and a powerful graph engine looks like. Album art photo taken by Mike Ando.  Please see https://www.mikeando.com/ Thank you to Mathew Passy for the podcast production.  You can find Mathew at @MathewPassy on Twitter or at thepodcastconsultant.com In this episode Chris and Bill discuss: 0:34 - Chris' wine hobby 7:34 - Chris setting weight lifting records in high school 11:33 - Playing football against Barry Sanders 17:04 - Pivot to investing 17:47 - What about today rhymes with the late 90s 25:00 - Chris' warning about Twitter, Shopify, and Tesla 28:00 - What rhymes between ARK and Janus 30:54 - How Chris thinks about today's multiples 38:25 - Why Chris has positions in energy companies 43:00 - Chris' use of Twitter and his Twitter threads 50:31 - Chris' love for teaching 53:03 - Bill and Chris discuss Berkshire 60:45 - Berkshire Hathaway Energy and how it fits within the renewable energy landscape 1:04:45 - Discussion about opportunity cost and value traps 1:08:45 - Why Chris is lukewarm on Big Tech 1:10:00 - Chris' take on the idea of never selling a great business 1:16:10 - Chris discusses Costco vs. Amazon and concludes the opportunity cost discussion at 1:18:52 1:22:00 - More energy (in the context of opportunity cost)

Margot Edelman stops by The Business Brew to discuss corporate communications as well as the Edelman Trust Barometer (see https://www.edelman.com/sites/g/files/aatuss191/files/2021-01/2021-edelman-trust-barometer.pdf).   Edelman is an award-winning global public relations consultancy firm.  Key findings from the 2021 Trust Barometer are as follows: - Trust in business increased in 17 of 27 countries - Trust is technology declined a substantial amount - People turned to their employer for facts/trust - There was a fairly substantial reduction in trust in China - Social leaders are not trusted to do what is "right" We hope you find this conversation educational and entertaining. Margot Edelman is the General Manger of Edelman’s Bay Area Hub, where she leads a team of skilled practitioners and innovators in Edelman’s San Francisco and Sacramento offices as they deliver industry-leading communications strategies that build brand trust and visibility. Her clients range from private equity and venture capital firms to technology companies and well-known individuals.Before becoming General Manager, Margot led the Bay Area Tech team, advising executives and business leaders in Silicon Valley. Prior to moving to California, Margot led the firm’s Research and Insights group in New York. Margot is a regular contributor to Edelman’s Annual Trust Barometer and host of the monthly “Meet the Press” series for Edelman, which features speakers from the FT, Bloomberg, NYT, and other top-tier media outlets.Margot is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Harvard University. This episode is brought to you by Koyfin, one of the fastest-growing platforms for financial data and analytics to research stocks and understand market trends. Check out Koyfin.com to see what a Bloomberg-lite, with tons of high-quality fundamental data and a powerful graph engine looks like. Album art photo taken by Mike Ando.  Please see https://www.mikeando.com/ Thank you to Mathew Passy for the podcast production.  You can find Mathew at @MathewPassy on Twitter or at thepodcastconsultant.com

Stinson Dean (@lumbertrading on Twitter), owner of Deacon Lumber, stops by The Business Brew to discuss the current lumber market, what happened to lumber in 2020, and how the market got to where it is.  This is a long conversation, but deserves the length.  Stinson goes deep into what it means to trade physical lumber, how he manages risk, why he is hedged, and much, much more. The goal of this conversation was to have a calmer conversation about lumber than what may have occurred just a year ago.  Lumber is an extremely volatile market and Stinson is a fantastic person to discuss the market with.  We hope you enjoy this conversation. Please rate the show in your favorite app! This episode is brought to you by Koyfin, one of the fastest-growing platforms for financial data and analytics to research stocks and understand market trends. Check out Koyfin.com to see what a Bloomberg-lite, with tons of high-quality fundamental data and a powerful graph engine looks like. Album art photo taken by Mike Ando.  Please see https://www.mikeando.com/

Meb Faber joins The Business Brew to discuss his views on investments, geographical diversification, trend following, and much more. Meb's podcast, The Meb Faber Show https://mebfaber.com/podcast/, was one of the first financial podcasts Bill listened to.  That show has featured many incredible thinkers, different styles of investments, and more recently many private market investment discussions.  In addition to his podcast, Meb writes often and highlights his favorite investment writing (see https://www.cambriainvestments.com/investing-insights/).  Another fun thing Meb does is post things he disagrees with his peers about.  You can find that thread at https://twitter.com/mebfaber/status/1108070025770856448?s=21. Meb is incredibly smart, nice, and everyone that knows him speaks highly of him.  The Business Brew hopes this conversation adds value to your day.  We also hope it adds a different element to your thinking.  But as importantly, we hope it highlights Meb. Meb, thank you for the education you've shared.  And thank you for joining the show. This episode is brought to you by Koyfin, one of the fastest-growing platforms for financial data and analytics to research stocks and understand market trends. Check out Koyfin.com to see what a Bloomberg-lite, with tons of high-quality fundamental data and a powerful graph engine looks like. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRJKoalFBgs for Bill and Rob's podcast.  This is the podcast that will highlight how Koyfin works.   Album art photo taken by Mike Ando.  Please see https://www.mikeando.com/

Kyla Scanlon stops by The Business Brew to discuss the life of a finance content creator.  Kyla is a Gen Z financial content creator.  Her content focuses on macro economics, monetary policy, crypto innovation, and more.  She chooses to avoid stock discussions in an effort to avoid anything that could be deemed "pumping." Bill wanted to speak with Kyla because he (a) is interested in how younger people are getting introduced to financial markets and (b) thinks she creates content the "right" way.  Said differently, Bill appreciates how Kyla does what she does and wished more creators took the responsibility as seriously as she does. The article referenced in this podcast can be found at https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-social-media-stars-who-move-markets-11630056601 This episode is brought to you by Koyfin, one of the fastest-growing platforms for financial data and analytics to research stocks and understand market trends. Check out Koyfin.com to see what a Bloomberg-lite, with tons of high-quality fundamental data and a powerful graph engine looks like.

J Mintzmyer (@mintzmyer) is a renowned maritime shipping analyst who directs the Value Investor's Edge ("VIE") research platform on Seeking Alpha. He stopped by The Business Brew to discuss the shipping industry.  J is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, is regularly quoted in trade journals, and hosts a popular podcast featuring shipping industry executives. Mr. Mintzmyer also hosts regular "Virtual Investor Forums," which are a must-attend for anyone interested in the shipping and infrastructure industries. As Head of Research at Value Investor's Edge, his trades and model portfolios have outperformed the shipping sector average for 6 consecutive years and have beaten the Russell 2000 for 5 of the past 6 years. J has earned a BS in Economics from the Air Force Academy, an MA in Public Policy from the University of Maryland, and is a PhD Candidate at Harvard University, where he researches global trade flows and security policy. This episode is brought you by Koyfin, one of the fastest-growing platforms for financial data and analytics to research stocks and understand market trends. Check out Koyfin.com to see what a Bloomberg-lite, with tons of high-quality fundamental data and a powerful graph engine looks like.

Rui Ma, co host of Tech Buzz China, stops by The Business Brew to discuss what is going on with China's current regulations.  This conversation is nuanced, offers perspective on some of China's goals, and touches on a variety of subjects.  The goal of the conversation is not to offer answers, per se.  Rather, we are trying to help provide a framework of how to think about what the CCP might be attempting to achieve and help listeners think about how to analyze different Chinese competitive dynamics. Rui has sixteen years of experience in technology and finance, spanning seed stage to pre-IPO investing, with a decade focused on China. She founded Tech Buzz China in 2018 to educate and consult investors, funds and entrepreneurs on Chinese tech companies products, strategies and trends. She previously worked at 500 Startups as an investment partner, and spent a decade in private equity and mergers & acquisitions roles at the Raine Group, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch in both Silicon Valley and China. Rui holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley, and additional degrees from Tsinghua, INSEAD, UIUC and Harvard University. We hope you enjoy this conversation with Rui.  She has a great personality and is a fantastic resource.  Please follow her on Twitter at @ruima and join her community at https://www.techbuzzchina.com/insider. This episode is brought you by Koyfin, one of the fastest-growing platforms for financial data and analytics to research stocks and understand market trends. Check out Koyfin.com to see what a Bloomberg-lite, with tons of high-quality fundamental data and a powerful graph engine looks like.