We’ve always found that even in public equities, you learn more once you have a live portfolio. One of the best ways to learn is to put some capital at risk. For this episode, I asked two VCs to sit down with me and Brett and treat the conversation as they would a normal pitch meeting, so that we, the audience, can get a peek into their world and the types of questions they ask. The venture capitalists in question are Thatcher Bell, of CoVenture, and Taylor Greene, of Collaborative Fund. The first voice that you’ll hear is Thatcher, and the next person asking questions is Taylor. I began by asking Thatcher to give us a bit of background on how he approaches young companies before diving in with questions of his own. Show Notes3:12 – (First Question) – getting a flywheel business going4:49 – Brett’s background and how that led to the formation of Ladder7:58 – Breakdown of the product9:29 – The sign-up process10:29 – Key problem for each party of the ladder transaction12:34 – Diving deeper into the problem of being a health coach14:29 – How does Ladder differentiate itself from other apps that help people locate a trainer17:01 – A deeper dive into the consumer using this product20:28 – The accountability factor being the moat for Ladder24:12 - How successful is the product right now in terms of recruiting new customers and trainers28:38 – Their pre-launch interview and research process31:49 – Going from hypothesis to product development35:25 – What should founders think about when doing customer discovery, even after they have a product in the market39:22 – Optimizing in the early stage of a business43:24 – The defensive moat of a startup46:20 – Their take on their ability to corner the coaches in this market49:57 – Is there a side of the producer/consumer side of the equation that is more important.55:42 – Getting and giving value to your supply, in this case the coaches58:22 – How to view different phases of a business1:00:43 – Growing the supply and demand so that neither side gets aggravated1:02:28 – Market opportunity for Ladder1:10:55 – Top 2 or 3 goals that Ladder has over the next 12-18 months1:13:00 – Looking at Ladder, what are the strengths and weaknesses as a potential investment1:20:40 – Pros and cons of a startup seeking institutional VC money1:25:11 – Reviewing the pitch

My guest this week helps me complete the first trilogy of guests on the podcast. His name is Nikhil Kalghatgi. Along with past guests Ali Hamed and Savneet Singh, Nikhil is a partner at the asset management firm CoVenture. If you liked those two conversations, you will love this one—it is somehow even more wide-ranging than the first two. Nikhil is the CEO of CoVenture Crypto, but he ended up there because of an overarching investing style that he calls moonshot investing, which we explore right from the start and in great detail. He is obsessed with productivity and happiness, and we spend a long time on those topics. One of the most interesting experiments I’ve heard about on the podcast is his Happiness project, for which he interviewed more than 100 of the wealthiest people in the world. The lessons he gleaned from those conversations are very helpful, and I won’t soon forget the lesson related to sacrifice. We also discuss asteroid mining, networking, shared experience, and philosophy. Oh and crypto currencies. Nikhil’s take on crypto has always been refreshing to me. In fact the first time I met him he was throwing cold water on a room full of enthusiastic crypto investors. Within crypto we discuss business opportunities, mining, and how new retail and institutional capital will affect the asset class.  Hash Power is presented by Fidelity Investments. Please enjoy this sparkling conversation with Nikhil Kalghatgi.   For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag   Show Notes 2:42 – (First Question) –  What moonshot investing is 4:41 – Creating sustainable differential investment advantage 9:30 – Assessing the market for moonshots 12:15 – Types of people suited for moonshots  13:42 – The Happiness Project 17:45 – Commonalities among successful people 25:15 – The importance of humor in life 17:16 – Recipe for a good joke 28:00 – The night Patrick and Nikhil met 29:17 – His perspective on the world of venture capital 33:26 – What did Nikhil learn from his time at SoftBank 34:52 – Craziest thing Nikhil has done 40:27 – What he took away from his time in military intelligence 46:10 – The idea of manufactured serendipity 47:13 – Nikhil’s approach to investing in cryptocurrency and what he finds interesting about it 53:23 – How Nikhil reconciles the excitement of crypto with the lack of tangible asset 58:10– The timeline of retail and institutional investors becoming more involved in crypto 1:02:43– Exploring their liquidity strategy 1:04:10 – What happens if regulators shut down the cryptomarkets 1:09:48– The role of miners in crypto and how that might change moving forward 1:10:43 – What is the frontier of crypto mining 1:12:31 – What’s the most compelling rabbit hole in crypto 1:16:23 – How would the original creators of crypto currency feel about the current state of the market 1:20:01 – What Nikhil sees as the value proposition for the whole ecosystem. 1:21:00 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Nikhil   Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.  Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag  

This week’s episode was the first one that I’ve recorded live. It was the second dinner in what I expect to be a long series where I bring together 30 people from a variety of backgrounds to discuss an interesting and emerging topic, whether that be cryptocurrencies, health, cannabis investing, or some other compelling, emergent thing.  My guest, for the second time on the podcast, is Peter Attia, who has lead one of the more interesting careers I’ve ever come across and who is focused on understanding longevity, health span, and quality of life. We dive into many dimensions of health, scientific research, what we can and cannot learn from evolution and our ancestors, and the 7 primary modalities we should focus on when it comes to our health and well-being.  Excuse the lack of clear audio quality on some of the audience questions—the ones that are a little difficult to hear are fairly short and I felt it was better to include them for some context.  As have all of my conversations with Peter, this one has sparked countless subsequent conversations with my wife, my friends, and my colleagues on what is important and how we can change out behavior to improve our quality of life. My partner and sponsor at these events is Peter Tiboris of Strongpoint Wealth Advisors, who with me loves exploring these topics and understanding how they might affect our lives and out portfolios. Thanks to Peter for helping me realize this series in New York City. Now, please enjoy my live conversation with Peter Attia.  For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag   Links Referenced Marvin HAGLER vs Tommy HEARNS: FULL FIGHT longevity chart Senescence Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life    Show Notes 2:07 – (First Question) –  Peter’s career journey that led him to where he is today              2:31 – Marvin HAGLER vs Tommy HEARNS: FULL FIGHT  3:46 – How he thinks about longevity  4:37 – Peter’s longevity chart  6:31 – Four things most likely to kill you  7:47 – The quality of your life in the later part of your life  9:03 – Four ways he defines health span; cognition, physical dimension, sense of purpose and social support, capacity to cope with distress or distress tolerance.  10:56 – The problem with clinical studies in analyzing longevity and his mission to get from medicine 1.0 to 2.0 to 3.0 12:15 – Medicine 1.0 and major leaps in longevity 13:01 – Medicine 2.0 and clinical trials 14:52 – Medicine 3.0 and personalized medicine  16:22 – The playbook for living longer  19:26 - Senescence, the cells that are programmed to do bad things  22:17 – Understanding our evolutionary needs to learn what as individuals do to increase lifespan and quality of life as it pertains to food, sleep, and movement.  30:32 – Where evolution doesn’t offer insight into living a better life; mindfulness  33:27 – What are the changes that Peter has made that he’s been doing the longest and most recently             33:35 – Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life  37:54 – Peter’s philosophy on mastery  40:13 – Audience Question: How does something who seemingly doesn’t take care of themselves seem to be in such good health? 38:38 - Audience Question: Peter’s favorite car to race and how it effects his health  51:19 – Audience Question: Is the key to life a minimalist lifestyle  53:54 – Audience Question: the role of the microbiome  Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.  Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag

[After talking to the brilliant string of guests the past several weeks, Patrick’s brain needed a rest—oh and a concussion didn’t help matters. To hold you over until next week, here is one of the most interesting but less well known conversations from the invest like the best archives.] This week’s episode is the most unique to date. My guest is Boyd Varty, who grew up in the South African Bush, living among and tracking wild leopards. The main theme of our conversation is tracking, and how the same strategy for pursuing animals in the wild can be applied to all aspects of our lives. Boyd’s family has been tracking animals for four generations, and he is bringing what they have learned to a larger audience around the world. The episode includes the best answer I’ve ever heard (which comes when I ask Boyd to describe his most memorable experience). We also discuss the dangers of an achievement or goal oriented mindset, and what he learned from spending time with Nelson Mandela as a boy. This episode is one I hope you share with those you love, because I think Boyd’s ideas will have a profound impact on many who are thinking about what to do with their lives—whether they are young or old. Please enjoy.   For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag   0:00 – Exploring Boyd’s childhood through a story about a black mamba 3:13 – Looking at the early history of Boyd’s family and their foundation in the bush of South Africa 7:00 – The launch of their safari business 8:06 – How they connected with an ecologist that encouraged them to “partner” with the land and how that led to the leopards of Londolozi  14:25 – Expanding their model to other areas and creating an economy of wildlife.  15:12 – How Boyd discovered what he wanted to do with his life in healing  15:20 – Cathedral of the Wild: An African Journey Home by Boyd Varty    20:49 – The concept of Ubuntu, the African value “I am, because of you.” 25:18 – How Patrick got to meet Boyd 26:15 – Exploring the idea of building your villages and some of the forces that combat that in our daily lives.  31:23 – The difficulty in following your inner compass   32:06 – Mr. Money Mustache 36:55 – Looking at Boyd’s early experiences in tracking and how he applies those principles in his current life.  42:23 – Exploring the two different types of confidence and why there’s a benefit to throwing yourself into difficult situations, especially as a tracker.  47:13 – Identifying the places where you can be relentless in life  49:56 – The single most memorable tracking experience for Boyd, which is an incredible tale of tracking lions.   (Also one of the best answers to a question yet)  1:01:49 – What can people do to get the holistic experience of the African bush   1:02:20 – The PResencing Institute 1:04:15 – Ways that people can learn more about Boyd.   1:04:31 – Ted Talk  1:04:43 – The book  1:04:48 – Workshops/Tracking Retreats  1:05:05 – Seminar in Deer Valley   1:05:13 – Martha Beck’s work  1:05:15 – Finding Your Way in a Wild New World: Reclaim Your True Nature to Create the Life You Want   1:05:36 – Website  1:06:56 – When Nelson Mandela stayed with his family after getting out of prison 1:13:34 – Kindest thing anyone has ever done for Boyd 1:15:15 – A story of how his friend Sully saved his life from a crocodile   For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

My guest this week is Albert Wenger, a managing partner at Union Square Ventures and the author of the book World After Capital. Albert studied economics at Harvard and earned a PhD in information from technology, but if you’d asked me to guess before looking those up, I’d have guessed that he studied philosophy because of how widely he has thought about the world and the impact of technology. Our conversation is about how technology is changing the world from an Industrial Age to a knowledge age. We explore how cryptocurrencies, low cost computing, and regulation will impact our future and why the transition may require delicate care. I loved this conversation because of my obsession with the concept of scarcity. We explore what has been scarce through time and what may be scarce in the future. Albert is one of the most interesting thinkers I’ve come across and was a pleasure to speak with. I hope you enjoy our conversation. Hash Power is presented by Fidelity Investments For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag   Links Referenced World After Capital Show Notes 2:16 – (First Question) –  Defining what it means to be human             2:58 – World After Capital 3:56 – Trans-humans vs neo-humans 4:37 – The concept of Qualia 5:25 – Albert’s investment philosophy= 8:27 – How Albert began his exploration into cryptocurrencies 12:59 – Most exciting things blockchains could enable 14:27 – How does Albert view blockchain technology from the view of an venture capital investor 17:00 -  Why Albert thinks that the dominate cryptocurrency of our time may not exist just yet and what he is looking for in protocols that will become the leader in the space 20:16 – What are the central functions that will be important in cryptocurrencies 21:22 -   The state of regulation in the cryptocurrency space 27:37 – What has Albert most excited for the future of blockchain 29:10 – The idea of universal basic income 32:26 – How do you solve the problem of giving money value in a world of universal basic income 35:00 – How scarcity has changed over time 39:01 – Role of financial capital in the last 200 years of civilization 42:39 – Are we as a society only capable of solving problems once they become an immediate threat 44:15 – Explaining the idea of attention as a scarce resource 47:56 – The two key drivers of change; zero marginal cost distribution and universality of computational power 53:13 -  What should we as investors and inventors be focusing on as the new objective function 57:24 – Scariest aspect of this transition into the knowledge age 59:45 – Three basic freedoms we all seek; informational, economic, psychological 1:02:13 – Fermi’s paradox and the scarcity of attention 1:02:56 – How Albert thinks about his own day and wellbeing given all of this information 1:05:01 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Albert Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.  Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag

My guest this week is another in a recent series of people that makes me want to work harder, learn more, and do more for others. His name is Savneet Singh, and he has already accomplished a remarkable amount in the worlds of business and investing. He’s preferred to keep a bit of a low profile, but I’m hoping, for everyone’s sake, to change that a little bit.Savneet has invested in unique things like Spanish real estate, famous startups like Uber, cryptocurrencies before they were cool, and even websites. He founded and built a fintech company. And now, he both a partner at the wide-ranging investment firm CoVenture, with my previous guest Ali Hamed, and the co-founder of Tera Holdings, which is trying to become the Berkshire Hathaway of software companies.To say this conversation is wide-ranging is an understatement. What’s neat is that my favorite parts aren’t even on investing, but are instead on principles for living.                                                                                                    Savneet is one of the best people I’ve met in this journey. I’ve had several other conversations with him with shockingly low overlap with the one you are about to hear—a testament to his active and curious mind. I hope you enjoy learning from him as much as I have.For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Links ReferencedAli Hamed podcast episolde The VERY simple bear case for bitcoinOwl MountainBooks Referenced Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist The Gorilla Game: Picking Winners in High Technology Show Notes2:30 – (First Question) – How Savneet started thinking about Spanish real estate.4:29 – Why Airbnb could be the most impactful and interesting of the companies like this5:25 – Savneet’s early entrepreneurial ventures6:42 – His big investing influences    7:02 – Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist 7:40 – What did Savneet learn in his two years on the sell-side of Wall Street 8:50 – How the financial crisis impacted Savneet 10:11 – The entrepreneurial journey and GBI 11:40 – Savneet’s observations on the FinTech space and investing in it 16:22 – His thoughts on venture capital style investing 18:36 – Transition out of GBI into his partnership with Ali Hamed 22:13 – The impactful things that his parents did for him 23:23 – How Savneet thinks about justice in his life 26:19 – Why value investing struck a chord with Savneet  28:14 – Defining the proper long-term mindset when starting a company 31:21 – Knowing what he knows now, what does he think about Berkshire today 33:22 – The strategy behind Terra and how it came together35:00 – His checklist for deciding to invest in a firm41:38 – Why does Savneet think this is the space he wants to remain in for the long-term44:39 – How they are thinking about pricing a company they invest in47:03 – Lessons learned in sales and marketing that he can and will bring to the software world52:05 – What Savneet has learned from Constellation59:08 – What lessons has Savneet learned about taxes in their company structure1:02:13 – How they think about capital sourcing1:05:08 – His balanced view on crypto as an asset class1:05:18 – The VERY simple bear case for bitcoin1:09:45 – Savneet shares the Sikh philosophy with Patrick1:13:21 – A look at Owl Mountain1:15:59 – The Gorilla Game: Picking Winners in High Technology1:16:42 – Any other areas that people are underestimating1:17:22 – Kindest thing anyone has done for SavneetLearn MoreFor more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclubFollow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag

It has been a while since we discussed private equity on the show, so I was excited for this week’s conversation. My guest is Dan Rasmussen, the founder of Verdad advisers. Dan worked in private equity and has spent years studying the entire field.Dan identified several key drivers of private equity’s outsized returns: size, value, and leverage. His firm uses these factors as a starting point to build a portfolio of public equities that behave like their private brethren.We cover a ton of ground, discussing the prospective returns for equities, forecasting, and tons of investing strategies.Please enjoy this conversation with Dan Rasmussen. For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Links ReferencedSubscribe to Dan The Gospel According to Michael Porter Tobias Carlisle Steven Pinker E.O. Wilson Books Referenced What Works on Wall Street, Fourth Edition: The Classic Guide to the Best-Performing Investment Strategies of All Time Quantitative Value, + Web Site: A Practitioner's Guide to Automating Intelligent Investment and Eliminating Behavioral Errors Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know? Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction Show Notes2:03 – (First Question) – The current state of private equity investing       4:09 – The three myths of private equity 6:51 – Taking a deeper dive into the myth of growth through operational improvements9:29 – What Works on Wall Street, Fourth Edition: The Classic Guide to the Best-Performing Investment Strategies of All Time 11:25 – Valuations for private market investment and where they’re going 14:03 – Private equity companies that have a higher chance of delivering results that exceed expectation 16:39 – Other observations on the private equity space that would be interesting to investors considering the asset class 19:33 – Importance of being very purposeful in picking your reference classes19:42 – Subscribe to Dan 22:03 – How do the lessons Dan has learned in private equity translate to his investment strategies 25:21 – How do you apply purely technical, systematic thinking into public market investing 29:23 – Analyzing leveraged stocks and the value they could create 30:06 – How Dan thinks about the direction of debt vs just the level 33:11 – Predicting a firms ability to deleverage 35:20 – How Dan’s company whittle down a company and are able to see value beyond their quantitative screens 41:29 – How does Dan think about the global vs US opportunity set 44:22 – What originally drew Dan to the Japan market 47:03 – How do rising rates impact Dan’s strategy in investing in highly leveraged companies55:03 – Porter’s five forces55:25 - The Gospel According to Michael Porter1:00:51 – How Dan thinks about competitive advantage1:04:41 – Exploring Dan’s personal process in pursuit of his ideal strategy1:05:19 – Quantitative Value, + Web Site: A Practitioner's Guide to Automating Intelligent Investment and Eliminating Behavioral Errors1:05:20 – Tobias Carlisle1:06:27 – Steven Pinker1:06:28 – E.O. Wilson1:07:11 – What other markets pique Dan’s interest1:09:39 – Why there is such a focus on small for Dan1:11:24 – Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know?1:11:28– Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction1:12:54– What was it like writing the book1:17:19 – If Dan was going to write another book today, what would it be about1:19:08– Kindest thing anyone has done for Dan Learn MoreFor more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclubFollow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag

My guest this week, back for a second conversation, is Pat Dorsey. Pat ran equity research at Morningstar before leaving to start his own asset management company: Dorsey Asset Management. His areas of deep interest are competitive advantage and capital allocation. He believes that capital allocation should be in service of competitive advantage and invests in a concentrated portfolio that he and his team feel embody these ideas. If you have not already, I strongly recommend listening to our first conversation, which is a sort of crash course on moats. In this conversation, we cover different ground. We spend much more time on individual stocks like Facebook, Google, and Chegg, using them as examples to explore Pat’s investment philosophy and strategy. Across a few conversations with Pat, I can tell he is in love with this stuff, and I always enjoy talking to investors like him who so passionately pursue and edge. Please enjoy round two with Pat Dorsey.  For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Links ReferencedPat Dorsey's first appearance on the podcast HQ - Live Trivia Game Show Books ReferencedWorld After Capital Principles: Life and Work Show Notes2:15 – (First Question) – Pat’s methods for valuing a business 4:17 – Is this process done after they would first identify potential targets for investment 5:11 – Pat’s take on how the market classifies stocks as growth vs value 6:40 – Qualitative insights and why the market can’t price them very accurately 9:57 – The business model behind zero marginal cost distribution business model 12:00 – Network effects and the potential downside to them down the road 13:54 – Valuing Facebook as a business heavily reliant on network effects16:45 – What would have to change for Pat’s position on Facebook to radically change 18:58 – Most important lessons that a smaller/private business could learn from Facebook or Google’s business models 19:48 – Where is Amazon in Pat’s portfolio 22:06 – An example of where primary research led to a big surprise about a company 24:05 – The value of travel in this business, starting with recent travel to India 26:05 – Why are they targeting India and Japan 27:24 – How does he think about the risk of investing in foreign markets 29:52 – His thinking on relative vs absolute market share 31:26 – Exploring the SaaS business model 34:35 – The application of moats and pricing power with SaaS businesses34:36 – Pat Dorsey's first appearance on the podcast 40:07 – Other models that Pat explores and how to screen for them 41:37 – How does he parse the difference between attention and demand 43:19 – How would Pat monetize something like HQ - Live Trivia Game Show that has aggregated massive amount of attention 45:19 – How does Pat react to the idea that attention is scarce and human capital is so crucial45:14 – World After Capital 47:04 – How does Pat evaluate human capital in a business 48:09 – Experience in starting an asset management business 50:20 – What are the levers that are biggest value drivers in the asset management business 53:57 – Pat’s view on the strength of the relationship between risk and return       57:06 – The most risk Pat has taken in the face of uncertainty 59:23 – Favorite recent learning resource59:43 – Principles: Life and WorkLearn MoreFor more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclubFollow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag

Long-time listeners will have heard me joke before that this podcast should really be called “this is who are you up against.” I’ve been waiting for the right episode to deploy the joke as a title, and this week we have it. The joke is meant to convey how incredibly impressive these people are who we get to hear from every week. My guest this week is Josh Wolfe, a founding and managing partner at Lux Capital in New York City. Lux is a venture capital firm, but a highly unique one. They’ve spent more time in hard sciences and interesting nooks and crannies of the market than the typical VC firm.Some of investing is zero sum: my outperformance is someone else’s underperformance. Sometimes, though, investing is positive sum. The combination of capital, ideas, people, drive, and raw energy leads to amazing new things. I think the best investing and best investors of the future will be more collaborative than competitive. After finishing with Josh, I couldn’t stop thinking “god, do I want to be involved with whatever he’s doing, if only just to learn.” This conversation made me rethink my joke “this is who are you up against.” Now I won’t think of it as a zero-sum joke, but instead as a reminder: this is the kind of person who is out there. You better find your niche, and still be the absolute best you can within that niche.  Please enjoy this killer conversation with Josh Wolfe. We cover just about everything. For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Links Referenced Investing in Biofuels or Biofools?Ali Hamed podcastAlex Moazed podcastAndy Rachleff podcastPopplet@wolfejosh Books Referenced Modern Monopolies: What It Takes to Dominate the 21st Century Economy World After Capital Show Notes2:35 – (First Question) – Lux Capital and the kind of investments they have made over the years 5:42 – The formation of the investment philosophy for Lux 9:52 – Investment philosophy 100-0-100 (ambition, arrogance, intellectual humility) 10:40 – How Josh manages his time and attention12:53 – Investing in Biofuels or Biofools? 13:29 – Obsession with nuclear 18:28 – Focus on autonomous vehicles 21:02 – How all of these gambles are viewed by Josh’s investors 22:56 – Tattoo technology24:20 – Ali Hamed podcast 24:36 – How Josh evaluates people when considering early stage investments24:45 – Alex Moazed podcast24:49 – Modern Monopolies: What It Takes to Dominate the 21st Century Economy 29:50 – Memorable experience investing in a founder 30:44 – The idea of thesis driven approach to private investment   30:56 – Andy Rachleff podcast  32:38 – Crazy thesis – understanding the emotional needs of our pets 38:03 – Josh’s learning process through these theses38:34 – Popplet45:49 – Investors that Josh has learned the most from47:37 – Josh’s comfort investing outside of his usual asset class49:03 – @wolfejosh50:56 – What is the thinking with the short strategy at Lux52:31 – SpaceX vs Tesla, good business vs bad business53:42 – How Josh approaches the quality of a business54:15 – World After Capital55:16 – How does Josh evaluate competitive advantage56:45 – Where are we in the venture capital landscape1:01:42 – How does his outlook on venture capital affect the way Lux is run1:02:48 – Thoughts on cryptocurrency1:07:22 – What is the most memorable conversation Josh has ever had1:09:34 – What is Josh’s objective function in life1:12:43 – Are there people that Josh disagrees with but deeply respects1:13:32 – Kindest thing anyone has ever done for Josh Learn MoreFor more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclubFollow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag

Harvey Sawikin, co-founder and lead portfolio manager at Firebird Management, shares his 24 years of experience in evaluating emerging market equities. Topics discussed include his success with privatization vouchers in Russia, the challenges and opportunities of investing in emerging markets, the value of travel in the investment process, and common mistakes in emerging markets investing.