Masters in Business

Maran Kalbeci, Chief Product Officer at Checkout.com, builds stablecoin payment rails for merchants. Faryar Sherzad, Chief Policy Officer at Coinbase, shapes crypto regulation with governments. They discuss practical stablecoin rollouts, 24/7 merchant settlement, use cases in developing and developed markets, regulatory harmonization, state vs federal tensions, and the vision of tokenized, borderless payment rails.

Howard Lindzon, entrepreneur and CEO of StockTwits and founder of Social Leverage, talks venture investing and the rise of what he calls the 'degenerate economy.' He recounts founding StockTwits, backing Robinhood, and how retail trading and app design reshaped markets. He highlights picks-and-shovels opportunities, prediction markets, and why owning the rails can win in speculative times.

Rob Arnott, founder of Research Affiliates and creator of RAFI indexes, explains a new way to weight stocks by growth using sales, profits and R&D metrics. He contrasts dollar-magnitude weighting with percent-based froth, reveals which big tech names fail the cut, and discusses volatility, turnover and real-world implementability. The conversation emphasizes measurable signals over narratives.

Lawrence Calcano, chairman and CEO of iCapital who scaled a fintech platform serving over $1T in client assets. He discusses building a B2B2C marketplace, solving manual frictions in alternative investments, streamlining adviser workflows, global demand and tokenization, and how AI and M&A shape modern asset management.

Dan LaRosa, Director of Corporate Retirement Plans at Ritholtz Wealth Management and retirement-plan specialist, breaks down small-business retirement options. He compares SEP IRAs and solo 401(k)s. He explains contribution limits, spouse strategies to boost household savings, compliance pitfalls like Form 5500, and trade-offs between flexibility and Roth access.

David Gardner, co-founder of The Motley Fool and author of Rule Breaker Investing, shares his stock-picking philosophy. He tells origin stories from early market days and founding an investing business. He explains the six traits of standout companies, when to hold through volatility, and how to spot modern rule breakers in AI, biotech, and visionary-led firms.

Rob Arnott, founder of Research Affiliates and creator of RAFI fundamental indexing, explains why cap-weighted indexes concentrate risks and hide active bets. He discusses index trading effects, edition-driven costs, and how fundamental weightings (profits, sales, net worth) and rebalancing can offer a different return profile. Listeners hear comparisons to equal-weighting and RAFI’s long-term performance patterns.

Jean-Philippe Bouchaud, theoretical physicist and CFM chief scientist, mixes physics with finance. He explains how concepts like avalanches and shocks map to market behavior. He describes building a research-first quant culture, the role of machine learning and synthetic data, and why trend following and flow-driven markets persist.

Bill Artseronian, Director of Tax Services at Ritholtz Wealth Management, helps high-net-worth investors navigate tax planning. He covers why taxes belong in every financial plan. He highlights year-end moves, charitable timing, tax-advantaged account strategies, tax-loss harvesting, and new rules like Roth catch-up changes and SALT adjustments.

Mike Pyle, Senior Managing Director at BlackRock and former Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics, offers a blend of markets and policy perspective. He discusses durable economic shocks from a Middle East conflict and energy security. He explains systematic investing, AI's role in signals, and how portfolio construction must adapt to supply shocks and political risks.