Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

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

Dan Rasmussen, founder of Verdad Advisors and former private equity professional, shares his insights into private equity's historical performance and the myths surrounding it. He discusses how competition has diminished returns post-2010 and analyzes the questionable operational improvements in PE firms. Exploring the application of PE strategies in public markets, he emphasizes leveraging factors like size and value. Dan also critiques common investing wisdom and highlights Japan as a promising market for leveraged strategies, driven by cultural and financial structures.

Pat Dorsey, founder of Dorsey Asset Management and former Morningstar research chief, dives into how he values businesses and hunts for hidden qualitative edges. He breaks down Facebook, Google, Chegg, and SaaS models, explores network effects, zero marginal cost, primary research, global investing risks, and why human capital matters more than ever.

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.

My guest this week is Anthony Pompliano. Pomp began his career in the military, and has since been a successful entrepreneur, worked as a head of growth at Facebook, and started Full Tilt Capital, an early stage investing firm in North Carolina. This conversation has three memorable sections. Early on, we discuss the four traits Pomp looks for in founders, which we cover in detail. These double as traits that are important when hiring anyone. Next, we discuss his unique take on cryptocurrencies, where he is excited about the prospects for tokenized securities. Finally, we explore a unique media company, Bar Stool Sports, and what makes it such a powerful brand. Please enjoy our somewhat abbreviated discussion and know we will continue the conversation soon. 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 Dave Portnoy and Barstool Sports’ Secret Billion Dollar Plan Books Referenced Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter   Show Notes 2:06 - (First Question) – Recap of Anthony’s military career 4:07 – Most memorable experience while deployed 5:27 – Transition out of the military and how it shaped his investing philosophy 11:19 – investing philosophy of Full Tilt, starting with deal economics 10:00 – Attributes of an ideal founder 13:50 -  Where you actual learn the attributes that make you a good founder 14:40 – Time that Anthony has taken the biggest risk in life 16:45 – What is the viewpoint that Full Tilt has today that gives it Alpha in the market 18:47 – Why tokenized securities could be advantageous for investors in a company 19:51 – Anthony’s explanation of a tokenized security and what needs to happen for this idea to be fully realized in the market 22:22 – What could be the impact on the markets of making liquidity in venture so readily available 24:39 – What are tokenized securities actually invested in in the real world 27:42 – What does Anthony think about the commodity risk 29:04 – Describing Standard American Mining, a company they incubated 29:58 – Exploring the shift from a CPU world to a GPU world 31:49 – Getting involved in places where we haven’t caught up with the rest of the world 33:05 – Anthony’s interest in Barstool Sports             33:11 – Dave Portnoy and Barstool Sports’ Secret Billion Dollar Plan             37:09 – Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter 39:02 – What lessons from Full Tilt world would Anthony share with others in the more traditional business world 40:35 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Anthony 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 Dr. Ben Hunt, the chief investment strategist at Salient and the author of the extremely popular epsilon theory. I’ve always enjoyed Ben’s writing style, particularly his use of farm and animal based analogies to describe market phenomenon. In this conversation, we discuss his recent post the three body problem, why growth has been beating value, and why a strategy that he calls profound agnosticism—a take on risk parity—may be the most appropriate investing strategy in what he views as a very uncertain world. We also discuss some of his favorite lessons from the farm.  Please enjoy our conversation!   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 The Three-Body Problem   Show Notes 1:54 - (First Question) – Applying the three-body problem to investing  7:24 – Fundamental view of investing, Profound Agnosticism  8:24 – Why has value done so poorly relative to growth in this framework  11:01 -  Ben’s thoughts on why value has been underperforming for so long  13:52 – Investors should be able to adapt  17:49 – Thoughts on the risk parity approach  23:23 – Ben’s strategy for working with several teams  26:48 – What’s the best way to gain an edge, top down factors vs company/bond individual analysis  28:29 – How do you measure risk amid the large amount of uncertainty that exists in markets  32:40 – How does Ben personally think about investing  34:41 – Ben’s farm and the investing lessons learned by some of the animals  39:55 – How bees can plan out their entire work structure by the angle of the sun  42:58 – Defining basis risk  44:59 – Personal risk vs portfolio risk  49:30 – The concept of fingernail clean and our perception of what eggs are  53:57 – How ETFs are like mass produced eggs  54:56 – Exploring the idea of quality vs scaling  58:39 – What is the current challenge/puzzle that Ben is focused on right now  1:01:59 – What is Ben looking for when looking into game theory and applying it to the words that are published and spoken about investing  1:03:57 – Most memorable day on Ben’s farm  1:05:04 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Ben   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