Pitch Keyword: The Acquirer's Podcast

Excess Returns with Justin Carbonneau, Jack Forehand and Matt Zeigler | S07 E35

• Investment Philosophy: The podcast emphasizes the importance of having a strategy you can stick with, as highlighted by Ben Carlson’s advice that a good strategy you can adhere to is better than a great one you can’t maintain.
• Behavioral Finance: Many insights focus on behavioral aspects of investing, such as the need for discipline and the ability to remain unemotional, which are crucial for long-term success.
• Market Dynamics: The discussion touches on the challenges of sticking with value investing due to its volatility and how different strategies, like momentum investing, appeal to different investor temperaments.
• Base Rates and Decision Making: Jack Forehand discusses Michael Mauboussin’s concept of base rates, emphasizing the importance of using historical data to inform investment decisions rather than relying solely on current analysis.
• Human Element in Investing: Chris Davis’s idea of viewing investments as owning a business highlights the importance of understanding and aligning with the companies you invest in, rather than merely treating them as tradable assets.
• Technological Impact: The role of AI in investing is explored, with discussions on how it can enhance decision-making processes but also the limitations it faces in capturing human intuition and complex market dynamics.
• Life and Investment Balance: Mike Green’s advice that your portfolio should be secondary to your life underscores the importance of balancing financial goals with personal well-being and life satisfaction.
• Continuous Learning: The podcast encourages continuous learning and adaptation, as seen in the discussion about writing down investment decisions to improve future strategies and the potential of AI to assist in this process.

Winning Long-Term Games and Ergodicity with Author Luca Dellanna | S07 E36

• Investment Philosophy: Luca Dellanna emphasizes the importance of ergodicity, a concept where survival is prioritized over performance, highlighting that irreversible losses can absorb future gains.
• Long-Term Strategy: In his book “Winning Long-Term Games,” Dellanna argues against short-term optimization, suggesting that strategies should focus on sustainable growth over time, even if they are suboptimal in the short term.
• Risk Management: Dellanna discusses the Kelly Criterion, noting its mathematical optimality but cautioning against its aggressive nature due to uncertainties in real-world variables, advocating for a fractional approach.
• Reproducibility of Success: He advises against mimicking strategies that are not reproducible, emphasizing the importance of understanding why certain strategies fail to ensure long-term success.
• Behavioral Insights: Dellanna highlights the dangers of hindsight bias and the tendency to adopt non-reproducible strategies based on perceived intelligence or past successes.
• Time Horizon: He suggests that giving oneself a reasonable time horizon opens up better options and reduces the pressure to succeed quickly, which often leads to poor decision-making.
• Network Effects: Dellanna underscores the value of building relationships and trust, which compound over time and are crucial for long-term success in both personal and professional contexts.
• Practical Application: Dellanna applies these principles in his own career by focusing on trust-building over short-term gains, writing multiple books to mitigate variance in success, and avoiding viral content that does not build long-term trust.

Soldier of Fortune: Warren Buffett, Sun Tzu and the Ancient Art of Risk-Taking | S07 E34

• Investment Strategy: The podcast discusses Toby’s new book, which draws parallels between Warren Buffett’s investment strategies and Sun Tzu’s military philosophies, emphasizing the importance of strategic risk-taking and defensive positioning.
• Buffett’s Apple Investment: Buffett’s investment in Apple is highlighted as a prime example of a Sun Tzu-style strategy, where he capitalized on a well-known company with minimal downside and significant upside, demonstrating skill over luck.
• General Re Acquisition: The acquisition of General Re is analyzed as a strategic move to dilute Berkshire Hathaway’s overvalued equity with undervalued bonds, showcasing Buffett’s defensive mindset and ability to avoid ruin.
• BNSF Railway Purchase: The BNSF acquisition is explored as a geographically strategic investment that aligned with shifting trade dynamics and tax advantages, illustrating Buffett’s ability to synthesize complex factors into a single strategic decision.
• Japanese Trading Companies: Buffett’s investment in Japanese trading companies is discussed as a move aligned with improving corporate governance and shareholder friendliness, reflecting a strategic understanding of global economic shifts.
• Moral Philosophy in Business: The podcast emphasizes the importance of moral law and character in business, drawing from Sun Tzu’s principles and Buffett’s practices of partnering with people he likes and admires.
• Investment Philosophy: The concept of “via negativa,” or avoiding mistakes, is highlighted as a key investment philosophy, advocating for a focus on removing obstacles to investment rather than timing the market.
• Emotional Detachment: The importance of maintaining emotional detachment in investing is underscored, with references to Sun Tzu’s strategies for achieving victory without direct conflict, applicable to modern investment challenges.

Ben Kizemchuk on fiscal dominance, financial repression, passive flows and fiat currency | S07 E28

• Investment Philosophy: Ben Kismchuk, a portfolio manager at Wellington Altus, discusses his approach to wealth management, focusing on working with lawyers and a new clientele of cryptocurrency investors.
• Market Dynamics: Kismchuk introduces the concept of the “4Fs”—fiscal dominance, financial repression, passive flows, and fiat money—as a framework to understand current economic conditions.
• Fiscal Dominance: The discussion highlights how government spending, now at 25% of GDP, creates a scenario where the needs of the Treasury overshadow those of the central bank, reminiscent of post-World War II economic policies.
• Financial Repression: Kismchuk explains how governments may intervene in markets to keep interest rates below inflation, effectively inflating away debt and reducing economic volatility.
• Passive Flows: The rise of passive investment products is creating a feedback loop that disproportionately benefits larger companies, potentially leading to a bifurcation in market valuations.
• Fiat Currency: The transition from a gold-backed to a fiat currency system allows for more flexible monetary policy, which Kismchuk argues has reduced the frequency of economic recessions.
• Investment Implications: Kismchuk suggests focusing on sectors and companies that are benefiting from these trends, such as the MAG7, while expressing skepticism about bonds and emphasizing the potential of gold.
• Market Outlook: The podcast concludes with a discussion on the implications of these economic frameworks for equities, particularly the lack of mean reversion and the continuation of current market trends.

Microcap investor Jason Hirschman on his method, $XPEL and the Buffett salad oil scandal | S07 E29

• Investment Strategy: Jason Hirschman emphasizes a strategy he calls “salad oil investing,” focusing on buying stocks when their valuations are impacted by external factors unrelated to their core business operations, similar to Warren Buffett’s approach with American Express during the salad oil scandal.
• Microcap Opportunities: Hirschman discusses the potential of microcap stocks, highlighting their ability to offer significant returns due to their niche roles and the inefficiencies present in the market, despite the inherent risks and volatility.
• Expel Case Study: He shares his successful investment in Expel, a microcap company, during a patent lawsuit crisis, demonstrating the importance of thorough due diligence and strategic position sizing in high-risk investments.
• Global Market Insights: Hirschman notes the increasing attractiveness of international markets, particularly in Europe and Japan, for microcap investments due to better profitability and unique opportunities not present in the U.S. market.
• Technological Impact: The rise of AI and Substack platforms is changing the microcap landscape by making it easier to research and disseminate information about small companies, potentially increasing their visibility and liquidity.
• Risk Management: Hirschman stresses the importance of managing existential risks through careful due diligence, position sizing, and understanding the unique challenges and dynamics of microcap investing.
• Market Dynamics: He discusses the evolving microcap environment, including challenges like private equity buyouts and the need for investors to adapt by exploring international opportunities and leveraging new technologies.

Investment Philosophers: Financial Lessons from the Great Thinkers with Ethan A. Everett | S07 E30

• Investment Philosophy: Ethan A. Everett discusses his book, “The Investment Philosophers,” which explores the intersection of philosophy and investing, highlighting how philosophical ideas can inform investment strategies.
• Historical Insights: The podcast delves into historical examples, such as Baruch Spinoza and the Dutch East India Company, illustrating how public securities markets have influenced philosophical thought and vice versa.
• Emotional Control: Spinoza’s ideas on managing irrational emotions are linked to modern behavioral finance, emphasizing the importance of introspection and rationality in investment decisions.
• Philosophical Connections: The discussion connects Nietzsche’s concept of eternal recurrence with Warren Buffett’s moral approach to investing, suggesting that ethical considerations can be integral to long-term investment success.
• Market Skepticism: Voltaire’s skepticism and his success in bond lottery arbitrage are used to illustrate the importance of questioning market efficiency and the potential for finding opportunities in perceived inefficiencies.
• Common Sense and Consensus: David Hume’s philosophy is applied to investing, advocating for a balance between skepticism and common sense when evaluating market consensus and making investment decisions.
• Abstraction in Finance: The podcast explores Jean Baudrillard’s concept of abstraction, using the meme stock phenomenon as an example of how financial symbols can influence underlying realities.
• Practical Application: Ethan discusses how philosophical frameworks can be applied in practical investment strategies, including idea screening and evaluating personal biases and emotions in decision-making.

Unemployed Value Degen Stephen Farrington on small cap stocks $PTLO and $CROX | S07 E31

• Investment Philosophy: Stephen Farrington focuses on small cap value stocks, emphasizing the potential for finding mispriced opportunities where fundamentals have improved but prices have not adjusted.
• Insider Buying Strategy: Farrington values insider buying as a key indicator, particularly purchases by Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and General Counsels, as they are often the most informed and cautious within a company.
• Portillo’s Analysis: Portillo’s, a fast-food chain, is highlighted for its strong market niche in everyday value, with impressive revenue per location and a high net promoter score, suggesting strong customer loyalty and potential for growth outside Chicago.
• Crocs Investment Case: Crocs is noted for its international growth, particularly in China, and its ability to maintain reasonable pricing, which helps fend off competition from knockoffs and supports strong brand loyalty.
• Market Dynamics: The discussion touches on the potential for a rotation from large cap to small cap stocks, driven by factors like interest rate cuts and the impact of AI on profitability, which could benefit smaller companies more significantly.
• Current Market Trends: There is a notable shift in options trading dynamics, with realized volatility exceeding implied volatility, suggesting potential opportunities for those who understand the underlying companies well.
• Sector Challenges: The restaurant sector faces challenges due to consumer pressure and economic conditions, but companies like Portillo’s are seen as well-positioned to weather these issues and capitalize on future growth opportunities.

Intangible Value Investing Using AI + NLP with Kai Wu of Sparkline Capital | S07 E32

• Investment Approach: Kai Wu of Sparkline Capital discusses evolving value investing by incorporating the rise of intangible assets such as intellectual property, brand equity, human capital, and network effects, which are increasingly significant in company valuations.
• Intangible Assets Framework: Wu outlines a framework with four pillars—intellectual property, brand equity, human capital, and network effects—to systematically track and compare intangible assets across companies.
• Accounting Adjustments: Traditional accounting methods are criticized for penalizing companies with high intangible investments by expensing R&D and marketing, leading Wu to advocate for capitalizing these expenditures to better reflect a company’s true value.
• AI and Alternative Data: Wu leverages AI and natural language processing to analyze unstructured data sources, such as patents and social media, to quantify intangible assets and integrate them into a quantitative investment process.
• Market Dynamics: The discussion highlights the dominance of large-cap tech stocks, driven by their intangible assets, and explores the potential risks and opportunities in the current market structure, particularly concerning AI investments.
• Crypto Factors: Wu explores the application of factor investing in cryptocurrencies, identifying factors such as market cap, momentum, and intangible value, with a focus on utilizing open-source data like GitHub activity and blockchain transactions.
• Globalization and Trade: Wu emphasizes the resilience of multinational companies with high intangible assets in the face of trade wars, as these assets are less affected by tariffs compared to physical goods.

Liquid real assets with Will Thomson of Massif Capital; natural gas, tungsten and tin | S07 E33

• Investment Strategy: Will Thomson of Massif Capital focuses on investing in liquid real assets through publicly traded companies, emphasizing sectors like energy, materials, and infrastructure.
• Portfolio Construction: The strategy involves a concentrated portfolio with 15 positions on the long side and a few on the short side, focusing on companies with specific catalysts rather than broad commodity price exposure.
• Key Sectors: The discussion highlights investments in European natural gas, emphasizing companies with solid balance sheets and high dividend yields, and the strategic importance of the North Sea region.
• Bottlenecks and Opportunities: Thomson identifies bottlenecks in sectors like semiconductors and critical metals such as tungsten and tin, which are crucial for industrial and technological applications.
• Risk Management: The approach includes a focus on operational catalysts and political risk, with an understanding that patience and timing are critical due to the inherent volatility in real assets.
• Shorting Strategy: Short positions are opportunistic, targeting companies with negative trends and poor management, often in cyclical industries.
• Market Outlook: The podcast discusses the long-term outlook for energy, noting a lack of reinvestment in oil and gas, and the potential impact of geopolitical factors on supply chains.
• Innovation in Commodities: Thomson argues that investing in commodities is not necessarily being short human ingenuity, as these industries are highly innovative, employing numerous PhDs and driving technological advancements.

SMB acquirer Colin King on Entrepreneurship-through-Acquisition and Search Funds | S07 E36

Description: Value: After Hours is a podcast about value investing, Fintwit, and all things finance and investment by investors Tobias Carlisle, … Transcript: en (“English (auto-generated)”)[TRANSLATABLE]

Excess Returns with Justin Carbonneau, Jack Forehand and Matt Zeigler | S07 E35

• Investment Philosophy: The podcast emphasizes the importance of having a strategy you can stick with, as highlighted by Ben Carlson’s advice that a good strategy you can adhere to is better than a great one you can’t maintain.
• Behavioral Finance: A recurring theme is the impact of investor behavior on returns, with insights from Pim Van Vliet on the importance of character over IQ in achieving long-term investment success.
• Market Analysis: The discussion includes the concept of base rates, as explained by Michael Mauboussin, which involves looking at historical data to inform investment decisions, contrasting with the typical inside view analysis.
• Portfolio Management: Paul Tudor Jones’ advice to view every position as if you put it on today encourages investors to regularly reassess their holdings, ensuring alignment with current market conditions and personal investment goals.
• Investment Strategy: The conversation touches on the flexibility in investment approaches, with Steve Romick’s advice to remain adaptable and not dogmatic, using examples like Buffett’s pivot into tech stocks.
• Life and Investing: Mike Green’s perspective that your portfolio is secondary to your life highlights the importance of aligning investment strategies with personal life goals and priorities.
• Technology in Investing: The role of AI in investment processes is discussed, with varying opinions on its current utility and potential future impact on stock selection and portfolio management.