A PODCAST CURRICULUM FOR THE ASPIRING BUY-SIDER: Early in my career I worked at a firm that also had an in-house fund of funds. This fund had a very good up front training program, but the monthly analyst training program really blew my mind. A few times per year, we had
titans of the HF world come in and speak to the analyst class. Julian Robertson. Steve Mandel. David Einhorn. Eddie Lampert. Steve Cohen. As a 23 year old neophyte investor hungry to learn, I was in heaven. I learned from David Einhorn not to short open ended growth stories,
and to try to "lose a little when you are basically wrong, and make a lot when you are right". I learned from Steve Mandel to not fuss about a few points of P/E multiple on a great long-term story, and that stocks with zero terminal value rarely trade at a low enough P/E.
These were absolute GEMS of wisdom, and these insights helped me form my own personal investment philosophy. Fast forward 14 years to '22, and this unique opportunity that I had in '08 is now open to the entire community, via PODCASTS.
In particular, Invest Like the Best with @patrick_oshag and Capital Allocators with @tseides have become absolutely required listening for buy-siders. Though Masters in Business and Columbia's Value Investing With Legends also pull in some great guests.
I will often see book-lists float around twitter and get many questions "hey I'm starting at a new HF, what should I read?". In that situation, it's not what you should READ, it's what you should LISTEN to.
Reading the classics is a must for any serious investor, for sure. But reading 50 investing books might take a year or two. This podcast curriculum might take a WEEK or two, and can be completed while you are building models, on a long road trip, taking a hike, etc.
A great podcast will fly around the IMs of experienced investors. When Steve Cohen gave his wonderful chat with @jsmian, I received it a few times. And top candidates have figured this out already. @GavinSBaker on episode 260 of Invest Like the Best, said to @patrick_oshag :
"I think you've done something really really good for the world. It blows my mind when I interview these kids under 25...largely because of your podcast, the kids that come in now...how good they are...and I think you're podcast has a lot to do with it."
10 years ago, a hungry, aspiring buy-sider would have NEVER had the opportunity to access the insights that are now regularly offered for FREE on podcast platforms. So, hungry to break into the buyside? Or hungry as a junior (or senior) investment professional to learn more from
some of the greatest investment minds out there? YES, read the classic books, for sure. But by listening to the wisdom of the following speakers, you can learn the language & mindset of some of the best investors in the world. Here is the curriculum I would recommend:
TIGER APPROACH TO INVESTING Steve Mandel on Investing Behind Change: https://t.co/YNyiZ6TJID Rob Citrone (former Tiger) on Emerging Markets & Hedge Funds: https://t.co/7eO0ce75g9
Steven Galbraith (former Maverick) on Capital Allocation https://t.co/6cg5ptMoBj Paul Enright (former Viking) Buy-Side Primer https://t.co/crII6iUL4O Paul Enright on Long-Short Investing https://t.co/FOOr0gMfFC
MARKET NEUTRAL INVESTING Steve Cohen (the GOAT) on the Inner Game https://t.co/TtFZSSz0bH Dmitry Balyasny on the Market Neutral Model https://t.co/a6wgZKzbYX Jordi Visser (Weiss Multi-Strategy) on the Multi-Manager Model https://t.co/0rWqmzJ1BY
Dawn Fitzpatrick (Soros) on Multi-Faceted Investing https://t.co/OTJ9qAhT07 CURRENT & FORMER HF MANAGERS ON THEIR APPROACH TO ALPHA GENERATION Gavin Baker on Tech & Consumer Investing https://t.co/KjuZFoQXA7 https://t.co/6HJSPAiMpL https://t.co/gNWGqrOz5U
Gaurav Kapadia (former TPG Axon, Soroban) on Compounding https://t.co/qShBjiQArv Eric Mandelblatt (Soroban) on Industrial Investing https://t.co/va3mu3HePs Lauren Taylor Wolfe on Activist & ESG investing https://t.co/FiVkESTP0W
Josh Friedman (Canyon) w/ a masterclass in credit https://t.co/HCozAVoiah Brad Gerstner (Altimeter) on tech & crossover investing https://t.co/aaPHh9L6PO David Zorub (Parsifal) on the path to launch a successful fund https://t.co/4QSNYUrE18
Eli Casdin on life science investing https://t.co/yjpfG49ufo Yen Liow on the quest for the right tail https://t.co/DrSETIcagG Brian Bares on qualitative investing https://t.co/P4YPatkcte Joel Greenblatt on relative value investing https://t.co/q6MjHTeV51
Ram Parameswaran on internet investing https://t.co/20xiZnTo3h
THE LONG ONLY MINDSET Carl Kawaja (Capital Group) https://t.co/BJ7ksZf87R Jean Hynes (Wellington) https://t.co/KVX17tR4Nd John Harris (Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb) https://t.co/7eFpoMaw72 Tom Russo (Gardner Russo & Gardner) on the power of consumer brand https://t.co/M4wXgH0z90
Paul Black (WCM) on growth stock investing https://t.co/cJ2uU05bcn Will Thorndike on Compounders https://t.co/onbcb9o75X INVESTMENT MINDSET Howard Marks (has his own podcast!) and has been on multiple https://t.co/Ge6jjL8qPK
Michael Mauboussin (a whole library of Mauboussin podcasts out there) https://t.co/7B2k3Kywfp Morgan Housel on the Psychology of Money https://t.co/Tgm4hSvEwL
Sam Zell (one of the best contrarian investors of all-time) https://t.co/kqpzP0f5of Kiril Sokoloff (editor of the popular HF newsletter, What I Learned This Week) https://t.co/n4V60sJKP9 THE LP MINDEST (Capital Allocators has MANY of these)
Scott Malpass (former CIO of Notre Dame, teaches a highly reviewed investing class) https://t.co/nI3S5tFerU Sarah Samuels on analyzing hedge funds (does so for $1.5tn advisor) https://t.co/rh4igG126E Larry Kochard on the LP CIO role https://t.co/TFoBebO4Hm
So if you want to break in or are new to the HF industry, I recommend doing this podcast "catch up" curriculum, then monitoring the handful of investing podcasts I mentioned (and sending them to your "investing nerd" friends). Put any great podcasts I missed in the replies!
From my DMs, 4 great additions: Hey Brett — wanted to flag a few more pods for you (Chuck Akre, Ricky sandler, tetlock on forecasting, and Graham Duncan + Tim Ferris) https://t.co/6tv1XDnmNa https://t.co/qwsyJwGvgv https://t.co/ESxvTGiCNW https://t.co/crU0GdeEj2