Top Podcasts of the Week

Below is our “Top Podcast” episode with our curator, Colby Donovan!

Today we have a startup saving the average company $75,000, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek on his approach to life and work, and an interview on the history of financial bubbles.

• Smarter Markets: Robert Friedland: Envisioning commodities graded & traded on how responsibly they’re produced. Billionaire Canadian financier Robert Friedland has had a long career in the mining and energy space and talks about where the industries are heading. He talks about the importance of knowing where metals are mined relative to where they fit within ESG and rewarding those who have a positive impact on the environment. He then explains how blockchain technology can allow that to happen by tracking the commodity from start to finish. We can then use this information to monitor companies and hold them accountable for their performance and effect on the environment. [November 28, 2020–1 hour, 13 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Google | Breaker | Website Link

• Resolve’s Gestalt University: ReSolve Riffs with Meb Faber on Free Money, Unrealistic Expectations & the Short View. The Resolve Asset Management guys are joined by the co-founder and CIO of Cambria Investment Management. They cover a ton of topics: popular investment advice they disagree with, contrarian vs. crowded trades, and the importance of having a long investment horizon. They also touch on how to fix most American’s personal finance issues and lack of retirement preparedness, with ideas like the Australian superannuation or making investments private where people can’t sell at inopportune times. They also finish with why Meb is more interested in venture investing vs. the bitcoin story. [November 30, 2020–1 hour, 33 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Google | Breaker | Website Link

• The Contrarian Investor: How Bubbles and False Narratives Made Financial Markets, with Jamie Catherwood, Author of Investor Amnesia. Jamie Catherwood works at O’Shaughnessy Asset Management and is the author of InvestorAmnesia.com. He joins the episode to discuss the history of financial bubbles. He goes back to bubbles related to treasure hunting, bicycles, and railroads and what commonalities existed in all of them. He also explains why the popular narrative of tulip mania isn’t accurate. He compares prior bubbles to the electric vehicles today and why these bubbles tend to happen around technological advances. At 40:30, he finishes with his background and what got him interested in finance and history. [November 25, 2020–1 hour, 1 minute] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Google | Breaker | Website Link

The Rest

• ***Must Listen*** The Tim Ferriss Show: #484: Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify — The Art of Seeing Around Corners, Two-Year Missions, Top Books, and the Essence of Fire Soul. This interview with Ek is a must-listen on his approach to life, leadership, and personal growth and success. The 37 year-old CEO talks about his focus on managing energy and time, how his leadership style differs from other CEOs, differences between Swedish and American culture, and why he reads 60–70 books per year. [December 3, 2020–1 hour, 39 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Google | Breaker | Website Link

Meb Faber

• The Meb Faber Show: #268 — The Best Idea Show — Doug Ludlow, MainStreet — We’re Now Saving The Average Company Using Our Platform About $75,000 Per Year. Ludlow is the founder and CEO of MainStreet, a startup making it easy for businesses to access government incentive programs. His best idea is unclaimed money for small businesses and startups. Every year the federal and local governments offer incentives that go unused and MainStreet has a platform that allows companies to easily enter some information and learn if they qualify for any incentives. Ludlow talks about the expansion of his offering and provides some actual examples of companies who have saved a lot by using the platform. [December 2, 2020–18 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Google | Breaker | Website Link

RECOMMENDATIONS

Books

Daniel Ek (CEO, Spotify):

1. Black Box Thinking: The Surprising Truth About Success by Matthew Syed

2. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

3. Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson

Jim Collins (Best-Selling Author):

1. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro

2. The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro

3. Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow

Katrina Lake (Founder & CEO, Stitch Fix):

1. Between The World And Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Vlad Tenev (Co-Founder & CEO, Robinhood):

1. The Mars Project by Wernher Von Braun

Sarah Tavel (GP, Benchmark):

1. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Good investing,Meb Fabertheideafarm.com