Top Podcasts of the Week

July 15, 2019

Below is our “Top Podcast” episode with our new curator, Colby Donovan! Holler with any feedback!

Today we have a lot of great business episodes. We have an episode about short-selling and identifying fraudulent companies, the bull case for Japan, the President of the Richmond Fed on the U.S. economy, a look back at Marc Andreessen’s 2016 WSJ op-ed on why software is eating the world, and the New Orleans Pelicans GM David Griffin on his offseason trading Anthony Davis and drafting Zion Williamson.

Business

  • The Jolly Swagman Podcast: #69: The World According to a Maverick, Beach-Biding Stock Picker — John Hempton. There won’t be an episode better on short-selling and identifying fraudulent companies than this. Guest John Hempton is the cofounder and CIO of Australian-based hedge fund Bronte Capital, and you may recognize his voice from the Dirty Money episode on Netflix about Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which he shorted. He explains how getting in touch with Marc Cohodes changed his life (you can listen to Cohodes appearance on The Jolly Swagman Podcast here), his over process and thoughts on short selling, how he screens for companies that are frauds, managing a portfolio of shorts, and trying to automate his short selling process (what he describes as creating a computerized Marc Cohodes). [July 8, 2019–2 hours, 52 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Overcast |Breaker | Website Link

Hempton’s Book Suggestion: The Money Miners (it is about the 1967–69 nickel boom in Australia)

  • Capital Allocators: Ash Williams — Florida SBA’s Reigning Chief. Williams is the Executive Director and CIO of the Florida State Board of Administration, where he oversees $200 billion in assets for the State of Florida. He covers his unique political background which led him to the SBA in the 1990s, modernizing the compensation scheme, overall asset allocation thoughts with both private equity and hedge funds, the use of both internal and external managers and how he selects managers. He includes examples of real investment opportunities, including a recent purchase of a NYC building to lease to MasterCard.[ July 8, 2019–1 hour, 18 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Overcast |Breaker | Website Link

  • Behind the Markets Podcast: Jesper Koll. This is a great episode all about Japan — guest Jesper Koll is the Chief Executive Officer of WisdomTree Japan and provides the bull case for Japanese equities. He covers why global investors are underweight Japan, why he believes both the recent trends of capital returns to shareholders and activism are bullish for Japan, the Bank of Japan buying Japanese ETFs to encourage people to buy stocks (they currently own about 5% of the equity market through their ETF buying program), and the costs of buying a financial product in Japan, which are extremely high. [July 12, 2019–31 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Overcast |Breaker | Website Link

In 2018, the average cost of the average product bought by the retail investor in Japan was 4.3%.

  • Behind the Markets Podcast: Tom Barkin. Guest Tom Barkin is the President of the Richmond Fed. The episode is all about the U.S. economic outlook, including his thoughts on the consumer, labor market, concerns about business confidence and investment, how he views the yield curve inversion, the housing market and impact of outstanding student debt on the economy, and why we need to help individuals living outside major U.S. cities. [July 12, 2019–30 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Overcast |Breaker | Website Link

  • Resolve’s Gestalt University: Meb Faber: The Road Less Traveled. Faber is a co-founder and the Chief Investment Officer of Cambria Investment Management. He explains why he chose a unique business development approach, following the lead of Ken Fisher, since he started the firm, the costs and process of filing ETFs and the structural advantages of ETFs compared to other investment vehicles, his firm’s criteria for launching a fund, thoughts on high dividend yielding stocks, market cap weighting and home country bias, and why he believes it’s important for managers to have skin in the game, which has led him to have most of his net worth in his funds. They finish with Meb explaining why he believes a combination of global, trend, and momentum is the best system for construction a portfolio. [June 27, 2019–1 hour, 7 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Overcast |Breaker | Website Link

  • a16z Podcast: Beyond Software Eating the World. The Venture Capital firm, a16z, is celebrating their 10 year anniversary and re-releasing some older episodes. In 2011, co-founder Marc Andreessen, published an op-ed in the WSJ called Why Software Is Eating the Worldand this episode is a look back at that article. They explain how technology and software is a deflationary force on the economy, how GPU’s from companies like Nvidia are being applied to things like autonomous driving, what can be expected from recent breakthroughs in AI and deep learning, and how technology has leveled the playing field for small and midsize companies, which have the ability to adopt tech at a faster rate than larger companies. It was a great episode on the impact of software and technology on the economy and world. [July 7, 2019–41 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Overcast |Breaker | Website Link

  • Venture Stories: Value Hacking and How To Avoid The Fake Growth Epidemic with Mike Maples. This episode is all about how companies should approach growth, particularly in the private markets. It features Mike Maples, a Founding Partner at Floodgate, a VC firm with investments in Twitter, Lyft, Twitch.tv, and more. He covers the difference between fake growth and real growth, the different life stages of a company (what he calls value hacking and growth hacking), issues with VC firms having too much capital to deploy, and why companies are staying private for longer. [July 9, 2019–1 hour, 16 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Overcast |Breaker | Website Link

The Rest

  • The Woj Pod: David Griffin. Griffin is the EVP of Basketball Operation for the New Orleans Pelicans, and was previously the GM of the Cleveland Cavaliers where he won the 2016 NBA Championship. He covers how he handled the Anthony Davis trade, winning the draft lottery which allowed the Pelicans to draft Zion Williamson, the changing dynamics of the NBA with constant player movement and teams having to pivot unexpectedly, why players aren’t satisfied with great situations (Paul George, Kevin Durant, & Kawhi Leonard), and why the 2016 championship team in Cleveland lacked joy. [July 10, 2019–41 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Overcast |Breaker | Website Link

—-Here’s ours:

Good investing,Meb Fabertheideafarm.com