Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Latest Episodes:

Mike Zapata – The Darkest Night: Lessons from Battle and Value Investing - [Invest Like the Best, EP.89] May 29, 2018

Show notes

My guest this week is remarkable. He now applies his talents on Wall Street, searching for smaller cap companies trading at huge discounts in an effort to compound wealth for his investors. He is classically trained, having earned his graduate degree from Colombia, a school known for producing value investors. But his method also reflects what he learned across more than a decade of active duty in the U.S. military.

Mike Zapata served us all as a Navy SEAL in the aftermath of 9/11 and ultimately as a member of the SEAL’s “Development Group,” commonly known as SEAL team 6. I think everyone listening strives for excellence in what they do. This week we get to hear from someone who has pursued excellence on our behalf.

I’ll let him explain the meaning of his firm’s name, Sententia, but for now suffice to say we are lucky to have quiet professionals like Mike. If you are interested in supporting the families of soldiers who fought with Mike and lost their lives, I encourage you to check out the Tip of the Spear foundation and make a donation along with me, small or large.

Please enjoy my conversation with Mike Zapata.

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

Books Referenced

The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of Practical Counsel

Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown

Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War

Show Notes

2:23

2:23 – (First Question) – A quick overview of Mike’s career leading up to his time at Columbia

3:43 – What led him down the path of value investing at Columbia

3:51 – The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of Practical Counsel

5:57 – The focus and goal of the firm

7:12 – Where the name of the firm, Sententia comes from

8:04 – His experience in the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) program and lessons learned from it

13:14 – How much grit is innate vs can be learned

14:59 – What the actual job was in BUD/S

17:33 – Difference between the broader SEAL community and being part of the more exclusive development group

19:03 – The team dynamic within the SEALS

20:26 – Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown

21:18 – The sacrifice that SEALs make with the story of Adam Brown as an example

24:35 – Waiting for darkness before deployment

27:23 – How do you know when to violate your best practices for a risk

29:26 – A look at three pictures in his office and why they are meaningful

31:36 – Lessons that would be useful to other people

33:10 – Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War

33:17 – How is Mike’s skillset applied to the investing world

39:24 – Factors that would be seen as good alignment in businesses

40:18 – How the view the profiles of other investors in these small businesses

41:46 – Examples of “smoke and fire”, markers of an attractive investment

43:42 – Other investors that he has learned the most from and what those lessons were

44:54 – Importance of balance sheets in value investing

47:33 – Is value investment oversaturated

50:28 – Market blind spots that are attractive to Mike

52:03 – What point in Mike’s career has he felt the most alive

53:14 – Any other lessons Mike would want to share

55:12 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Mike

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

Sam Hinkie – Data, Decisions, and Basketball - [Invest Like the Best, EP.88] May 22, 2018

Show notes

I came across this week’s guest thanks to the overlap of three passions of mine: data informed investing, value creation, and basketball. Sam Hinkie worked for more than a decade in the NBA with the Houston Rockets, and then most recently as the President and GM of the Philadelphia 76ers. He helped launch basketball's analytics movement when he joined the Houston Rockets in 2005, and is known for unique trade structuring and a keen focus on acquiring undervalued players. Today, he is also an investor and advisor to a limited number of young companies in which he feels his experience can improve outcomes.

Please enjoy this unique episode with Sam Hinkie.

Show Notes

3:24 – (First Question) Advantages of having a long view and how to structurally harness one

6:08 – Using technology to foster an innovative culture

6:18– Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History

10:16 – Favorite example of applied innovation from Sam’s career

11:34 - Most fun aspect of doing data analytics early on the Houston Rockets

13:38 - Is there anything more important than courage in asymmetric outcomes

14:29 – How does Sam know when to let the art of decision making finish where the data started

16:29 - Pros and cons of a contrarian mindset

17:26 – Where he wanted to apply his knowledge in sports when first getting out of school and how his thinking is best applied in the current sports landscape

21:39 – How does he think about trying to find the equivalent of mispriced assets in the NBA

23:12 – Where tradition can be an impediment to innovation

25:07 – What did the team and workflow of the team look like in the front office

27:03 - The measure of truth in a sports complex

29:10 – What were the early factors coming out of the data that helped to shape NBA teams

30:42 – Best tactics for hiring

33:59 – Process of recruiting spectacular people

35:39 – Thoughts on fostering a good marriage

37:57 – Picking your kids traits in your spouse

38:02 – Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: Why Being a Great Parent is Less Work and More Fun Than You Think

40:45 – What kind of markers does he look for when evaluating long term investment ideas

42:44 – His interest in machine learning

45:55 – What’s more exciting, the actual advances in machine learning or the applications that can be imagined as a result

47:15– International Justice Mission

48:11 – How he got started teaching negotiations and some of the points he makes in that class

49:16 – Effective techniques for negotiating

50:03 – Is negotiating contentious, do you need empathy

50:41 – A Rorschach test of Sam based on his reading of Lessons of History (book)

53:01 – Biggest risk Sam took in his career

54:37 – Biggest risks Sam took while with the 76ers

58:09 – Do people undervalue asymmetric outcomes in the NBA 1:00:11 – The players Sam has enjoyed watching over the years

1:02:45 – Why Robert Caro is a favorite author of his

1:04:30 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Sam

Tren Griffin – Pulling the Thread - [Invest Like the Best, EP.87] May 15, 2018

Show notes

My guest this week is a bundle of curiosity, and that is one of the nicest things I could say about someone. For several years, Tren Griffin has been writing a weekly blog post that highlights things he has learned from various investors, businesspeople, musicians, comedians, and more. Lately, he has also been tackling individual businesses, and broad topics like scaling, competitive forces, and product market fit.

Tren’s full time job is serving as a director at Microsoft. He’s also worked with or for several well know businesspeople and investors like Craig McCaw, and written several books including one on lessons for entrepreneurs, one on Charlie Munger, and another on negotiation.

We discuss value creation vs. value capture, alpha in investing, sales, hip hop, and why he’d teach high school students about convexity through a drunk driving analogy. I could have talked to Tren for much longer than I did, but sadly, we both had flights to catch.

If you take anything away from this, I hope its just how much fun it is to just be curious about business, and how you can learn a tremendous amount if you just keep reading about the things that interest you and talking to others. Please enjoy my conversation with Tren Griffin.

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

Show Notes

2:26 – (First question) – key levers of the universal business model

4:26 – How do you know when you’ve achieved real value creation

6:24 – Importance of value capture and how they enhance value creation

6:31 – Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

9:08 – Price power

10:28 – Are discussions of moats more useful to businesses than to investors

13:12 - What Tren learned during his early years working with Craig McCaw

16:28 – The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success

16:36 – The skill of capital allocation

18:37 – How would Buffett and Munger bet on tech if they were starting out today and their philosophy of betting against change

21:57 – How Tren became so fascinated with Charlie and what he’s learned from him

22:32 – The Alchemy of Finance

23:17 – Damn Right: Behind the Scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger

23:19 – Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger

25:21 – Most memorable moment or lesson from Charlie

19:20 – How he thinks about factor investing

31:25 – What are the scalability features that make a business attractive

31:28 – A Dozen Attributes of a Scalable Business

35:37 – Exploring some of the other important levers of businesses, such as subscriptions, customer acquisition cost, and more.

36:20 – Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In

37:11 – Wholesale transfer pricing

39:18 – Pros and cons of subscription business models

43:14 – Magic of getting products distributed

44:58 – Best sale Tren’s ever made

46:46 – Most important lesson for young people

50:16 – Tren’s interest in hip-hop and how it helps him reach more people

53:49 – A look at some interesting quotes from Jim Barksdale

58:22 – Learning by doing

1:00:48 – Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed

1:01:06 – Period of his career that he felt most alive

1:03:03 – Advice for young people thinking about business and entrepreneurship

1:04:56 – Why are so few people passionate about what they do for a living

1:10:44 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Tren

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

Jason Karp – Opportunities in Public and Private Markets - [Invest Like the Best, EP.86] May 08, 2018

Show notes

I believe that any investment strategy that will deliver strong returns in the future must evolve. Any strategy should rest on rock solid foundational principles, which change rarely if ever—things like price discipline, or business growth. But the features of the strategy must keep getting better, because the marketplace is incredibly competitive.

That evolution is the topic of today’s conversation with Jason Karp. Jason is the founder and CIO of Tourbillon Capital Partners, a multi-billion dollar asset manager based in New York City.

We cover a ton of interesting ground. We start with what has happened in public and private markets, discussing the role of quants, passive indexes, and value vs. deep value investing. We compare the relative merits of investing in private equities, and where and how opportunities arise.

We then focus in on two interesting private investing trends: the health and wellness sector and the cannabis industry. First, we discuss Hu kitchen and Hu Products, the food business that Jason started with his family several years ago in response to personal health challenges. Second, we discuss his evolved views on Cannabis as an investment space and why it may also represent a massive growth opportunity.

You all know I value transparency, so it is important to note that since I recorded the conversation, my family became an investor in Hu Products. It has been a fascinating means to learn about the food, health, and wellness industry which has grown rapidly in recent years. We were customers of Hu in New York City long before I even knew Jason, which made that part of the conversation especially interesting for me.

This episode re-enforced my believe in pushing one’s investing strategy to adapt to change market conditions and competitive pressures. If we have any hope of beating Vanguard, we can’t ever rest on our laurels.

This was an especially eclectic and fun conversation, I hope you enjoy my chat with Jason Karp.

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

Show Notes

3:06 – (First question) – Jason’s view on private markets vs public markets and how his view has evolved

6:02 – Phase of the private markets where companies can achieve huge size and scale without going public

10:31 – Framework of Jason’s value-based investing strategy

13:47 – Reverse discounted cash flow

16:27 – Are there areas of the market that are easier to predict using Jason’s models

20:29 – Tech dominance the longer they are around

21:01 – Jerry Neumann Podcast Episode

22:08 – How markets have changed over Jason’s career

25:58 – Types of edge that you can have in the market

30:00 – Broad examples of sectors that are high-quality, but momentum is hurting them

31:32 – Backstory of Hu Kitchen

38:33 – Investment research into health and wellness

42:56 – State of acquisitions, particularly in consumer product goods

47:13 – Jason’s research into Cannabis

50:43 – The misperceptions of Cannabis

56:30 – Why cannabis is a more important sector to consider than crypto

57:51 – What are the most important levers to growing a business

1:02:24 – Biggest lessons learned in hiring good people

1:06:10 – Investing lessons

1:09:27 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Jason

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

Chris Douvos – A Value Investor Lost in the Valley - [Invest Like the Best, EP.85] May 01, 2018

Show notes

My guest this week is Chris Douvos, a managing partner at Venture Investment Associates, which allocates 1.6B in behalf of investors.

Chris is the first professional allocator I’ve spoken with who focuses specifically on venture capital funds, so I had a ton of questions for him on how to build a portfolio in an asset class known for uncertain, but often enormous, outcomes.

We discuss the major recent changes in the asset class and where things might be going.

I sought Chris out because while this is an investment style that is full of creativity and hope, I’ve always felt it could use a healthy dose of skepticism and a value investor’s mindset. He delivers in spades as we try to separate the real from the ideal.

We didn’t record it, but Chris’s tour of Palo Alto was one of the most interesting and entertaining hours I’ve spent. He is a student of history and markets, and I look forward to learning more from him in the future.

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

Books Referenced

Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment

Links Referenced

Domino Rally Business Models

All About the Benjamins

Speak Like the Locals

David Salem podcast episode

Curveball

Show Notes

2:18 – (First question) – Four factors that Chris thinks are important for future success of venture firms; portfolio concentration; repeatability; being early; size discipline

7:40 – What the venture landscape looks like today from Chris’s viewpoint

8:32 – Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment

14:07 – Is there a glut of startups making it difficult for investors

17:33 – How does Chris think about the investments that are a bit different from what everyone else is investing in in Silicon Valley

19:17 – Why he focuses on college campuses for innovation

20:54 – The role that geography plays in venture

25:06 – The Four M’s; money, momentum, mentorship, entrepreneurial management

27:13 – Chris’s perspective on crypto currency as a threat to venture capital

31:44 – The idea of venture capitalists as service providers to the companies they are investing in

35:15 - Views on investing in hyper focused VC’s vs those that are generalists and just go after the best opportunities in any sector

39:00 – What hot button areas are of most interest to Chris and why, from an investment standpoint

39:38 – Domino Rally Business Models

42:22 - What can a public market investor learn from a value venture investor who mostly has to rely on qualitative metrics

43:08 – All About the Benjamins

44:38 – Portfolio construction in the world of venture

46:40 – Speak Like the Locals

48:00 - What are the characteristics that Chris looks for in managers, as an allocator

53:52 – What type of investors should and should not be in venture

59:15 – What type of allocator would Chris give all of his money to

59:47 – David Salem podcast episode

1:01:06 – Curveball

1:01:40 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Chris

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

Arianna Simpson – The Crypto Landscape - [Invest Like the Best, EP.84] Apr 24, 2018

Show notes

My guest today is Arianna Simpson, who has spent her career in an around the world of technology working at startups, Facebook, and now in venture capital as an investor focused on the world of cryptocurrencies.

I met Arianna when I hosted a panel at a big investing conference in New York City and she was one of the panelists. On the panel, I found her style to be very straightforward and compelling. It is clear that she loves to learn and that the best manifestation of her style of learning is investing in technology.

In our conversation we discuss broad trends in crypto that we haven’t spent much time on before: decentralized versus centralized exchanges, privacy coins, and evaluating a found or early team. We build a framework for learning about this new asset class, discuss the importance of travel, and the value of pushing oneself outside of comfort zones.

Hash Power is presented by Fidelity Investments

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

Show Notes

2:12 – (First question) – How to teach someone else to build an investing philosophy around crypto

4:00 – The major risk factors to investing in crypto

6:28 – best practices for mitigating risk

7:39 – What factors to think about when it comes to whether a token will lose all value or not

8:39 - Taking a pulse of the investment community on crypto

11:36 – How she heard about and became interested in crypto currencies

12:34 – Are people really using crypto currency as a hedge against rampant inflation

13:52 – Investing thesis in the space

14:07 – Arianna’s systems for learning about cryptocurrencies and staying up to date on them

15:19 – Arianna’s take on the issue of increasing transactional through put

16:49 – Layer 1 solutions and making it all scalable on a blockchain

17:56 – her take on the fat protocol thesis

20:32 – Defining utility vs security tokens

21:54 – evaluating different coins

21:02 – Why cross currency swaps are important and how they work

26:17 – What are the chances of a scenario where there’s just one token and everything is built off of that one

28:02 - Comparing centralized and decentralized exchanges

29:47 – How the traditional investing world is going to regulate transaction involving cryptocurrencies and view security around those transactions

31:54– Impact this will have on capital formation

33:44 – Evaluating teams behind crypto companies

35:48 – The importance of gut when evaluating people

38:47 – How Arianna’s global upbringing impacts her thinking on the technology

39:51 – What countries or regions have had the largest impact on Arianna’s investing philosophy

42:41 – Doing things you’re not qualified for

43:59 – Gender imbalance in crypto and what can be done to shift that

45:28 – Most recent thing that has gotten Arianna excited in the crypto space

46:15 – Explaining Zero X

47:33 – How her views on reading have evolved

48:54 - Kindest thing anyone has done for Arianna

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

Shark Tank with Thatcher Bell and Taylor Greene - [Invest Like the Best, EP.83] Apr 17, 2018

Show notes

We’ve always found that even in public equities, you learn more once you have a live portfolio. One of the best ways to learn is to put some capital at risk. For this episode, I asked two VCs to sit down with me and Brett and treat the conversation as they would a normal pitch meeting, so that we, the audience, can get a peek into their world and the types of questions they ask. The venture capitalists in question are Thatcher Bell, of CoVenture, and Taylor Greene, of Collaborative Fund. The first voice that you’ll hear is Thatcher, and the next person asking questions is Taylor. I began by asking Thatcher to give us a bit of background on how he approaches young companies before diving in with questions of his own.

Show Notes

3:12 – (First Question) – getting a flywheel business going

4:49 – Brett’s background and how that led to the formation of Ladder

7:58 – Breakdown of the product

9:29 – The sign-up process

10:29 – Key problem for each party of the ladder transaction

12:34 – Diving deeper into the problem of being a health coach

14:29 – How does Ladder differentiate itself from other apps that help people locate a trainer

17:01 – A deeper dive into the consumer using this product

20:28 – The accountability factor being the moat for Ladder

24:12 - How successful is the product right now in terms of recruiting new customers and trainers

28:38 – Their pre-launch interview and research process

31:49 – Going from hypothesis to product development

35:25 – What should founders think about when doing customer discovery, even after they have a product in the market

39:22 – Optimizing in the early stage of a business

43:24 – The defensive moat of a startup

46:20 – Their take on their ability to corner the coaches in this market

49:57 – Is there a side of the producer/consumer side of the equation that is more important.

55:42 – Getting and giving value to your supply, in this case the coaches

58:22 – How to view different phases of a business

1:00:43 – Growing the supply and demand so that neither side gets aggravated

1:02:28 – Market opportunity for Ladder

1:10:55 – Top 2 or 3 goals that Ladder has over the next 12-18 months

1:13:00 – Looking at Ladder, what are the strengths and weaknesses as a potential investment

1:20:40 – Pros and cons of a startup seeking institutional VC money

1:25:11 – Reviewing the pitch

Nikhil Kalghatgi – Moonshot Investing - [Invest Like the Best, EP.82] Apr 10, 2018

Show notes

My guest this week helps me complete the first trilogy of guests on the podcast. His name is Nikhil Kalghatgi. Along with past guests Ali Hamed and Savneet Singh, Nikhil is a partner at the asset management firm CoVenture. If you liked those two conversations, you will love this one—it is somehow even more wide-ranging than the first two. Nikhil is the CEO of CoVenture Crypto, but he ended up there because of an overarching investing style that he calls moonshot investing, which we explore right from the start and in great detail. He is obsessed with productivity and happiness, and we spend a long time on those topics. One of the most interesting experiments I’ve heard about on the podcast is his Happiness project, for which he interviewed more than 100 of the wealthiest people in the world. The lessons he gleaned from those conversations are very helpful, and I won’t soon forget the lesson related to sacrifice. We also discuss asteroid mining, networking, shared experience, and philosophy. Oh and crypto currencies. Nikhil’s take on crypto has always been refreshing to me. In fact the first time I met him he was throwing cold water on a room full of enthusiastic crypto investors. Within crypto we discuss business opportunities, mining, and how new retail and institutional capital will affect the asset class.

Hash Power is presented by Fidelity Investments.

Please enjoy this sparkling conversation with Nikhil Kalghatgi.

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

Show Notes

2:42 – (First Question) – What moonshot investing is

4:41 – Creating sustainable differential investment advantage

9:30 – Assessing the market for moonshots

12:15 – Types of people suited for moonshots

13:42 – The Happiness Project

17:45 – Commonalities among successful people

25:15 – The importance of humor in life

17:16 – Recipe for a good joke

28:00 – The night Patrick and Nikhil met

29:17 – His perspective on the world of venture capital

33:26 – What did Nikhil learn from his time at SoftBank

34:52 – Craziest thing Nikhil has done

40:27 – What he took away from his time in military intelligence

46:10 – The idea of manufactured serendipity

47:13 – Nikhil’s approach to investing in cryptocurrency and what he finds interesting about it

53:23 – How Nikhil reconciles the excitement of crypto with the lack of tangible asset

58:10– The timeline of retail and institutional investors becoming more involved in crypto

1:02:43– Exploring their liquidity strategy

1:04:10 – What happens if regulators shut down the cryptomarkets

1:09:48– The role of miners in crypto and how that might change moving forward

1:10:43 – What is the frontier of crypto mining

1:12:31 – What’s the most compelling rabbit hole in crypto

1:16:23 – How would the original creators of crypto currency feel about the current state of the market

1:20:01 – What Nikhil sees as the value proposition for the whole ecosystem.

1:21:00 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Nikhil

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

Live EP.01 – Peter Attia, M.D. [Invest Like the Best] Mar 27, 2018

Show notes

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

[REPLAY] Boyd Varty – The Art of Tracking - [Invest Like the Best, EP.32] Mar 20, 2018

Show notes

[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.

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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