By Daniel Scrivner | Outlier Academy
The podcast currently has 56 episodes available.
“When we're looking at single founders, there probably is one variable that rises a little bit and that we spent a great deal of time thinking about which is, are they an attractor? Can they attract the things they need to be successful?” – Ben Savage
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Search and down a transcript and find links to related books, interviews, lectures, and more: outlieracademy.com/33.
Chapters
(00:00:00) – Introduction
(00:01:38) – Ben’s background and experience before Clocktower Group
(00:04:34) – Ben’s learnings from the culture at Bridgewater Associates
(00:16:10) – Clocktower Group and investing at the macro level
(00:28:22) – Investing in human capital
(00:35:47) – Focusing on fintech investing
(00:39:39) – How fintech will save the world
(00:47:53) – Why Clocktower does not invest in crypto
(00:56:16) – Choosing not to lead deals gives Clocktower an edge
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“The most important thing is that technology evolves, but people don't. That's the biggest lesson of history—humans don't change.” – Simon Mikhailovich
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Search and down a transcript and find links to related books, interviews, lectures, and more: outlieracademy.com/25.
Chapters
(00:00:00) – Introduction
(00:01:32 – Simon’s thoughts on gold’s role in the current financial market
(00:08:37– Why gold is important at this moment in time
(00:15:48 – Cycles of financial euphoria
(00:20:33 – The three ways to get out of debt
(00:26:31 – Why holding physical gold is different and better than savings in other forms
(00:32:12 – Gold is the ultimate insurance for bad financial outcomes
(00:38:42 – Gold vs. other precious metals, and how gold is nature’s Bitcoin
(00:46:42 – Gold has no impairment risk or counterparty risk, and making money vs. preserving wealth
(00:59:01 – How Simon has maintained an outlier point of view over time
About Bullion Reserve.
The Bullion Reserve enables investors to hold physical gold in secure locations all around the world.
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“What are you spending your nights and weekends on and is there a way for you to make that your job? Because that's the stuff that you're really into.” – Ben Blumenrose
We’re joined by Ben Blumenrose, Designer Fund’s Co-Founder and Managing Partner. We cover the Designer Fund algorithm, the core qualities of great startups, and how designers can add value as investors.
Explore the episode notes.
Search and down a transcript and find links to related books, interviews, lectures, and more: outlieracademy.com/131.
Chapters
(00:00:00) – Introduction
(00:02:39) – The genesis of Designer Fund
(00:22:31) – Demystifying design
(00:28:28) – Traits of designer founders
(00:35:02) – Sweat the details that matter
(00:39:23) – The Designer Fund algorithm
(00:44:23 – Balancing skepticism and optimism in investing
(00:48:47) – Core qualities of great startups
(00:50:32) – How designers can add value as investors
About Ben Blumenfeld and Designer Fund.
Ben Blumenrose is Co-director and Managing Partner of Designer Fund, which is an early stage venture capital firm that backs founders that both recognize the power of design and are committed to getting design right from day one. Designer Fund was founded by Ben Blumenrose and Enrique Allen in 2012 after the two met at a program put on by Stanford's D school, where students use design to develop their own creative potential. When Ben and Enrique founded Designer Fund, there were few companies in Silicon Valley outside of Apple that understood the power of design to build incredible products, create a category defining brand, and ultimately forge an enduring company.
There were also no other venture capitalists with a pure design background. And yet, over the last decade Designer Fund has built an incredible venture firm. They've produced top quartile returns for their investors, beating out almost all of their peers in the market, and we're early investors in a wave of design-centric companies that have defined the last 10 years, including Stripe and Gusto.
Watch and listen.
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Brought to you by HVMN. With Ketone-IQ, fuel your best anytime with a boost of awesome-feeling energy and clarity. Unlock the power of nature's superfuel—no fasting or keto diet required.
Advertise with Outliers and reach our global community
Disclosures: https://www.outlieracademy.com/legal/disclosures
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“What are you spending your nights and weekends on and is there a way for you to make that your job? Because that's the stuff that you're really into.” – Ben Blumenrose
We’re joined by Ben Blumenrose, Designer Fund’s Co-Founder and Managing Partner. We cover the Designer Fund algorithm, the core qualities of great startups, and how designers can add value as investors.
Explore the episode notes.
Search and down a transcript and find links to related books, interviews, lectures, and more: outlieracademy.com/131.
Chapters
(00:00:00) – Introduction
(00:02:39) – The genesis of Designer Fund
(00:22:31) – Demystifying design
(00:28:28) – Traits of designer founders
(00:35:02) – Sweat the details that matter
(00:39:23) – The Designer Fund algorithm
(00:44:23 – Balancing skepticism and optimism in investing
(00:48:47) – Core qualities of great startups
(00:50:32) – How designers can add value as investors
About Ben Blumenfeld and Designer Fund.
Ben Blumenrose is Co-director and Managing Partner of Designer Fund, which is an early stage venture capital firm that backs founders that both recognize the power of design and are committed to getting design right from day one. Designer Fund was founded by Ben Blumenrose and Enrique Allen in 2012 after the two met at a program put on by Stanford's D school, where students use design to develop their own creative potential. When Ben and Enrique founded Designer Fund, there were few companies in Silicon Valley outside of Apple that understood the power of design to build incredible products, create a category defining brand, and ultimately forge an enduring company.
There were also no other venture capitalists with a pure design background. And yet, over the last decade Designer Fund has built an incredible venture firm. They've produced top quartile returns for their investors, beating out almost all of their peers in the market, and we're early investors in a wave of design-centric companies that have defined the last 10 years, including Stripe and Gusto.
Watch and listen.
Watch this episode on YouTube
Find this episode in your favorite podcast app
Get new episodes delivered via email
Brought to you by HVMN. With Ketone-IQ, fuel your best anytime with a boost of awesome-feeling energy and clarity. Unlock the power of nature's superfuel—no fasting or keto diet required.
Advertise with Outliers and reach our global community
Disclosures: https://www.outlieracademy.com/legal/disclosures
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
“Every company is its own work of art, and the founder is the artist.” – James Currier
We explore network effects and investing in network effect businesses. We’re joined by James Currier, co-founder and general partner of NfX. We cover virality vs. network effects, tweaking rules and systems to take advantage of network effects, and network effects as a business strategy.
Explore the episode notes.
Search and down a transcript and find links to related books, interviews, lectures, and more: outlieracademy.com/57.
Chapters
(00:00:00) – Introduction
(00:01:58) – James’ background and journey to NfX
(00:07:50) – Defining network effects and why they are so powerful
(00:11:20) – Virality vs. network effects
(00:14:46) – Examples of businesses with network effects
(00:24:57) – Tweaking rules and systems to take advantage of network effects
(00:31:07) – Networks effects as a business strategy
(00:33:58) – Investing in network effects businesses
(00:40:26) – Advice for founders
About NfX
The name NfX is actually short for Network Effects, and James with his founding partner, Pete Flint, founded NfX after seeing the power of network effects, partially by doing research that confirms that 70% of all unicorns are companies with proven network effects driving their businesses. While NFX has become one of the world's leading thinkers on network effects, having published incredibly salient posts from 13 different network effects and counting, where they've now identified 16 different types of network effects, to their very popular self-help article titled Your Life is Driven by Network Effects, and their strategy is clearly working.
Watch and listen.
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Find this episode in your favorite podcast app
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Brought to you by HVMN. With Ketone-IQ, fuel your best anytime with a boost of awesome-feeling energy and clarity. Unlock the power of nature's superfuel—no fasting or keto diet required.
Advertise with Outliers and reach our global community
Disclosures: https://www.outlieracademy.com/legal/disclosures
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“Great founders never stop recruiting.” — Dave Eisenberg
We explore investing in the future of retail and real estate technology. We’re joined by Dave Eisenberg, Founding Partner of Zigg Capital. We cover considerations when creating the cap table, investing in talent, and the future of physical retail.
Chapters
(00:00:00) – Introduction
(00:01:35) – Dave’s background and founding Zigg Capital
(00:12:40) – Lessons about the Chief of Staff role
(00:18:24) – A long-term view of early investments
(00:23:50) – Investing in talent
(00:27:24) – Considerations when creating the cap table
(00:30:42) – Innovations in technology for real estate, retail, and healthcare
(00:44:52) – The future of physical retail
(00:50:26) – Investing in automation
About Zigg Capital.
Zigg Capital has raised over $350 million to invest in early-stage technology companies focused on real estate. Their portfolio includes incredible companies, from vertically integrated players like Procore to new retail concepts like CAMP.
Watch and listen.
Watch this episode on YouTube
Find this episode in your favorite podcast app
Get new episodes delivered via email
Brought to you by HVMN. With Ketone-IQ, fuel your best anytime with a boost of awesome-feeling energy and clarity. Unlock the power of nature's superfuel—no fasting or keto diet required.
Advertise with Outliers and reach our global community
Disclosures: https://www.outlieracademy.com/legal/disclosures
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On the latest episode of Outlier Investors, we decode how Contrary is building an entirely new type of VC firm — one that invests in people before they even start their first company. Learn how Contrary finds the world’s best talent and gets the conviction to invest before they even start a company. To date, Contrary has raised more than $100M and has invested in Ramp, Anduril, DoorDash, and Replit.
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On the latest episode of Outlier Investors, we decode how Susa Ventures is building the next great seed-stage venture capital firm. Learn about Susa’s playbook for finding the best seed-stage companies, discovering their focus areas and industries, creating their investing algorithm, approaching due diligence, thinking about pro rata follow-on investments, and more. To date, Susa Ventures has raised more than $600M and has invested in companies including Stedi, Flexport, and Robinhood.
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In Episode #129, Robert Cantwell, Founder & Portfolio Manager of Compound Kings joins us as part of our Outlier Investors series. We discuss the biggest lessons that Robert has learned as an investor and portfolio manager, the top positions in the fund today, and the future of active management.
“The investment management business actually looks a lot more like every other business, where there's products, there's marketing, and there's distribution, and you have to be outstanding at all three of those things in order to succeed in this business.” – Robert Cantwell
EPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED)
https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/compound-kings-robert-cantwell
FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT
https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/compound-kings-robert-cantwell-transcript
CHAPTERS
This episode is our definitive guide to building an ETF business. In it we cover:
ABOUT COMPOUND KINGS
Robert Cantwell is the Founder of Upholdings and Portfolio Manager of Compound Kings, which is an exchange-traded fund focused on investing in companies often called compounders. Compounders are typically profitable, growing, and generate very high returns on invest capital (ROIC).
This is an incredible interview with a true pioneer in the actively managed ETF space. In it, we look back at the top three positions in Compound Kings when Robert and I sat down in early 2021, which feels like a world away, to review the performance of Alibaba, Meta, then Facebook and Berkshire Hathaway.
Robert shares the three biggest learnings from the last 18 months including: why you always have to be learning new industries; why you should add a quant to your investment team; and why knowing the people running public companies matters a lot.
Robert also walks through his team's thesis on the three largest positions in the fund today, which include Meta, ServiceNow and Adyen. This section of the interview is fantastic so skip ahead and don't miss it if you're short on time.
And finally, Robert shares what it's like to build an ETF business scale assets under management and why running an investment business is very similar to an enterprise software business.
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ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMY
Learn timeless lessons on work and life from iconic founders, world-renown investors, and bestselling authors. Outlier Academy is the forever school for those chasing greatness. Past guests include Gokul Rajaram of DoorDash, Scott Belsky of Benchmark and Adobe, Joey Krug of Pantera Capital, Mark Sisson of Primal Kitchen, Luke Gromen of The Forest for the Trees, and Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK.
Website: https://www.outlieracademy.com
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademy
ABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNER
Outlier Academy is hosted by Daniel Scrivner. Over the last 15 years, Daniel has led design teams at Square and Apple, turned around a $3M+ ARR SaaS business, and invested in more than 100 companies. He launched Outlier Academy in 2020 to learn from the world’s best founders, investors, authors, and peak performance experts.
Website: https://www.danielscrivner.com
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner
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Listen to one of our favorite moments from tomorrow’s Spotlight episode featuring Compound Kings with Robert Cantwell.
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The podcast currently has 56 episodes available.