Panic with Friends - Howard Lindzon

Panic with Friends is taking a break. Today, the world is in a very different place from when we launched the podcast in March, 2020. We are continuing our content endeavor and created Trends with Friends to talk about market trends, dad life, luxury and wellness.

Find our new show, Trends with Friends, on your favorite podcast platform. New episodes every Saturday.

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#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance

In this re-run of Best of Panic, I had been dying to get Jan on the podcast. After my brief podcast break, I decided to have a lot of my friends on – people I like talking to about markets. Jan will always be one of those people. He’s super smart and well educated. I’m in the lucky position where I don’t have to be in the market, but because I’m fascinated by markets, started Stocktwits, love talking about them, and want to continue banging out some alpha, I invited Jan on the podcast. 

We had a great discussion about debt. We talk about money flows, and while Jan wasn’t the earliest, but early enough with directionally putting his firm on a path towards crypto, he had a lot of neat insights there as well. As was true then and is true now, people need to be thinking about the market in just a little different way than what worked in the past. 

Guest - Jan van Eck, CEO at VanEck Securities Corporation 

howardlindzon.com, vaneck.com 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @PanicwFriends, @JanvanEck3, @VanEck_US, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/janfvaneck

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance 

Show Notes:

Introduction (00:39)

Welcome Jan (04:02)

Growing a mature business (04:52)

History is a teacher (07:73)

Becoming a ‘Macro Structuralist’ (12:58)

Lessons from the 1970s (14:49)

The right way to view inflation (15:17)

Bonds outperform stocks (16:54)

Will the Fed pivot? (19:12)

The ETF business (24:49)

Crypto-related ETNs (27:21)

China growth & demographics (28:40)

Getting smarter on Brazil (29:04)

Web3 (30:18)

Thoughts on Wealthtech (34:08)

What if 60/40 is wrong? (35:10)

Jan argues Howard’s book (39:23)

People care about performance (39:42) 

Why Jan invested with Howard (40:46)

Diseconomies of scale (41:45)

The future of ETFs (43:33)

Cherry-picking in public markets (46:11)

Jan’s favorite podcasts (47:44)

Wrapping up (50:16)

Closing thoughts (51:37)

In this Best of Panic re-run from November 22’, Jim O’Shaughnessy came back for a record fourth appearance. 

The previous time he was on, we talked about the real panic; I’d come back from vacation fired out of a cannon – only wanting to talk to my close friends or pimp some of our companies. But this time around I had a lot to talk to Jim about. He was guest number one on the show and since then the Fed had hiked another 75 basis points, Meta imploded (and has since turned around), and we were in the first innings of a new owner at Twitter. It’s fun to jump in a time capsule and explore how we were thinking about things at the time.

Once again, Jim was the calm voice of reason that helped us navigate the turbulent times we found ourselves in. 

The GOAT himself, Jim O’Shaughnessy is back for a record fourth appearance on Panic with Friends! And this time he’s slightly panicked by not being panicked. I convinced him to put on some slippers and start showing up for work. 

Guest - Jim O’Shaughnessy, Founder and CEO at OSV - O’Shaughnessy Ventures LLC 

howardlindzon.com, osv.llc, osam.com, infiniteloopspodcast.com

Twitter: @howardlindzon , @jposhaughnessy, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/james-o-shaughnessy-b072bb

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance 

Show Notes:

Introduction (00:41)

Welcome Jim (05:29)

Strategy & Tactics (07:46)

Decision time (10:30)

Elon Musk (12:58)

Fixing Twitter (13:39)

Dealing with trolls (17:26)

The real reason Elon bought Twitter (23:06)

Excited about Artificial Intelligence (27:10)

AI ethics (30:02)

AI in medical research (31:45)

AI legal use case (33:15)

An Open AI is critical (36:05)

First $1B single creator LLC (36:34)

Old Models are collapsing (37:25)

A “Thiel-style” scholarship (39:09)

A revolution in Education (45:12)

A real meritocracy (45:56)

Human nature doesn’t change (48:19)

The next Robinhood could be Robinhood (49:46)

Wrapping up (53:05)

Closing thoughts (56:58)

On this episode of Panic with Friends, I speak with my good friend Chris Temple. Chris is the co-founder and director of Optimist, an award winning documentary and impact studio. In today’s episode we dive deep into his latest film called ‘This is not Financial Advice’ which I took on the role of being an Executive Producer. 

In ‘This is not Financial Advice’, Glauber “Pro” Contessoto - an immigrant working multiple jobs and living in a 220-square–foot apartment - gambles his life savings on a joke cryptocurrency. Two months later, he became “The Dogecoin Millionaire” and a hero to his growing YouTube following. It’s easy to get rich online. But as Pro will soon discover, it’s even easier to lose it all. Amateur investors like Pro must navigate a landscape that’s rife with scams, bad advice, and FOMO. This is not Financial Advice exposes the startling risks and rewards of today’s market through expert commentary and the anxiety-inducing stories of real people trying to make millions. 

Media endorsement quotes: 

“A Truly Wild Ride. Couldn’t Recommend More.” - Vox

“A Thought-Provoking Masterpiece. Brilliantly Executed” - The Washington Post

“A Gripping Financial Horror Film” - The Guardian

“A Must Watch That Ricochets Between Euphoria and Despair” - CNBC

"Everyone Needs to See this Movie to Better Understand Their Relationship to Money." - Morgan Housel 

Guest - Chris Temple, Film Director at Optimist 

howardlindzon.com, optimist.co, TINFAFiilm.com 

Book Screening: tinfafilm.com/screenings

Exclusive TINFA Clip

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @TINFAFilm, @Christemple8, @OptimistFilms, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

Instagram: ChrisTemple, TINFAFilm

LinkedIn: christemple8

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance 

Time Stamps: 

0:00 - Intro

5:37 - Best Movie Lines and Movie Naming 

13:18 - Lessons From Independent Documentary Filmmaking 

18:01 - GameStop, Dogecoin, Memes

23:14 - Influencer's Use of Cryptocurrency for Profit 

30:23 - Upcoming Documentaries  

39:22 - Path to Success in Film Industry 

42:55 - Outro

As I mentioned when I covered how I built Wallstrip, I’m doing more origin stories over the next year. I’m covering my own projects as well as those of the ten or fifteen people from the companies I’ve loved and the products I’ve used in Web 2. There were mostly good exits, but there were also a few that we learned from. 

In today’s episode I’m back in the hot seat covering the lessons learned from building Stocktwits in a Web 2 world. Knut and Riley join me as we talk about what worked back then, and what it will take to succeed building a company moving forward. 

This is a very different era. Back then money was the game in a zero interest rate world. Today I think it’s more about the craft, and less about money. Do you know who your customer is? What are your margins? How are you going to make money, and how are you going to get your users? If founders and investors aren’t asking those questions today, they could be looking at massive losses down the road. I hope this helps and maybe gives you a peak at what might be coming around the corner as AI seems to be eating the world right now. Enjoy! 

Guest - Howard Lindzon, General partner at Social Leverage and Host of Panic With Friends Podcast 

Co-hosts - Knut Jensen and Riley Rosebee 

howardlindzon.com, stocktwits.com, socialleverage.com 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @be_rosebee @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

Rosebee.beehiiv.com

linkedin.com/in/howardlindzon 

linkedin.com/company/socialleverage 

linkedin.com/in/knutejensen 

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance 

Show Notes:

Introduction (00:22)

Historic look at Web 2 (01:58)

Starting Stocktwits (03:25)

Why I didn’t wait (05:34)

Creating Bloomberg on Twitter (06:54)

Building the team (07:28)

Coming up with the name (08:03)

Raising money (09:24)

The first version (12:04)

Creating the branding (12:16)

The cap table (15:57)

Building around twitter (25:08)

The cash tag (18:16)

Building on our own (26:02)

Early Web 2 lessons (29:56)

Thoughts on AI (32:20)

Valuing deals (33:56)

Stocktwits culture (34:28)

Predicting the future (37:57)

Wrapping up (39:01)

Closing thoughts (42:58)

No, you haven’t entered the Twilight Zone. Yes, I’m the host of Panic with Friends, but in today’s special episode, I’m the guest. My producer Knut Jensen has turned the tables and put me in the hot seat. With so many questions about how and why I started Wallstrip, I felt it was time to lay it all out. And hopefully this answers a lot of those questions. 

We cover the good, the bad, and the funny times building my first internet company – and how those lessons carried over when I started Stocktwits – lessons like finding the right mentor and having domain experience around an idea, and the three key ingredients: product, team and timing. It’s a different spin on Panic with Friends where we’re going back and telling these types of stories with our best founders, so you’ll be seeing more episodes like this in the future. And of course, the big question on Wallstrip, would I do it again? You’ll have to listen to find out! 

Guest - Howard Lindzon, General partner at Social Leverage and Host of Panic With Friends Podcast

Co-host - Knut Jensen

howardlindzon.com, socialleverage.com, stocktwits.com

youtube.com/channel/UCGEU5Xa_5HKMb6gEFfGYdTw/videos 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/howardlindzon 

linkedin.com/company/socialleverage 

linkedin.com/in/knutejensen 

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance 

Show Notes:

Introduction (00:27)

Coming up with Wallstrip (01:42)

Starting with GolfNow (07:55)

YouTube becomes a thing (10:27)

Cold pitching Fred Wilson (11:59)

Raising funds (15:08)

Finding the team (18:34)

The formula (22:36)

Gaining traction (25:13)

Would I do it again? (27:09)

My ‘growth hack’ (30:24)

The ‘moment’ it’s successful (31:10)

Now the pressure is on (32:36)

The right kind of attention (31:54)

Dealing with haters (33:56)

Sell or grow (38:14)

The Jim Cramer spoof (39:21)

My Costanza moment (41:04)

CBS acquires Wallstrip (41:30)

The right people domain experience (44:29)

Wrapping up (46:35)

Closing thoughts (46:56)

When Knut and I started Panic with Friends at the beginning of the pandemic, it was just that – panicking with a few friends on what was happening in the market. I don’t think either of us knew how successful the podcast would become over three years later. My good friend Jeff RIchards of GGV Capital made several appearances on the show in the early days, but we last had him on in January of 2022. In that episode, Jeff helped me frame the selloff and gave me a big picture view on the fundamentals versus where valuations were at the time. After a year or so where we were all just licking our wounds, I thought it was high time to get Jeff back on the show to get a handle on repositioning ourselves for what the future might look like. 

Guest - Jeff Richards, Managing partner at GGV Capital 

howardlindzon.com, ggvc.com 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @jrichlive, @GGVCapital, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/jeffrichards 

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance 

Time Stamps: 

Intro (00:41)

Welcome back Jeff (03:42)

Investing in growth (04:10)

The next bull market (05:41)

Impact of higher rates (06:23)

Funding landscape (7:01)

Potential of generative AI (07:54)

App distribution constraints (08:47)

Embracing AI (10:46)

Contrast now and tech in 99/00 (13:40)

AI and physical brands (14:36)

Advice of the younger generation (15:52)

Growth in golf and pickleball (18:21)

Reimaging sports with infused tech (19:53)

GGV’s focus (20:10)

Founder/Startup headwinds (20:59)

Measuring VC success (22:09)

Looking ahead (24:33)

Looking at fintech & proptech (25:21)

Impact of higher interest rates (26:30)

Travel is booming (27:07)

Opportunity in ‘Treasury Management (29:26)

Record growth in SMBs (31:05)

Seeing a renaissance of innovation (32:31)

Hoping for innovation in healthcare (50:31)

Wrapping up (52:10)

Outro (53:10)

Ben Hunt of Epsilon Theory is back on Panic for a record-breaking sixth time! He may be the smartest guy I know, which is why I keep having him on. He’s just an explainer – the way he explains things very easily – and I like complex things explained simply. Ben is a former Professor, a beekeeper, and a market lover. He’s the co-founder and CIO of Epsilon Theory, where he writes outstanding essays about narratives in the market – backed up by data. I wanted to catch up with him to weigh in on my themes for the next 10 years in an America that’s becoming what I call the Rich, Angry, Degenerate economy. There are a lot of narratives to talk about; Ben was unfortunately right on the one that was inflation. And we get into the latest narrative around the U.S. dollar. You’re really going to learn a lot. Enjoy! 

Guest - Ben Hunt, Co-Founder and Partner at Second Foundation Partners, Author and Co-Founder at Epsilon Theory 

howardlindzon.com, epsilontheory.com 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @epsilontheory, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/bhunt 

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance 

Time Stamps: 

Intro (00:42)

Welcome back Ben (07:05)

Gold as a metaphor for the economy (08:32)

GFC was different (09:49)

“Fiat” news (10:50)

Rational optimism (14:24)

The Peter Thiel Industrial Complex (18:19)

Rich Man, Angry Man, Degenerate Man Economy (23:07)

We’re treated as a cog in a powerful machine (27:09)

The inflation narrative (27:59)

The de-dollarization narrative (31:06)

Who’s Chamath? (35:36)

Internet trolls (37:37)

Generative AI (38:30)

Astroturf campaigns (40:25)

Why ‘they’ create chaos (41:27)

Ruthless pursuit of creativity (43:37)

European companies (45:59)

Time to get back to work (47:04)

Intersection of narratives and markets (48:38)

Wrapping up (52:08)

Outro (53:16)

My good friend and fishing buddy Lewis Johnson of Capitol Wealth Advisors is back on Panic with Friends for a fourth round, slowly catching up to our leader, Ben Hunt. Way back when Lewis was first on the show rates were zero going to negative. When he was last here in November of 2022, we touched on the Madoff Moment that was FTX, and talked about how to position ourselves moving into 2023. Lewis understands cycles. As we head into the summer with gold breaking out into all-time highs, I wanted to catch up with Lewis to discuss this potential breakout and how to play this cyclical trade. 

Guest - Lewis Johnson, CIO at Capital Wealth Advisors 

howardlindzon.com, capitalwealthadvisors.com 

blog.capitalwealthadvisors.com/trends-tail-risks 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @PanicwFriends, @TrendsTailRisks, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/lewismjohnson 

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance 

Time Stamps: 

Intro (00:39)

Welcome back Lewis (08:39)

Heading into Summer 2023 (09:54)

Overstaying leadership (12:55)

Tech theme bleeding out? (17:49)

Looking at past crises (18:49)

Quiet rise of gold (20:14)

Recent trends (22:39)

Exposure to precious metals (23:51)

Number one driver of long-term returns (26:39)

FED raise until it breaks (28:24)

Can banks profitably lend? (29:44)

Tech driven / consumer discretionary market (31:24)

Limit exposure to last cycle leaders (33:26)

A bull market in commodities? (34:49)

Wrapping up (35:21)

Outro (39:52)

There’s a massive unspoken epidemic going on globally in men’s health right now – low T-scores; and practically no one is talking about it. Lots of ‘youts’ are running around on an empty tank and don’t even know it. It’s an interesting and very important topic; and it's at the top of a lot of people’s minds, even if it’s a bit taboo to talk about. But it's something that matters to me, so I wanted to dive in deep and figure out what it all means. My guest today makes checking, monitoring, and boosting your t-score accessible and affordable. I’ve used the service myself (Ellen made me check mine), and as luck would have it, I'm also an indirect investor in Saad’s company. I’ve got a feeling this will be my most evergreen episode. Enjoy! 

Guest - Saad Alam, Founder and CEO at Hone Health 

howardlindzon.com, honehealth.com

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @saad_hone, @honehealth, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

Instagram: @msaadalam, @hone.health 

LinkedIn: saad-alam 

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance 

Time Stamps: 

Intro (00:37)

Welcome Saad (06:14)

Misconceptions about testosterone (07:49)

Causes of low testosterone (09:51)

The stigma of low T (10:55)

Saad’s story (16:06)

Shelf-life of a medical degree (20:50)

Saad takes control of his health (22:44)

An unspoken global epidemic (24:38)

The Hone Health process (26:21)

The 2011/12 testosterone hype (29:06)

Howard’s t-score (37:45)

Free testosterone (39:36)

Leading longer lives (46:19)

There’s no silver bullet (48:30)

Wrapping it up (53:08)

Outro (53:24)