Panic with Friends - Howard Lindzon

I couldn’t be more excited to have my good friend Downtown Josh Brown on the show! Josh and I go way back to the early, early days of Stocktwits. He’s built what’s probably the biggest financial media brand outside of CNBCq and has managed to thrive amidst the people who like to hate on people who are doing well on social media; so I’ve got lots and lots of questions about the finance industry and media. We dig a bit into AI, crypto, web2 survivors, and where we’re at with web3. You’re going to really enjoy our conversation. 

Guest - Josh Brown, Co-founder & CEO at Ritholtz Wealth Management, Host of The Compound & Friends Podcast

howardlindzon.com, ritholtzwealth.com, thereformedbroker.com/podcast tiktok.com/@downtownjbrown 

Instagram: @downtownjoshbrown 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @reformedbroker, @ritholtzwealth, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/joshua-brown-96a5569b 

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

Show Notes: 

Introduction. (00:37)

Welcome Josh (03:30)

Comparing T scores (03:48)

Early days nostalgia (08:33)

Building the tribe (09:47)

Social Media wild west (13:16)

Picking the right social platform (18:19)

LinkedIn - the next generation (21:17)

Building Finance/Media culture (28:30)

Josh makes a comeback (29:34)

Birth of Ritholtz Wealth Management (31:40)

Opportunity in Wealth Management (34:02)

web2 survivors (36:32)

Evolution of web 3 (36:51)

DeFi not working as intended (38:00)

Josh’s thoughts on Oculus (39:13)

Diving deeper into web 3 (39:26)

ChatGPT changing everything (41:01)

The promise of crypto (42:33)

AI tools cut advisor workloads (44:27)

Days of arbing algo’s are over (45:63

Wrapping it up. (47:11)

Closing thoughts. (50:17)

I’m excited to have Helene Meisler back on the show! She was last here in June, and with all that’s been going on in the markets lately it felt time to check back in. I’ve been following her work since the start of TheStreet.com – she knows her stuff and loves talking about the markets. She’s a connoisseur of the chart – what I like to call ‘chart art’ – and is a mentor to thousands who want to learn about technical analysis, price, and sentiment. She’s one of maybe two people I know who called it back in June as we were ‘groping for a bottom’. We talk a little tennis, a little pickleball, and most importantly, we talk about how she feels going forward here in 2023. 

Guest - Helene Meisler, Financial Markets Analyst and Columnist for RealMoney.com 

howardlindzon.com, RealMoney.com, realmoney.thestreet.com 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @hmeisler, @realmoney, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/helene-meisler-4a783153

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

Show Notes: 

Introduction. (00:37)

Welcome back Helene. (05:05)

Groping for a bottom (05:50)

Cautiously optimistic (06:50)

Stocks don’t just go up (08:25)

Calling the top (11:43)

Big Caps control indexes (14:43)

Is the worst behind us? (15:35)

Women on Wall Street (17:40)

History doesn’t repeat, it rhymes (26:45)

Helene’s routine (27:49)

Learning finance earlier (30:15)

Public v. Private markets (32:10)

Passionate about tennis (38:26)

Helene’s favorite player (39:04)

The pickleball trend (39:53)

Market Sector to watch (42:20)

Wrapping it up. (43:28)

Closing thoughts. (46:02)

I’m excited to have my friend Nate Cooper, partner at Barrel Ventures, on the show as our second in-studio guest. Nate invests in seed stage companies in the food and beverage space. He’s excited about anything pre-farm to post fork and everything in between. Nate views our food ecosystem as broken, with a multi-trillion dollar opportunity waiting for those who solve it. I’m a personal LP in Nate’s fund, and am passionate about food and packaging; these industries are enormous, and while everybody’s been focused on web 2, the world keeps humming along. We don’t realize how important these things are until they’re taken away from us. The market is resilient, and the money eventually rotates into things that actually matter. 

Guest - Nate Cooper, Managing Partner at Barrel Ventures 

howardlindzon.com, barrelvc.com 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @nrcoope, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/nathan-cooper-2ba9aa19

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

Show Notes:

Introduction (00:31)

Welcome Nate (01:24)

Chicago is my kind of town (02:14)

Michael Jordan ‘attends’ Nates bachelor party (03:52)

Masters at their craft (06:02)

Business runs in the family (07:05)

Midwest entrepreneurship (08:26)

Kellogg MBA (10:00)

Winding down Wise Apple (10:54)

Getting started in venture (12:05)

Being the best in the world (15:18)

Investing in the food ecosystem (16:26)

Execution Risk / Market Risk (18:28)

Bioplastics (19:49)

Staples prone to supply shocks (20:39)

Tech is the sauce (22:05)

No pop like OLIPOP (23:15)

Genius of Liquid Death (26:11)

Panicked about getting old (30:09)

What else excites Nate about food (32:05)

Rolling up food brands (33:08)

Howard’s radical free idea (33:33)

Investors want brand and formula (34:57)

Wrapping up (37:44)

Closing thoughts (40:23)

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)

If you geek-out on capital, money, and podcasts like I do, you're going to love this discussion with my friend Ted Seides, founder of Capital Allocators. Ted’s built an ecosystem that includes advisory services, education, events and podcasts. I was introduced to Ted a few years back by Jan van Eck, who’s also been on my podcast. Ted went to Yale, and then got his MBA from Harvard (but we’re not going to hold that against him) He also co-founded Protégé Partners – a multibillion-dollar investment firm he ran from 2002 to 2015. In 2017 Ted launched the Capital Allocators podcast, which reached over 13.5 million downloads in December of 2022.

I checked in with Ted to talk about the recent FTX fraud; he was around in the days of Bernie Madoff and has a really different take on how managers should think about these events. I wanted his take on how the SEC has been rambling on recently about the ability for LPs to sue Venture Capitalists and what it all means for the industry. In addition, I wanted people to get an inside look at the industry and understand how the sausage is made – how people think at this level, and what you’re up against. You’re competing against a machine that’s there to beat the hell out of you, so it’s very hard to have an edge. This is why I talk the people that call me out of being a VC or starting a hedge fund. Ted’s the right guy to talk with about this stuff. He did it for a living. I hope you enjoy our conversation. 

Guest - Ted Seides, CFA, Podcaster and Founder at Capital Allocators 

howardlindzon.com, capitalallocators.com 

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/capital-allocators-inside-the-institutional/id1223764016

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @tseides, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/tedseides

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

Show Notes:

Introduction (00:33)

Welcome Ted (04:08)

The Yale/Harvard track (04:33)

Choosing a path (06:11)

Opportunity aperture is wide (06:57)

Ted goes on his own (10:55)

Demystifying podcasting (12:28)

Podcasting as a business (13:09)

Who is the customer (15:38)

Running a hedge fund (16:14)

Following your interests (19:05)

Viking / Dan Loeb (20:16)

Looking back at the last year (22:39)

Fraud is fraud (24:32)

FTX / SBF (28:29)

SEC response (35:42)

Ted’s current investing strategy (37:22)

Venture investing strategy (38:36)

Growth in Wealth Management (40:30)

Wrapping up (43:09)

Closing thoughts (44:37)

I’m excited to have creator Trung Phan on the show today. He’s mastered Twitter, even getting Elon Musk to talk to him, and that’s impressive. Trung’s one of the funniest and interesting feeds I follow on Twitter – covering business, the media, and tech. I wanted to find out how it feels to be in the center of a hurricane of memes and pick his brain on what he’s thinking about media moving forward. It’s always fun talking to someone at the top of their game, so I also wanted to find out about his new AI startup, Bearly AI. I've managed to pull a few tips from him on the magical mystery of going viral, and a few twitter feed tips everyone should find useful. Enjoy! 

Guest - Trung Phan, Co-Founder of Bearly.AI, Co-Host of the Not Investment Advice, Opinion Columnist at Bloomberg 

howardlindzon.com, www.bearly.ai, trungtphan.com, trungphan.substack.com 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @TrungTPhan, @NIApodcast, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/tp23

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

Show Notes:

Introduction (00:34)

Welcome Trung (02:35)

Trung’s early life (04:17)

First time going ‘viral’ (06:24)

Studying at McGill (09:19)

Going viral on Twitter (11:04)

Is going viral worth it? (13:21)

Gas founder Nikita Bier (13:37)

1 degree from Elon Musk (13:56)

Putting in the hours (16:40)

Attention is a scarce resource (17:36)

10X your tweets (19:39)

Hashtag advice (21:47)

Twitter is the top one percent (24:11)

Managing a massive following (26:12)

Why Elon bought Twitter (28:28)

Improving Twitter (30:31)

Letting Trump back on Twitter (34:45)

Interacting with Elon (36:03)

Media ‘barbell’ strategy (37:24)

Who Trung follows (38:56)

Trung’s AI startup (40:13)

The first billionaire solo creator (40:25)

Build the audience first (43:52)

Bearly AI overview (47:32)

Wrapping up (50:23)

Closing thoughts (52:48)

In today’s episode I’m talking to a friend of mine, Pranav Kanade, who happens to work for another really good friend of mine, Jan van Eck. Pranav was in the financial industry for a while, and like many, went down the crypto rabbit hole a couple of years ago. Jan, who’s a good friend, mentor, and a legend in the financial industry, went down the crypto rabbit hole himself and has been forever trying to do a Bitcoin ETF — doing the good work of dealing with the red tape and corralling the regulators. 

Jan’s tasked Pranav with building a crypto fund; and I’ve been trying to learn all this since forever, so I wanted to check in with Pranav. 2022 was obviously one of the most wild, fraud-ridden years in financial history, so I wanted to continue learning from someone who now makes his full living from this – and find out how he’s reacting in the bear market. As we try to dissect the industry here on Panic with Friends, I’m asking the same type of questions I ask him each month after reading his analysis. And you can be certain Pranav will be a regular on the show. Let’s learn together as new entrepreneurs and investors continue to build out the future of the web. Enjoy! 

Guest - Pranav Kanade, Portfolio Manager at VanEck Digital Assets Alpha Fund 

howardlindzon.com, vaneck.com 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @pkan90, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/pkanade1

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

Show Notes:

Introduction (00:38)

Welcome Pranav (04:50)

2022 Crypto deleveraging (06:34)

U.S. crypto regulation outlook (08:29)

Which layer needs regulation? (09:08)

2023 outlook for crypto (10:05)

The crypto ‘bottom’? (11:04)

Underlying tech (11:36)

Transitions take time (14:43)

Stablecoins (15:57)

Tim Cook owns crypto (18:56)

Self-custody assets (20:43)

Venture funding (24:06)

Genius of Bored Apes (27:28)

Potential NFT use case (29:30)

Coinbase web3 wallet (31:22)

Dealing with liquidity (32:35)

Moving from web2 (33:02)

Speculation became community (35:04)

Incentivizing tokens (36;52)

The inflection point (37:44)

Picking the right blockchain (40:02)

Building on Polygon (41:31)

Micropayments (44:24)

NFTs for artists/creators (52:56)

Wrapping up (54:17)

Closing thoughts (55:53)

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

howardlindzon.com, socialleverage.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)

Today’s guest is a friend of mine, Douglas Boneparth – a financial advisor, and some would say if the Olympics had a hair category, a shoe-in to represent Team USA. 

As long time listeners know, there are two fundamental things I believe with respect to money; Jim O’Shaughnessy’s perspective about young people being time billionaires, so get going and just steal from yourself and start investing – take it right off the top of your paycheck. Get started now.

The second thing is to get an advisor, someone working for you and explaining how things work. I’m always recommending people speak to somebody – to find the right person, and Doug is at the cutting edge as an advisor. We cover some really good stuff, some good lessons, and hope 2023 will be fantastic for everyone. Enjoy! 

Guest - Douglas A. Boneparth, President at Bone Fide Wealth, LLC 

howardlindzon.com, bonefidewealth.com, thisisthetop.substack.com 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @dougboneparth, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/douglasboneparth 

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

Show Notes:

Introduction (00:39)

Welcome Douglas (04:03)

Doug’s best tweets (04:09)

Tapping in to sentiment (08:34)

Thought leadership and content creation (11:19)

Doug’s hair routine (14:20)

The secret sauce (16:50)

Summing up 2022 (19:44)

Number one concern for Millennials (20:35)

Understanding a recession (22:06)

Financial planning (24:46)

Discipline and strategy (25:55)

Returning to normalcy (27:49)

Opportunity in 2023 (31:15)

Rethinking your strategy (33:40)

Longer cycles, shorter recessions (35:22)

Tech in financial services (36:33)

Personal finance is self-care (37:30)

Good financial behaviors (38:53)

Wrapping up (40:29)

Closing thoughts (41:48)

I’m always excited to interview a portfolio company founder on Panic with Friends, so I’m doubly excited to have Nave Avimor, co-founder of DSTNC (Social Leverage Fund IV) on today’s show. The company is at the forefront of fashion and technology, or as I like to call it, ‘Fashology’ – for the modern cyclist. DSTNC (pronounced 'distance' - vowels removed) is a first of its kind global marketplace and content destination, curating the largest selection of high-end brands and performance products from around the world.

Nave and the team have done a phenomenal job over the last eight months or so, and with the site launched and a seed round raised, this is the right time to have him on. Not everything is about unicorns, and I finally get to dabble in fashology, something I’ve been talking about since the Oakley days. I’ve been able to invest and really try building a full-on Lifestyle brand without the hassle of the day-to-day. Nave’s traveled the world, knows the sport, and his partner has an eye for culture. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did. 

Guest - Nave Avimor, Co-Founder & CPO at Dstnc 

howardlindzon.com, dstnc.com 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @dstnc, @naveavimor, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/naveavimor

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

Show Notes:

Introduction (00:39)

Welcome Nave (09:24)

Meaning of Avimor (09:44)

Getting into Cycling (10:14)

Moving to China (12:22)

Living in Shanghai (13:08)

Israel Cycling Academy (14:38)

Optimal cycling physique (17:14)

Building DSTNC (20:53)

Bike shop business model (26:45)

Gravel bike v. Road bike (28:42)

Disc brakes (30:53)

A revolution in cycling is happening (32:37)

Discovering the best gear (33:45)

Close-calls and accidents (39:25)

Beyond clothes - exotic bike parts (41:32)

Rise of e-Biking (42:38)

Wrapping up (43:53)

Closing thoughts (44:36)