In episode 354, we welcome our guest, Shawn Merani, founder and Managing Partner of Parade Ventures, a pre-seed & seed stage-focused venture capital firm.
 
In today’s episode, we hear what it’s like to invest at the pre-seed and seed stage from someone who’s invested in companies like Dollar Shave Club, Cruise, Stance, and more! Shawn walks us through what it was like to launch what he called a “venture partner program on steroids” on AngelList years ago. He walks us through his investment philosophy and why he focuses mainly on both the consumer and enterprise space.
 
Of course we chat about some names, including Inkbox, Homelister, and a company providing software to veterinarians.
 
Please enjoy this episode with Parade Ventures’ Shawn Merani. 
 
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Today’s episode is sponsored by The Idea Farm. The Idea Farm gives you access to over $100,000 worth of investing research, the kind usually read by only the world’s largest institutions, funds, and money managers. Join today and get access to quarterly CAPE ratios, an excel quant backtester and the entire research library.  
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Shawn Merani, Parade Ventures - The Seed And Pre-Seed Stage, You’re Betting On People | #354

Ready to grow your wealth through smarter investing decisions? With The Meb Faber Show, bestselling author, entrepreneur, and investment fund manager, Meb Faber, brings you insights on today’s markets and the art of investing.

Featuring some of the top investment professionals in the world as his guests, Meb will help you interpret global equity, bond, and commodity markets just like the pros. Whether it’s smart beta, trend following, value investing, or any other timely market topic, each week you’ll hear real market wisdom from the smartest minds in investing today. Better investing starts here.

For more information on Meb, please visit MebFaber.com. For more on Cambria Investment Management, visit CambriaInvestments.com.

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Today’s guest is Professor Ken French, the Roth Family Distinguished Professor of Finance at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He’s written some of the most influential papers in finance alongside former podcast guest, Professor Eugene Fama. 
In today’s episode, Ken shares what topic he and Professor Fama disagree on. Then we get into a number of topics: what it means to truly be a long-term investor, the global market portfolio, misconceptions around stock buybacks, and much more.
(01:17) - Welcome to our guest, Kenneth French
(03:35) - Investing in FAANG Stocks: Should You Expect Unexpected Returns?
(07:10) - Deciphering an investors skill vs. luck
(15:12) - Having an investment plan
(20:24) - The global market portfolio
(25:02) - Thoughts on gold and other commodities
(26:26) - Incorporating human capital
(32:12) - Ken’s thoughts on stock buybacks
(35:36) - Improving financial education
(40:10) - Disagreement, Taste, and Asset Prices
(44:05) - Ken’s most controversial opinion
(46:37) - Ken’s most memorable investment

Resources
Ken’s website
The Best Way To Add Yield To Your Portfolio by Meb Faber
The Arithmetic of Active Management by Bill Sharpe
Things I’ve Learned from Gene by Kenneth French

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Follow Meb on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube
For detailed show notes, click here
To learn more about our funds and follow us, subscribe to our mailing list or visit us at cambriainvestments.com
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Sponsor: 10 East is a membership-based investment firm founded by Michael Leffell, former Deputy Executive Managing Member of Davidson Kempner, focused on providing targeted exposure to private markets. Members invest at their discretion in single-investment and niche fund vehicles across private credit, real estate, private equity, and venture capital.
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Interested in sponsoring the show? Email us at Feedback@TheMebFaberShow.com
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Past guests include Ed Thorp, Richard Thaler, Jeremy Grantham, Joel Greenblatt, Campbell Harvey, Ivy Zelman, Kathryn Kaminski, Jason Calacanis, Whitney Baker, Aswath Damodaran, Howard Marks, Tom Barton, and many more. 
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Meb's invested in some awesome startups that have passed along discounts to our listeners. Check them out here! 
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Professor Kenneth French on Risk, Return, and Rationality | #529

In today’s episode, Meb reads a white paper, “T-Bills and Chill…Most of the Time.”
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Follow Meb on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube
To learn more about our funds and follow us, subscribe to our mailing list. 
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Follow Meb on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube
To learn more about our funds and follow us, subscribe to our mailing list or visit us at cambriainvestments.com
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Sponsor: Today's episode is sponsored by YCharts. YCharts enables financial advisors to make smarter investment decisions and better communicate with clients. Visit YCharts to start your free trial and be sure to mention "Meb" for 20% off your subscription (new clients only).
Sponsor: Today’s episode is sponsored by The Idea Farm. The Idea Farm gives you access to over $100,000 worth of investing research, the kind usually read by only the world’s largest institutions, funds, and money managers. Subscribe for free here.
Follow The Idea Farm: Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Tik Tok
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Interested in sponsoring the show? Email us at Feedback@TheMebFaberShow.com
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Past guests include Ed Thorp, Richard Thaler, Jeremy Grantham, Joel Greenblatt, Campbell Harvey, Ivy Zelman, Kathryn Kaminski, Jason Calacanis, Whitney Baker, Aswath Damodaran, Howard Marks, Tom Barton, and many more. 
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Meb's invested in some awesome startups that have passed along discounts to our listeners. Check them out here! 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MEBISODE: T-Bills and Chill…Most of the Time | #528

Today’s guest is Cliff Asness, co-founder, managing principal and Chief Investment Officer at AQR Capital Management. 
In today’s episode, Cliff & I start by talking about some quotes he may or may not have said in the past. Then we kick around a bunch of topics. We talk about diversifying by both asset class and geography, the challenge of managing short-term expectations while keeping a long-term perspective, and how AQR is implementing AI and machine learning in their investment process. 
(1:20) - Welcome to our guest, Cliff Asness
(1:45) - Cliff’s article in the Financial Times
(2:30) - Parsing Cliff’s real quotes from fake ones
(8:56) - Thoughts on bonds as a diversifier
(13:37) - Moving away from market-cap weighting
(19:27) - Managing client expectations
(29:30) - AQR Data Sets
(29:56) - Alternative trend-following
(43:48) - Position resizing for alternative strategies
(48:06) - AQR implementing AI in their investment process
(51:46) - Cliff’s most controversial opinion
(57:39) - Cliff’s most memorable investment
Learn more about Cliff: AQR; Twitter
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Follow Meb on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube
For detailed show notes, click here
To learn more about our funds and follow us, subscribe to our mailing list or visit us at cambriainvestments.com
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Sponsor: Today’s episode is sponsored by The Idea Farm. The Idea Farm gives you access to over $100,000 worth of investing research, the kind usually read by only the world’s largest institutions, funds, and money managers. Subscribe for free here.
Follow The Idea Farm: Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Tik Tok
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Interested in sponsoring the show? Email us at Feedback@TheMebFaberShow.com
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Past guests include Ed Thorp, Richard Thaler, Jeremy Grantham, Joel Greenblatt, Campbell Harvey, Ivy Zelman, Kathryn Kaminski, Jason Calacanis, Whitney Baker, Aswath Damodaran, Howard Marks, Tom Barton, and many more. 
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Meb's invested in some awesome startups that have passed along discounts to our listeners. Check them out here! 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cliff Asness: Timely & Timeless Investment Wisdom | #527

Today’s guest is Steve Edmundson, the Chief Investment Officer of the Public Employees’ Retirement System of Nevada, which manages over $60 billion.
As pension funds continue to hire more employees, pay more and more fees and build more complex portfolios, Steve is an outlier for his approach that emphasizes simplicity over complexity. He’s one of two investment professionals on staff and has indexed 100% of all publicly traded asset classes. I love it! 
Steve talks about the culture that allows this model to work and shares some thoughts on the rise of private markets and the impact of higher interest rates.
The late Jack Bogle had a quote that applies well to Steve & Nevada PERS: “Don’t do something, just stand there!”
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Follow Meb on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube
For detailed show notes, click here
To learn more about our funds and follow us, subscribe to our mailing list or visit us at cambriainvestments.com
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Sponsor: Today's episode is sponsored by YCharts. YCharts enables financial advisors to make smarter investment decisions and better communicate with clients. Visit YCharts to start your free trial and be sure to mention "Meb" for 20% off your subscription (new clients only). Read their 2024 Advisor-Client Communication Survey
Sponsor: Today’s episode is sponsored by The Idea Farm. The Idea Farm gives you access to over $100,000 worth of investing research, the kind usually read by only the world’s largest institutions, funds, and money managers. Subscribe for free here.
Follow The Idea Farm: Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Tik Tok
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Interested in sponsoring the show? Email us at Feedback@TheMebFaberShow.com
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Past guests include Ed Thorp, Richard Thaler, Jeremy Grantham, Joel Greenblatt, Campbell Harvey, Ivy Zelman, Kathryn Kaminski, Jason Calacanis, Whitney Baker, Aswath Damodaran, Howard Marks, Tom Barton, and many more. 
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Meb's invested in some awesome startups that have passed along discounts to our listeners. Check them out here!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Indexing Nevada PERS: Steve Edmundson’s $60 Billion Strategy | #527

In today’s episode, Meb reads his blog post, “Should CalPERS Fire Everyone And Just Buy Some ETFs?.” 
Resource: What Does Nevada’s $35 Billion Fund Manager Do All Day? Nothing
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Follow Meb on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube
To learn more about our funds and follow us, subscribe to our mailing list. 
-----
Follow Meb on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube
To learn more about our funds and follow us, subscribe to our mailing list or visit us at cambriainvestments.com
-----
Sponsor: Today's episode is sponsored by YCharts. YCharts enables financial advisors to make smarter investment decisions and better communicate with clients. Visit YCharts to start your free trial and be sure to mention "Meb" for 20% off your subscription (new clients only). Read their 2024 Advisor-Client Communication Survey
Sponsor: Today’s episode is sponsored by The Idea Farm. The Idea Farm gives you access to over $100,000 worth of investing research, the kind usually read by only the world’s largest institutions, funds, and money managers. Subscribe for free here.
Follow The Idea Farm: Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Tik Tok
-----
Interested in sponsoring the show? Email us at Feedback@TheMebFaberShow.com
-----
Past guests include Ed Thorp, Richard Thaler, Jeremy Grantham, Joel Greenblatt, Campbell Harvey, Ivy Zelman, Kathryn Kaminski, Jason Calacanis, Whitney Baker, Aswath Damodaran, Howard Marks, Tom Barton, and many more. 
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Meb's invested in some awesome startups that have passed along discounts to our listeners. Check them out here! 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shawn Merani, Parade Ventures - The Seed And Pre-Seed Stage, You’re Betting On People | #354

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