David Hornik has a reputation in venture as one of the nicest and sharpest investors out there. He received Deloitte’s 2013 Venture Capitalist of the Year award and has been honored by Forbes Magazine as a member of its Midas List of top Venture Capitalists. This conversation was fun and David gave a lot of interesting insight. Some of our favorite moments included: (1) what he thinks of the current state of venture (11:05), (2) his adamant belief that we are not in a bubble, though things are overheated and overfunded (17:05), (3) the importance of making others successful and being generous (24:01), and (4) focusing on a happy life, not a successful career (30:10). David colored a lot of these insights via personal anecdotes of times with Jerry Yang, DJ Patil, Dick Costolo, Paul Graham, Reid Hoffman, Travis Kalanick and others.

In the second episode of Square One, Alex had the opportunity to chat with Andrew Feldstein, the Co-Founder, CEO and Co-CIO of BlueMountain Capital, as well as the Chair of the Firm’s Management Committee and a member of the Investment and Risk Committees. After earning a BA from Georgetown, Andrew spent two years at Bain & Co., then enrolled at Harvard Law School for a JD. From Harvard, Andrew joined Sullivan & Cromwell as a tax attorney and, soon after, transitioned to J.P. Morgan. Over the course of a decade at J.P. Morgan, Andrew was a Managing Director and served as Head of Structured Credit; Head of High Yield Sales, Trading and Research; and Head of Global Credit Portfolio. In 2003, Andrew launched BlueMountain Capital, today a diversified alternative asset manager with over $20bn under management.

Alex and Andrew discussed his early career, how he decided to start BlueMountain, and some of the key lessons he picked up along the way. Andrew had many interesting insights, a few of which include: (1) key tail/headwinds for investors today (10:55), (2) the application of constitutional law and civil procedure to running a business (18:15), and (3) the importance of trying to learn something interesting from every interaction (25:44).

Jim Koch is the billionaire Founder and Chairman of Boston Beer Company (maker of Sam Adams). Jim is an incredibly sharp operator and is revered as the founding father of the American craft brewery movement. Born into a middle class family in Cincinnati, Ohio, he spent a formative decade of his life in Cambridge, earning a BA, JD, and MBA from Harvard. After 6 years as a Consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, Jim took a risk, quit his job and started selling Sam Adams. Today Boston Beer Company has annual revenues of ~$1 billion and sells more than 50 types of beer all over the world. Romeen and Jim discussed his early life, how he made the decision to start Boston Beer Company, and the key lessons he picked up across his career. Jim had many interesting insights, but a few that resonated most were: (1) get out of your echo chamber when making decisions (8:05), (2) laser focus your early career on developing skills (20:36), and (3) always be selling (24:44).