How They Invest: Tactics and Tools of the World's Best Investors

“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 Explore the episode notes. 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 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

“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 Explore the episode notes. 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.  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

“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

“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. 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