A Podcast Curriculum for the Aspiring Buy-Sider
Early in my career, I worked at a firm that also had an in-house fund of funds. This fund had a very good upfront training program, but the monthly analyst training program really blew my mind.
A few times per year, we had titans of the HF world come in and speak to the analyst class. Julian Robertson. Steve Mandel. David Einhorn. Eddie Lampert. Steve Cohen.
As a 23-year-old neophyte investor hungry to learn, I was in heaven. I learned from David Einhorn not to short open-ended growth stories, and to try to "lose a little when you are basically wrong, and make a lot when you are right".
I learned from Steve Mandel to not fuss about a few points of P/E multiple on a great long-term story, and that stocks with zero terminal value rarely trade at a low enough P/E.
These were absolute GEMS of wisdom, and these insights helped me form my own personal investment philosophy. Fast forward 14 years to '22, and this unique opportunity that I had in '08 is now open to the entire community, via PODCASTS.
In particular, Invest Like the Best with @patrick_oshag and Capital Allocators with @tseides have become absolutely required listening for buy-siders. Though Masters in Business and Columbia's Value Investing With Legends also pull in some great guests.
I will often see book lists float around Twitter (X) and get many questions "Hey I'm starting at a new HF, what should I read?". In that situation, it's not what you should READ, it's what you should LISTEN to. Reading the classics is a must for any serious investor, for sure. But reading 50 investing books might take a year or two.
This podcast curriculum might take a WEEK or two and can be completed while you are building models, on a long road trip, taking a hike, etc. A great podcast will fly around the IMs of experienced investors.
When Steve Cohen gave his wonderful chat with @jsmian, I received it a few times.
And top candidates have figured this out already.
@GavinSBaker on episode 260 of Invest Like the Best, said to @patrick_oshag :
"I think you've done something really really good for the world. It blows my mind when I interview these kids under 25...largely because of your podcast, the kids that come in now...how good they are...and I think you're podcast has a lot to do with it."
10 years ago, a hungry, aspiring buy-sider would have NEVER had the opportunity to access the insights that are now regularly offered for FREE on podcast platforms.
So, hungry to break into the buy side? Or hungry as a junior (or senior) investment professional to learn more from some of the greatest investment minds out there?
YES, read the classic books, for sure.
But by listening to the wisdom of the following speakers, you can learn the language & mindset of some of the best investors in the world.
Here is the curriculum I would recommend:
TIGER APPROACH TO INVESTING
Steve Mandel on Investing Behind Change
Rob Citrone (former Tiger) on Emerging Markets & Hedge Funds
Steven Galbraith (former Maverick) on Capital Allocation
Paul Enright (former Viking) Buy-Side Primer
Paul Enright on Long-Short Investing
MARKET NEUTRAL INVESTING
Steve Cohen (the GOAT) on the Inner Game
Dmitry Balyasny on the Market Neutral Model
Jordi Visser (Weiss Multi-Strategy) on the Multi-Manager Model
Dawn Fitzpatrick (Soros) on Multi-Faceted Investing
CURRENT & FORMER HF MANAGERS ON THEIR APPROACH TO ALPHA GENERATION
Gavin Baker – Investing Through a Bear Market
Gavin Baker – Tech and Consumer Growth Investing
Gavin Baker - The Cyclone Under the Surface
Gaurav Kapadia (former TPG Axon, Soroban) on Compounding
Eric Mandelblatt (Soroban) on Industrial Investing
Lauren Taylor Wolfe on Activist & ESG investing
Josh Friedman (Canyon) w/ a masterclass in credit
Brad Gerstner (Altimeter) on tech & crossover investing
David Zorub (Parsifal) on the path to launch a successful fund
Eli Casdin on life science investing
Yen Liow on the quest for the right tail
Brian Bares on qualitative investing
Joel Greenblatt on relative value investing
Ram Parameswaran on internet investing
THE LONG-ONLY MINDSET
John Harris (Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb)
Tom Russo (Gardner Russo & Gardner) on the power of consumer brand
Paul Black (WCM) on growth stock investing
INVESTMENT MINDSET
Howard Marks (has his own podcast!) and has been on multiple
Michael Mauboussin (a whole library of Mauboussin podcasts out there)
Morgan Housel on the Psychology of Money
Sam Zell (one of the best contrarian investors of all time)
Kiril Sokoloff (editor of the popular HF newsletter, What I Learned This Week)
THE LP MINDEST (Capital Allocators has MANY of these)
Scott Malpass (former CIO of Notre Dame, teaches a highly reviewed investing class)
Sarah Samuels on analyzing hedge funds (does so for $1.5tn advisor)
Larry Kochard on the LP CIO role
So if you want to break in or are new to the HF industry, I recommend doing this podcast "catch up" curriculum, then monitoring the handful of investing podcasts I mentioned (and sending them to your "investing nerd" friends).