"The investment education of Eddie Lampert began when he was 10 years old."
"I would go down to Miami Beach for most vacations. She was retired and I would sit on the bed with her going through the stock pages."
"Risk arbitrage appealed to me because you made the decisions. You were committing the partners' capital and could see immediately whether you were right or wrong simply by the facts. It was definite and not subject to other people's opinions."
Learning through case studies: "I was looking at The Washington Post in 1973. Could I have made the investment Buffett made? Can I understand what he saw?"
@yliownyc inspired by Lampert: "he spent 50% of his time training"
"Every morning when I wake up, I am really excited about what I do. Whatever business I am looking at, I am really loving what I am doing." Eddie Lampert
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The success of Bai is an example of passion-market fit. Founder Ben Weiss had been obsessed with coffee all of his life. In 2009 he finally found the right idea and a powerful consumer trend. He sold to Dr. Pepper Snapple for $1.4bn in 2016.
“So the only way you’re likely to find product-market fit is if you’re almost irrationally obsessed with the market. Then, you’re likely to have unique insights.” @naval
Weiss graduated in 1992 and his first idea was to open a cafe. He backpacked through Europe and pitched investors in the US on the coffee house experience. Nobody cared.
"I was armed with all this coffee knowledge and could do nothing with it."
In 1987, an unknown black lawyer rocked Wall Street with the $985 million LBO of Beatrice International.
Reginald Lewis had bootstrapped his way to the top of the buyout world, negotiating with the likes of Henry Kravis and Michael Milken.
Kenneth Frazier, CEO of Merck: “Reg Lewis opened up a world of possibilities for an entire generation of black business leaders. I distinctly recall my reaction when he engineered the acquisition of Beatrice Foods. I said to myself, “Who is this brother?’”
Lewis grew up in Baltimore and wanted to play professional football. However, after an injury he ingeniously worked his way into Harvard Law School.
He joined a prestigious law firm but was told he wouldn't make partner.
Larry Ellison in 2002: "I knew that the dot-com thing was madness."
At the height of the dot-com boom he crated a website called "HeyIdiot" where people could bid on HeyIdiot stock.
"The horrifying thing was we got messages: 'We're trying to buy the stock and it's not working.'"
Ellison once paid investigators to go through Microsoft's garbage
"I wouldn't want to through garbage personally, because I'm wearing a very expensive suit. If Microsoft wanted to deceive the American people and not get caught, they should have bought a few more shredders."
"Technology is going the same way as the car industry. There is going to be a handful of large technology competitors. The idea that the software and computer industries are going to be forever young is fanciful."
Even Bill Gates sat down with Playboy (in 1994). He was all over the internet and how it would change the world. web.archive.org/web/2010080107…
Netflix, Yelp, social media:
"Video on demand, finding people with common interests, picking a doctor"
"You'll want to know what movies others liked, based on what you thought of other movies. Afterward, you can even share what you thought."
"Community will expand"
So very 90's: "we're involved in a new generation of fax machines"
Meanwhile, his "wallet PC" is the iPhone: "buttons replaced with a graphics interface. Digital keys, tickets, money, maps."
"Where did the future go" with David Graeber
Leaving big law firm: "on the outside everybody wanted in, on the inside everybody wanted to leave." People said it was "good to see someone could escape Alcatraz" when "all you had to do was go out the front door"
"Developing the developed world" (2013)
Globalization vs. technology
"Most of the companies in the Nasdaq are described as technology but they are really bets against technology"
->Fundamental bet that there will be no technological disruption
"I don’t believe any Internet company is appropriate for short-term investors."
"It's too easy to check stock prices and it's a complete waste of time."
I almost spit out my coffee when he talked about dating:
"I am not the kind of person women fall in love with. I sort of grow on them, like a fungus."