Thread by @CundillCapital

1/n Thread on Jim Chanos, famed short seller:

He was first on Enron

2/n In a world where everyone is a "long buyer", it's hard to be a short seller

3/n I think this is true on the long side as well. You need to be an independent thinker with a dash of arrogance. At the end of the day you are buying from an informed seller - what makes you think you are right and they are wrong?

4/n Being early is akin to being wrong. Feels a lot like 2020 - there are some obviously absurd valuations, but the music is still playing.

5/n Emerging managers on fintwit have been spot on about this: find the right clients.

“I just had lunch with an analyst from Merrill, and it’s his favorite long[AOL].” Don't use the SS for their picks or target prices, find the analysts doing unique and independent research.

6/n First at bat in the big leagues and he hits a home run

7/n Where he likes to fish: serial acquirers and tech obsolescence

I like Cliff Sosin's mental model: Its tough to invest in biz's whose advantage is due things moving very fast & thus unlikely to endure. Find co's that use tech to build biz's that endure for non-tech reasons

8/n You get some right, you get some wrong

9/n How he deals with the classic PM/analyst problem: "I'm paid to have the opinions, they're paid to do the research."

10/n On the most important trait for going from analyst to PM: "When something goes wrong with one of their names, how do they handle it? Some are cool customers. It doesn't faze them."

11/fin Just do the work. And that means more than just sitting behind your desk