David Barr - From Venture Capital to The Venture Exchange

David Barr (@PenderDave on Twitter) is the President and Portfolio Manager at Pender Fund Capital Management. He focuses primarily on Canadian small cap equities, but is not limited to that subset of investments. Bill met Dave at an MOI Global event in 2019 and was very excited for Dave to join The Business Brew because Dave truly loves stock picking. Dave is extremely well respected, high integrity, and looks at the world through a unique lens. While some people see small cap investing as riskier, Dave sees it as an opportunity. Perhaps it's because of his background in venture capital ("VC"). Perhaps it's because he does better "work" than others. Whatever the reason, The Business Brew is grateful for his time and hope we introduce an investor that warrants respect. Topics discussed include: ~2:50 - Bill and Dave discuss MOI Global as a community ~4:30 - Dave discusses small cap investing ~7:40 - "Microcap draws people who are business analysts" ~8:35 - How venture capital influenced Dave ~10:00 - Why redemptions disproportionately influenced small caps in 2018 ~13:00 - How Dave thinks about marrying VC thinking with equity investing ~15:50 - How journaling helped Dave remember what COVID was really like ~20:00 - Avoiding envy in a social media world ~22:00 - Dave's experience getting "active" (read: constructive) with his holdings ~28:00 - What the Canadian Venture Exchange is and why companies are going public now ~35:00 - How Canada can lead in the financial trends and a discussion on how bubbles form ~45:00 - Dave's thoughts on balancing a portfolio of "compounders" and rerating investments ~49:00 - Are public markets really "long term?" ~53:00 - Is it possible to fully appreciate the right tail of outcomes? ~1:00:00 - Companies are people organizations now; reflexivity matters ~1:04:00 - Follow @PenderFelix! ~1:09:00 - Why Dave is respected by colleagues and how he's been able to achieve success ~1:15:00 - What to learn from Buffett ~1:20:00 - Founder/CEO turnover in smaller cap companies as a risk factor ~1:34:00 - Some SPAC talk