Jason Zweig and Morgan Housel - Business vs. Investing - [Invest Like the Best, EP.50]

My guests this week are both veterans of the podcast, Jason Zweig and Morgan Housel. They are two of the best in the world at making the complicated simple, and in that spirit, I’ll keep this introduction short. Morgan shifted from public markets to the private markets a year ago when he joined the Collaborative Fund, so we begin with what he has learned about venture capital in his first year on the job. For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/writers For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. To get involved with Project Frontier, head to InvestorFieldGuide.com/frontier. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Books Referenced The Devil's Financial Dictionary Modern Monopolies: What It Takes to Dominate the 21st Century Economy Thinking, Fast and Slow Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike Life and Fate Online References A Rediscovered Masterpiece by Benjamin Graham Rishi Ganti podcast Small Companies Are Gone, But Should they Be Forgotten (Zweig Column) Show Notes 1:43 – (First question) – Morgan on why he got disenchanted with the investment industry and shifted to venture capital 4:05 – Jason’s thoughts about investing in the private markets 5:19 - A Rediscovered Masterpiece by Benjamin Graham 7:57 – Morgan’s thoughts on how private market investments differ from public market investments 10:24 – Exploring valuations of businesses and what they say about broader trends in the market 13:21 – How much does Jason think about individual companies when exploring the overall market trends 18:41 – The Devil's Financial Dictionary 19:28 –What does it take to be a successful founder 23:40 – How does Jason look at activities that are work related vs just for pleasure 25:33 – If Jason had to start a business, what would he do 27:22 – What business would Morgan start 29:18 – Problems with the financial planning industry 30:56 - The role of stress in personal and business development 31:04 – Modern Monopolies: What It Takes to Dominate the 21st Century Economy 38:17 – Are there signs that let you know when to cut and run vs when to keep slogging along with something 42:02 – Thinking, Fast and Slow 44:03 – Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike 44:20 – Principals to approach learning 50:10 – The idea of keeping your identity small in a world where social media encourages one-upmanship 53:56 – Last significant thing Morgan changed his mind about 55:23 – Why Morgan chooses passive investing with stocks, but as a VC, essentially is a stock picker in private markets 1:00:44 – Rishi Ganti podcast 1:02:14 – What major thing did Jason change his mind about 1:02:30 – Small Companies Are Gone, But Should they Be Forgotten (Zweig Column) 1:06:33 – What was the most interesting idea Jason and Morgan have been tackling and what data helped to spark that interest 1:09:32 – Life and Fate