033 Brad Gerstner| american capitalism works

NOTE| This episode is longer than usual→ ‘Top Of The Game (in) Overtime’ shows are released occasionally

BRAD’S BIO

Brad Gerstner is a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist and hedge fund manager. He is founder, chairman and CEO of Altimeter Capital, a leading technology investment firm he started during the 2008 financial crisis. Brad and his team are known for fundamental analysis and deep expertise in consumer internet, software and artificial intelligence across the capital formation cycle, a style colloquially known as crossover investing.

The efficient and productive use of capital “knows no buckets”, and Brad is at the forefront of these crossover opportunities across the private, quasi-public and public markets. He has been involved in over 100 IPOs and some of his notable investments include Snowflake, Bytedance (TikTok) Zillow, Uber, Meta (Facebook), Plaid, Okta, Gusto and Zillow among many others.

Brad was born and raised in Indiana and his father’s failed business taught him many lessons early in life. “In life you are either running towards something or away from something” as he puts it. His investing career started while day trading to pay for law school at Indiana University, followed by being appointed to be Deputy Secretary of State of Indiana, the youngest in history. His true calling was in business and attended Harvard to obtain an MBA. Right after graduation he was a founding principal of General Catalyst and worked / co-founded / sold several travel and consumer internet related startups, followed by serving as a portfolio manager at PAR Capital and eventually launching Altimeter.

In 2016, Altimeter was the largest shareholder of United and helped usher changes at the company, including its board. In 2022, Gerstner wrote a now seminal open letter to Mark Zuckerberg stating Meta was losing focus, had too many employees and was losing investor confidence recommending that the company cut expenses by 20%, focus on AI and limit Metaverse spending to $5 billion a year. A few weeks later, Meta effected many of his recommendations and the company’s stock has increased ~4X since.

He has been a regular guest on the All In Podcast and has a podcast (BG2) with co-host and former Benchmark GP Bill Gurley. Brad recently unveiled Invest America, a plan to create a broad and passive basket of stocks representing the American economy for every child in America rooted in the power of capitalism, compound interest and returns. Brad is at the top of his game and his influence is hard to overstate, underpinned by his intellect, vision, capital allocation savvy, curiosity and belief in opportunity for all – no matter where one starts.

I’ve known Brad for 25 years, is a great friend and every time we speak I learn a few things, including this episode - enjoy this remarkable human being.

BRAD RELATED LINKS

Brad’s Twitter

CNBC Report Meta Board & Mark Zuckerberg

Time to Get Fit Letter

On CNBC Squawk Box discussing Invest America

On Delivering Alpha re: AI

BG2’s First Episode on YouTube + Twitter

Profile on Forbes (Midas List 2022)

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