Rishi Renjen - Evolving Your Investment Process

Today's conversation is with Rishi Renjen, the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of ROAM Global Management. Before founding ROAM Global, he was a Managing Director and Sector Head at Maverick Capital, a Partner at TPG-Axon Capital, and a Senior Analyst at Glenview Capital. Rishi earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics, with a concentration in Finance, from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and he is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Value Investing Program at Columbia Business School.

Following his interest in finance from a young age, Rishi built up a wealth of experience over the years across in the financial services industry before launching his fund, ROAM Global in 2018. It is a pleasure to welcome Rishi to the show today and, like everyone involved with the Center, he combines his deep understanding of markets, the practice of investing, and fundamental analysis with the ability to convey these ideas clearly to the students.

On this episode, Rishi and I discuss where his deep interest in finance came from, what he learned from his years in investment banking, how his experience in the private equity world offers him an advantage, the core principles Rishi wanted to incorporate into his firm, a dynamic approach to value investing, and so much more!

Key Topics:

• Rishi's early affinity towards business (2:59)
• The advantage of a deep understanding of economics (4:10)
• Why it was important to Rishi to do internships and work in the investment banking world (4:40)
• What Rishi learned from his early years in investment banking (5:53)
• How Rishi's foundation in banking and private equity helps him in difficult economic periods (6:31)
• The similarities between working in private equity and public markets (8:52)
• Why Rishi believes investing is a balance between conviction and price (10:43)
• The evolution of public and private markets in recent years (12:57)
• Why starting his career during a financial crisis was a great opportunity for Rishi (14:56)
• Rishi's focus during his career in private equity (17:04)
• Why the business services sector is so dynamic and transformative (17:56)
• A dynamic approach to value investing (18:29)
• How Rishi developed his global perspective on investing (20:04)
• Lessons learned from the rapid growth of TPG Axon (22:52)
• The core principles Rishi wanted to incorporate into his firm (25:29)
• Defining the ROAM investment framework (27:28)
• How ROAM has navigated the economic shifts due to COVID (30:01)
• How top of the market activity is creating a biased view of the market (32:44)
• Risk management in times of distress (33:37)
• Why it's easy to lose all your money quickly in the current economic climate (37:35)
• Why Rishi is a dedicated short seller (40:55)
• The importance of building a company culture of collective success (44:22)
• The value of a postmortem analysis for successes as well as failures (47:01)
• Rishi's perspective on the future of financial markets (48:57)
• Why I believe there's going to be a lot of opportunity for nimble investors (50:48)
• Agility as a competitive advantage (52:27)
• And much more!

Thanks for Listening!

Be sure to subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And feel free to drop us a line at valueinvesting@gsb.columbia.edu.

Follow the Heilbrunn Center on social media on Instagram, LinkedIn, and more!