The Circle of Competence Podcast Benton Moss

I had the pleasure of interviewing Mohnish Pabrai for episode #11 of the Circle of Competence podcast. In this wide-ranging conversation, we covered concepts far and wide:

- reflections on internal 'mapping' and what makes each one of us 'tick'

- 'entrepreneurship as arbitrage'

- Mohnish's early days of entrepreneurship with TransTech and his best investment ever

- Mohnish's investment framework

- Mohnish's lessons learned in 2020

- Mohnish's book list

- Mohnish's amazing work with the Dakshana Foundation, which seeks to invest in the education of promising youth in India and 'break the shackles of poverty permanently.'

I'd highly recommend checking out his personal website, Chai with Pabrai, for all of his book recommendations, past interviews, and books he's authored. Mohnish is a wealth of information when it comes to investing and business history and this episode clearly illustrated his ability to adapt over time, digest huge amounts of information, and make clear decisions based on available data. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did!

--

ABOUT THE PODCAST:

Hi, I'm Benton Moss. I launched The Circle of Competence Podcast in June 2020 to focus on entrepreneurship and investing, and explore each guest's unique journey. From real estate to technology to public equities to small business investing and more, I hope this podcast will be a wide-ranging exploration of what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, operator, and investor in today's competitive world.

SUBSCRIBE:

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6BW1ZZC6SLVA6U09KBf5br?si=cP15zhyWSwCw832NttMR9A

FOLLOW:

Website: https://circleofcompetence.co

Twitter: https://twitter.com/benton_moss


---

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-circle-of-competence/support

My latest podcast interview is a conversation with Michael Girdley, Chairman of Dura Software, where we discuss:

- Search funds (and Michael's advice to business school grads)

- Dura's holding company model

- What conditions are required for a GREAT startup investment

- venture-backed software companies vs. niche software companies

- Michael's playbook for running small software businesses

- Michael's thoughts on how covid-19 is changing M&A and business in general



Show links:

- Michael Girdley's personal website

- Michael Girdley's Small Business Playbook

- Michael Girdley's Twitter account

- Mark Leonard's Constellation Software Letters to Shareholders

- Charlie Munger's Psychology of Human Misjudgement



--

ABOUT THE PODCAST:

Hi, I'm Benton Moss. I launched The Circle of Competence Podcast in June 2020 to focus on entrepreneurship and investing, and explore each guest's unique journey. From real estate to technology to public equities to small business investing and more, I hope this podcast will be a wide-ranging exploration of what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, operator, and investor in today's competitive world.

SUBSCRIBE:

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6BW1ZZC6SLVA6U09KBf5br?si=cP15zhyWSwCw832NttMR9A

FOLLOW:

Website: https://circleofcompetence.co

Twitter: https://twitter.com/benton_moss

---

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-circle-of-competence/support


---

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-circle-of-competence/support

This week, I caught up with my good friend Neil O'Donnell on all things SPACS and monetary stimulus.  We discussed typical terms around SPACs for founders as well as investors, what is driving the recent explosion in SPAC popularity, our thoughts on two SPACs in particular, and the macro environment in general.

Resources mentioned:

O'Shaughnessy Asset Management White Paper - Upside-Down Markets

Ray Dalio's global change series

The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel

Invested by Charles Schwab

Traction: How to Get a Grip on Your Business

SPAC Notes:

Altimeter Capital's tech SPAC Altimeter Growth Corp. files for a $450 million IPO (Nasdaq)

Palihapitiya finds next '10X idea' with $4.8B SPAC deal for real estate startup Opendoor (CNBC)

Richard Branson's latest SPAC S-1 (SEC Filing)

Oaktree Capital SPAC

Reid Hoffman and Marc Pincus' SPAC

Paul Ryan's SPAC

Apollo's SPAC

---

ABOUT THE PODCAST:

Hi, I'm Benton Moss. I launched The Circle of Competence Podcast in June 2020 to focus on the nexus between entrepreneurship and investing, and explore how each guest's journey led them to start and grow their own business from the ground up. From real estate to technology to public equities to small business investing and more, I hope this podcast will be a wide-ranging exploration of what it takes to be an entrepreneurial investor in today's competitive world.

SUBSCRIBE:

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6BW1ZZC6SLVA6U09KBf5br?si=cP15zhyWSwCw832NttMR9A

FOLLOW:

Website: https://circleofcompetence.co

Twitter: https://twitter.com/benton_moss


---

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-circle-of-competence/support

This week, I had a fun conversation with Monick Halm, the founder of Vineyard Investment Partners (Multifamily and Industrial Syndication Platform) and the Real Estate Investor Goddesses network (a women-focused educational platform dedicated to teaching women about the power of owning real estate). We covered her "3 C-s" required before working with someone, how she builds teams, how she scaled from 0-1000 units in less than a year (!), how she picks  markets to invest in, and her vision to help 1 million women achieve financial freedom through education and ownership.

Vineyard Investment Partners Website >> https://www.vip-assets.com/
Real Estate Goddesses Events >> https://www.realestateinvestorgoddesses.com/
Monick's Podcast >> http://podcast.realestateinvestorgoddesses.com/

If you are a woman looking to learn more about real estate and want to connect with other women interested in investing, I'd highly recommend checking out Monick's podcast and women's network above!



--

ABOUT THE PODCAST:

Hi, I'm Benton Moss. I launched The Circle of Competence Podcast in June 2020 to focus on the nexus between entrepreneurship and investing, and explore how each guest's journey led them to start and grow their own business from the ground up. From real estate to technology to public equities to small business investing and more, I hope this podcast will be a wide-ranging exploration of what it takes to be an entrepreneurial investor in today's competitive world.



SUBSCRIBE:

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6BW1ZZC6SLVA6U09KBf5br?si=cP15zhyWSwCw832NttMR9A



FOLLOW:

Website: https://circleofcompetence.co

Twitter: https://twitter.com/benton_moss

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/circle_of_c...



---

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-circle-of-competence/support


---

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-circle-of-competence/support

This week, I spoke with David Gardner, the Chairman of The Motley Fool, a financial advisor and media conglomerate focused on helping the world become happier, smarter, and richer through investing. In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss the founding of The Motley Fool, his 6-part "Rulebreakers" investment framework, why valuation may not be the most important metric to pay attention to, conscious capitalism, and more. David's optimism and humor are infectious as he shares his views on investing and how business can and should be a force for good.  

---

ABOUT THE PODCAST:

Hi, I'm Benton Moss. I launched The Circle of Competence Podcast in June 2020 to focus on the nexus between entrepreneurship and investing, and explore how each guest's journey led them to start and grow their own business from the ground up. From real estate to technology to public equities to small business investing and more, I hope this podcast will be a wide-ranging exploration of what it takes to be an entrepreneurial investor in today's competitive world.

SUBSCRIBE:

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6BW1ZZC...

FOLLOW:

Website: https://circleofcompetence.co

Twitter: https://twitter.com/benton_moss

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/circle_of_c...


---

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-circle-of-competence/support

This week, I spoke with Blair Silverberg, the CEO of Capital Technologies which is a software-based lending platform focusing on the venture debt space. In prior years, he worked at the illustrious venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and also invested personally in the private credit space. In his current role as CEO of Capital, he leads a team whose mission is to create a modern alternative to equity financing to put power back into the hands of the entrepreneur. Founded in 2019, Capital helps company founders understand their cost of capital and secure financing offers from $5-50 million. We discuss the burgeoning venture debt space, venture capital industry as a whole, capital allocation for entrepreneurs, and his vision for a fully-automated, artificial intelligence driven lending platform at Capital. 

---   

ABOUT THE PODCAST:      

Hi, I'm Benton Moss. I launched The Circle of Competence Podcast in June 2020 to focus on the nexus between entrepreneurship and investing, and explore how each guest's journey led them to start and grow their own business from the ground up. From real estate to technology to public equities to small business investing and more, I hope this podcast will be a wide-ranging exploration of what it takes to be an entrepreneurial investor in today's competitive world.       



SUBSCRIBE:      

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...     

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6BW1ZZC...     



FOLLOW:      

Website: https://circleofcompetence.co   

Twitter: https://twitter.com/benton_moss

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/circle_of_c...


---

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-circle-of-competence/support