The Vampire Squid

I’m very excited about today’s episode because it is on two of the most fascinating emerging technologies out there, Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality. Today, we have on Jacob Mullins from Shasta Ventures who focuses on these types of emerging technologies and we get to hear his take on the landscape and how it is developing. Super cool episode and I hope that you all enjoy! Jacob Mullins * What does it mean to have Presence in Virtual Reality? * How Nausea may be caused by the LACK of senses being tricked * Do you think VR will always be a headset and earset, or what is the next step in the technology? * What do you think of Elon Musk’s comments that we are more likely than not living in a virtual reality? * What are your thoughts on artificial intelligence in terms of will it be good or bad for human kind? * What are the potential theories of what could happen when we reach the Singularity or general intelligence? * What are your thoughts on the depiction of AI in movies like Ex-Machina and Her? As always, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. Email me directly at alan@the vampiresquid.com or on the contact form. Also, please subscribe to my facebook page for live updates facebook.com/thevampiresquid. Also follow me on Quora at https://www.quora.com/profile/Alan-Li-1. To support us check us out at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/thevampiresquid

We have a great interview for you guys today with Jacob Mullins from Shasta Ventures! Jacob has a strong entrepreneurial background and has founded multiple companies before he joined and rejoined Shasta Ventures where he now focuses on emerging technologies and trends. In this interview, we cover Jacob’s entrepreneurial pursuits like founding a CPG company, being the 2nd employee of VentureBeat, and starting ExitRound (a marketplace for M&A). Hope you all enjoy! Jacob Mullins * What is your background and how did you end up at Shasta Ventures? * Talk a little about your entrepreneurial background when you were in college selling plant supplements * What were the major challenges that you found working on a CPG startup company? * CPG space is one of the most competitive markets out there * Merging his company into a public shell (reverse IPO) * Working at Microsoft and VentureBeat and leaving the CPG space * Starting ExitRound – a marketplace for buyers and sellers of companies * A dating site for buyers and sellers to find each other

We continue our conversation with Aswath Damodaran where we dive into the technology industry, great books to get read if you want to learn about finance, and Aswath’s thoughts on the market. I hope you enjoy! * What are your thoughts on growth stocks particularly in the technology industry? * Even though it feels like that now, all companies at one point were like tech companies * Tech companies can just do it much more quickly – they live in dog years * What do you think of companies valuing themselves off of users or clicks? * What are your thoughts on technology companies potentially never making money? * Have you considered going into the hedge fund industry? *  What are some of the biggest things that you learned from your students? * What should students be reading to better understand finance? * Read the Wall Street Journal * Stocks for the Long Run – Jeremy Siegel * Security Analysis – Ben Graham *  The education of a speculator * Do you think we are currently in a bubble? * What are your thoughts on dcf vs. comps? * What are other ways to calculate intrinsic value? * Is there an advantage to playing the pricing game vs. the valuation game? * What are your hobbies outside of teaching and valuation? * Do you think there is a lack of transparency in finance today? As always, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. Email me directly at alan@the vampiresquid.com or on the contact form. Also, please subscribe to my facebook page for live updates facebook.com/thevampiresquid. Also follow me on Quora at https://www.quora.com/profile/Alan-Li-1. To support us check us out at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/thevampiresquid

Wow, I had to bring on an incredibly special guest for the 40th episode of The Vampire Squid! Today’s episode, we have Aswath Damodaran, who I’m sure many of you know well in finance. He is considered the go-to expert for valuation and has taught at NYU for over 30 years. His blogs Musings on Markets is well recognized among all those who work in finance, and I’m thrilled that he was willing to appear on TVS. This episode is JAM PACKED with views that challenged many of my prior beliefs in finance. I hope you all enjoy… * What is your background and how did you initially get interested in finance? * Sex, Stock, and Salvation * The study of money * What are the biggest misconceptions of finance for those who haven’t learned it before? * Everything is about finance (i.e. Superbowl, World Cup, and Lady Gaga) * The louder it talks, the more it changes the game * Is there anything out there that isn’t driven by finance? * There’s some things driven by altruism, but most in money and finance * Given the negative perception of finance, how do you help bridge that gap? * Not my job * People don’t like bankers, lawyers, athletes, who do people even like these days? * How have your goals changed since the beginning of teaching to now? * I don’t have any goals except to teach * Life is incremental, it adds up and I live life semester to semester * You don’t need big goals to succeed, small things today will take care of big things later * My job is learning, and learning never ends * Is valuation an art or a science?  * Neither, it’s a craft * People who say it’s an art want a license to teach anything they want * People who say it’s a science just want to use formulas * What do you think about market valuations vs. fair value? * Markets don’t value companies, they price them * To invest you need faith * Most investors are not investors, they are traders (even a lot of Portfolio Managers) * The Stock market can be irrational longer than you can be solvent * Which investors do you admire? *  Bill Ackman, Carl Icahn, Warren Buffet all have qualities that I like, but they also have faults * Buying a “How to invest like Warren Buffet” book is a waste of time, figure out your strengths * What faults do you see in Warren Buffet? * He can be hypocritical when he speaks about corporate governance * He is very consistent and knows his strengths and weaknesses As always, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. Email me directly at alan@the vampiresquid.com or on the contact form. Also, please subscribe to my facebook page for live updates facebook.com/thevampiresquid. Also follow me on Quora at https://www.quora.com/profile/Alan-Li-1. To support us check us out at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/thevampiresquid

Welcome back to Part II of the episode with Patrick Curtis, founder of Wall Street Oasis. In this episode, we dive into Patrick’s experiences in Buenos Aires, his favorite wall street oasis stories, how he deals with “fake news”, and much more. We got some exciting guests about to come on to the podcast so stay tuned!! * Why did you decide to move to Buenos Aires? * How was it running WSO when living in South America? * What were some of your favorite stories on Wall Street Oasis? * Where are you going to take Wall Street Oasis now? * What was the original motivation for starting Wall Street Oasis? * How do you prevent “fake news” on W  all Street Oasis? * How do you like California vs. New York? * What do you think about the current sentiment around finance / culture? As always, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. Email me directly at alan@the vampiresquid.com or on the contact form. Also, please subscribe to my facebook page for live updates facebook.com/thevampiresquid. Also follow me on Quora at https://www.quora.com/profile/Alan-Li-1. To support us check us out at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/thevampiresquid

Today we have on a very special guest, Patrick Curtis, who is the founder of WallStreetOasis.com! I met Patrick a few months ago and we’ve stayed in touch and gotten drinks a couple times, but thought he would be incredibly interesting to bring on the podcast given his experience working in finance and starting his own company. Hope you enjoy the conversation! * Tell me a bit about your background * Williams College * Wharton Undergrad * Rothschild Investment Banking * TailWind Capital * Going from a Yoga Studio to Investment Banking * Competitiveness of Investment Banking Internships nowadays * How the banking culture was in 2002 after 9/11 and the dot com bubble crash compared to today * What it was like transitioning from Banking to Private Equity * Getting fired from your first private equity job and the lessons Patrick learned * How did you start Wall Street Oasis and what were some of the roadblocks that you faced initially? * Technical challenges * Working with developers * What was the decision to go to Wharton to get your MBA? How did that affect Wall Street Oasis? * Party, Travel, Wall Street Oasis (PTW) As always, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. Email me directly at alan@the vampiresquid.com or on the contact form. Also, please subscribe to my facebook page for live updates facebook.com/thevampiresquid. Also follow me on Quora at https://www.quora.com/profile/Alan-Li-1. To support us check us out at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/thevampiresquid

This week’s episode is on studying for the GMAT, which I thought would be a nice follow up to last week’s episode on The Virtual MBA. I will provide some tips on how I went about studying for the test and things that I wish I had known prior to studying. Hope you enjoy! * Overview of the GMAT * Writing, Integrative Reasoning, Quant, and Verbal * Adaptive Test * Computer Based * Studying for the exam * Amount of Time * Resources used * Manhattan Prep * Veritas Prep * Blogs * GMAT Club * BeattheGMAT * Tips * Getting the first 10 questions correct * Replicating the testing environment * Understanding your math score * Picking your friends’ brains As always, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. Email me directly at alan@the vampiresquid.com or on the contact form. Also, please subscribe to my facebook page for live updates facebook.com/thevampiresquid. Also follow me on Quora at https://www.quora.com/profile/Alan-Li-1. To support us check us out at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/thevampiresquid

Today’s podcast will be cross listed with one of my friends who recently started his podcast, The Virtual MBA. On this episode, Alex and I dive a bit into my background of where I grew up, went to school, and some of the decisions that have now landed me in NY! I hope that you enjoy, and feel free to reach out with any questions or suggestions. *  What is your background? * How would you describe your analyst career? * What made you decide to do PE in NY? * What are your thoughts on the 2 + 2 + 2 path? * What else are you considering? * How did you start your podcast, The Vampire Squid? * What is the purpose of the podcast? * Do you still play golf in NY? As always, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. Email me directly at alan@the vampiresquid.com or on the contact form. Also, please subscribe to my facebook page for live updates facebook.com/thevampiresquid. Also follow me on Quora at https://www.quora.com/profile/Alan-Li-1. To support us check us out at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/thevampiresquid

Welcome back to Part II of the interview with Jeff Schneider, the CFO from Royalty Exchange. In today’s follow up to last week’s talk, we finish the conversation we had on the music industry and Royalties. Hope you guys enjoy the rest of the episode! * How has piracy affected Royalty Exchange and royalties in general? * How does Royalty Exchange make money? Who pays the fee? * Who are some of the other notable artists / songs you have on your platform? * How many years do I receive the royalty? * Do you have EDM music on your platform? * What is your day to day as CFO? * How does the bidding process work? * Where do you expect Royalty Exchange to go in the next 3-5 years? * Who are your main competitors? * Can anyone just bid on these auctions at Royalty Exchange? * Did your MBA help you in your current role as CFO? *  What’s it like working in the music industry? * How are the artists in real life? *  Are you a belieber? As always, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. Email me directly at alan@the vampiresquid.com or on the contact form. Also, please subscribe to my facebook page for live updates facebook.com/thevampiresquid. Also follow me on Quora at https://www.quora.com/profile/Alan-Li-1. To support us check us out at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/thevampiresquid

Really excited for this episode as we explore a completely new investment vehicle, investing in royalties from music artists! I bring on Jeff Schneider, the CFO from Royalty Exchange , to share his path to becoming a CFO and insights into how the investment structure at Royalty Exchange works. Some of the artists that have used Royalty Exchange as a platform have included the artist who created the theme song for Dora the Explorer, music for Dumb and Dumber, and a Barry White Song! * Jeff’s experience going directly from undergrad to MBA without any work experience * Interviewing for jobs when you have less experience *  What he changed from going from no job offers to four job offers * What it was like working with James Altucher (one of the people who inspired me to create a podcast!)! * Jeff’s experience helping create “Early to Rise” * Helping people live better and more intentional lives * How Jeff has deleted all social media off of his mobile device *  How did all of Jeff’s experience culminate into the CFO role at Royalty Exchange * What is Royalty Exchange? (10:36min) * Alternative Asset Marketplace * How Royalty Exchange helps fund artist’s careers *  How to do your due diligence before investing into the catalog of royalties * Does emotional ties to the music skew investment decisions * How someone purchased the theme song to Dora the explorer! * What are the economics of investing on the Royalty Exchange platform? As always, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. Email me directly at alan@the vampiresquid.com or on the contact form. Also, please subscribe to my facebook page for live updates facebook.com/thevampiresquid. Also follow me on Quora at https://www.quora.com/profile/Alan-Li-1. To support us check us out at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/thevampiresquid

Happy New Year! Welcome back to The Vampire Squid, I’m incredibly excited for this year and for what is to come for TVS. Today’s episode will be on Market Indices and Exchanges like the S&P 500, DJIA, NYSE, and NASDAQ. I think this is an incredibly important episode because of the volatility that we have been seeing in the stock market, as well as everything that is to come that will affect how the markets perform. * Difference between Market Indices and Market Exchanges * Market Indices * Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) * S&P 500 * Russell 2000 * Market Exchanges * New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) * NASDAQ * DJIA Overview * 30 companies represented * Price-weighted and scaled averages * S&P 500 Overview * 500 companies represented * Market cap weighted * Russell 2000 * NYSE * Oldest and largest exchange * Blue Chip Stocks * ~$500k to list * NASDAQ * Newer exchange * Tech dominated * ~$50-$75k to list * Why this is importnat and useful for you to understand! As always, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. Email me directly at alan@thevampiresquid.com or on the contact form. Also, please subscribe to my facebook page for live updates facebook.com/thevampiresquid. Also follow me on Quora at https://www.quora.com/profile/Alan-Li-1. To support us check us out at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/thevampiresquid

Greetings from the Galapagos Islands!! Before we start, if you are a developer (iOS), shoot me an email!! I hope everyone is getting some time off for the holidays! This episode is short and sweet and a quick review of how far The Vampire Squid has come in 2016, and what I hope to accomplish in 2017. Thank you all for your help along the way, I couldn’t have done it without you all. Talk to you guys in the new year

Welcome to Part II of the interview with Karen Ho, our expert on Wall Street Anthropology! This episode continues with quality insights from Karen as we continue to discuss past recessions, training, and socioeconomic inequality. Email Address: karenho@umn.edu * Is Wall Street culture all bad? * What were the similarities and differences between the 2001 Dot Com Crash vs. the Mortgage Housing Crisis of 2008? * Collateralized Mortgage Obligations * How the market was driven by high finance and bonuses * Dismantling of Glass-Steagall * How AIG became much bigger than just an insurance firm * Credit Default Swaps * How insurance firms and insurance holders can sometimes switch roles! * State of emergency becoming a state of exception *  How can we improve the image of wall street or increase transparency? As always, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. Email me directly at alan@thevampiresquid.com or on the contact form. Also, please subscribe to my facebook page for live updates facebook.com/thevampiresquid. Also follow me on Quora at https://www.quora.com/profile/Alan-Li-1. To support us check us out at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/thevampiresquid

I’m so excited to introduce this episode, one of the most revealing and informative ones that I have done to date! Please welcome a special guest, Karen Ho, an American Anthropologist, who studies wall street culture. Karen is currently teaching at the University of Minnesota, and received her PhD at Princeton and undergraduate and masters at Stanford all in anthropology. This episode is jam packed in that we talk about the three part wall street cocktail, short-termism, greed, etc. etc.  Please enjoy! * Karen’s background and how she got interested in studying Wall Street Culture * Making the strange familiar, and making the familiar strange * Why saying Wall Street Culture is Greedy is too surface level * How Wall Street Culture Cocktail came to be * Smartness * Only recruiting from Harvard and Princeton * Short-Term-ism * 2 year analyst programs and burnout from investment banking * Bonus Structure * Being paid out on a transaction basis instead of long term value * Was this culture prevalent in all levels of finance (Analyst to MD) * Ringing the cash register to many times in the short term * Is there a solution for this? * “Draining the swamp”! * Changing the Wall Street Pay Structure to promote long term value As always, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. Email me directly at alan@thevampiresquid.com or on the contact form. Also, please subscribe to my facebook page for live updates facebook.com/thevampiresquid. Also follow me on Quora at https://www.quora.com/profile/Alan-Li-1. To support us check us out at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/thevampiresquid

Welcome back everyone and to Part II of the hedge fund episode with Jesse Felder! I recently did some very exciting interviews as well that I can’t wait to share with everyone shortly