Invest Like The Best
Episode 197 Thriving in Changing Markets
Invest Like The Best

Episode 197: Thriving in Changing Markets

Invest Like The Best

Episode 197

Thriving in Changing Markets

Brad is the founder of Altimeter Capital. Rich is the founder/CEO of Zillow and also founded Expedia & Glassdoor. We cover Rich’s “power to the people” strategy, going public through SPACs vs. IPOs, and using big hairy audacious goals to build a great company.

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[00:02:59] – (First question) – How Brad and Rich met

[00:05:57] – The instant click between them

[00:07:21] – The power to the people perspective 

[00:10:21] – Delivering information to consumers

[00:11:31] – The investing perception of data-delivery businesses

[00:13:54] – How they use SPACs

[00:17:38] – How entrepreneurs view SPACs

[00:20:17] – Lessons from their involvement in Altimeter Growth Corp

[00:23:57] – Defining value add investor in the public and private markets

[00:26:36] – The Wizard of OZ and Pygmalions

[00:30:41] – Leadership mold at businesses and big audacious goals

[00:36:05] – Frank Slootman’s leadership style

[00:38:11] – Courage in leadership 

[00:41:33] – Physical businesses vs digital only businesses

[00:43:34] – Getting companies fit

[00:45:39] – Lessons around talent density 

[00:48:28] – State of the world and markets today since the inception of the pandemic

[00:53:46] – Making up words for companies and fertile ground

[00:56:45] – Go to market model vs business model

[00:58:50] – Early days of product market sales

[01:03:03] – Advice to early investors and entrepreneurs for the future of their careers

[01:08:10] – The board challenge

[01:12:06] – What question are they working hard to answer right now

[01:16:09] – Kindest thing anyone has done for Rich

Thriving in Changing Markets

Introduction

Patrick
My guests today are Rich Barton and Brad Gerstner. Brad is the founder of Altimeter Capital and is one of my favorite active investors. Brad and Altimeter were one of the largest investors in Snowflake in its earlier days, and continue to invest in iconic modern businesses with an extreme focus. Rich has one of the most impressive resumes in the business world. He founded Expedia, Glassdoor, and Zillow. He's a long time Netflix board member since before they went public. He's a venture partner at Benchmark Capital. And he gives back through the Barton Family Foundation. Our conversation covers Rich's power to the people strategy, Brad and Rich's perspective on taking companies public through SPACs versus IPO's, and their perspectives on how to build a great company. This one is so fun, we even discuss how to come up with company names, talk about the importance of the Wizard of Oz, and explore the importance of big, hairy, audacious goals. I really enjoyed this conversation with two of the smartest people I know, and I hope you will too.

So Brad and Rich, we're going to cover a lot of different ground, but we have to begin with how you two know each other. Who wants to begin with the story of how you guys met?

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