Invest Like The Best
Episode 36 How Skilled Capital Allocators Compound Capital
Invest Like The Best

Episode 36: How Skilled Capital Allocators Compound Capital

How Skilled Capital Allocators Compound Capital

Will Thorndike is an author and investor whose book The Outsiders is one of the best examinations of CEOs and capital allocation. We cover how these CEOs were contrarians in business tactics, lessons for business capital allocation, and Will's experience in private equity.

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CFA Institute. CFA Institute the global association of investment professionals whose mission is to lead the investment profession by promoting the highest standards of ethics, education and professional excellence for the ultimate benefit of society. CFA Institute serves a global community of investment professionals working to build an investment industry where investors interests come first, financial markets function at their best and economies grow. The Chartered Financial Analyst Credential is the most respected and recognized investment management designation in the world. The views expressed in this podcast do not necessarily represent the views of CFA Institute.

[00:02:40] – (first question) –  The first moment when Will realized he was interested in investing as a job

[00:04:07] – What was the journey like that led Will into the private equity space

[00:05:19] – How the book started as research projects

[00:09:53] – The ways to spend capital

[00:10:21] – What did Will find as far as the way the CEO’s outlined in his book viewed dividends and how they were best used

[00:11:56] – Will’s take on the future of dividends

[00:15:10] – Moving to buybacks as a way as a strategy

[00:19:01] – What did the 8 CEO’s think of capex and reinvesting in the business as a strategy

[00:23:19] – Why it’s so important to set hurdle rates and stick with them

[00:25:27] – The CEO’s in the book were flexible and opportunistic.  How is that different from CEO’s like an Elon Musk who has a huge grand vision

[00:26:56] – How did the CEO’s use acquisitions as a strategy

[00:30:49] – The importance of rationalizing your expenditures

[00:32:02] – The right and wrong way to use debt as a public company

[00:34:34] – If Will could pick one of the 8 outsider CEO’s and a business, which ones would he choose

[00:40:41] – Touching on the importance of partnerships to make sure the cash flows are coming and allocated in a productive way

[00:43:54] – Will is asked to talk about the experience of this book and what is like to see it grow into a best seller.

[00:45:02] – If Will had to write another book, what would it be about

[00:47:09] – Shifting to Will’s day job in private equity and how he got involved in search funds

[00:52:50] – Any new investing categories that are on worth exploring

[00:54:13] – What is the state of recaps and buyouts as strategies today

[00:58:33] –  Are there particular industries that have economic characteristics Will screens for or ignores

[01:01:23] – Exploring Will’s most memorable day

[01:03:01] – The strength of an investment firm is often found in the quality of their investors

[01:04:07] – What is and what is Will’s process for evaluating a business

[01:07:55] – Kindest thing anyone has ever done for Will

How Skilled Capital Allocators Compound Capital

Introduction

Patrick
This week's guest is Will Thorndike, an author and investor whose book The Outsiders is an all-time favorite of mine. Our conversation is in two parts. First, we dive deep into the lessons of his eight year research project, studying CEOs who are master capital allocators. These CEOs include Henry Singleton, John Malone, Tom Murphy, Katharine Graham, and Warren Buffett. We discuss how these CEOs tended to be contrarians on topics like dividends, buybacks, acquisitions, and the use of debt. As we go through each of the tools in the capital allocators toolkit, you'll hear several useful lessons for running or evaluating a business.

In the second part, we cover Will's career in private equity. Will founded and continues to run Housatonic Partners, investing in buyouts, recaps and search funds. Will has been one of the most active search fund investors for decades. And given how much time I've spent in past episodes on the searchers or operators in the micro-cap permanent equity space, it was great to get the perspective of an experienced LP. As always, we also take time to survey the dangers and opportunities in today's private equity market. You can find show notes for this episode at investorfieldguide.com/thorndike. And now please enjoy my conversation with Will Thorndike.

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