logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2021
1h 23m

Michael Mauboussin Master Class — Moats,...

Ben Gilbert And David Rosenthal
About this episode

We sit down with the one & only Michael Mauboussin to dive deep into his incredible body of work: untangling skill and luck, measuring moats, persistence of returns in venture capital, decision making and — particularly timely — expectations investing and how to think about valuations in the current 2021 market environment. (!!) Michael's work is maybe our most frequent carve out on Acquired, so we're pumped to finally have a chance to interview the man himself. Big thank you to Patrick O'Shaughnessy and Brent Beshore for introducing us all at Capital Camp this year! 


Sponsors:

Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired
WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25
Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24


More Acquired!:

© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC


Links:

 ‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

Up next
Oct 1
Acquired Live at Radio City Music Hall (Presented by J.P. Morgan)
It’s finally here! Today we are releasing Acquired’s first “concert film” — the full video recording of our Radio City live show from this summer with Jamie Dimon, Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times CEO Meredith Kopit Levien, Barry Diller, and cameos from around the Acquired Cine ... Show More
1m 18s
Oct 27
Trader Joe’s
Trader Joe's breaks every rule of modern retail. They don't do e-commerce. They don't do delivery. No sales, coupons, or loyalty programs. They only stock 4,000 SKUs versus 50,000+ at normal supermarkets. Their parking lots are famously terrible and they're constantly out of your ... Show More
3h 28m
Oct 6
Google: The AI Company
Google faces the greatest innovator's dilemma in history. They invented the Transformer — the breakthrough technology powering every modern AI system from ChatGPT to Claude (and, of course, Gemini). They employed nearly all the top AI talent: Ilya Sutskever, Geoff Hinton, Demis H ... Show More
4h 6m
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2024
Gavin Baker - AI, Semiconductors, and the Robotic Frontier - [Invest Like the Best, EP.385]
My guest this week is Gavin Baker. Gavin is the managing partner and CIO of Atreides Management, and he has been on the show many times before. He is one of my favorite investors to talk to and this may be my favorite conversation with him. Gavin first started covering Nvidia as ... Show More
1h 31m
Jul 2024
Hemant Taneja - Engineering Global Resilience - [Invest Like the Best, EP.382]
My guest today is Hemant Taneja. Hemant is the CEO and Managing Director of General Catalyst, the global venture capital firm you’ll hear us refer to as GC. GC has set out to build resiliency across critical industries worldwide. The firm leverages technology to retool sectors su ... Show More
1h 3m
Jul 2024
Martin Casado - Entering Uncharted AI Territory - [Invest Like the Best, EP.381]
My guest today is Martin Casado. Martin is a partner at Andreessen Horowitz and first joined me on Invest Like the Best in 2022. So much has changed since then, and it was awesome to have Martin back to discuss all of the different implications of this AI revolution. Before joini ... Show More
1h 6m
Mar 2024
Anthony Pompliano: Investing, Operating and Distributing - [Making Markets, EP.20]
My guest this week is the Anthony Pompliano, better known as Pomp. Pomp is an investor, entrepreneur and one of the biggest media personalities in the world of crypto. In today's conversation, we talk about Pomp’s early career, his evolution as a capital allocator, and how he vie ... Show More
1 h
Jun 2024
Robert Greene - Optimizing Your Reality - [Invest Like the Best, EP.379]
My guest today is Robert Greene, author of many books but perhaps most famous for his books "48 Laws of Power" and "Mastery." He has spent his life studying why people behave like they do and why some go on to build great things. I love his idea of finding your life's purpose, wh ... Show More
1h 2m
Oct 2024
Kareem Zaki - Small Ideas Attract Competition - [Invest Like the Best, EP.392]
My guest today is Kareem Zaki. Kareem is a General Partner at Thrive Capital and has been at the firm for a decade. In an episode last year, Thrive's founder, Josh Kushner, told me he is the best healthcare investor in the world. Kareem has co-founded three healthcare businesses ... Show More
1h 26m
Feb 2025
Graham Duncan - Talent Whisperer - [Invest Like the Best, EP.409]
My guest today is Graham Duncan. This conversation will make you think about your life in new ways. This is a two-hour segment of a 4.5-hour interview I did with Graham last year. It stands alone as remarkable, but those who subscribe to Colossus Review will gain access to the fu ... Show More
2h 17m
Dec 2024
Jack Kokko - Building AlphaSense - [Invest Like the Best, EP.404]
My guest today is Jack Kokko. Jack is the CEO and Founder of AlphaSense, an AI-powered search engine for market intelligence. He shares how AlphaSense began by aggregating fragmented financial data sources and evolved with the advent of large language models to change the researc ... Show More
49m 12s
Jan 2020
Matt Clifford – Investing Pre-Company - [Invest Like the Best, EP.154]
My guest today is Matt Clifford. He’s the co-founder of Entrepreneur First, the world’s leading talent investor. They invest “pre-company” by helping the best people in cities around the world find a co-founder, develop an idea, and start a company. So far, they’ve helped 1000 pe ... Show More
1h 16m
Dec 2023
#190 Top Investment Stories of 2023: A Stock Club Recap
<p><br></p><p>Dive into 2023’s most insightful conversations on investing and personal finance with the "Stock Club" podcast's special year-end episode.&nbsp;</p><br><p>Relive the top highlights featuring industry experts like Michael Lucas, James Early, Derek Riley, and acclaime ... Show More
32m 56s