logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2021
1h 17m

The Art of Fund Management with Chase Sh...

Columbia Business School
About this episode

Since our first podcast in the spring of 2019, we’ve built a wonderful audience around the world, and now have a terrific collection of interviews with remarkable investors.

 

I have loved the opportunity to host these interviews myself but from the very beginning, I felt that you would benefit from having another voice to challenge the guests and bring a different point of view to the podcast. That time has finally come.

 

As we start this new season, I couldn’t think of a better person to join me as co-host than Michael Mauboussin, Head of Consilient Research at Counterpoint Global. Michael is a colleague, a friend, and someone I admire enormously for his passion and ability to match academic research with the practical considerations of investing.

 

On our first episode together we’re delighted to welcome Chase Sheridan and Will Pan of one of the great names in value investing, Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb. 

 

Chase Sheridan joined Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb in June 2006 upon his graduation from Columbia Business School. Prior to attending Columbia, Chase was a senior vice president at Citadel Investment Group, a hedge fund based in Chicago and a partner at Q.E.D. Capital, an arbitrage firm based in Chicago. After interning with the firm in 2009, Will Pan was set on a career path with Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb. He joined the firm in 2010 after graduating from Harvard College. 

 

On this episode, Chase, Will, Michael, and I discuss Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb’s history and connection to Warren Buffett, why the Hyperion found was started, the team dynamic between Chase and Will as co-managers of the fund, their approach to idea sourcing and portfolio construction, and so much more!

 

Key Topics:

 

  • The history of Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb (RCG) (3:40)
  • Chase’s unusual path to RCG (6:37)
  • How Chase became interested in value investing (8:36)
  • Will’s journey to RCG (10:18)
  • The core of the RCG investment approach (13:52)
  • Hyperion’s maniacal focus on the intrinsic earnings power of a business (15:59)
  • The relationship between RCG and Hyperion (17:26)
  • The main difference between Hyperion and Sequoia (18:15)
  • Why the RCG team considers themselves analysts first (19:45)
  • The founding of Hyperion (21:30)
  • Chase and Will’s co-manager dynamic (23:18)
  • Benefits of team management of a fund (25:30)
  • Analyzing your trade ledger and thesis memos (26:52)
  • RCG’s writing and research culture (28:25)
  • Hyperion’s ideal investment characteristics (30:31)
  • Idea sourcing at Hyperion (32:36)
  • How Hyperion tackles due diligence (35:04)
  • Focusing on intrinsic earnings power (38:56)
  • The art of portfolio construction (41:46)
  • Running scenarios on potential investments (44:05)
  • The problem with portfolio managers emulating their idols (45:11)
  • Understanding roll-ups (47:15)
  • Why the vertical software industry is well-suited to consolidation (49:27)
  • Where Constellation Software focuses on making their return (51:59)
  • Constellation Software’s framework for defensive acquisitions (54:15)
  • What you need to know about Constellation Software (56:49)
  • Mark Leonard’s unique approach to acquisitions (58:53)
  • An overview of Eurofins (1:01:17)
  • Why consolidation makes sense for the testing industry (1:03:13)
  • Gilles Martin’s playbook for acquisitions (1:04:15)
  • Why Hyperion became interested in Eurofins (1:07:42)
  • The advantages of Eurofins having a founder CEO (1:08:56)
  • The importance of leverage to Eurofins’ growth (1:10:24)
  • Will’s recommended reading (1:12:43)
  • What noise means for investors (1:14:14)
  • Chase’s recommended reading (1:15:15)
  • And much more!

 

Mentioned in this Episode:

 

 

Thanks for Listening!

 

Be sure to subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And feel free to drop us a line at valueinvesting@gsb.columbia.edu.

 

Follow the Heilbrunn Center on social media on Instagram, LinkedIn, and more!

Up next
Aug 29
Kristin Gilbertson - Risk, Resilience, and Returns
In this episode, hosts Tano Santos and Michael Mauboussin speak with Kristin Gilbertson, CIO of Access Industries and former CIO of the University of Pennsylvania Endowment. Kristin shares her early interest in economic development and her unique journey through the World Bank, S ... Show More
50m 23s
Aug 1
Seth Klarman - Contrarian Investing, Discipline, and Building Baupost
In this episode, host Michael Mauboussin sits down with Seth Klarman, CEO and portfolio manager of The Baupost Group. One of the most influential practitioners of value investing, Seth shares his formative stories — from arbitraging coins as a kid to launching Baupost in 1982 — a ... Show More
55m 28s
Jul 25
Kent Daniel — From Physics to Finance: Exploring Market Inefficiencies
In this episode of Value Investing with Legends, Tano Santos and Michael Mauboussin sit down with Kent Daniel, Professor of Finance at Columbia Business School, to discuss his journey from physics at Caltech to leading research in behavioral finance and quantitative investing. Ke ... Show More
1h 11m
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2
The mindset of a contrarian investor – Anthony Bolton
How can investors profit by going against the crowd? Nicolai Tangen sits down with legendary contrarian investor Anthony Bolton to discuss the art of thinking differently in financial markets. Drawing from his remarkable tenure at Fidelity, Bolton explains why popularity is risk ... Show More
38 m
Jun 2025
Revisiting: A Successful Transition to Investing with Steve Young
This episode originally aired on Feb 20, 2024. Steve Young is most well known for his NFL accolades, but since his retirement from the 49ers he’s built another type of empire as Partner, Chairman and Co-founder of private equity firm, HGGC. In this episode, SoFi's Head of Investm ... Show More
37m 57s
Sep 24
Temasek CEO: Investing for the Future, Navigating Geopolitics and Building Trust
What drives Temasek's long-term investment philosophy? In this episode of In Good Company, Nicolai Tangen sits down in Singapore with Dilhan Pillay, CEO of Temasek, to explore the philosophy and strategy behind one of the world's most influential investment companies. Dilhan shar ... Show More
43m 11s
Feb 2020
Pop Delusions: Dylan Grice on the golden age of duration, why economists are cargo cultists, and the anatomy of a forecast with Tobias Carlisle on The Acquirers Podcast
Dylan Grice is the founder of Calderwood Capital Research. Before Calderwood, Dylan was the Head of Liquid investments at Calibrium AG, a private investment office based in Zurich, Switzerland.    Prior to joining Calibrium AG in 2014, Dylan was a part of the consistently top-ran ... Show More
55m 23s
Sep 2020
Value: After Hours S02 E36 Masa Son's $4billy YOLO Trade, Slime Value Investors, Creativity in Value
Value: After Hours is a podcast about value investing, Fintwit, and all things finance and investment by investors Tobias Carlisle, Bill Brewster and Jake Taylor. See our latest episodes at https://acquirersmultiple.com/  Donate to the FinTwit Value vs Growth War here (it's for a ... Show More
59m 19s
Jan 2025
TIP692: Reading the Signals: How To Identify Winning Investments w/ Andrew Martin
In today's episode, Kyle Grieve chats with Andrew Martin about how he utilized his PhD in investing, the typical traits Andrew looks for in great investments, valuable physics-related mental models to improve your thinking processes, why Andrew is attracted to smallcap stocks, ho ... Show More
1h 12m
Jun 2025
Jay Hoag - Keys to Successful Growth Investing - [Invest Like the Best, EP.429]
My guest today is Jay Hoag. Jay is the co-founder of Technology Crossover Ventures, known as TCV, which pioneered the growth investing category and has backed legendary companies like Netflix, Spotify, and Expedia over three decades. Jay explains how macro factors like regulation ... Show More
44m 59s
Sep 2024
David Breazzano - High Yields and Low Risk at Polen Capital (EP.405)
Dave Breazzano is the head of the Credit Team at Polen Capital, where he oversees $8 billion of the firm’s $43 billion in assets. Dave is one of the OGs in high yield, having started in the early 1980s and invested continuously through more than forty years since.   Our conversat ... Show More
53m 35s
Sep 2024
Value After Hours S06 E33 Big Short's Vincent Daniel and Porter Collins on Gold, Oil, and Housing
Value: After Hours is a podcast about value investing, Fintwit, and all things finance and investment by investors Tobias Carlisle, and Jake Taylor. See our latest episodes at https://acquirersmultiple.com/podcast We are live every Tuesday at 1.30pm E / 10.30am P. About Jake Jake ... Show More
1h 2m
Aug 2024
TIP651: Value Investing in a Growth-Obsessed Market w/ Scott Barbee
On today’s episode, Kyle Grieve chats with Scott Barbee about how he managed to maintain a deep value-based strategy while it’s gone out of fashion, the three buckets of risk Scott uses to assess businesses, what a genetic contrarian is and why it can be a powerful advantage, why ... Show More
1h 6m