This podcast is sponsored by:

The CFA Institute. The CFA Institute is 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 the CFA Institute.

Show Notes:

[00:02:03] – The current state of private equity investing

[00:04:09] – The three myths of private equity

[00:06:51] – Taking a deeper dive into the myth of growth through operational improvements

[00:11:25] – Valuations for private market investment and where they’re going

[00:14:03] – Private equity companies that have a higher chance of delivering results that exceed expectation

[00:16:39] – Other observations on the private equity space that would be interesting to investors considering the asset class

[00:19:33] – Importance of being very purposeful in picking your reference classes

[00:22:03] – How do the lessons Dan has learned in private equity translate to his investment strategies

[00:25:21] – How do you apply purely technical, systematic thinking into public market investing

[00:29:23] – Analyzing leveraged stocks and the value they could create

[00:30:06] – How Dan thinks about the direction of debt vs just the level

[00:33:11] – Predicting a firms ability to deleverage

[00:35:20] – How Dan’s company whittle down a company and are able to see value beyond their quantitative screens

[00:41:29] – How does Dan think about the global vs US opportunity set

[00:44:22] – What originally drew Dan to the Japan market

[00:47:03] – How do rising rates impact Dan’s strategy in investing in highly leveraged companies

[00:51:19] – Importance of having investor money locked up for a longer period of time both for the fund and investor

[00:55:03] – Porter’s five forces

[01:00:51] – How Dan thinks about competitive advantage

[01:04:41] – Exploring Dan’s personal process in pursuit of his ideal strategy

[01:07:11] – What other markets pique Dan’s interest

[01:09:39] – Why there is such a focus on small for Dan

[01:11:11] – Source or person that Dan has learned the most from that might surprise people

[01:12:54] – What was it like writing the book

[01:17:19] – If Dan was going to write another book today, what would it be about

[01:19:08] – Kindest thing anyone has done for Dan