Chai with Pabrai

In this talk, Mohnish discusses the three basic attributes an investor should possess to effectively beat the odds. 1. Patience 2. Decisiveness and 3.Being different from the crowd. Mohnish reviews the multiple mental models behind Berkshire's investment in Coca-Cola. Buffett's lessons from his See's Candies investment played a major role in his decision to invest in Coca-Cola. (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:03:36) - Traits of successful people (00:06:52) - How do you make investment? (00:09:52) - Buffett's See's Candies Investment (00:15:12) - Difference between See's candies and Coke (00:18:51) - Long runway of Coke (00:26:36) - Coca-Cola Model (00:34:22) - Mental Model on Branding (00:40:21) - Coke's Management (00:48:09) - Mental Model on How Human brains are screwed up (00:49:54) - What not to do (00:55:53) - Holy grail of investment (00:57:05) - What's a great business? (00:59:08) - What Mohnish does as value investor (01:04:07) - Biggest mistake as an investment (01:06:53) - Indexing investing (01:08:22) - Key to becoming wealthy (01:11:49) - Insurance company business (01:13:15) - Cloning (01:15:02) - Pabrai Fund Model (01:16:48) - TransTech (01:21:14) - Challenge as an investor (01:24:34) - Dakshana Foundation (01:27:35) - Portfolio Diversification (01:29:06) - Cash vs. Opportunities (01:34:17) - Businesses that Mohnish admire (01:39:35) - Doing what you love

Distinguished Speaker Series Applied Fundamental Analysis & Worldly Value investing Professor Arvind Navaratnam (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:01:13) - Bull! A history of boom and bust, 1982-2004 (00:01:32) - The Dow (1896-2020) (00:10:39) - NASDAQ (1971-2020) (00:13:23) - Nikkei (1970-2020) (00:14:30) - Kospi (1980-2020) (00:15:35) - "Old too soon, wise too late"- Charlie Munger (00:17:45) - NVR business (00:19:12) - Nick Sleep (00:22:50) - Extreme undervaluation to extreme overvaluation (00:23:42) - Great compounder or great carnival (00:25:54) - Investing failures (00:26:44) - Valueing a company (00:32:00) - Retails (00:40:42) - Where to start? (00:46:41) - Managing portfolio during pandemic (00:50:09) - Value investing is not dead (00:51:07) - Optionality in a business (00:55:08) - Long runway (00:57:30) - Identifying moats (01:00:48) - Opportunity cost (01:05:00) - Shameless Cloning (01:09:02) - Pre-investment checklist (01:11:48) - Investment in IPSCO and Turkey (01:15:57) - Kelly formula (01:19:41) - Quality of management team (01:22:29) - Advise for students

Mohnish Pabrai's session with EO Gurgaon on January 10, 2023 (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:04:15) - I'm a better investor because I'm a businessman. I'm a better businessman because I'm an investor (00:05:00) - Capitalism is creative destruction (00:08:40) - Earnings reinvestment framework (00:10:58) - The importance of Spawning (00:13:07) - Control is over-rated (00:16:50) - From entrepreneur to investor (00:33:30) - Patel Motel Dhandho (00:40:42) - Book: Roy Thomson of Fleet Street; Trilogy (00:41:33) - Reysas (00:50:18) - Investment Shortcuts; cloning (00:52:35) - IIFL Wealth Management; Kotak (00:54:01) - The S&P 500 is a great choice (00:57:54) - Rakesh Jhunjhunwala (00:59:35) - Poor Charlie's Almanack (01:07:39) - Mohnish's Owners Manual by Jack Skeen (JackSkeen.com)

University of Oxford Sponsored by the Oxford Alpha Fund October 19, 2021 (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:01:08) - Dhandho, Patels & Motels (00:08:25) - Capitalism is Brutal (Peter Theil) (00:10:42) - Business Monopolies (00:17:51) - Reysaş in Turkey (00:24:00) - Shorting (00:27:51) - Managing one's own psychology (00:32:40) - Inner and outer scorecards (00:35:14) - Meeting Warren Buffett (00:43:33) - Old too soon wise too late – Charlie Munger (00:49:56) - Cloning

Distinguished Speaker Series Applied Fundamental Analysis & Worldly Value Investing Professor Arvind Navaratnam (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:02:41) - Compounding is the 8th wonder of world (00:14:12) - Wilson's Coin Operated Company (00:22:02) - Warren's obsession about compounding (00:24:38) - Rule of 72 (00:32:18) - Mr. Money Mustache (00:34:28) - Rate of compounding (00:39:09) - Compound 26% (00:46:22) - Mindless Cloning (00:54:11) - Comparative advantage of a Hedge fund (01:00:55) - Portfolio Management (01:06:50) - Kelly formula (01:08:59) - Thou shall not forecast recession (01:16:23) - Best source of ideas (01:20:11) - Market trends and Passive investing (01:26:53) - Doing the best job as a manager (01:33:51) - Insurance business (01:34:51) - Entrepreneur's Advantage (01:37:44) - Investing in Commodity Businesses (01:42:33) - Technology and Investment (01:43:45) - Insights on Charlie Munger (01:48:47) - Difference in profit and non-profit world; Dakshana Foundation (01:52:47) - Advantage of being Part-time Investor

Doctors Investing Group Interviewer: Tom Dittrich February 16, 2022 (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:01:31) - From Entrepreneur to Investor (00:06:30) - Value Investing (00:09:05) - Learning to find true value of a business (00:12:32) - Diversified vs. Concentrated Portfolio (00:14:54) - Shameless Cloning (00:17:46) - Business with spawning DNA (00:25:23) - Effect of macro events on investing (00:39:51) - Investing in foreign markets (00:44:41) - Auction driven markets (00:50:45) - Free Lunch Portfolio (00:52:11) - Dakshana Foundation

Professor Jiang Guohua's Students "Compounding with the Spawners" (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:04:41) - Choices for an investor (00:09:58) - The Path to Multi-Baggers (00:13:35) - Spawners (00:30:40) - The $50 Billion Rule (00:33:57) - Pabrai Spawning rules (00:36:46) - Set it and forget it (00:42:58) - Conglomerates vs. Spawners in Emerging Markets (00:43:52) - Fake Spawners (01:06:27) - Core traits of Spawners (01:19:12) - CMGI (01:22:54) - When wealth is lost (01:25:24) - Costco; Seritage (01:29:18) - Entrepreneur's Advantage (01:33:07) - Leverage and Debt

Mohnish Pabrai's Presentation and Q&A with students at the Boston College on October 27, 2022 (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:02:31) - The Uber Cannibals Investing Framework (00:27:45) - Henry Singleton - The ultimate Uber Cannibal (00:37:10) - The magic of buybacks (00:44:03) - Investing in a high interest rate environment (00:47:12) - Rules for philanthropy vs. capitalism (01:02:30) - Figuring out intrinsic value (01:10:23) - Creative destruction in capitalism (01:18:24) - Mental models (01:22:41) - Active vs. Passive Investment Management (01:26:08) - Investing in global markets (01:44:22) - Advice for students

NUS MBA Finance Club, NUS Business School January 19, 2022 (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:02:43) - Captive Finance Company (00:13:38) - Funeral Business (00:22:49) - Investment in IPSCO (00:26:53) - High Uncertainty, Low risk; High returns (00:27:32) - Silicon Valley Bank (00:34:46) - Power of compounding (00:36:01) - Value investing is not dead (00:38:30) - Investing as treasure hunt (00:42:58) - Lessons from Warren Buffett (00:45:43) - Investment in Alibaba and China (00:48:28) - Chuck Akre; 3-legged stool

William & Mary College October 26, 2021 (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:02:16) - Learnings from Charlie Munger (00:02:50) - Avoiding Self-pity (00:07:12) - Investing 101 (00:08:31) - Buffett's investing punch card (00:15:07) - Circle of competence (00:16:06) - Recruiting (00:18:35) - Learning from mistakes (00:21:41) - Startup Tips (00:23:55) - Leverage (00:25:40) - Adventures with Tech Cominco (00:36:01) - DCF Models (00:39:45) - Investment 102 (00:42:18) - Stonetrust Insurance (00:47:09) - Dakshana Foundation (00:49:59) - Philanthropy, high risk and return

Mohnish Pabrai meets with members of the UCLA Student Investment Fund at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:01:41) - Starting of Pabrai Funds (00:12:43) - Change in Investment Philosophy over time (00:31:18) - Sell-side research (00:36:35) - Inner and Outer Map

Knowledge Speakers Series May 12, 2021 (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:04:03) - Value vs Growth Investing (00:29:23) - Investments in India (00:38:25) - Learnings from Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger (00:43:19) - Dakshana Foundation (00:48:18) - Impact of COVID on businesses (00:52:03) - Indian hotels business (00:56:28) - What's a great business? (00:58:17) - How to select Best Value Proposition? (01:07:58) - Unicorns in India (01:12:57) - Mohnish's schedule (01:17:31) - Death and Rebirth business (01:23:03) - India's growth and market

Distinguished Speaker Series Professor Arvind Navaratnam October 14, 2021 (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:02:04) - Competition is For Losers, Peter Thiel (00:08:25) - Rain Industries (00:12:39) - Monopolistic business models, Amazon and Google (00:17:14) - Redoing the Spaghetti code, AWS in business (00:19:09) - A Whale only gets harpooned only when it surfaces, Warren Buffett (00:20:00) - AWS, cloning by Microsoft and Google (00:24:15) - Monopolistic characteristics of giant Chinese tech companies (00:28:19) - Tencent (under)reporting style (00:30:24) - Naspers business model, Koos Bekker (00:40:58) - Better capital allocation by Amazon and Tencent (00:43:37) - Tencent business model (00:50:24) - The bazooka Model of Pony Ma (00:57:33) - How I became a value investor (01:02:22) - Chinese tech giants and political risk (01:03:16) - Dakshana Foundation's Education Model (01:09:01) - Evolution of my investing style (01:12:58) - Mohnish's investing framework on start-ups (01:17:31) - Ali Baba (01:23:18) - Competence and edge (01:24:54) - Change in Investment strategy due to Covid (01:37:50) - Application of NLP (Natural Language Processing) in investing (01:45:10) - Up and comers in the investment sector (01:47:40) - Quality of Management (01:50:29) - Book recommendations

Ramesh Damani (Chairman of Avenue Supermarts) and Mohnish Pabrai's Q&A session with Millennium Mams.' Millennium Mams' is a Kolkata-based non-profit organization dedicated to empowering women through financial literacy. (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:09:32) - Economic recovery post-Pandemic (00:15:30) - My Heroes in Life (00:23:28) - Learnings from Buffett and Munger (00:27:48) - Li Lu's Journey (00:35:48) - US-China Trade War (00:41:40) - Will India benefit from the US-China Trade War? (00:52:55) - Investment Opportunities post-COVID (00:59:52) - Gold as an Investment Asset (01:03:36) - Cryptocurrencies (01:13:52) - Book Recommendations (01:16:14) - Charity Lunch with Buffett

This event was sponsored by the LBS Investment Management Club and the LBS Indian Students Club (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:02:47) - Changes in our Economy post-COVID (00:08:21) - Entrepreneur's Advantage (00:15:11) - Advise to New Investors (00:19:37) - Inner Scorecard (00:24:09) - Evaluating Management (00:30:42) - Investment in Graftech (00:38:56) - Portfolio Construction (00:43:46) - Mumbai Real Estate (00:49:27) - Impact of Exchange Rate on Investments (00:52:51) - Learnings from Nick Sleep

University of Georgia Host: Charlie Warren Oberman November 18, 2021 (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:02:06) - Buffett: when he has his first stock tip, call me collect (00:03:47) - Relationship with Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger (00:12:41) - Circle of competence (00:15:16) - Sources for Investment Ideas (00:17:08) - Handling Underperformance (00:18:49) - Leverage in Businesses (00:23:05) - Micro vs. Macro (00:24:21) - Avoiding Confirmation Bias (00:25:51) - Identifying Moats (00:29:00) - Evaluating Management (00:30:16) - Investing as a Profession (00:32:15) - Entrepreneur's Advantage (00:33:49) - Zero Fee Structure (00:35:42) - Pre-investment checklist (00:39:12) - Lessons from Failures (00:44:14) - Calculating Intrinsic Value (00:48:03) - Shameless Cloning (00:49:42) - Long-term compounders

Mohnish Pabrai speaks at the HBS Investment Conference on Sunday, April 3, 2022. It's an hour-long fireside chat moderated by an HBS professor. The Investment Conference is one of the biggest conferences arranged by HBS students each year. It is attended by 400+ students across MBA programs who have a background or interest in the investment management industry. (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:04:12) - Ben Graham; Warren Buffett's teacher (00:10:10) - All intelligent investing is Value Investing (00:13:51) - Holding above intrinsic value (00:19:43) - Micro vs. Marco in Turkish economy (00:25:29) - Macro events affecting US economy (00:34:58) - Investment checklist (00:39:46) - Investing in Seritage (00:43:00) - Shameless Cloning (00:47:55) - New Fund Managers

Distinguished Speaker Series Applied Fundamental Analysis & Worldly Value investing Professor Arvind Navaratnam (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:02:13) - Thou shall not skim off the top (00:04:11) - Thou shall not have an investing team (00:05:20) - Thou shall accept that thou shall be wrong at least 1/3 of the time (00:07:06) - Thou shall look for hidden P/E of 1 stocks (00:13:13) - Thou shall never use Excel (00:21:21) - Thou shall always hope a rope to climb out of the deepest well (00:27:43) - Thou shall be singularly focused like Arjuna (00:31:32) - Thou shall never short (00:32:50) - Thou shall not be leveraged. Neither a lender nor a borrower be (00:36:28) - Thou shall be shameless cloner (00:37:12) - Where to look for investment ideas (00:40:51) - Temperament during financial crises (00:43:53) - Always have a rope on hand (00:49:07) - Investment in Google (00:52:12) - Judging Management Teams & Satyam Scam (00:55:28) - Sergio Marchionne (01:00:36) - Currency risk in international markets (01:07:52) - Investing in Distressed companies (01:09:33) - Competitive Moats that turn out to be an illusion (01:16:02) - Kelly formula (01:17:17) - Circle of Competence (01:19:30) - Shameless Cloning (01:20:04) - Zero Fee Structure (01:24:03) - Investing in Protected Moats (01:26:41) - When to sell an investment (01:30:39) - Personal trails that contribute to a manager's success

Few Bets. Big Bets. Infrequent Bets. In his talk at the University of California at Irvine's Paul Merage School of Business, Mohnish discusses five decisions by Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger over a 20-year period (1968 – 1988) that moved the needle for Berkshire. Mohnish also talks about some of the intense difficulties that Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger faced along the way. No pain, no gain! (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:02:16) - S & H Green Stamps (00:04:02) - Blue Chip Stamps (00:09:44) - Diversified Retailing (00:11:03) - See's Candy (00:11:56) - Buffalo News (00:14:30) - Wesco Financial and Freddie Mac (00:18:08) - Wheeler Munger Partnership (00:23:03) - Tenneco Stock (00:26:30) - Difference in Pabrai Funds and Dhandho (00:28:14) - Patience is like law of physics in investment (00:31:16) - Few Bets, Big Bets, Infrequent Bets (00:42:28) - Compounding is the 8th wonder of the world (00:43:33) - Investing is for those who love to watch paint dry (00:46:43) - Time spent on analysing a company's product and services (00:50:52) - Philanthropic efforts; Dakshana Foundation (00:55:00) - Principles of value investing on diversified businesses (00:58:36) - Portfolio Diversification (01:01:03) - Work life balance (01:04:07) - Mental Models (01:07:44) - Investment in Chinese market and Circle of competence (01:09:46) - High uncertainty and high risk (01:16:55) - Extreme patience with extreme decisiveness (01:18:25) - How to network to get investment ideas (01:21:55) - Leverage (01:29:16) - Auto insurance (01:38:05) - South Korea market

Mohnish Pabrai's Q&A Session with Students at Indiana Univ. Kelley School of Business –April 1, 2021 (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:04:31) - Investment checklist (00:08:18) - Circle of competence (00:11:08) - Shipping Industry (00:21:56) - Portfolio Management (00:23:35) - US Markets vs. Other markets (00:25:38) - Short selling (00:29:24) - Research process (00:30:42) - Holding a stock (00:33:10) - Cinches, Feet on the desk and awesome destinations (00:41:33) - Pre-investment checklist (00:43:19) - Kelly formula (00:45:04) - Scenario analysis (00:46:28) - Hurdle rate (00:47:48) - Philanthropic initiative; Dakshana Foundation (00:51:41) - When wealth is lost (00:54:14) - Best trait of an investor; Patience (00:56:12) - Lunch with Warren Buffett (00:58:43) - Starting of Pabrai Funds (01:01:49) - Investment Strategy (01:02:35) - Learning from mistakes (01:04:17) - Career Advice

Professor Anuroop Duggal's Value Investing Class Columbia Business School Columbia University (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:03:46) - Laws of investing (00:06:24) - Following Warren Buffett (00:07:39) - Finding long term compounders (00:09:05) - Early-stage businesses (00:13:54) - 10 bagger business ideas (00:17:30) - Copart: From Junk to Gold (00:28:04) - Uber Cannibals (00:33:13) - Investing is a game of probability (00:36:43) - Ollies' business model (00:40:28) - Relationship with other investors (00:47:38) - Marginal safety (00:51:42) - My 401k plan (00:54:35) - Businesses are fragile (00:57:08) - Dakshana Foundation

Business Analysis and Valuation Course Professor Andrew Sandoe, Harvard University April 7, 2020 (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:04:40) - Purchase of Stonetrust Insurance (00:8:30) - Insurance Business Model (00:11:05) - Sale of Stonetrust Insurance (00:22:47) - Valuing an Insurance company (00:25:12) - Being a harsh grader (00:30:40) - Circle of Competence (00:42:03) - Start early with investing (00:55:48) - Improving your Circle of Competence (01:02:58) - Learnings from investment mistakes (01:09:54) - Value Investment Categories (01:29:16) - Probability estimation for outcomes (01:34:28) - Philip Fisher's Scuttlebutt method (01:37:10) - Munger's advice on sharing Investment ideas (01:42:20) - Human response to Economy

The Wall Street Lab Podcast Interviewer: Andreas von Hirschhausen January 5, 2022 (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:01:07) - Dhandho meaning (00:02:22) - The story of Patels (00:04:50) - Mohnish's Journey as an Investor (00:09:55) - Difference between Great Compounder and Growth Stock (00:13:09) - Studying Businesses (00:22:25) - Learning from mistakes (00:28:35) - Chinese Market and Investment (00:32:02) - Venture Capital Business (00:37:21) - Value Investing (00:40:42) - Investor should be like watching paint dry (00:45:40) - Deepest Desire is your Destiny

Mohnish Pabrai's Speaker Event with Helvetian Investment Club at St. Gallen University on November 29, 2022 (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:01:30) - Satyam Computer Services (00:08:01) - Asymmetry mental model (00:16:29) - Thou shall not have an investing team (00:18:46) - Asymmetry mental model Part 2 (00:20:34) - Equities vs. other asset classes (00:23:30) - Asymmetry mental model Part 3 (00:32:40) - Power vs. Force (00:35:50) - Present education system (00:39:20) - Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's journey (00:41:22) - Jack Nicholson: "You can't handle the truth" (00:42:07) - Walton Family & their Walmart ownership (00:42:38) - Amazon (00:43:24) - Crisil (00:47:36) - Career advice in investing (00:51:31) - Don't try to learn too much from your mistakes

Mohnish Pabrai's Talk with UNC Kenan-Flagler School's Investment Management Club on Dec 5, 2022 (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:05:47) - Selecting an investing manager (00:09:03) - Rain Industries (00:12:01) - You need a rope to get out of deep wells (00:14:33) - Investing in Türkiye (00:18:33) - Active vs passive investing (00:24:18) - Reysas (00:26:49) - Let fundamentals instruct us, not stock price (00:29:46) - Pre-Investment checklist (00:31:26) - IBM (00:36:12) - Alternative investments (00:39:06) - Due diligence in emerging markets (00:42:16) - Approach to philanthropy (00:46:31) - Value vs. Growth investing

Mohnish delved into how to fight corruption in India; Why is India poor? Etc.

Sales/Marketing Reading Materials Referenced in Mohnish's Presentation 1. Marketing High Technology by William Davidow 2. Power vs. Force by David Hawkins 3. Strategic Selling by Miller/Heiman 4. Conceptual Selling by Miller/Heiman 5. Successful Large Account Management by Miller/Heiman 6. The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses by Amar Bhide 7. Inc. Magazine Subscription 9. In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters 8. Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy

May 1, 2019 at Irvine, California Professor Jiang Guohua's Students "Great Businesses vs. Great Investments" (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:04:20) - Cloning (00:07:42) - Great Businesses vs. Great Investments (00:09:07) - Mastercard vs. Sunteck Realty (00:22:55) - Motherson Sumi vs. Rain Industries (00:36:32) - Warren Buffett's Coke Investment (00:39:04) - Rain Industries (00:50:42) - Rain Industries (00:55:58) - Motherson Sumi

Distinguished Speaker Series Applied Fundamental Analysis & Worldly Value investing Professor Arvind Navaratnam (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:01:30) - GrafTech (00:13:00) - Quality compounders (00:25:10) - Heads I win, tails I don't lose much (00:31:42) - Passionate about investing (00:34:00) - Past mistakes (00:40:48) - Finding right balance (00:45:25) - Why should it be easy to get rich? (00:48:39) - Quality of management team (00:56:00) - Investing in Turkey (01:01:57) - Balancing price and business quality (01:04:34) - Expanding circle of competence (01:09:10) - Portfolio vs. new opportunities (01:14:15) - Book recommendation