Evolveus

I tried to look up this testimony as well but no luck. From the excerpt in the book it seemed like it might have some interesting insights into Munger’s approach to initial biz evaluation.

I used "pass perfect" years ago. Their method really worked with my learning style. Topics were broken down in the chapters, then each chapter had sections. Then there were quizzes on all the topics, and you could not move forward until you had a passing grade on each section quiz. It basically forced me to thoroughly learn each section before I could advance to more material. Hold my feet to the fire in that regard was helpful to me. Best of luck whatever you choose! Evolveus THE Podcast Editors

River Road Asset Management flips back to 13D status: http://edgar.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/830122/000090901216000510/t307946.txt

Stanley Druckenmiller at Sohn 2016 transcript & deck The_End_Game_Charts.pdf The_Endgame_Sohn.pdf

+1 Looking forward to reading the 2015 annual if it surfaces.

Here is the link to the transcript from the recent conference call: http://www.fairholmefundsinc.com/Documents/Call2016.pdf

I'm not a chartist, and I don't know what that end of day flatness means, but I have that chart handy so I'll post it here to bring an image to Cardboard's comment.

Per SEC Form D's that have been filed, they have sold ~$90m worth of subscriptions when you tally the three offerings...not sure where the $40m is coming from. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1586094/000158609413000001/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml

I think Workday checks a lot of the boxes that Khrom mentions in his letter. Net cash position, current depressed profitability due to growing scale, incentivized board/founder, long term vision not worried about volatility, and disrupting the HR/human capital management industry. Thoughts? http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-31/workday-ceo-bhusri-says-tech-bubble-limited-to-private-companies

Minimum investment is $1m. Sounds a bit like IBKR to me, but not sure if that position is 'new' to them.

I agree - registration is not costly nor difficult. i work in wealth management and have my licenses (7, 65, 66), but I want to build my on track record that could be audited and legitimate using some outside money (not a PA). My main concern is a conflict of interest with my employer, aka getting fired, which is why i likely would accept no fees initially. I guess my question would be more of whether a structure like this (audited) would be considered more legitimate in the eyes of prospective future clients since it would not just be money in my personal account. I thought what Racemize did in writing quarterly letters, even though it was just him and his wife, shows an extra level of commitment. I've done the same for quite some time. I also have a dedicated LLC set up for this. Even though its not a ton of dough, I felt like putting together the LLC and writing quarterly letters (basically to myself) shows a certain level of dedication above and beyond saying 'hey, look at my IRA.' I'm OK with spending a couple grand in the early years - I want to get the clock started on something that can be audited without getting myself fired.

If you just wanted to start an incubator fund to develop an auditable track record is something like the IB Friends and Family structure a viable low cost / low regualtion option? Here are some snippets from IB's website about the Friedsn and Family Structure: Manage 15 or fewer* multiple accounts of varying types under a single login, including: Individual, Joint, Trust, IRA, UGMA/UTMA, Corporation, Partnership, Limited Liability Corporation, and Unincorporated Legal Structures * Only Advisors who are exempt from registration are eligible to open a Friends & Family account. Generally, most jurisdictions require that an advisor have 15 or fewer clients in order to qualify for exemption from registration. However, registration requirements can vary among jurisdictions. For example, advisors residing in the U.S. may be required to register under either State or Federal law if they meet certain criteria (e.g., total assets under management, number of clients, whether they receive compensation, etc.). It looks like they are saying that if you have less than 15 'clients' and are under a certain AUM then you may not have to register as an advisor. It also seems like this may vary by state. As far as just getting something off the ground to start the clock on a record that could be audited and not considered a PA, is something like this an option? In my case I would be doing it without collecting a fee in order to keep things simple from a regulatory standpoint and not cause any conflict of interest with my current employer. Thanks!

Here is Ackman's first letter to the Public shareholders of PSH Pershing-Square-Holdings-Ltd_-Q3Investor-Letter.pdf

Link to recent presentation from Denali at Columbia Busniess School that was out on the web in public space / Scribd. Please take down, or let me know so I can edit out if not intended for public use. http://www.scribd.com/doc/246928271/Denali-Investors-Columbia-Business-School-Presentation-2014-11-11-Final-Public

I've added several names to that list that I culled out of the Manual of Ideas book. Question: I exported my list from Internet Explorer as a .opml file. Does anyone have any experience import an .opml file type into these readers. I can just go and manually re-enter, but thought I'd ask. TIA!

Thanks for the feedback, Oddball!

Oddball - can you elaborate on the mechanics of your closing comment about "getting in on the ipo by buying a policy with them" (paraphrased)

I haven't been on SumZero for many months now, but I pop in on VIC every now and then (maybe once per quarter). I follow: zach721 -> home-runs in tech/telecom Lukai -> same as above andreas947 -> small-cap tech endur -> small-caps (that go up) I don't really do tech/telecom anymore, but those guys usually have interesting write-ups. SumZero, you might look at Ryan Morris and Ephraim Fields. It really depends on what you typically invest in, though. Just look for write-ups on companies you own today and see what else the writer has posted. On VIC when you go to apply, they have several write-ups as examples of what they are looking for. I looked up the VIC records of those authors and found them to be exceptional though most haven't psoted in years. molly747 roark304 kurran363 Kurran for example didn't post for 8 years but then came back with ESI in 2012. That postion is down 52% from the time of the 2012 writeup. Not suggesting anything about ESI (no position). Either way, sometimes I go back and read these successful posters - even if the posts are old - to get more of a sense of their notion of what makes a great business and great investing opportunity. Michael Burrry is Michael99, so its interesting to go back and read his old vic posts as well. Bill Ackman was on there at one time, but seems his username has been removed.

Here are the names in my RSS feed. I compiled this off the top of my head while at work, so I'm certain that there are great names that I am missing (the most obvious being BRK). If anyone has compelling suggestions of firms to add to the list, I'd be glad to hear them. FWIW - I think the Manual of Ideas Super Investor Issues are pretty thorough, as well as sites like dataroma and whale wisdom 402 CAPITAL LLC (0001595563) Arlington Value Capital, LLC (0001568820) Ashe Capital Partners, LP (0001588883) Baker Street Capital Management, LLC (0001488207) BAUPOST GROUP LLC/MA (0001061768) Becker Drapkin Management, L.P. (0001346543) Brave Warrior Advisors, LLC (0001553733) Castle Union LLC (0001593953) Dalal Street, LLC (0001549575) East Coast Asset Management, LLC. (0001579254) FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC (0001056831) HAYMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, L.P. (0001420192) Kerrisdale Advisers, LLC (0001569688) LAMPERT EDWARD S (0001183200) MARCATO CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LP (0001541996) Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. (0001336528) SQ Advisors, LLC (0001534380) Third Point LLC (0001040273) ValueAct Holdings, L.P. (0001418814) YACKTMAN ASSET MANAGEMENT LP (0000905567) YACKTMAN DONALD A (0001173739)

Have you looked into Interactive Broker's Family and Friends account? It's a basic but effective platform to manage SMA's (including different tax statuses) with some helpful trading procedures to manage allocations across the accounts evenly. I'm based in the US so not sure if its different for Canadian accounts, but I currently use to manage accounts for friends and family and am very pleased with it. Again, not familiar with Canadian laws, but as long as you fall under the de minimis exemption in your state for number of clients, you do not have to register as a RIA to open this account in the US. Is there a billing function in the IBRK friends and family?

The guy who manages $50M of outside money got there by being a great salesman and selling hard for a long time, regardless of his returns (unless he just knows a bunch of rich people). I agree - no doubt capital raise / selling is mission critical. I will say however that there seems to be some inflection point and I wouldn't be surprised if it was near the $40-50m mark. I say that bc there are several brokers in my office who "manage" over $100m and they don't even know who Bruce Berkowitz or Daniel Loeb is. But they've told me that after a certain point, their book generates it's own referrals. I'm not trying to say its easy - because it's not - I simply find it interesting that these guys do no marketing whatsoever and still get referrals and AUM growth.

Are you looking for company-specific feeds, all new SEC filings or both? Both. Typically I track rss of investment managers that I like. On occasion there are companies that I'll follow thru SEC bc I may see a non-SEC filing shop I respect file on a specific company. Ie, Castle Union on Meru Networks.

I agree that raising money is key. I also think there should be some sort of story/history/track record so you have something to show potential investors. That may just be my personality though. I like to have something concrete to back up what I'm selling. And I'm not a fan of sales. This came about bc I'm currently a broker. And really that job is all about raising money and sales. It's mediocre products and constant activity and multitudes of unnecessary dilution and closet indexing. It's basically everything opposite of what I've learned from Buffett type investment philosophies over the last decade. For me I think that having the LP/LLC framework, audited numbers and shareholder letters shows a level of seriousness and commitment beyond saying "hey check out out the returns in my PA." That gives me a more solid leaping off point for approaching potential investors. Like the fellow who has $30B and trails the market - clearly he is a great salesman and asset gatherer. I'd much prefer to be the more modest fellow with $50m kicking the market's behind. Also my current job will support me and I'd hope to transition into independence over a couple years. It's a definitive goal, but it doesn't have to happen tomorrow. And thanks for the responses so far!

There was a great discussion on VIC a while back about what it would take to start your own fund from admin, to compliance, to AUM, to having results audited. I thought that one of the most practical suggestions that I found there was set up a Delaware LP, then an LLC to to be the manager of the LP. Use the LP to open an account at say IBKR, then start tracking performance and eventually have it audited. Also someone mentioned write quarterly letters as if they were actually going out to shareholders (whether you have any or not), ie. take it seriously. To me that sounded like a good logical first step before getting into the minuate of backoffice support/compliance which it seems can be outsourced. Then there is also the small issue of sucessful investing! I'm waiting on my EIN for the LP and then I'll get started tracking. To what extent do you think this is good / bad/ waste of time etc.? Also, there won't be much money to start with. How important is the AUM to credibility at the onset? Thanks.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have feedly on my iphone and I have gotten used to it. I guess I'll try it on the Mac at home as well.