Turning $1M Into $1B+: A Masterclass From The Indian Warren Buffett

Shaan Puri sits down with Mohnish Pabrai for a rare interview about value investing.

Mohnish is sometimes called the "Indian Warren Buffett" for his track record of value investing.  In this podcast they talk about how founders can become great investors, how to avoid big mistakes, and lessons learned from Buffett & Munger.


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Show Notes:
(0:00) Intro
(1:41) Why entrepreneurs make the best investors
(4:40) How Warren Buffett’s pre-paid for his college education
(9:56) Becoming Ben Graham’s Protege
(13:57) What Buffett learned about branding from See’s Candies
(17:53) Buffett’s failed play to be a candy mogul
(20:54) Identifying offering gaps
(21:47) Getting an MBA at age 14 as the son of an entrepreneur
(26:12) The 3 tells of a future millionaire
(28:49) Mohnish builds his first product with maxed out credit cards at 24
(31:21) The 168 hour framework
(33:56) “Entrepreneurs do not take risks”
(36:10) How Richard Branson launches Virgin Atlantic with no money
(39:09) How 0.1 percent of the population owns 70 percent of all the motels in America
(43:45) The unfair advantage of being a low-cost producer
(44:49) How Mohnish turned his first million into $13M in 5 years
(48:18) Pabrai Funds grows to $600M in assets in less than 10 years
(49:42) What Mohnish knows about fundraising that we don’t
(55:46) Pivoting from tech investments in 1999 to value investments
(58:50) $2M lunch with Warren Buffett
(1:04:15) Be a harsh grader of people
(1:08:09) The Givers, The Takers, and The Matchers
(1:11:30) “Heads I win, tails I don’t lose much”
(1:16:41) Private markets v public auctions
(1:21:15) The #1 trait that makes a great investor
(1:22:50) What people of Reddit think of Mohnish Pabrai
(1:24:26) Starting capital, annual rate of return, length of runway
(1:25:04) The rule of 72
(1:26:03) “The most important rule in life is how long something takes to double”
(1:30:21) Circle the Wagons Philosophy
(1:32:14) Losing $3B in one unfortunate event
(1:37:34) Be fearful when the world is greedy; Be greedy when the world is fearful
(1:38:34) What a value investor thinks of bitcoin
(1:39:50) Nick Sleep bets
(1:52:49) The Best Of: Capital Allocators