Prompt Cast
Brad Gerstner of Altimeter Capital Talks Venture Capital and Crossover Investing
TLDR Brad Gerstner, founder of Altimeter Capital, shares his experiences in business school during the dot-com bubble, the challenges of launching his own firm during the financial crisis, and Altimeter's investment strategy focused on understanding human behavior and identifying investable themes. He also discusses the success of Altimeter's investments in companies like Snowflake and Statsig, and their commitment to delivering excellent returns and driving diversity in the industry.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
Brad Gerstner, founder of Altimeter Capital, joins the podcast to discuss the firm's pioneering approach to crossover investing and the changing landscape of venture capital.
06:53
Brad Gerstner's father's failed entrepreneurial venture and the risks he took inspire Brad to pursue a career in business rather than politics.
13:45
Brad Gerstner discusses his experiences with job interviews, working for an RV company, and his interest in investing and the internet before attending business school.
20:28
Brad Gerstner discusses his experiences in business school during the peak of the dot-com bubble, where classmates were more interested in starting companies or working for startups rather than traditional firms like McKinsey and Goldman.
27:30
Brad Gerstner discusses his experiences during the dot-com bubble and the challenges of being a high burn business with negative unit economics in a changing market.
33:56
Brad Gerstner discusses his decision to start his own firm and the challenges he faced launching it during the financial crisis of 2008.
40:54
Brad Gerstner discusses his decision to start his own firm and the challenges he faced launching it during the financial crisis of 2008, including the difficulty of raising funds due to the negative perception of co-mingled funds at the time.
47:59
Brad Gerstner discusses the challenges of raising funds and competing with established venture capital firms, but also highlights his confidence in his investment abilities and his belief in the future of cloud computing and the remaking of the database market.
55:25
Altimeter's investment strategy focuses on understanding the themes and human behavior driving events in order to make sense of complex fact patterns and identify investable themes, such as the rise of search and e-commerce in the early 2000s and the shift to mobile devices and software in the 2010s.
01:02:18
Altimeter's investment in Snowflake was not only a successful financial investment, but also a strong partnership with the company's founders, and Altimeter plans to continue holding their position in Snowflake for the long term.
01:09:03
Statsig, a startup that Altimeter is sponsoring, has experienced significant growth, with over 1.2 billion end users and 130 billion events processed per day, and has added important AI companies like Microsoft and Atlassian as customers, expanding from one core product to a full-fledged product understanding platform.
01:16:01
Altimeter has a founder's mentality and the scalability of capital, providing support to early-stage ventures and increasing their probability of success, while also offering a concentrated portfolio that can accrue value to companies and deliver superior returns.
01:22:19
Altimeter aims to demystify the transition to the public markets for CEOs and boards, offering insights into traditional IPOs, direct listings, and SPACs to increase the probability of success for private companies looking to go public.
01:28:47
Altimeter aims to deliver excellent returns for their partners and increase their NPS score with founders, focusing on building a valuable brand and product, and using their platform to drive diversity and tackle issues like the wealth divide through initiatives like Invest America.
01:35:29
The speaker proposes the idea of giving every child in the United States an "Invest America" account funded by the government, which would increase financial inclusion, promote savings, and make everyone feel like they are part of the system.
01:42:20
The speaker discusses the idea of giving every child in the United States an "Invest America" account funded by the government, which would increase financial inclusion and make everyone feel like they belong to the system.
Categories:
Technology
Business
