Amanda Agati stops by The Business Brew to discuss her investment outlook going forward. Amanda is Managing Director and Chief Investment Strategist for the PNC Financial Services Group. In this role, she oversees all investment strategy-related activities for the Institutional Asset Management, Wealth Management, and Hawthorn (ultra-high-net-worth) businesses. In addition, she leads the team that establishes overall strategic and tactical asset allocation guidance of client portfolios, manages the evolution of investment processes, provides thought leadership on key investment issues, and is the author of numerous publications. She also performs research and analytics that help drive the overall investment recommendations of the firm while also managing the firm’s asset allocation models. Amanda is a self described optimist.

Her opinions are nuanced and thoughtful.

This conversation touches on a number of topics and is quite balanced.

J Mintzmyer, a renowned maritime shipping analyst who directs the ("VIE") research platform on Seeking Alpha, returns to The Business Brew to give an update on the state of the shipping industry (and the associated stocks). This episode is meant to be listened to in conjunction with Craig Fuller’s episode in order to provide the listener with a more robust understanding of what is happening in supply chains.

In this episode J discusses many shipping specific ideas. If you are interested in J’s analysis consider subscribing to his work at Value Investor’s Edge on Seeking Alpha.

Tim Laehy stops by The Business Brew to discuss his career as a CFO. Tim, who served as Coinbase's first interim CFO (from 2017 to 2018), is often hired to come in and professionalize emerging companies' finance departments; setting them up to go public. Some examples of Tim's work include: organizing and developing robust accounting controls & capabilities, building & growing an international tax function, establishing global treasury functions, and developing budgeting and reporting capabilities.

Craig Fuller stops by The Business Brew to discuss the freight recession. Craig made news when his organization, FreightWaves, wrote an article forecasting a freight recession. Craig's initial call discussed the trucking sector, but China's lockdowns may create a freight recession throughout the freight industry.

FreightWaves provides supply chain organizations with fundamental data and context that help benchmark, analyze, monitor and forecast activity, pricing and risks in the global freight market. Information and tools that FreightWaves offers the global logistics industry increase efficiency and profitability by driving more accurate pricing, higher utilization of assets and lower emissions.

FreightWaves’ flagship SaaS product, SONAR, offers billions of data points on the global logistics industry, updated daily. The platform is used throughout the industry, by capacity providers and organizations that contract with capacity providers, to make more informed and efficient decisions about how to route, manage and forecast their supply chains.

The company also offers information and informed context through the logistics industry’s largest media platform. The advertising-supported media business has a team of over 50 full-time journalists and analysts that deliver information through an online website, streaming TV product, and set of podcasts. FreightWaves media properties have more than one million unique visitors per month, in excess of 30,000 viewers per day on its streaming TV offering, and nearly 100,000 podcast downloads per month. In addition to FreightWaves-branded media products, the company owns American Shipper, a media outlet which serves global maritime and ocean trade audiences, and Modern Shipper, a media brand which provides content for supply chain executives involved in the direct-to-consumer retail industry.

Erick Mokaya stops by The Business Brew to chat with Bill about what they have learned as investors. Erick has an inspiring story of dedication, drive, and learning. He describes himself as a Kenyan living in Sweden, who has a passion for financial markets. He is a regular contributor on Seeking Alpha and also the Lead Author the Transcript, a weekly capital markets newsletter that summarizes earnings calls. He invests in US and Nordic equities and, on a small scale, in small businesses in Kenya.

He is an analyst at Swedish fintech Klarna and also the Lead Author the Transcript, a weekly capital markets newsletter that summarizes key thoughts from earnings calls. He is also the founder of Mwango Capital which focuses on research for East African capital markets and privately invests in US and Nordic equities and, on a small scale, in startups in Kenya.

He was fun to speak with and we hope you enjoy the discussion. You can find Erick's personal blog at https://themokaya.com/, his newsletter at https://thetranscript.substack.com/ and follow him on twitter at @ekmokaya.

Josh Horowitz and Liz Gulliver stop by The Business Brew to discuss employer-employee relationships. Josh and Liz co-founded Kunik to help employers build sustainable, scalable cultures that work for everyone, everywhere they are working.

How and where we work has permanently changed. Kunik helps organizations build thriving cultures by fueling the workplace with community and conversation. Kunik Conversations are facilitated, expert-led discussions that deliver intentional moments of connection, learning, and growth inside a company. Whether it’s DEI, hybrid work, leadership, new managers, burnout, or another challenge, Kunik helps its clients, ranging from nonprofits to large multinationals, build better relationships with and among their employees.

Josh and Liz, met at Columbia Business School. Both came from, and returned to, careers in finance before starting Kunik. Josh spent 10+ years on the buyside (Perry Capital, Citi, & Mackenzie Cundill) and graduated from Columbia’s Value Investing Program. Liz worked in corporate finance and consulting. They built Kunik to help companies build the workplace culture they always wanted but could never find.

Mark S.F. Mahaney stops by The Business Brew to discuss tech investing and his book Nothing But Net. Mark is a senior managing director and head of the Internet Research Team at Evercore ISI. He has covered internet stocks for almost 25 years, and has been consistently recognized by Institutional Investor for his research, including 15 years as a “top 3” ranked analyst and five years as a No. 1-ranked analyst.

Previously, Mr. Mahaney worked on both the sell-side and the buy-side for American Technology Research, Morgan Stanley, Citibank and Royal Bank of Canada, among others. He began his career in management consulting with Deloitte & Touche and with the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Senate, and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Mr. Mahaney received his B.A. in political science and history from Amherst College, his M.A. from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and his MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He is also the former lead bassist for Monkey Funk.

Dan Katz and Stephen Miran Ph.D. stop by The Business Brew to discuss JSG Investing. JSG investing is investing that focuses on Jobs, Security, and Growth. Their firm, Amberwave partners (see ) helps investors align their portfolios and values, putting their savings to work for the good of American communities.

Dan and Stephen have very interesting bios. They read as follows:

Steve Miran is a co-founder and lead portfolio manager at Amberwave. Steve has ten years of successful investing experience including as a hedge fund portfolio manager and head of macro strategy, and before that as an analyst at Fidelity Investments. He has invested in major asset classes in both developed and emerging economies.

Before Amberwave, Steve was senior advisor for economic policy at the United States Department of the Treasury, which he entered in April 2020 to assist with fiscal support to the economy. He contributed to the implementation and evaluation of several CARES Act programs, in particular the Paycheck Protection Program, which provided over $800 billion of job-preserving investments in American small businesses and supported over 50 million workers.

Steve holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. He received a B.A. summa cum laude from Boston University, where he studied economics, philosophy and mathematics. His academic work has focused on fiscal policy, and his writing has been published in the American Economic Journal, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and RealClearMarkets.

Dan Katz is a co-founder and portfolio manager at Amberwave. Dan served as a senior advisor at the United States Department of the Treasury from September 2019 to January 2021, where he helped lead the Treasury’s efforts to rescue the U.S. aviation industry during the COVID-19 recession. Dan served as the Chairman of the National Security Loan Program Credit Committee and a member of the Airline Loan Program Credit Committee, which collectively oversaw more than $20 billion of emergency loan transactions. Dan also oversaw the implementation of the Payroll Support Program, which supported hundreds of thousands of jobs in the aviation industry.

Earlier in Dan’s career, he worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. He also served as a policy advisor at Treasury, where he focused on financial threats to U.S. national security, and as an advisor to the commander of U.S. forces in Kabul, Afghanistan. Dan holds a B.A. from Yale College and a J.D. magna cum laude and Order of the Coif from New York University School of Law.

Dave Girouard stops by The Business Brew to discuss how Upstart is attempting to change the way credit is underwritten. Upstart uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to expand loan underwriting beyond FICO scores. The company’s goal is to make the underwriting process more efficient; creating a win-win for consumers and lenders.

Dave also talks about Upstart’s early struggles, what artificial intelligence actually does, how First Round Capital stepped up when Upstart really needed them to, and much more. We hope you enjoy the conversation.

Simeon Siegel, Managing Director and Senior Analyst at BMO Captial Markets, stops by The Business Brew to discuss his prescient call to sell Peloton, the oddity that brands peak at $3Bn in sales, the role of “Sell Side” analysts, and a whole lot of retail. His views on how COVID saved retail were particularly interesting. Simeon and Bill met at the dinner before Liberty Media’s Investor Day, hit it off, and this conversation is the follow up. We hope you enjoy! Simeon’s official bio reads as follows:

Simeon Siegel is a Managing Director and award-winning Senior Analyst specializing in Retail and E-commerce. Simeon began his career at Goldman Sachs and has since worked on the ranked Retail franchise at JPMorgan, Nomura | Instinet and BMO Capital Markets.

Dubbed "one of the more intellectual students of retail on Wall Street" by WWD, Simeon has been named a Top Retail Influencer by RETHINK Retail, a Top Stock Picker by StarMine, a Rising Star of Wall Street by Institutional Investor, a Rising Star of Equity Research by Business Insider, and a Top Earnings Estimator by Thomson Reuters and Refinitiv. He has worked on the Institutional Investor ranked All America Research Team for Specialty Retail and the Wall Street Journal's "Best on the Street" list of top analysts.

Simeon is in constant dialogue with investors and C-Level Management across the industry, analyzing and advising on the ever-evolving retail landscape. He has guest lectured at Harvard Business School and NYU Stern School of Business and has been featured in a Harvard Business School case study. Simeon is a regular guest on CNBC and frequently quoted across the media including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Women's Wear Daily, The Business of Fashion, Barron's, Bloomberg and others.

Simeon received a BA from Columbia University in Economics and Philosophy and is a CFA® charterholder. He serves on the Boards of the Hebrew Free Loan Society and the UJA Entertainment, Tech & Lifestyle Board and is Vice Chair of the UJA Retail, Fashion & Lifestyle Division. He previously served on the Board of Read Ahead.

Michael Green stops by The Business Brew to discuss his inelastic market theory, the outlook for inflation, why the market might be too excited about rate normalization, and much more. Michael is a frequent contributor to Real Vision and has done some phenomenal interviews, which can be found on YouTube. He has been a student of markets and market structure, for nearly 30 years. His proprietary research into the shift from actively managed portfolios and investment funds to systematic passive investment strategies has been presented to the Federal Reserve, the BIS, the IMF and numerous other industry groups and associations. Michael joined Simplify in April 2021 after serving as Chief Strategist and Portfolio Manager for Logica Capital Advisers, LLC. Prior to Logica, Michael managed macro strategies at Thiel Macro, LLC, an investment firm that manages the personal capital of Peter Thiel.

Prior to Thiel, Michael founded Ice Farm Capital, a discretionary global macro hedge fund seeded by Soros Fund Management. From 2006-2014, Michael founded and managed the New York office of Canyon Capital Advisors, a $23B multi-strategy hedge fund based in Los Angeles, CA, where he established their global macro strategies, managing in excess of $5B of exposure across equity, credit, FX, commodity and derivative markets. In addition to his work as a market theorist and portfolio manager, Michael has been noted for his work as a public speaker and financial media participant.

He is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a CFA holder.

Chris Cerrone, a Partner at Akre Capital Management, stops by The Business Brew for a discussion about his investment philosophy, simplicity, the definition of quality, and much more. Chris’ paper, The Art of (Not) Selling, really made an impression on Bill. This discussion follows up on that paper, among other topics.

Prior to joining Akre Capital Management in 2012, Chris served as an equity research analyst for Goldman Sachs & Co. in New York from 2010 to 2012. In that position, he covered restaurant and retail companies. He began his investment management career in 2007 as a junior equity research analyst with Century Capital Management in Boston. Chris graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in economics from Tufts University.

Bill really enjoyed listening to Chris talk about how Mr. Akre would push Chris to find the essence of a business. That enables an analyst to then focus on THE most important question.

Andrew Freedman stops by The Business Brew for a discussion about the ever changing media landscape. In this discussion, Andrew articulates how he views valuation, what makes stocks good “long” and “short” candidates, and how his process has evolved over time. There’s a lot of company specific discussion here. We hope it is beneficial, educational, and entertaining.

Troy Lavinia, founder of Stream by Mosaic, stops by The Business Brew to discuss creating Stream, building teams, and strategic thinking. Troy is a really interesting thinker, approaches life with an abundance mentality, and is always looking to find the right partners to grow a business. Interesting tidbits about Troy include his time at Elliott Management and playing football fullback and tight end at University of Pennsylvania.

At one point in the conversation Bill asks Troy how he got comfortable delegating work. Troy responded by saying something to the effect of “You have to associate joy with creating a meaningful job for someone else.” That answer struck Bill as a very positive association for delegation.

We hope you enjoy this conversation. It is a peek into the financial services industry and an introduction to the person behind our sponsor.

Will Thomson stops by The Business Brew to discuss his approach to real asset investing. Will is the Founder and Managing Partner of Massif Capital, LLC. He has experience in private equity and credit/political risk insurance, in addition to having served as a strategic and economic adviser to NATO/ISAF in Afghanistan.

Before starting Massif Capital, Will worked in the New York office of Chaucer, a Lloyd’s of London insurance syndicate, serving as the co-portfolio manager for a $750 million portfolio of credit and political risk insurance policies. He is a Graduate of Trinity College and holds a Masters in Government from Harvard University.

Muji stops by The Business Brew to discuss modern internet infrastructure. Muji has extensive technical knowledge about internet infrastructure, network security, and high growth companies such as Snowflake. He shares his knowledge via a paid newsletter, found at hhhypergrowth.com, which Bill subscribes to and enjoys very much. Our discussion mostly focuses on how information travels over the internet to end up being consumed by everyone. This is a very interesting discussion and we hope you enjoy.

Denise Shull is Founder and CEO of The ReThink Group (https://therethinkgroup.net ). She developed the Shull method, which relies on the latest brain research on how humans perceive, judge and decide. Understanding this on a practical level routinely allows The ReThink Group to resolve the mysterious mental challenges of slumps, burnout, motivation and resilience. Denise’s distinctive approach produces results that are unmatched in the performance and risk-taking fields.

We start off jumping into the conversation. Denise learned from modern psychoanalysts. This conversation begins talking about anger, but it is more about managing emotions. Managing emotions is extremely important in life and investing. Yet, it is underdiscussed on many investment podcasts. Hence this interview.

Kristi Ross stops by The Business Brew to discuss her career, leading companies through M&A, and two notable exits exceeding $1.7Bn (the most recent of which was valued at $1Bn ). Kristi is the co-CEO of tastytrade, which launched in 2011. She also co-founded dough, a visual front-end trading technology platform that launched in 2014 and ultimately merged with and rebranded as tastytrade when the team launched their own online brokerage firm, tastyworks, in 2017.

Kristi is an award-winning entrepreneur who believes in empowering the do-it-yourself investor to engage more with their finances. She also uses her time to interview innovative entrepreneurs on her show, Bootstrapping in America. She also walks through the ins and outs of taxes for traders in Kristi’s Tax Bursts.

Kristi started her career in public accounting, specializing in financial services industry clientele including individual traders, proprietary firms, market makers, and advisory firms. After her run as a public accountant, Kristi acted as CFO of Automated Trading Desk Specialists, a stock specialist on the Chicago Stock Exchange. She then partnered up with Tom Sosnoff to serve as CFO of thinkorswim Group where she led numerous mergers, acquisitions and integration. thinkorswim sold to TD-Ameritrade for $750M in 2009.