Coburn Ventures Podcast

Last week, Pip told the story of his stock disaster with AT &T. Today we go back again in tech history to a newly minted tech analyst in 1995 named Pip Coburn and his experience with Digital Equipment Corp. Pip will say that the highlight of this episode is that he started to become more mentorable after this experience. Remember, he was very, very new and this was one of his first tech compan...

We're back with another installment of "Stock Disasters!", our series in which we take learning from our mistakes at its word in the hopes that you all benefit and avoid these missteps in the future. Let's jump in.

What does it mean to be productive or efficient? And how does our conception of these ideas sneak into how effectively we solve problems and ask the right questions at the right times to advance work on an investment thesis? Today we bring Irwin Kula into our conversation on anti-efficiency. Let's jump in.

Today we're introducing a new insight that will flush out with a few guests over the next few weeks. To warm us up, I'm simply going to introduce it in the form of a question: If given the knowledge of what efficiency means and how it plays out in idea generation and the work of investors and leaders, would we ever strive to be anti-efficient? To be "anti" one of the attributes that we believe is...

Today we're talking about collaboration -- one of those at times tricky concepts that I think we all want to do well, yet if asked, probably could not define what it is, why we want to do it, and how we believe it's best to go about it. It's one of the most misunderstood words that we face in conversations with investors, but it's also one of the most underestimated tools. So, it c...

When it comes to goal setting, it's easy to create a structure or plan ... that is unfortunately going to fall by the wayside. Today, we map over Dr. Morris Pickens framework specifically for investors aiming to significantly increase the chances that the goals we're all working toward-- these extremely valid important goals that make a difference to our clients-- get to fruition. Let'...

When it comes to navigating rogue waves, it sure does help to have some grounding in macro. We are fortunate today that Mike Cahill agreed to come on and talk about the top four macro topics that he has been circling as we begin 2025. Let's jump in.

Last week, we discussed the benefit of acknowledging whether we're in a kind learning environment or a wicked learning environment. For both parenting and investing, today we bring in our guest, behavioral scientist Matt Walleart, to further flesh out application of this model. Let's jump in.

Today's conversation is another attempt to further increase the awareness around what we do as investors and, more importantly, what we can do to continually refine our craft. So today we introduce a model given to us by a friend.... and don't be surprised, we'll apply it to both investing and relationships and parenting. Let's jump in.

We love to say that as leaders and investors we look to identify massive innovations, and then invest accordingly... but where does that type of advancement come from? What can we do to identify it better or earlier on? One very key source? It comes from entrepreneurs and leaders who solve a paradox . Today we will discuss the mandorla, a visual framework for this exact situation of solving a para...

Pull out a notepad and pen, this is an action-oriented conversation just in time for year end. Please enjoy our conversation with Dr. Morris Pickens on his framework for setting goals and achieving results.

Today we're pulling up a conversation we had on engineering uncommon inputs via questions and questions for management. This conversation is all about designing and actively engineering uncommon inputs through question asking, breaking out of what can be a rote, habituated, normalized, but professional going through the motions. Instead, let's focus in on generating uncommon understanding that is...

Hi everyone and welcome back. Today we're going below the surface on our topic of clean time to fill in why we think this particular methodology has risen to the top as a resonant and deeply effective tool right now . We call it noise cancellation . Let's jump in.

The third annual celebration of gratitude, friends, and thanksgiving. Enjoy!

Today we are working on the theme of identifying change, and to do that we're returning to the subject of complex systems. It turns out, understanding the system we are in is pretty crucial to whether or not our actions will have any significance at all. In addition, a misunderstanding of the complex system, whether regulatory dynamics, or power structures, can throw off our assumptions on the pac...

One concept we espouse here at Coburn Ventures is that our processes are the controllable actions that help us yield better and better results. Importantly, if we as investors want uncommon results, then we sometimes have to work backwards. We do well to start at the beginning and take a look at whether or not we have uncommon investment processes or an uncommon investment philosophy at all! Today...

In the last few decades, we've experienced multiple meaningful technological shifts: the internet, cloud computing, mobility, AI. Every time we're faced with one of these new and vast shifts, I find it useful to come back to one of our core 100-year changes, data. So today we're discussing data-driven cultures to help us navigate how management teams are positioned when it comes to AI or any other...

Today, we have a fascinating capstone conversation in these series on investment decision making biases. In the last few weeks we have worked to provide different lenses through which we can "escape" decision making prisons, so today we will shine a light on something equally powerful at play: our emotions. Not just the simple upside/downside happy/sad spectrum we're all familiar with in business,...

Today is our third podcast on the topic of decision-making prisons. For today, we are bringing up part of a podcast we did in 2020 with Rudy Karsen. Now, in the other two conversations in the past few weeks, we covered some of the organizational or the team elements or considerations that lead to decision-making prisons. In today's conversation, you'll hear more about how this applies at the indiv...

Over the years many of our clients have transitioned from analyst to Portfolio Manager or consider working toward that goal. This entire podcast is dedicated to that transition: today we bring you a few of the "greatest hits" that come up that we hope might help you on that journey. Let's jump in.

Last week, we discussed Decision Making Prisons with Dr. Morris Pickens, and today, we continue the discussion with Greg Parsons. Greg has held many positions inside corporations as Creative Director, CMO and as a Design and Strategy consultant at Stone Yamashita Partners. This background has given him a view into many stages of the creative and strategic process inside corporations. Greg will dis...

One of the more under-the-surface questions we get from clients is: Can we help them understand why their decision-making processes do not exactly seem to be serving them and their team? They know they can do better but can't quite identify what's in the way. Today we have Dr. Morris Pickens to discuss what he calls decision making prisons, and how to get out of them. Let's jump in.

What's one way to become the world's greatest investor? Break investing down into its component parts, understand very specifically our roles and responsibilities, and then puruse the elements to great really, really good at. Today we bring you our working definition of the component parts of investing: the four jobs of stock picking. For the 200th (!) time, let's jump in!

Today, we are talking problem solving for investment teams by way of a conversation with our friend Matthias Hollwich, architect and founder at HWKN. We'll start with highlights from one of our most recommended books: Roger Martin's The Opposable Mind, and then Matthias will offer practical exercises that can put any of us on a more expanded path toward the problem-solving investors are lo...

Why are we talking about turnarounds today? We have been examining some periods in which money is made or lost very, very quickly and therefore we are sharpening our tools to more accurately, helpfully gauge where companies and then stocks may go. Turnarounds certainly fit this bill: they are typically very high degree of difficulty, the timing of the investment is important, and the hero's jo...