The Gambler Who Beat Roulette
The casino business has to be one of the most attractive ones – getting to set the odds in its favour yet see many hopefuls come enrich them. Therefore, it is fascinating everytime you learn that someone has figured a way of beating those odds. This is a riveting true story about a Croatian gambler […]
America, China and a Crisis of Trust
The new Cold War has meant that the globalisation trend over the past five decades since China opened up is unwinding. And it is only apt we feature a piece on the current context by someone who wrote a book about globalisation and how it was changing the world two decades ago – Thomas Friedman’s […]
We must slow down the race to God-like AI
This is an incredibly interesting long essay in the FT on what is likely to be defining tech dilemma of our times – how much to let AI rip apart the world we live in. The writer, Ian Hogarth, is an investor in 50 AI start-ups, the co-author of the annual ‘State of AI’ report […]
The ‘Pick & Shovel’ Strategy
Marcellus’ Global Compounders Portfolio (GCP) invests in 25-30 deeply moated global companies listed in North America and Developed Europe. We employ a bottom-up company selection methodology that includes conducting primary research on moats, capital allocation, longer-term opportunities, and risks in order to comprehend the growth of cash flows over the long term. The nature of […]
A Letter A Day: Don Valentine (2000) – Real VCs help build great companies
A Letter A Day is a nice little blog posting timeless letters from great investors and business leaders alike. This one’s from the legendary Don Valentine, founder of the iconic venture capital firm, Sequoia Capital. But first, the author Kevin G’s introduction to why we must pay attention to Don: “Don founded Sequoia Capital in […]
The Business Genius in ‘Air’ Isn’t Michael Jordan
There are three reasons that excite us about the new Hollywood movie ‘Air’. First, it is the latest work of perhaps the greatest writer-actor duo of our generation – Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, best known for the now classic hit ‘Goodwill Hunting’. Second, it is about Michael Jordan, the basketball legend and how he […]
How Supreme Court struck down a ‘sealed cover’ ban on a Malayalam news channel
Those of us who pretend to be in the know are, thankfully, reminded every week of how little we know. It took a landmark judgement last week from the Supreme Court to highlight one of the strangest practices in India’s courts – the ‘sealed cover’ i.e. a bunch of documents that during a court case […]
ChatGPT is about to revolutionize the economy. We need to decide what that looks like
There’s a joke going around: “Person A to Person B: Artificial Intelligence can’t take your job if your job never required any intelligence to begin with. Person B: I didn’t get that Person A: You’re safe” Irrespective of whether we like the brand of humour or not, it does seem contrary to popular perception that […]
What I learnt from three banking crises
The FT’s star columnist, Gillian Tett, is in fine form in this long essay in which she describes her learning from the three big banking crises she has seen in her career: Japan 1997-98, Lehman-GFC 2007-08 and the latest crisis in 2023 (SVB, First Republic, Credit Suisse, etc) where people sitting in the comfort of […]
Twenty Years of the Human Genome: Growing Older and Wiser
20 years ago the Human Genome Project was declared complete and the global media trumpeted the beginning of a new era of scientific discovery. In this blog Dr Peter Attia describes, both, why much of optimism about the HGP was misplaced and yet how the HGP is genuinely opening up pathways to new medical discoveries. […]
Real Luxury Goods Don’t Have Brand NamesReal Luxury Goods Don’t Have Brand Names
In our Global Compounders Portfolio, we own Hermes, a 180yr old French luxury brand known for its Birkin bags, a symbol of wealth and exclusivity due to its high price (starts at $10k going all the way upto $400k) and long waiting lists. Demand for luxury goods is not just steady but growing, especially amongst […]
Highlights from Charlie Munger’s conversation with Todds Combs (2022 Singleton Prize for CEO Excellence)
Charlie Munger is Warren Buffett’s long time investing partner and is known to possess an incredible mind. He will turn 100 on 1st Jan 2024, yet can shower nuggets of wisdom on investing, business and life in general as eloquently as ever. This is from a fireside chat a year ago with Todd Combs, someone who […]
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