Published on 28 Jun, 2020
Mounting clues suggest the coronavirus might trigger...
Despite the continued rise in new daily cases in Brazil, India and Russia and the southern parts of the US, rising...
Jun 2020
- Week 4
- Week 2
- Week 1
Short Read
Published on 28 Jun, 2020
Nestle Hired a Psychoanalyst to Convert a Nation to ...
Marketing professionals often look for a ‘hook’ to connect with the consumer, so as to build that trust about the...
Published on 28 Jun, 2020
If Inflation Is Coming, the Market Isn’t Ready
Modern Monetary Theory is referred to the approach used by governments and central banks globally since the Lehman...
Published on 22 Jun, 2020
The pandemic has shown that amazon is essential R...
This week’s The Economist carries this piece in its Leaders section with a caricature of Jeff Bezos that has a...
Published on 22 Jun, 2020
Robert Clive was a vicious asset-stripper. His statu...
As Indians attempt to build an “Atmanirbhar Bharat” (self-reliant India), here’s a piece about a man who...
Published on 22 Jun, 2020
Terry Smith’s Owners Manual – 14 Filters For Purchas...
Few people in fund management can claim to be as iconoclastic as Terry Smith. For many of us at Marcellus, Terry is an...
Long Read
Published on 28 Jun, 2020
How Elon Musk aims to revolutionise battery technology
The Paypal Mafia is used to refer to the founders of Paypal who after selling out to e-Bay have gone on to found...
Published on 28 Jun, 2020
Same As It Ever Was
Back in mid-March when we were asking investors to be rational in their response to Covid, we cited a Morgan Housel...
Published on 28 Jun, 2020
The Dharavi unlock: How daily new cases down to sing...
One of the many tragic aspects of the hysteria around Covid back in March 2020 was the enthusiasm with which...
Published on 22 Jun, 2020
How Exactly Do You Catch Covid-19? There Is a Growin...
Two weeks ago, the World Health Organisation issued a statement saying asymptomatic carriers are rare transmitters of...
Published on 22 Jun, 2020
Marc Andreessen on time management
Marc Andreessen has been an influential thinker and VC for twice as long as Peter Thiel. In this interview with Sriram...
Published on 22 Jun, 2020
The Gospel According to Peter Thiel
Love him or hate him, you cannot deny that Peter Thiel has been for some time now one of the most prescient thinkers in...
Short Read
Published on 14 Jun, 2020
Playing the Market Has a Whole New Meaning
Every now and then we run into a prospect who at the end of the meeting would ask for a stock tip as a parting gift of...
Published on 14 Jun, 2020
How to Feed Crowds in a Protest or Pandemic? The Sik...
Amidst the pandemic and riots of 2020 when nothing seems to be going particularly right, the Sikh community in the US...
Published on 14 Jun, 2020
The ‘Don’t Worry, Make Money’ Stra...
At Marcellus, we embrace the risk minimisation approach to investing which reflects our team’s highly sceptical view...
Long Read
Published on 14 Jun, 2020
The Looming Bank Collapse
One key difference between the current Covid crisis and the 2008 Lehman crisis, often cited by experts, is the fact...
Published on 14 Jun, 2020
On Days of Disorder [Or why do Riots Happen?]
Over the past decade a long held tragic Indian custom, the communal riot, has made a comeback. In parallel, we have now...
Published on 14 Jun, 2020
“The Decade of Design”: How the last 10 years ...
One of the most interesting aspects of professional life is that whatever skill is currently the rage – the skill...
Short Read
Published on 07 Jun, 2020
Zoom fatigue is real — here’s why video calls are so...
Despite the lockdown, most people we speak to claim to have busier than normal schedules, thanks to Zoom or the ease...
Published on 07 Jun, 2020
Remote Work Could Spark Housing Boom in Suburbs, Sma...
A much needed economic boost could come from the unlikeliest of sources – a housing boom. As both employees and...
Published on 07 Jun, 2020
People Who Have “Too Many Interests” Are More Likely...
This is the third consecutive week we have featured a piece form Michael Simmons, this time a slightly dated 2018 blog...
Long Read
Published on 07 Jun, 2020
Charley Ellis: Why Active Investing Is Still A Loser...
Few people can claim to understand the world of investment management as well as Charley Ellis does. Here’s why:...
Published on 07 Jun, 2020
Lavish Parties, Greedy Pols and Panic Rooms: How the...
If one thing scares us more than staring at the P/E multiples of low quality companies it is investing in companies...
Published on 07 Jun, 2020
‘It’s bullshit’: Inside the weird, get-rich-quick wo...
There is plenty of talk in India these days regarding how India can try to pull business away from China in the wake of...
May 2020
- Week 5
- Week 3
- Week 2
- Week 1
Short Read
Published on 31 May, 2020
The Last Dance’ and lessons in leadership
For most Indians, the first experience of watching the NBA live on TV was in the early nineties with the arrival of...
Published on 31 May, 2020
As WeWorks lie empty, coworking spaces face their da...
The WeWorks fiasco may have been a result of its’ founder Adam Neuman’s shenanigans fueled by Softbank’s...
Published on 31 May, 2020
Old style investing doesn’t work anymore, says...
The chorus of the end of value investing the way it was known and practised is getting louder and louder with more...
Long Read
Published on 31 May, 2020
While Everyone Is Distracted By Social Media, Succes...
One of the key reasons to publish ‘Three longs and three shorts’ is that in a world with information overload,...
Published on 31 May, 2020
The great depression paradox: Children survived, the...
Millions of parents around the world are fretting about the impact of the lockdown on their children. This article from...
Published on 31 May, 2020
Where do eels come from?
Every now and then we across an article which makes us realise just how little we understand of the world around us....
Short Read
Published on 17 May, 2020
Covid is teaching us that force of nature is bigger ...
Despite being a political appointment, the Reserve Bank of India has been blessed with some illustrious Governors at...
Published on 17 May, 2020
Mathematics of investing and life
Nalanda Capital is one of the most successful investment firms that have come up in the last couple of decades and one...
Published on 17 May, 2020
Is your strategy good enough to move you up on the p...
Earlier this week, we published a blog about the rising concentration of profits in India amongst a handful of...
Long Read
Published on 17 May, 2020
The Price of Discipline
The proliferation of the blog scene has thrown several interesting writers but few can combine original thought and...
Published on 17 May, 2020
How the face mask became the world’s most cove...
This long read from The Guardian encapsulates all that is right about global capitalism (eg. lightning fast responses...
Published on 17 May, 2020
The Man Who Thought Too Fast
The greatness of the New Yorker lies not just in writing well researched articles on well known people (eg. Yuval Noah...
Short Read
Published on 11 May, 2020
Shanghai Disneyland Sells Out Of Tickets For Post-Sh...
Just earlier this week, the FT’s Alphaville wrote about ‘Introducing, the Disney Park Indicator’ as ‘the...
Published on 11 May, 2020
The Landscape Has Changed For Traditional Value Inve...
Bruce Greenwald is a professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business and the author of the...
Published on 11 May, 2020
Extreme returns
Here’s one piece which highlights the merits of active investing and yet shows why it is so hard to generate alpha....
Long Read
Published on 11 May, 2020
Naseeruddin Shah: ‘Irrfan’s legacy is li...
For those who aspire to excellence, Naseeruddin Shah has long set the benchmark in Indian cinema. Over the past decade...
Published on 11 May, 2020
Cox and Kings Dossier – Parts 1 & 2: Audit unco...
Last week, we highlighted a piece in The Economist which highlighted that the ongoing economic crisis will bring to the...
Published on 11 May, 2020
Black swans, Black crows and Fund lies
In our conversations with investors, we find the emphasis is largely around returns and very little attention is paid...
Short Read
Published on 03 May, 2020
How to tap into creativity during lockdown
It is said that crises bring the best out of humanity. Whilst the world is looking forward to many innovations coming...
Published on 03 May, 2020
The World Is Still Producing More Oil Than It Needs....
As humanity’s love for automobiles grew, in turn pushing up the demand and therefore price of oil, supply side...
Published on 03 May, 2020
When You Have No Idea What Happens Next
Asking an analyst for this year’s earnings forecasts may sound ridiculous now given the complete uncertainty...
Long Read
Published on 03 May, 2020
Closing schools for covid-19 does lifelong harm and ...
The lives vs livelihood debate has become louder through the lockdown across the world with increasing calls to...
Published on 03 May, 2020
The staggering rise and incredible fall of a billion...
Whilst all of us have read about what happened in Café Coffee Day or Gitanjali or Amtek Auto or DHFL or IL&FS, it...
Published on 03 May, 2020
The economic crisis will expose a decade’s worth of ...
Every single day in Marcellus we tell our clients that at least 80% of Indian companies have suspect accounts. Further,...
Apr 2020
- Week 4
- Week 3
- Week 2
Short Read
Published on 26 Apr, 2020
How a pandemic affects mental health
Much has been written about the rise of mental illnesses caused by the fear of pandemic and exacerbated by the...
Published on 26 Apr, 2020
Disney+ has a big fan: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings
We have often found that CEOs who build great businesses tend to have utmost respect for their competition. In what...
Published on 26 Apr, 2020
It’s time to build
Marc Andreessen, perhaps ranks right up there with a Bill Gates or a Steve Jobs in terms of having an impact on...
Long Read
Published on 26 Apr, 2020
COVID-19: What’s wrong with the models?
With the number of daily new cases plateauing if not declining, some people are questioning all those models which...
Published on 26 Apr, 2020
Why this crisis is a turning point in history
In the wake of Covid, many people have written “it is the end of the world as we know it” essays. This piece by...
Published on 26 Apr, 2020
Keirin School: Inside the strict and secret world of...
For anyone pursuing excellence in life or at work, Japan, its people and its society are an endless source of...
Short Read
Published on 19 Apr, 2020
Pause, rewind, play: Words of wisdom from The Wall –...
At Marcellus, we are ardent fans of ‘The Wall’ – Rahul Dravid, not least because of the similarities between our...
Published on 19 Apr, 2020
Apple and Google want to turn your phone into a Covi...
It was just a matter of time. Given the efficacy of contact tracing in flattening the curve so far, to execute contact...
Published on 19 Apr, 2020
Lesson From Singapore: Why We May Need to Think Bigger
Most parts of the world, including the most severely affected United States are now reporting either a stagnation or a...
Long Read
Published on 19 Apr, 2020
Is Private Equity Having Its Minsky Moment?
In this fascinating long read, Matt Stoller tears into the Private Equity industry given the heavy indebtedness amidst...
Published on 19 Apr, 2020
What leader are you? It depends on your parents
Several of you might have wondered why some people are natural leaders – delegating tasks or ordering people about...
Published on 19 Apr, 2020
The Three Equations for a Happy Life, Even During a ...
Even by the high standards of the long essays published in The Atlantic, this piece is simply exceptional. The author...
Short Read
Published on 12 Apr, 2020
How Facebook and Google are helping the CDC forecast...
Contact tracing-testing-isolation has been a strategy several governments have adopted to control the Covid situation...
Published on 12 Apr, 2020
Robots Welcome to Take Over, as Pandemic Accelerates...
Industries which require employees to be physically present in the premises and hence can’t implement an effective...
Published on 12 Apr, 2020
If The Government Does Not Step In With Clear Incent...
The headline of this article could well be a common cry for help from several industries but the restaurant industry is...
Long Read
Published on 12 Apr, 2020
Hedge-Fund Geniuses Failed Again. When Will We Learn?
Brilliant piece by John Authers, the veteran markets commentator formerly with the FT. John brings back memories of...
Published on 12 Apr, 2020
The more you know a stock the worse your performance...
This blog from Klement renders yeoman service for HNWs by refuting the notion that HNWs should put all their eggs in...
Published on 12 Apr, 2020
Even Warren Buffett Can’t Nail the Bottom
50% of our calls with our clients during the lockdown hinges around the client probing us on whether the bottom has...
Mar 2020
- Week 5
- Week 4
- Week 3
- Week 2
- Week 1
Short Read
Published on 29 Mar, 2020
The “new” trend of 8D audio explained; what is it an...
At 3L-3S, we have featured the developments in audio tech, especially as it gets personalised with headphones and...
Published on 29 Mar, 2020
The Hardest Part of a Buy & Hold Strategy
Whilst Marcellus strategies have significantly outperformed during this fall, they too have fallen considerably in...
Published on 29 Mar, 2020
Denmark’s Idea Could Help the World Avoid a Gr...
By now we have seen most countries come up with stimulus programs to help prevent a catastrophic economic collapse...
Long Read
Published on 29 Mar, 2020
The Computer Pioneer Who Built Modern China
We often meet people in India who look at China in admiration and say wistfully that “if only we too had an...
Published on 29 Mar, 2020
How the Pandemic Will End
As the world grapples with the here and now of the challenges posed to human life and the economy alike, here is a...
Published on 29 Mar, 2020
Common Enemies
A popular view doing the rounds these days is that the battle against Coronavirus is nothing short of a full scale war...
Long Read
Published on 22 Mar, 2020
Why What Does Not Kill Us Makes Us Panic
When we were college in the 1990s, “risk” was something that only Risk Management Professionals did. They even had...
Published on 22 Mar, 2020
Too Busy? Make Time To ‘Do Nothing’
Many of us think that when in our leisure time we read stuff on the internet or on social media, we are not...
Published on 22 Mar, 2020
The Man Who Saw the Pandemic Coming
This is an interview in the Nautilus with Dennis Caroll, the man who has been at the forefront of researching potential...
Short Read
Published on 22 Mar, 2020
Stopping the rot: the fight to save fresh food
Away from the doom and gloom of Covid-19, some good news from the world of material sciences – a technology to reduce...
Published on 22 Mar, 2020
A Recession is a Public Health Necessity. Here’...
Whilst the world has now accepted the importance of social distancing as the main tool to contain the spread of the...
Published on 22 Mar, 2020
Yuval Noah Harari: the world after coronavirus
Earlier this week, Yuval Noah Harari, known for his fascinating book on history ‘Sapiens’, created a furore with...
Short Read
Published on 15 Mar, 2020
The Test offers plenty even for those who hate the A...
This piece is a review of a documentary that began streaming on Amazon Prime Video earlier this week – a documentary...
Published on 15 Mar, 2020
The One Guarantee in the Stock Market
Losses in the stock market are a feature, not a bug – and we have another grim yet timely reminder of that. When...
Published on 15 Mar, 2020
How canceled events and self-quarantines save lives,...
Elon Musk reckons the ‘Coronavirus panic is dumb’. Several others have criticised the panic reaction of bringing...
Long Read
Published on 15 Mar, 2020
The Coronavirus Is Creating a Huge, Stressful Experi...
We are living in such times that WTF is no longer the most popular three letter acronym featuring the letters W and F,...
Published on 15 Mar, 2020
The boys learning anti-sexism in India
In India we have almost become indifferent to reading about crimes against women. For decades now the daily news has...
Published on 15 Mar, 2020
We’re not prepared for the end of Moore’s Law
At Marcellus, we go wild with happiness when we find well written, insightful reading material. This piece fits that...
Short Read
Published on 08 Mar, 2020
The Tesla Experiment
When it comes to investors’ irrational exuberance in the markets, it does seem like it is no different from a...
Published on 08 Mar, 2020
The Gap Between Large and Small Companies Is Growing...
Popular belief amongst investors is that large companies tend to grow slower, especially given that the size tends to...
Published on 08 Mar, 2020
Scientists reveal the number of times you are consci...
We agonise over how smartphones and social media have reduced our attention span and made us distractible in general....
Long Read
Published on 08 Mar, 2020
The Coronavirus Is No 1918 Pandemic
As the number of countries reporting incidences of patients with Coronavirus symptoms rises, fear and panic has gripped...
Published on 08 Mar, 2020
Kids Don’t Need to Stay ‘On Track’ to Succeed
Whilst most of us at Marcellus have self-selected ourselves to get off the beaten track, many of us are as worried as...
Published on 08 Mar, 2020
Why so many of the world’s oldest companies are in J...
Given that we like investing in outstanding franchises which produce stellar free cashflows for decades on end, we are...
Short Read
Published on 01 Mar, 2020
Can religion fight climate change?
At a time when newsflow associated with religion has been rather acerbic, here is a refreshing piece about how religion...
Published on 01 Mar, 2020
Spies often use businesses as cover
The fascinating world of espionage has inspired many authors and film makers alike over the years and continue to...
Published on 01 Mar, 2020
Fund managers are not like sports stars (but donR...
Fund managers often attain star status after a period of strong outperformance. Indeed, it helps the asset management...
Long Read
Published on 01 Mar, 2020
Dollar Cost Averaging vs. Lump Sum: The Definitive G...
We often get asked by clients if we can take their lumpsum and deploy into x equal tranches over the next x...
Published on 01 Mar, 2020
Cathie Wood, the Best Investor You’ve Never Heard Of
Given our idiosyncratic style of investing, we have become accustomed to people giving us a bit of stick for how we...
Published on 01 Mar, 2020
How To Help Your Kids Find Their Calling In Life: 4 ...
This blog is based on a book called “The Path to Purpose: How Young People Find Their Calling in Life” by William...