Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
00:00:01 · Patrick O'Shaughnessy
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00:01:54 · S1, Patrick O'Shaughnessy
[00:01:54] S1: Patrick O'Shaughnessy is the CEO of Positive Sum. All opinions expressed by Patrick and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of Positive Sum. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. Clients of positive sum may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast. To learn more, visit psum.vc. [00:02:22] S0: So where to begin what will hopefully be a really fun conversation? I guess because you and I are interested in so many of the same things, I'm just curious what's on your mind today. I think we're both feeling a little frenzied, and it's been going for a while. And it kinda feels like if anything, it might get more frenzied and more chaotic both for what you do, but also the world around what you do. So just in this moment, what does it feel like? What's on your mind?
00:02:22 · Patrick O'Shaughnessy, Sarah Guo
[00:02:22] S0: So where to begin what will hopefully be a really fun conversation? I guess because you and I are interested in so many of the same things, I'm just curious what's on your mind today. I think we're both feeling a little frenzied, and it's been going for a while. And it kinda feels like if anything, it might get more frenzied and more chaotic both for what you do, but also the world around what you do. So just in this moment, what does it feel like? What's on your mind? [00:02:49] S2: An obvious thing for anyone thinking about how to navigate this period as an investor is just how does it unfurl and how is it different from the past? What do I do if I can't back test? I was talking to a investor friend last night and the analogy he gave me was, I keep saying I wanna press the brakes as hard as I can but I'm not doing it, going 90 miles an hour. And I do think the question is, do you miss the opportunity on one side or do you make the mistake of every boom bust cycle in technology history? Especially if you like combine that with what does it mean when you're also four years into building a firm for the durability of the firm and the careers of the people? I think it's a complex question.
00:02:49 · Sarah Guo, Patrick O'Shaughnessy
[00:02:49] S2: An obvious thing for anyone thinking about how to navigate this period as an investor is just how does it unfurl and how is it different from the past? What do I do if I can't back test? I was talking to a investor friend last night and the analogy he gave me was, I keep saying I wanna press the brakes as hard as I can but I'm not doing it, going 90 miles an hour. And I do think the question is, do you miss the opportunity on one side or do you make the mistake of every boom bust cycle in technology history? Especially if you like combine that with what does it mean when you're also four years into building a firm for the durability of the firm and the careers of the people? I think it's a complex question. [00:03:37] S0: Do you think that we got it right in the profile that we wrote that you're sort of making a specific, I think we called it a wager or a bed, a positioning, whatever you wanna call it, that there is a really important fundamental thing happening between a couple of labs in AI and everybody else. And that we need to sort of like take up arms to make sure we don't end up in like a very monolithic outcome. Do you think about it that way?
00:04:03 · Sarah Guo, Patrick O'Shaughnessy
[00:04:03] S2: I would answer in a maybe different way, which is I believe in like the great man and great woman theories of history. If you have very high agency people in all of these places and they have the correct risk capital or support in the network or environment, yeah, you change outcomes. You look at very important questions of what happens to open source models and like US industrial policy. If you think about the opportunity for the ecosystem in the future, is there going to be a competitive Western open source model? It actually leads to, did anybody make one? Could they raise the money or were they willing to commit the capital and to gather the talent base, build all the infrastructure and fight for the frontier or not? I definitely think that individual people and entrepreneurs can affect the outcome. I don't necessarily think of it as a war. I am working closely with and co invest with and have many friends at the labs. I think it's fair to say the extreme point of view that some folks may had in and outside of those big labs of the owner of one, two, three frontier models consumes the economy. I do not want that future very clearly. And I don't think we are going to end up there. [00:05:20] S0: Do you actively want to be a great woman in this sense of the theory?
00:05:20 · Patrick O'Shaughnessy, Sarah Guo
[00:05:20] S0: Do you actively want to be a great woman in this sense of the theory? [00:05:25] S2: No. I don't mean that from like a personal humility perspective. It's just like it's not on my set of goals. I want to be the best investor in the things that I try to do. So it's not out of a lack of ambition or even confidence. It's... I think some people are driven by like, I want to be the person that made this happen. I thought I was gonna be like a software entrepreneur for the longest time. My decision that from an identity perspective, I was going to be an investor actually had a lot to do with the idea of I'm deeply curious. I like to understand things. I like to be right. I'm very motivated by working with extraordinary people. If I have a set of skills using those to make them more successful, it's like a pretty good fit for early stage investing. If I wanna work with the very best people and I want the companies to have impact, the firm can support a movement and support change we wanna see. But I don't think it has to be me. [00:06:21] S0: If that's the goal, what does it take, do you think, right now to be the best in a very competitive environment? Undeniably, you've done really well so far. I'm curious what it has taken to be that good and what you think it's going to take in the next year plus within Horizon to be that good.