Summary

In the course of this in-depth conversation, Larry McDonald – author of How to Listen When Markets Speak and CEO of Bear Traps Report – delves deep into the financial insights acquired from his global network, discussing the major economic shifts and their impact on financial markets, as captured in his latest book. His intention is to democratize financial information, moving away from traditional, bank-dominated imprints on markets. This democratization is partly driven by technological advancements that increase access to critical financial data. Our conversation broadens into the implications of recent economic upheavals such as the COVID-19 pandemic, hinting at persistent inflation and the need for strategic financial planning, going forward.

We further explore passive investing's role in current market dynamics, highlighting how long-term disinflationary trends have buoyed such investments, which now face risks from potential normalization of inflation rates. Larry is rightly concerned about heavy investments in financial assets like growth stocks and bonds, favored from 2010 to 2020, that might not perform well under high inflation. Our conversation then transitions into a review of macroeconomic trends, government debt, and the implications of current fiscal and monetary policies. Each topic uncovers deeper concerns about the sustainability of current financial strategies and the potential need for drastic changes in the face of evolving global economic conditions, such as shifts towards multipolarity and its impact on commodity markets.

Finally, we dig into some of Larry's go-to websites and resources for information and news. Enjoy!

Larry's Bio

Larry McDonald, a New York Times bestselling author and a seasoned CNBC contributor, excels as a Political Risk Expert. He founded The Bear Traps Report, an independent weekly Macro Research Platform that delves into global political and systemic risks, providing subscribers with actionable trading insights. Larry is renowned for his ability to intertwine humor with critical analyses on topics such as the Trump Administration, the U.S. Financial Crisis, European Sovereign Debt issues, and the economic challenges facing China.

In 2016, Larry took on a partnership role at ACG Analytics in Washington D.C., leveraging his expertise as one of the foremost political policy risk consultants and strategists. His professional journey includes significant tenure as Managing Director and Head of U.S. Macro Strategy at Société Générale from 2011 to 2016. Furthermore, he founded an investment research firm in 2010 that publishes The Bear Traps Report, focusing on political and systemic risks, complemented by actionable trading strategies. Larry is also a frequent presence on CNBC, where he discusses political and economic risks and opportunities.

Before his current endeavors, Larry McDonald made notable contributions to the finance world as Vice President at Lehman Brothers. There, he successfully led his team in capitalizing on the subprime mortgage crisis, securing over $2 billion in profits for the firm prior to its collapse. This experience formed the basis for his international bestseller, A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers, which has been translated into 12 languages and sold over 400,000 copies. Earlier, Larry co-founded Convertbond.com, an innovative resource for convertible securities, which was later acquired by Morgan Stanley in 1999. His insights are not only sought after in financial circles but have also featured in documentaries such as the Academy Award-winning "Inside Job" and National Geographic’s "The 2000’s." Larry continues to contribute regularly to Bloomberg TV and Radio, Forbes, and Fox Business. His keynote speeches, which now exceed 125 worldwide.

Barak Turovsky is Executive in Residence at Scale Venture Partners, a leading Enterprise venture capital firm. Barak spent 10 years at Google as Head of Product and User Experience for Languages AI and the Google Translate teams, focused on applying cutting edge Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies to deliver experiences across Google Search, Assistant, Cloud, Chrome, Ads and other products.

Prior to joining Google in 2011, Barak was Director of Product in Microsoft’s Mobile Advertising team, Head of Mobile Commerce at PayPal and Chief Technical Officer in an Israeli start up. Most recently, Barak served as Chief Product Officer – responsible for product management and engineering at Trax – a leading provider of Computer Vision AI solutions for the Retail and Commerce industries.

He lived for more than 10 years in Russia, Israel and the US and speaks three languages fluently. Barak earned a Bachelor’s of Law degree from Tel Aviv University and a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley.

Barak’s recent work on AI:

• A framework for evaluating Generative AI use cases.
• Barak's interview with GLG Experts Network about Generative AI
• Keynote at CES 2021 about latest and greatest in Languages AI
• Talk at CES 2020 about dealing with bias in AI models (super relevant for ChatGBT/Generative AI)
• Google AI work with Google Ads team to improve ads targeting (Semantic Targeting)
• The Great AI awakening story from New York Times (covering the first-ever productization of deep neural networks with Google Translate), is one of best written stories about ML/AI history and challenges
• Barak presentation to Indian Prime Minister Modi when he visited Google campus
• For some fun – Google Translate vs. La Bamba (Google Translate team playing with visual, AR-based translation feature)

Cool investment thesis resource:
Y Combinator Investment Thesis Map for AI (Note: once again, “Productivity” hardly a big theme)

My guest today is Lara Abrash, Chair and CEO of Deloitte. She is a true leader and I really enjoyed our time together. We discussed her personal journey and path, particularly an impressive trajectory in her career and how she has navigated it from a perspective of constantly evolving. Curiosity is a driver for being willing to evolve and an important tenet for any leader.

My guest today is Alan Patricof, founding father of venture capital and author of a new book entitled, "No Red Lights: Reflections on Life, 50 Years in Venture Capital, and Never Driving Alone." Alan and I dig into the book and we also cover a potpourri of topics that had me feeling inspired for many days after our conversation.

Amir Hemmat is Co-Founder and CEO of Welcome Technologies (Welcome), the “digital Ellis Island '' and future operating system for immigration. Welcome is a venture funded technology platform that is building innovative financial solutions for this cohort, including a digital wallet, to ensure access to previously elusive opportunities and to propel this consumer sector, and our society, forward. Welcome is currently focused on the Hispanic community, the largest immigrant group in the world, through its consumer platform SABEResPODER® (SEP). The platform reaches over 9 million immigrants a year across 50 US markets and connects these consumers to custom financial services. To date, Welcome has raised $50 million from TTV Capital, Owl Ventures and SoftBank’s Opportunity Fund, with participation from Crosscut Ventures, Mubadala Capital, Next Play Capital and Owl Capital.

Prior to Welcome Tech, Amir co-founded an educational platform also called SABEResPODER (SEP). SEP provided informational content to the Hispanic community and produced comprehensive and practical information for navigating life in the United States, including topics such as healthcare, financial services, education, technology, and governmental services. Through SEP, he conducted in-depth market research on the U.S. immigrant market and co-authored educational guides on financial literacy, with millions of copies distributed nationwide.

Donato J. Tramuto is the author of The Double Bottom Line, How Compassionate Leaders Captivate Hearts and Deliver Results.

Donato joins Bob to discuss his new book along with a superstar panel including Kurt Small, Senior Vice President & Chief Operating Officer for the Government Business Division at Anthem, Inc., Tom Riley, Chairman of the Board of Seniorlink, Laurie Cameron, Founder of PurposeBlue, and Phil Johnston, President & CEO of PWJ Associates.

My second guest of the new season is Ken Goldman, who currently serves as President of Hillspire, which is Eric and Wendy Schmidt’s family office. Eric, of course, being the former executive chairman of Google and its parent company, Alphabet. Ken is widely known in Silicon Valley and the broader business world, as well, having served as CFO of Yahoo, Fortinet, Siebel, and currently sits on a number of corporate, startup and non-profit boards.

Ken and I cover his high school days in Peabody, Mass. – where only 25% of his graduating class went to college, yet he managed his way to Cornell through grit and a competitive spirit – to his time at Cornell and Harvard Business School, and why he chose the technology industry as a career path at a time when it was an outlier. We also discuss why picking the right place to work when first starting out can make a huge difference (and the advice he gave his kids on this front).

Ken also provides his views on why Silicon Valley is still a meritocracy (hint: there’s a lot of money around for the right ideas) and industries where he feels entrepreneurs should consider creating new companies, such as the political arena. As a longtime observer of the political sector, I agree completely. Of note, there are nearly 100 “decacorns” roaming around – unicorns with over $10Bn in value – and this number is growing every quarter. As such, Ken discusses his own investment philosophy as an angel investor as well as the focus at Hillspire, ranging from environment to human rights to non-profits.

Finally, Ken and I dig into the notion of ethical businesses (and the importance of transparency with your boards), the non-profits that he’s involved in…what’s on his browser (fun fact: he’s a big weather buff)...and more.

PS: You’ll notice a trend with Ken and the conversation with my first guest of the season a few weeks ago, Mark Hawkins – both Ken and Mark have developed a widely respected personal and business ethos and have imbued this ethos in their teams, industry peers, and startups in which they invest. Dissecting this ethos is an overarching theme in both podcasts. Ken and Mark are leaders to whom other leaders look up. Lots of great learnings!

Ken’s Bio

Ken Goldman is the current president of Hillspire, a family office responsible for financial and administrative functions, along with real estate, aviation and maritime activities.

Goldman is the former chief financial officer of Yahoo. He joined Yahoo in 2012 and throughout his five-year tenure was responsible for Yahoo’s global finance functions, including financial planning and analysis, controllership, tax, treasury and investor relations.

Mark Hawkins is an award-winning executive who, for four decades, has led finance organizations at global software and technology companies including Salesforce, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard.

Raised in Michigan, Mark attended Michigan State where he studied operations management. His first job was at Hewlett-Packard where, at just 21, he was a buyer for the supply chain by day and getting his MBA in finance from University of Colorado Springs by night. Hewlett-Packard later sponsored him to attend the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Mark was the President and CFO of Salesforce until 2021 and is currently a board member at Toast, Plaid, DataRobot, Secureworks, and sits on the NYSE Listed Company Advisory Board.