Julian Robertson

We want to short some tech stocks.

And a very smart person did this, a guy called Julian Robertson, who was running Tiger Global Management, an extremely well-renowned hedge fund.

He ran the numbers, and the numbers just could not justify these massive valuations.

So he shorted tech stocks and thought, "All right.

For example, in the internet bubble, if you thought that tech was overvalued, would you sell out? Well, the answer is not necessarily because there is a chance that the bubble could keep inflating before it eventually bursts.

So Julian Robertson, a very famous fund manager who ran the Tiger Global funds, he indeed sold out of tech- Knowing that it was overvalued, yet tech kept rising and so investors saw him losing money because he was out of tech.

They liquidated, they got out of the fund, and his fund had to close in March 2000.

And then eventually, yes, the tech bubble burst, but he was not a- around to enjoy the victory.

So prior to starting Goodwater, I was at a firm called Maverick Capital.

That was the first Tiger Cup to spin out of Julian Robertson's.

Tiger Management.

I loved my time there.

There, my concern is that I'm investing clients' money.

So if we go back to the tech bubble, we had Tiger Global Management, founded by Julian Robertson, one of the legendary investors.

He thought, correctly, "We are in a tech bubble." So he exited from this, and then it kept rising, and then his own investors said, "Well, you're crazy.

Everybody else [laughs] is making money on this bubble.

But we've seen this before in CapEx booms, right? So if you think about it like a cycle, you know, it's just...

Remember, Julian Robertson, as I talk about the essay I'm going

to put out this week about hedge funds and the long-short strategy itself, he closed down in 98, right? He was an all-timer, and it just is what it is sometimes.

And so let's look at this chart real quick.

Let's give an example.

If we go back to the tech bubble, Julian Robertson in 2000, the founder of Tiger Global Management, extremely respected investor, he saw tech was overpriced by any sensible valuation multiples.

Let's say I think Cisco was trading at 190 time.

He did the sensible fundamental base thing o- of shorting, but the mispricing got even crazier.

Mm-hmm.

Jamie Beaton was a sophomore when he emailed Julian Robertson, the founder of Tiger Management, a Wall Street hedge fund.

Robertson said, you can work for me if you can pass a psychological grilling.

He sent him off to a psychoanalyst wondering who is this dude.

He's got really a fascinating background and a great track record.

He worked at Julian Robertson's Tiger Management, eventually ended up at Roger McNamee's Integral Capital Partners.

He's put together really a fascinating focus and track record.

One of the few hedge funds located right in the middle of Silicon Valley, focused on AI and technology.

Really interesting.

So I usually save my mentor question towards the end of our conversation.

but your list of people you've worked with and worked for is just so incredible i i want to get it out early in addition to julian robertson and and roger mcnamee there was philip the font steve mandel chip morris who was i think that blue ridge uh... alger viking lone pine impala matrix koto that's like a murderer's row of of modern investing names what what it all these legends have in common and how were they each different?

Well, I think the focus for, you know, we had a great team there at Tiger Management, and so many of us went on to start our own firms, and many of them sort of modeled by what we experienced at Tiger and seeing how Julian did it.

Yeah.

Julian Robertson, Tiger Management, refused to own tech, completely missed it.

And then right when it peaked, finally got in and it dropped.

Yeah.