Paul Sonkin and Paul Johnson are investors, professors, and co-authors of Pitch the Perfect Investment.  Paul Sonkin is an analyst and portfolio manager at GAMCO Investors and has researched small, micro, and nanocap companies for a quarter century. He taught for 16 years at Columbia Business School. Paul Johnson runs advisory firm Nicusa Investment Advisors, and previously was a top-ranked sell side analyst, hedge fund manager, and an investment banker across 35 years.  He also taught 2,000 students across 40 classes at Columbia Business School and Fordham University, and has received a host of awards for his prowess in the classroom. Their recently released book is the first I’ve come across that reverse engineers a portfolio manager’s thought process. It starts with crystal clear first principles of business analysis and covers everything an analyst needs to know to identify a great stock. Then, Paul and Paul describe how portfolio managers assess ideas. Their framework is targeted for analysts starting their careers in the field, but seasoned portfolio managers and allocators both will also learn a lot about communication with their teams from the clear descriptions and colorful examples in the book. Our conversation covers the concept of the book, the wisdom of crowds, getting an ‘edge’, the four questions every portfolio manager needs to answer, and the role of creativity in investing. These gifted professors offer clear terminology for investment first principals and along the way offer a renewed appreciation for how difficult it is to beat the markets. For more episodes, go to capitalallocatorspodcast.com/podcast Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides

Michael Schwimer is the CEO of Big League Advance, a company that makes investments in Minor League baseball players in exchange for an agreed-upon percentage of their future earnings.  Before founding BLA, Michael was a professional baseball player, working his way through the minors and reaching the majors as a pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies.  A shoulder injury left him pondering what to do next, which led to the creation of BLA.  Our conversation discusses Michael’s career as a player, the difficult life of Minor Leaguers, and his mission to improve their fortunes.  We discuss his passion for statistics, application of Sabremetrics, and development of a team of All-Stars in the game of sports analytics.  We close with a look into the future of BLA and Michael’s prediction for this year’s World Series Champion.  Whether his bet proves right or wrong, Michael’s rationale exemplifies second order thinking through the lens of data analytics that is never far from his mind. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast