Home

Turn every page

I was baptized at the capitalist church

May 5, 2025

Buffett seated, 2 cokes in front of him, announced his retirement this past week to a standing ovation of 50,000. The energy of this man and the stadium was unlike anything I’ve felt before, and talking to others you begin to undestand why: he’s made many rich and given many capitalists a career, a purpose and simple values to live by.

And I was swept up in the energy, you could say I was baptized in full-on capitalism.

Buffett is the best investor of all time, and has a powerful, sharp, relaxed aura that’s palpable in real life (and caused a 6% BRK.A drop on his retirement announcement). He’s approachable and relatable using basic language that disguises his brilliance.

And most importantly, he (and the 2025 Berkshire weekend more broadly) gave me an appreciation for finance I didn’t have before. One that values going further beyond anyone else

My favorite quotes from the weekend: “Very few people do turn every page — and the ones who turn every page aren’t going to tell you what they’re finding.” (Buffett), “I kept pulling, and pulling, and pulling the thread until I get my answer” (anon), “I do … for the thrill of the hunt” (anon).

When you invest in public markets, you have to find your edge. That’s not possible by just reading a 10-k, you need to go all the way down the rabbit hole until you build conviction and are able to confidently spot what so many others have missed. Buffet, back in 1954, chases down a strange cacao market arbitrage which led him to a shareholder meeting with him and the you can listen here, and I heard this relentless obsession only a couple times throughout the weekend, hunting down the early munger partnership files, flying halfway around the world on a small chance to run into a key exec at a company, understanding where the float of the business was stored - all of which yielded profitable intel.

I came away from the weekend reminded of the journey deep into the unknown, where few have been. Even as a self-identified “generalist”, the depth is where the profit is.

^That was my biggest takeaway, but here are a few others.

Savants exist in every field. The level of conviction and understanding of the best hedge fund managers is very high. And inspiring. I wondered what life might have been like had I met someone like this before I settled on studying computer engineering.
Patience != sitting on your hands idly. When investors talk about patience, they’re working, reading, preparing the mind every day for when the time comes to act quickly. Patience and prep in the off-season builds the conviction to strike.
Investing is simple, not easy. This is true for companies as well. Speaking simply masks the true complexity, challenge, and difficulty of what’s going on behind the scenes.
Two great questions to ask company founders: “If you were trapped on an island for 10 years, which competitor stock would you want to own?” and “If you were trapped on an island for 10 years, which would you short”
The best investing is emotionless. As a founder, you often live and die by your work, mixing business with mission with ego. Not true with investing, it’s just numbers. Shorting a company isn’t personal.

Takeaways are great, so how am I shifting my life post-baptism?

Allocating more of my time to reading 10Ks and other company filings, not to act, but to train the mind and be curious.
When there’s something interesting me, why stop at the article or book published, reach out to the author and go deeper. Find out where they hang out and find a reason to be nearby.
Spend less time on surface-level, seconds based consumption. Every stone at the surface has been looked at.

Grateful for an amazing weekend with parth chopra, kenton prescott, and jay feng. Excited for next year!