Oct 2, 2020
Today’s conversation is with Rishi Renjen, the Founder and Chief
Investment Officer of ROAM Global Management. Before founding ROAM
Global, he was a Managing Director and Sector Head at Maverick
Capital, a Partner at TPG-Axon Capital, and a Senior Analyst at
Glenview Capital. Rishi earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics,
with a concentration in Finance, from The Wharton School at the
University of Pennsylvania and he is an Adjunct Assistant Professor
in the Value Investing Program at Columbia Business School.
Following his interest in finance from a young age, Rishi built
up a wealth of experience over the years across in the financial
services industry before launching his fund, ROAM Global in 2018.
It is a pleasure to welcome Rishi to the show today and, like
everyone involved with the Center, he combines his deep
understanding of markets, the practice of investing, and
fundamental analysis with the ability to convey these ideas clearly
to the students.
On this episode, Rishi and I discuss where his deep interest in
finance came from, what he learned from his years in investment
banking, how his experience in the private equity world offers him
an advantage, the core principles Rishi wanted to incorporate into
his firm, a dynamic approach to value investing, and so much
more!
Key Topics:
- Rishi’s early affinity towards business (2:59)
- The advantage of a deep understanding of economics (4:10)
- Why it was important to Rishi to do internships and work in the
investment banking world (4:40)
- What Rishi learned from his early years in investment banking
(5:53)
- How Rishi’s foundation in banking and private equity helps him
in difficult economic periods (6:31)
- The similarities between working in private equity and public
markets (8:52)
- Why Rishi believes investing is a balance between conviction
and price (10:43)
- The evolution of public and private markets in recent years
(12:57)
- Why starting his career during a financial crisis was a great
opportunity for Rishi (14:56)
- Rishi’s focus during his career in private equity (17:04)
- Why the business services sector is so dynamic and
transformative (17:56)
- A dynamic approach to value investing (18:29)
- How Rishi developed his global perspective on investing
(20:04)
- Lessons learned from the rapid growth of TPG Axon (22:52)
- The core principles Rishi wanted to incorporate into his firm
(25:29)
- Defining the ROAM investment framework (27:28)
- How ROAM has navigated the economic shifts due to COVID
(30:01)
- How top of the market activity is creating a biased view of the
market (32:44)
- Risk management in times of distress (33:37)
- Why it’s easy to lose all your money quickly in the current
economic climate (37:35)
- Why Rishi is a dedicated short seller (40:55)
- The importance of building a company culture of collective
success (44:22)
- The value of a postmortem analysis for successes as well as
failures (47:01)
- Rishi’s perspective on the future of financial markets
(48:57)
- Why I believe there’s going to be a lot of opportunity for
nimble investors (50:48)
- Agility as a competitive advantage (52:27)
- And much more!
Thanks for Listening!
Be sure to subscribe on
Apple,
Google, Spotify,
or wherever you get your podcasts. And feel free to drop us a line
at valueinvesting@gsb.columbia.edu.
Follow the Heilbrunn
Center on social media on Instagram,
LinkedIn, and
more!