Oct 16, 2020
Today’s conversation is with Henry Ellenbogen and Anouk Dey from
Durable Capital Partners. Henry founded Durable in 2019 and serves
as Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer. Before that, he
was a Vice President of T. Rowe Price, T. Rowe Price Group Chief
Investment Officer for U.S. Equity Growth, the lead Portfolio
Manager for the U.S. Small-Cap Growth Equity Strategy, and the
Portfolio Manager for the New Horizons Fund. Anouk is a Partner of
Durable who joined the firm at its inception in 2019. Before
joining Durable, she was also a Vice President of T. Rowe Price
Group, where she was an investment analyst in the U.S. Equity
Division, focusing on small-cap growth stocks. Anouk also
co-teaches the Compounders Independent Study at Columbia Business
School.
My students have heard me say many times that the future of
investing must be one that combines exposure to private and public
markets and that is flexible in its valuation approach and ideas,
and that embraces disruption. That type of investing requires
partners that are willing to commit capital for the long haul while
being able to withstand the volatility of the market. That’s where
Durable Capital Partners stands out.
On this episode, Henry, Anouk, and I discuss how Henry developed
his investment philosophy, how a liberal arts background gives you
an advantage in the investment industry, Henry and Anouk’s lessons
from their time at T. Rowe Price, Durable’s commitment to long-term
relationships with the companies they invest in, their unique
approach to knowledge acquisition, and so much more!
Key Topics:
- How Henry started his career in investing after exploring
different fields (3:41)
- The beginnings of Henry’s investment philosophy (6:04)
- Major lessons from Henry’s study of the history of technology
(8:53)
- The benefits of a liberal arts background (9:41)
- Why crisis is the true test of an investor (11:00)
- The stroke of luck that took Anouk from ski racing to studying
international relations (12:38)
- How Anouk got the opportunity to spend her first year as an
investor studying compounders (14:44)
- Henry’s early role as an analyst at T. Rowe Price (18:18)
- The move from traditional media analyst to managing the T. Rowe
Price New Horizons Fund (19:59)
- What you can learn from studying media companies in the early
2000s (21:00)
- Why Henry started looking at private companies as investment
opportunities (23:37)
- Creating a systematic approach to investing in private
companies (25:38)
- The foundation for building a network of companies with unique
access (26:51)
- Advantages for public security analysts over venture
capitalists in the private market (29:06)
- What Durable wants to be known for (30:07)
- How Durable’s perspective on relationships and long-term
commitment are in alignment with entrepreneurs (31:18)
- Durable’s approach to knowledge acquisition (34:01)
- Looking at Shopify as a company that has gone from Act 1 and 2
to a potential Act 3 (37:05)
- Durable’s approach to analyzing and supporting company leaders
(41:24)
- Managing the risk of human capital (45:25)
- The importance of honoring your commitments and managing
capital successfully during a crisis (47:46)
- Eliminating the false dichotomies in the investment industry
(51:59)
- How you can reduce your learning trajectory around compounders
(55:19)
- The advantage of working in collaborative teams at Durable
(57:26)
- Idea sourcing as world-class fundamental investors
(1:00:01)
- Understanding the good to great thesis (1:01:22)
- The value of deeply human investing (1:04:15)
- Building on the human skillset (1:06:13)
- How passive investing is affecting market volatility
(1:08:30)
- And much more!
Mentioned in this Episode:
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