#131 - Interview with Trish Higgins of Chenmark

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without strategy.” - General H Norman Schwarzkopf

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Circle of Competence Podcast - Episode #14 - Trish Higgins, Partner at Chenmark

This week's episode is a conversation I recorded with Trish Higgins who is the co-founder and a partner at Chenmark, a holding company that focuses on acquiring small businesses looking for a permanent home. We explored a great many topics about her experience in the SMB space, including:

- Trish's background on Wall Street and her transition to Main Street

- The 'why' behind starting Chenmark

- The first Chenmark purchase and thesis behind the investment

- The Chenmark playbook for businesses post-close

- How Chenmark structures transactions

- The 'people' side of small business

- How Chenmark thinks about competitive advantage in small businesses

- A startup idea that is sorely needed for the SMB space (hint: it involves customer reviews)

Links:

- Chenmark website

- Chenmark newsletter

- Trish's interview with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Top reads of the week

- Thoughts on SPACs by Drew Frailey to understand SPACs better

- The economics of iBuyers by Mike Delprete

- 100 baggers - the lost chapter with more examples of 100+ bagger investments

- Christopher Hitchens and William Lane Craig debate "Does God Exist?"

LINKS

Investing

We are leaving the party like it's 1999 (Grantham, Mayo, van Otterloo)

Copart makes billions from salvaging car parts at their junkyards (Forbes)

Ackman places big bet against corporate credit (Financial Times)

The 50 year history of gaming revenues, by segment (Visual Capitalist)

Thoughts on SPACs (Drew Frailey, Banah Companies)

100 baggers - the lost chapter with more examples of 100+ bagger investments (Chris Mayer)

There’s an Oligopoly in asset management that one researcher should be broken up (Institutional Investor)

Technology

Sam Parr on hiring a CEO and building his Trends.co Business (Chris Powers, Fort Capital)

Building and investing in marketplaces (Erik Torenberg)

11 electric vehicle startups are chasing Tesla, but not all of them can win (Wall Street Journal)

A HUGE compendium of Peter Thiel's views on progress and stagnation (compiled by Richard Ngo, Jeremy Nixon)

How venture capitalists are deforming capitalism (The New Yorker)

Real Estate

iBuyer transaction volume set to decline by half in 2020 (Mike Delprete, h/t Drew Frailey)

The economics of ibuying (Mike Delprete, h/t Drew Frailey)

Inside Compass - a strategic analysis (Mike Delprete, h/t Drew Frailey)

Emerging models in real estate (Mike Delprete, h/t Drew Frailey)

Retailers now owe $52B in back rent (The Real Deal)

The secretive town at the center of the oil market (Institutional Investor)

Misc.

Christopher Hitchens debates William Lane Craig - Does God Exist? (Biola University)

Kennedy vs. Nixon - the fourth debate on foreign affairs (PBS)

Psilocybin rapidly promotes neuroplasticity in the brains of rats (The Big Think)