Neil Mehta - Finding Future S&P 500 Companies - [Invest Like the Best, EP.419]
Episode publishedPodcast: Invest Like the Best with Patr...Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
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Something I speak about frequently on Invest Like the Best is the idea of life's work. A more fun way to think about it is that I'm looking for maniacs on a mission. This is the basis for our investment firm, Positive Sum, and it's the reason why I'm so enthusiastic about our presenting sponsor, Ramp. Not only are the founders, Kareem and Eric, life's work level founders, certainly maniacs on a mission, they have created a product that is effectively an unlock for founders and finance team to do more of their life's work by streamlining financial operations, saving everyone their most precious
Patrick O'Shaughnessy is the CEO of Positive Sum. All opinions expressed by Patrick and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of Positive Sum. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. Clients of Positive sum may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast. To learn more, visit psum.vc. Today
is a special episode. My guest is Neil Mehta, founder of Green Oaks Capital. In 2,012, at age 27, Neil left D. E. Shaw to start Green Oaks with his friend, Benny Peretz. One of their first investments was in Coupang, a South Korean ecommerce company led by founder, Bomb Kim. Neil was so convinced of Coupang's potential that he invested 40% of their initial $50,000,000 fund into that one company, a bet that eventually returned about $8,000,000,000. Over its first thirteen years, Green Oaks has backed legendary companies like Figma, Wiz, Carvana, Stripe, Discord, Rippling, and Toast, generating
Yeah. My parents moved here in the seventies. My grandparents are both from India. Both sides of my grandparents are from India. I was particularly close to my dad's side, my grandfather in particular. My dad was busy, traveled a decent amount. He and my mom would tell you that my grandfather raised me just as much as they did, especially when I was young. My dad was hardworking. He's my best friend. He's an amazing influence in my life. Still considered my best friend. My grandfather was the opposite of my dad. He was very calm. He meditated for an hour plus every day. Mhmm. The culture I gre
in there. Can you tie the feeling of that appreciation for the craftsmanship to what you do now? Is there a direct line? Do you think that had you not seen those guns that was it that impactful, that early appreciation for craftsmanship, or would you have come to it a different way?
It's hard for me to know the difference if I hadn't experienced that, what it might have been like. But having experienced it, there's no question in my mind that there was an appreciation for humans creating beautiful work for other humans in particular that I really, appreciated. And if you think about the business I'm in today is evaluating founders, building what we think are generational companies and being a partner to them, and I do think there's an artistic form to it. I mean, we oftentimes, internally at Green Oaks, describe a company as an artist painting a painting. I tell a lot of
Could you describe this acronym JDCE? That I know is a key part of the early Green Oaks story and it's something I'm sure you still think about a lot. And maybe pick an example and go as far down as you can on what made for a JDCE in a company or product that you were evaluating.
Yeah. JDCE stands for jaw dropping customer experience. If you put five drinks into everybody at Green Oaks on a Friday night and you're just like, tell me about your life. They just talk about jaw dropping custome
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