Tag: Tim Ferriss

Here’s What I Learned at Warren Buffett’s 2019 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders Meeting (Plus a Guide for First-Timers)

It took me 11 years after becoming a Warren Buffett enthusiast to finally attend my first Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. Here are my notes and my guide for first-time attenders.


Key Learnings from 2019 Meeting

Write down your thesis
Before you buy a stock, write down: “I’m buying this company for [insert market cap, e.g. $500 billion], because…” If you can’t answer this question, don’t buy the company. Remember: A stock is not a piece of paper, it’s a part ownership of a business.

Broad vs. narrow circle of competence
You need to find what you can understand. There is much more competition today than when Buffett started. It’s always a good strategy to specialize. Read as much you can. Figure out what you are good at. You need an edge. Be smart in spots and try to stay around those spots. Having one edge is enough.

Environmental, social and governance (ESG)
Don’t spend time creating ESG committees and writing long reports. Simply do the right thing. Example: Berkshire Hathaway’s utility is on a path to soon produce 100% renewable energy in Iowa.

The Future Performance of Berkshire Hathaway
“Berkshire Hathaway won’t be the biggest compounder by a long shot. But it will and continue to be a very safe way to make decent returns for a long time.” — Warren Buffett

Keep trying things
“If you keep doing enough things, some of them will work out.” — Warren Buffett

Figure out what works
“Figure out what works, and go do it.” — Charlie Munger


How to attend / Guide for First-Timers

This guide by The Investors Podcast (TIP) is a great starting point. But there are a lot of additional details to figure out. Here is my guide for first-timers:

When to plan the trip?
Next years meeting will take place on May 2, 2020. It’s advisable to plan the trip as soon as possible, optimally as early as October or November. I planned my trip in January and it was already quite difficult to find reasonably priced hotels (I was still lucky though, see below).

Credentials / Tickets
You don’t need to be a shareholder to get tickets, and there aren’t any further controls once you have tickets. The easiest way is to order them on eBay directly from Berkshire Hathaway (brka_b is their user name) and send them to your hotel address. If you are a shareholder, then simply print out a recent broker statement, bring a matching ID/passport and pick them up at the CHI Health Center on Friday before the meeting at the “Will Call”. You can pick up as many as 4 credentials, so not all of your friends need to stand in line.

Accommodation / Hotels
I highly recommend staying in Council Bluffs, right across the river in Iowa. I booked in January and was lucky to find a decent hotel for just $55 per night. It only takes 10 minutes to go Downtown and the traffic was always very smooth, because you take the freeway most of the way. If you are on a low budget or like to stay with locals, you might also consider Couchsurfing. If budget is not an issue, then you might stay near the Old Market area, so you have everything in walking distance.

Rental Car / Parking
A rental car is highly recommended, and only costs around $30 per day. The alternative is using Uber/Lyft, but this can get quite expensive if you want to see many things. I never had parking problems, even in Downtown. Mostly you have parking meters which cost $1.25 per hour (payable with credit card or cash). I downloaded the “ParkOmaha App” which made the process even easier. (If you don’t mind walking 10-15 minutes, you can park for free on the bridge next to the Durham Museum. That’s what I did most days. But don’t tell others ;)

Join a WhatsApp / Telegram group
One of the best things I did was to join WhatsApp / Telegram groups. That way I always knew what’s going on and was never alone. We ended up being a group of 4-5 people that did most things together. One group I found on the TIP Forum, and the other through Guy Spier’s mailing list. I’m pretty sure there are others as well.

The TIP WhatsApp group photo!

How to prepare for the meeting
If you want to stand in line very early, I recommend to buy a $10 camping chair from Walmart. I did and it was a very good investment. Some Chinese people also brought blankets to lie on the ground, but I’d say this is optional. Other than that no special preparations needed.

When to stand in line for the meeting
There are multiple entrances. Mohnish Pabrai recommends to go to the South Entrance, so I did that. We were there at 3.00am, which guaranteed us excellent seats. I think 3.30am would have been fine as well. Most people come after 4.00am and the line will get very long after that. I was sitting in my chair and was even able to take a few naps, as did several Chinese people next to me. In fact, most of the very early people at the South Entrance were Chinese.

Waiting in line with Mohnish Pabrai and thousands others.

How to get great seats
When you pass the security check at the South Entrance, take the stairs down one floor, then continue straight until you see the Lexus Club. Take any door to the left to enter the hall (the sectors are not separated, so you can move freely within the hall). If you feel lucky, you might go all the way down to the ground floor and try to get a front row seat. We didn’t do that. We chose Sectors 104 which offers a fantastic view.

The Floor Plan. The South Entrance is on the left side near sectors 211/212.

Want to see Warren Buffett up close?
After you have secured your seats around 7.15am, I recommend to go the the Exhibit Hall. Warren often takes a walk trough the hall before the meeting starts. The movie starts at 8.30am, so there is plenty of time to look for Warren. Don’t forget to go to the restroom before the event starts. The morning session is nonstop until noon.

Backpack / Security
CHI Center’s clear bag policy doesn’t apply to the Berkshire Hathaway meeting. You can bring a backpack. Full bottles are not allowed (empty ones are okay).

Events / Meetups
There are a lot of events and meetups, and the best way to stay up to date is to join a WhatsApp/Telegram group. I highly recommend doing the 5k on Sunday. It’s a very nice and quite short run. As we’re in the US I expected 5 miles, and was pleasantly surprised to see the finish line after just 5 km :) After that I went to Borsheims to play against ping pong champion Ariel Hsing, which was a lot of fun.

Restaurants
I really liked Jams in the Old Market. They have great salads. I also liked the Old Chicago pizza place in the Old Market. On weekdays they have great lunch deals.

Other fun things
The Hollywood Candy store was fun. That’s where Buffett and Gates made the Sweet Nostalgia video. You can easily spend one or two hours there. Don’t forget to have a strawberry milkshake!

Disclaimer: All the above information is based on my 2019 trip. Things might change in the future, so keep your eyes and ears open.

The closest selfie I got with Warren and Charlie.
My first meeting and I even made it into the Omaha World-Herald, thanks to my friend Marnix Troudes.

Other people’s experiences:


Podcast Ads 101: How to Succeed with Podcast Sponsorship

My own experience shows that sponsoring podcasts can be very effective in driving awareness and sales. I have bought many things triggered by podcast ads, including supplements, clothing and even a new mattress.

Here are the success factors that made those sales happen:

A trusted host
Podcasts are very personal, and loyal listeners spend countless hours listening to their favorite hosts. I would only work with hosts that have earned a high level of personal connection and trust with its audience.

Let the host read the ads
When the host reads the ads, they feel much less intrusive and may even be perceived as useful information. Bonus points if the host ads his own twist to the ad text.

A product loved by the host
The absolute best conversion rate can be achieved when the host uses and loves your product, and includes his own experience/testimonial into the ad text. Most of my own purchases have been triggered by this factor.

A juicy coupon code
This serves two purposes. The consumer has a powerful call to action, and the advertiser can measure the effectiveness of the campaign.

A separate landing page
Sometimes, the company creates a unique landing page, e.g. yourproduct.com/john if the host goes by the name John. This can increase the conversion rate, because a testimonial or special promotion can be added.

Repeat the call to action
The call to action and URL should be repeated multiple times.

Frequency is key
It can take a long time for people to get the message. That is what frequency is for. Don’t book just one or two placements. Book 8, or 24 or 52 placements, spread out over a long period of time. Don’t stop when you or your employees are tired of hearing the ads. Consumers need regular reminders, even if they have purchased from you before. If you want repeat purchases, don’t stop the campaign.

Consider Media for Equity
Some entrepreneurs form a joint venture with podcast hosts. In such a deal, the podcast host gets a share of the business in return for its audience and influence. One such example is Onnit which has partnered with Joe Rogan.


Stop wasting your attention

Ever since reading The 4-Hour Workweek a decade ago I started applying the Low-Information Diet and stopped following the news: no newspapers, no news websites, no news on TV.

The principle is simple:

Quit the news. If it’s important enough you will hear about it from the people around you. In most cases, you won’t hear and miss anything.

This sometimes leads to awkward social situations: Have you heard of the recent oil spill? Nope. The recent terrorist attack? Nope. Did you see what Trump did yesterday? Nope. Did you know that there is a new hot-dog eating champion? Nope.

My attention is the most important resource I have. I’m not going to waste it. For many years, I have done just that. I have read the local newspaper – of the free and low-quality kind – every day. I was a subscriber of periodicals and had stacks of them. I couldn’t keep up. It was a total waste.

Then one day, I quit. It was one of the best decisions of my life.

Today, I’m still far away from a true low-information diet. I’m consuming huge amounts of information. The challenge is to invest my attention as well as possible. I’m approaching it as an investor and capital allocator. Where are great investment opportunities? What is the return on investment?

That’s why I love books and podcast. They offer a great return for me. I also love writing. It improves my thinking.

Occasionally, I have a weak moment and click on a link that leads to a news site. These days, most of them have paywalls, which makes my life easier. Whenever I hit the wall, I close the tab. Done. Thank you dear news site, you have just saved me from another temptation.

To summarize:

Your attention is the most important resource you have.It’s more important than wealth and fame. It’s even more important than time, because it’s depleted faster than the number of hours in a day. You may only have 3 or 4 hours of high-quality attention per day. Invest it wisely!