Invest Like the Best with Patrick O’Shaughnessy
Business:Investing
My guest today is Michael Ovitz. Michael is the legendary talent agent and co-founder of CAA, or Creative Artists Agency. Michael started CAA in 1975 and over the next twenty years, he built it into the world’s most formidable talent agency, changing Hollywood forever. The list of stars he’s worked with is endless, from Meryl Streep to Steven Spielberg and David Letterman.
Since leaving CAA, he has become an investor and adviser to many prominent firms, most notably Andreessen Horowitz, and Michael’s work ethic is unmatched. Please enjoy this great discussion with Michael Ovitz.
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For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.
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Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.
Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more.
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com).
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Show Notes:
(00:03:23) - Something other people believe about Michael that isn’t true
(00:08:21) - Balancing the love of his career with his personal life
(00:13:33) - The return of his work ethic after an overdue break
(00:25:08) - Why scale and speed were critical to CAA’s success
(00:29:31) - How founders and CEOs might benefit from having agents
(00:36:10) - The idea of positional power
(00:41:52) - Making over 250 calls for 30 years
(00:48:02) - Never bad mouthing the competition
(00:49:34) - Defining characteristics of CAA’s company culture
(00:53:07) - Learning to spot talent quickly
(00:58:24) - If you want to be happy, forget yourself
(01:01:52) - Forgetting yourself by taking action
(01:07:02) - Page turning excitement versus slow burning engagement
(01:12:31) - Looking for similar patterns in investors and creatives
(01:16:16) - What a problem solver needs to build a franchise
(01:20:12) - CAA’s mystique and how Michael cultivated it
(01:26:11) - Relationships are always the most important thing
(01:28:55) - Thoughts on offensive investing strategies
(01:30:22) - What art has taught him about the world
(01:36:46) - Being fearless in confrontation
(01:39:55) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Michael
Alok Vasudev - Searching for White Space - [Invest Like the Best, EP.287]
Matthew Ball - A Manual to The Metaverse - [Invest Like the Best, EP.286]
TransDigm: Foundations with Nick Howley [50X, EP.1]
Alice Bentinck - Building a Start-Up Machine - [Invest Like the Best, EP.285]
Jess Lee - Designing Investment Products - [Invest Like the Best, EP.284]
Kenneth Stanley - Greatness Without Goals - [Invest Like the Best, EP.283]
Lydia Jett - Investing in E-commerce - [Invest Like the Best, EP.282]
Josh Wolfe & Chris Power - Factories of the Future - [Invest Like the Best, EP.281]
Martin Casado - The Past, Present, and Future of Digital Infrastructure - [Invest Like the Best, EP.280]
Aswath Damodaran - Making Sense of the Market - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 279]
Anduril: Building the Future of Defense - [Business Breakdowns, EP. 59]
Tobi Lütke - Embrace the Unexpected - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 278]
Tyler Cowen & Daniel Gross - Identifying Talent - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 277]
Jeff Jordan - Building & Investing in Marketplaces - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 276]
Eric Glyman - Reimagining Corporate Finance - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 275]
Dmitry Balyasny - Building a Better Model - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 274]
Henry Ward - Transforming Private Markets - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 273]
Alexandr Wang - A Primer on AI - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 272]
Antonio Gracias - Pro-Entropic Investing - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 271]
David Rubenstein - Life, Leadership, and LBOs - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 270]
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