My good friend and fishing buddy Lewis Johnson of Capitol Wealth Advisors is back on Panic with Friends for a fourth round, slowly catching up to our leader, Ben Hunt. Way back when Lewis was first on the show rates were zero going to negative. When he was last here in November of 2022, we touched on the Madoff Moment that was FTX, and talked about how to position ourselves moving into 2023. Lewis understands cycles. As we head into the summer with gold breaking out into all-time highs, I wanted to catch up with Lewis to discuss this potential breakout and how to play this cyclical trade. 

Guest - Lewis Johnson, CIO at Capital Wealth Advisors 

howardlindzon.com,  capitalwealthadvisors.com 

blog.capitalwealthadvisors.com/trends-tail-risks 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @PanicwFriends, @TrendsTailRisks, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/lewismjohnson 

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance 

Show Notes: 

• Introduction (00:39)
• Welcome back Lewis (08:39)
• Heading into Summer 2023 (09:54)
• Overstaying leadership (12:55)
• Tech theme bleeding out? (17:49)
• Looking at past crises (18:49)
• Quiet rise of gold (20:14)
• Recent trends (22:39)
• Exposure to precious metals (23:51)
• Number one driver of long-term returns (26:39)
• FED raise until it breaks (28:24)
• Can banks profitably lend? (29:44)
• Tech driven / consumer discretionary market (31:24)
• Limit exposure to last cycle leaders (33:26)
• A bull market in commodities? (34:49)
• Wrapping up (35:21)
• Closing thoughts (39:52) 

I’m happy to have my good friend Paul Tran of Manscaped back on Panic with Friends. He’s an incredible founder, entrepreneur, product person, and marketer. He continues to build a global omnichannel brand at an epic pace. We’re really proud seed investors in our Social Leverage Fund III. 

I’m constantly writing about the urgency and importance of marketing, and Paul and his team are world-class. It's not so easy to just go online and do marketing nowadays. You have to have a lot of skills across multiple sectors. The Manscaped team continues to be creative and test new media formats over and over again with great success. Every entrepreneur can learn something by listening to Paul. His insights on building an enduring brand and how he thinks about growth are timeless. Enjoy the episode. You’ll learn a lot. 

BTW, visit Manscaped and use the promo code ‘Howie’ for 20 percent off your first order. 

Guest - Paul Tran, Founder and CEO of Manscaped 

howardlindzon.com, manscaped.com 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @paultran, @manscaped, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

youtube.com/channel/manscaped

linkedin.com/in/paultran 

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance 

Show Notes:

• Introduction. (00:32)
• Welcome Paul (05:12)
• 3 metrics Paul uses (05:33)
• Manscaped origin story (06:12)
• A culture of innovation (08:22)
• The ‘secret sauce’ (10:10)
• Pitching Manscaped (10:58)
• Phenomenal growth (13:01)
• Focus on target market (14:50)
• A global brand (16:20)
• Marketing (18:34)
• Expanding demographic (19:26)
• Brand loyalty (21:24)
• Marketing with celebrities (24:30)
• Manscaped’s mission (25:14)
• Importance of omnichannel (26:18)
• Customers pay for quality (28:50)
• Ideas and failure (31:10)
• Success is never a straight line (32:16)
• Manscaped today (34:12)
• Paul’s edge (37:00)
• Thoughts on luxury fashion (38:28)
• What makes a brand stay relevant (38:59)
• Measuring sentiment (42:44)
• Closing thoughts. (43:42) 

I’m really, really excited to have Frederik Mijnhardt, the CEO and Co-founder of Secfi on Panic today. Frederik and Secfi (Social Leverage Fund III) are an incredible educational resource and service for founders and startup employees. I’ve talked about, tweeted about, and written about how important it is for those early startup employees to deal with liquidity and things like exercising their options in a tax-efficient way. Startup equity is complex. COVID had many startup employees learning the hard way – and more recently with the Series I at Stripe, noted for both its size, and its tender offer coming in at 50 percent lower than the previous round. As we continue to see more of these “down rounds” and lackluster IPO windows, Frederik and his team are helping employees make the most of their equity and make more informed decisions. I’ll say it again – this is an important topic so please forward this to anyone you know that founded or works at a startup – whether it’s a company that has just raised a seed round or a company on its way to an IPO. 

Guest - Frederik Mijnhardt, CEO and Co-Founder at SecFi 

howardlindzon.com, secfi.com 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @AFMijnhardt, @AskSecfi, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/mijnhardt 

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance 

Show Notes: 

• Introduction. (00:37)
• Welcome Frederik (08:07)
• About Secfi (08:36)
• The Stripe case (09:18)
• How startup employees should think (13:39)
• Thoughts for founders (17:00)
• Investing in an up market (19:18)
• Exercising your options (19:50)
• Tax traps (21:38)
• Educating employees (22:42)
• Transparency (First time founders v. serial entrepreneurs) (24:08)
• Problems in the industry (24:46)
• Software company multiples (26:43)
• Watching your money (28:43)
• The next bull market (33:34)
• Wealthy on paper (35:16)
• Employee equity by country (37:28)
• Great companies are built in a downturn (43:40)
• Wrapping up (45:14)
• Closing thoughts. (46:30) 

I’m excited to have my good friend Barry Ritholtz back on the show. Barry is the Chairman and CIO of Rithotz Wealth Management, an author, a newspaper columnist, and the host of the Bloomberg Podcast Masters in Business. He also runs a blog called The Big Picture, along with Josh Brown and Michael Batnick. I had Josh Brown on a few weeks ago, so I really wanted to bring Barry on to further the discussion. And who better to discuss the recent banking crisis than the guy who wrote the book on the Great Financial Crisis? (Bailout Nation). We cover how the market drives the narrative, and Barry shares his insight on a COVID-induced ‘reset’, the Fed, inflation, and how it all might play out moving forward. Enjoy! 

Guest - Barry Ritholtz, Chairman and CIO at Ritholtz Wealth Management 

Where to Find Barry:

RWM Big Picture Masters in Business iTunes Twitter

howardlindzon.com, ritholtz.com, ritholtzwealth.com, bloomberg.com/podcasts/series/master-in-business 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @ritholtz, @RitholtzWealth, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance

Show Notes: 

• Introduction. (00:38)
• Welcome Barry (07:07)
• Strong opinions (09:15)
• Market actions drive narratives (12:28)
• Narrative fallacy & hindsight bias (14:02)
• Asset allocation (16:00)
• COVID reset (19:35)
• GFC v. banking crisis (23:56)
• What caused the bank run (26:28)
• VC’s becoming price takers (28:05)
• Interest rates & Inflation (30:53)
• The Moody’s tax (33:56)
• What else Barry’s excited about (35:38)
• Barry’s favorite podcast guests (37:15)
• VC’s shotgun approach (43:32)
• Private v. Public markets (47:06)
• Consistency leads to long-term performance (47:49)
• Wealth mobility in the US (48:55)
• Barry’s other favorite podcast guest (50:25)
• Shows Barry’s watching (53:30)
• Closing thoughts. (57:08) 

The past week and a half was pretty tough – everyone on Twitter went from Ukraine war expert to Bank run expert after the Silicon Valley Bank debacle. There were even rumors of bank CEOs flying in to visit old man Warren Buffet in Omaha over the weekend before last. I’m no expert, and I honestly have know idea how all this plays out in the very short term, so I had my friend and longtime Regional Bank CEO Greg Garrabrants of Axos Bank ($18.4 billion in assets) come on ‘Panic’ to talk about it all. Who better to talk about it than a CEO who survived without taking TARP money way back in the ole ‘great financial crisis’? 

We all just learned a big lesson. You saw what fear looked like, and the potential for panic to spread because of politics. Hopefully this episode helps calm some people. We’re not recommending anything, only that you understand your banking products. It is your money – you have to understand how sweep works, how FDIC insurance works, and you need to understand the balance sheet of your bank. 

Guest - Gregory Garrabrants, President & CEO at Axos Bank & Axos Financial 

howardlindzon.com, axosbank.com 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @AxosBank, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/gregorygarrabrants 

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance 

Show Notes: 

• Introduction. (00:42)

• Welcome Greg (03:27)

• What the FED should monitor (05:01)

• Insured/Uninsured deposits (06:16)

• Extraordinary growth of SVB (08:05)

• SVBs fatal decision (08:30

• Focus on the wrong risk (13:07)

• SVBs ecosystem (16:04)

• Several early warnings (23:59)

• Flashback to 2007 (27:20)

• Opportunity in Fintech (30:22)

• Thoughts on crypto (32:06)

• Countercyclical business (35:31)

• Where is the industry going? (39:52)

• Opportunity in Wealthtech (44:15)

• Best time to buy a house? (49:43)

• Closing thoughts. (50:44) 

There’s a massive unspoken epidemic going on globally in men’s health right now – low T-scores; and practically no one is talking about it. Lots of ‘youts’ are running around on an empty tank and don’t even know it. It’s an interesting and very important topic; and it's at the top of a lot of people’s minds, even if it’s a bit taboo to talk about. But it's something that matters to me, so I wanted to dive in deep and figure out what it all means. My guest today makes checking, monitoring, and boosting your t-score accessible and affordable. I’ve used the service myself (Ellen made me check mine), and as luck would have it, I'm also an indirect investor in Saad’s company. I’ve got a feeling this will be my most evergreen episode. Enjoy! 

Guest - Saad Alam, Founder and CEO at Hone Health 

howardlindzon.com, honehealth.com 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @saad_hone, @honehealth, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

Instagram: @msaadalam, @hone.health 

linkedin.com/in/saad-alam-a146b311

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance 

Show Notes: 

• Introduction. (00:37)
• Welcome Saad (06:14)
• Misconceptions about testosterone (07:49)
• Causes of low testosterone (09:51)
• The stigma of low T (10:55)
• Saad’s story (16:06)
• Shelf-life of a medical degree (20:50)
• Saad takes control of his health (22:44)
• An unspoken global epidemic (24:38)
• The Hone Health process (26:21)
• The 2011/12 testosterone hype (29:06)
• Howard’s t-score (37:45)
• Free testosterone (39:36)
• Leading longer lives (46:19)
• There’s no silver bullet (48:30)
• Wrapping it up. (53:08)
• Closing thoughts. (53:24) 

I couldn’t be more excited to have my good friend Downtown Josh Brown on the show! Josh and I go way back to the early, early days of Stocktwits. He’s built what’s probably the biggest financial media brand outside of CNBCq and has managed to thrive amidst the people who like to hate on people who are doing well on social media; so I’ve got lots and lots of questions about the finance industry and media. We dig a bit into AI, crypto, web2 survivors, and where we’re at with web3. You’re going to really enjoy our conversation. 

Guest - Josh Brown, Co-founder & CEO at Ritholtz Wealth Management, Host of The Compound & Friends Podcast

howardlindzon.com, ritholtzwealth.com, thereformedbroker.com/podcast tiktok.com/@downtownjbrown 

Instagram: @downtownjoshbrown 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @reformedbroker, @ritholtzwealth, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/joshua-brown-96a5569b 

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance 

Show Notes: 

• Introduction. (00:37)
• Welcome Josh (03:30)
• Comparing T scores (03:48)
• Early days nostalgia (08:33)
• Building the tribe (09:47)
• Social Media wild west (13:16)
• Picking the right social platform (18:19)
• LinkedIn - the next generation (21:17)
• Building Finance/Media culture (28:30)
• Josh makes a comeback (29:34)
• Birth of Ritholtz Wealth Management (31:40)
• Opportunity in Wealth Management (34:02)
• web2 survivors (36:32)
• Evolution of web 3 (36:51)
• DeFi not working as intended (38:00)
• Josh’s thoughts on Oculus (39:13)
• Diving deeper into web 3 (39:26)
• ChatGPT changing everything (41:01)
• The promise of crypto (42:33)
• AI tools cut advisor workloads (44:27)
• Days of arbing algo’s are over (45:63
• Wrapping it up. (47:11)
• Closing thoughts. (50:17) 

I’m excited to have Helene Meisler back on the show! She was last here in June, and with all that’s been going on in the markets lately it felt time to check back in. I’ve been following her work since the start of TheStreet.com – she knows her stuff and loves talking about the markets. She’s a connoisseur of the chart – what I like to call ‘chart art’ – and is a mentor to thousands who want to learn about technical analysis, price, and sentiment. She’s one of maybe two people I know who called it back in June as we were ‘groping for a bottom’. We talk a little tennis, a little pickleball, and most importantly, we talk about how she feels going forward here in 2023. 

Guest - Helene Meisler, Financial Markets Analyst and Columnist for RealMoney.com 

howardlindzon.com, RealMoney.com, realmoney.thestreet.com 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @hmeisler, @realmoney, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/helene-meisler-4a783153

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance 

Show Notes: 

• Introduction. (00:37)
• Welcome back Helene. (05:05)
• Groping for a bottom (05:50)
• Cautiously optimistic (06:50)
• Stocks don’t just go up (08:25)
• Calling the top (11:43)
• Big Caps control indexes (14:43)
• Is the worst behind us? (15:35)
• Women on Wall Street (17:40)
• History doesn’t repeat, it rhymes (26:45)
• Helene’s routine (27:49)
• Learning finance earlier (30:15)
• Public v. Private markets (32:10)
• Passionate about tennis (38:26)
• Helene’s favorite player (39:04)
• The pickleball trend (39:53)
• Market Sector to watch (42:20)
• Wrapping it up. (43:28)
• Closing thoughts. (46:02) 

I’m excited to have my friend Nate Cooper, partner at Barrel Ventures, on the show as our second in-studio guest. Nate invests in seed stage companies in the food and beverage space. He’s excited about anything pre-farm to post fork and everything in between. Nate views our food ecosystem as broken, with a multi-trillion dollar opportunity waiting for those who solve it. I’m a personal LP in Nate’s fund, and am passionate about food and packaging; these industries are enormous, and while everybody’s been focused on web 2, the world keeps humming along. We don’t realize how important these things are until they’re taken away from us. The market is resilient, and the money eventually rotates into things that actually matter. 

Guest - Nate Cooper, Managing Partner at Barrel Ventures 

howardlindzon.com, barrelvc.com 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @nrcoope, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/nathan-cooper-2ba9aa19

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance 

Show Notes:

• Introduction (00:31)
• Welcome Nate (01:24)
• Chicago is my kind of town (02:14)
• Michael Jordan ‘attends’ Nates bachelor party (03:52)
• Masters at their craft (06:02)
• Business runs in the family (07:05)
• Midwest entrepreneurship (08:26)
• Kellogg MBA (10:00)
• Winding down Wise Apple (10:54)
• Getting started in venture (12:05)
• Being the best in the world (15:18)
• Investing in the food ecosystem (16:26)
• Execution Risk / Market Risk (18:28)
• Bioplastics (19:49)
• Staples prone to supply shocks (20:39)
• Tech is the sauce (22:05)
• No pop like OLIPOP (23:15)
• Genius of Liquid Death (26:11)
• Panicked about getting old (30:09)
• What else excites Nate about food (32:05)
• Rolling up food brands (33:08)
• Howard’s radical free idea (33:33)
• Investors want brand and formula (34:57)
• Wrapping up (37:44)
• Closing thoughts (40:23)