#30: SPACs, Influencer Investing, and 2020's Wild Market Swings, with Jaime Lester

This week’s episode is a conversation with Jaime Lester. Jaime has been a professional investor for more than two decades, has a lot of experience with short selling, as evidenced from our conversation with him back on episode #3, on Invitae. We revisit Invitae during this conversation, but we're more focused on the overall macro picture. Whatever happens in the last 8 weeks of the year, it's been a wild ride, and it's worth taking a wider view to understand everything. We cover SPACs, influencer investing, the manic element, the line between fraud and pivoting, and why this does not resemble the great financial crisis. Topics covered 2:20 minute mark – high level take on what makes this market different 11:00 – Blowing up the GFC comparison 21:30 – Fundamental restructuring 27:30 – The manic trading element 33:45 – Why the new traders are winning 41:30 – Staying out of the way 52:30 – The SPAC phenomenon and what is fraud in the current market? 1:03:30 – Influencer Investing and Invitae 1:17:30 – The cult of the founder 1:24:30 – TAMs: Valuations as compared to TAMs, how much do TAMs mean for a business’s prospects over time?