Jared Kushner - The Mechanic

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (0:00)
As an investor, I'm always on the lookout for tools that can truly transform the way that we work as a business. Alphasense has completely transformed the research process with cutting edge AI technology and a vast collection of top tier reliable business content. Since I started using it, it's been a game changer for my market research. I now rely on Alphasense daily to uncover insights and make smarter decisions. With the recent acquisition of Tegus, Alphasense continues to be a best in class research platform delivering even more powerful tools to help users make informed decisions faster. What truly sets Alphasense apart is its cutting edge AI. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high conviction decisions with confidence. Alphasense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases and more from public and private companies. You can even upload and manage your own proprietary documents for seamless integration. With over 10,000 premium content sources and top broker research from firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, Alphasense gives you the tools to make high conviction decisions with confidence. Here's the best part. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now. Just head to alphasense.com/invest and experience firsthand how Alphasense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. Trust me, once you try it, you'll see why it is an essential tool for market research.
Every investment professional knows this challenge. You love the core work of investing, but operational complexities eat up valuable time and energy. That's where Ridgeline comes in, an all-in-one operating system designed specifically for investment managers. Ridgeline has created a comprehensive cloud platform that handles everything in real time, from trading and portfolio management to compliance and client reporting. Gone are the days of juggling multiple legacy systems and spending endless quarter ends compiling reports. It's worth reaching out to Ridgeline to see what the experience can be like with a single platform. Visit ridgelineapps.com to schedule a demo and we'll hear directly from someone who's made the switch. You'll hear a short clip from my conversation with Katie Ellenberg, who heads Investment Operations and Portfolio Administration at Geneva Capital Management. Her team implemented Ridgeline in just six months, and after this episode, she'll share her full experience and the key benefits they've seen.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (2:16)
We are using our previous provider for over 30 years.
We had the entire suite of products from the Portfolio Accounting to Trade Order Management, Reporting, the Reconciliation Features. I didn't think that we would ever be able to switch to anything else. Andy, our head trader, suggested that I meet with Ridgeline, and they started off right away, not by introducing their company, but who they were hiring, and that caught my attention. They were pretty much putting in place a dream team of technical experts. Then they started talking about this single source of data, and I was like, what in the world? I couldn't even conceptualize that because I'm so used to all of these different systems and these different modules that sit on top of each other, and so I wanted to hear more about that. When I was looking at other companies, they could only solve for part of what we had and part of what we needed. Ridgeline is the entire package, and their experts were no longer just a number. When we call service, they know who we are. They completely have our backs. I knew that they were not going to let us fail in this transition.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (3:24)
Two fun facts about our newest sponsorship partner, Ramp. First, they are the fastest growing fintech company in history, reaching a level of revenue in five years that I can't quote exactly, but is eyebrow raising. Second, they are backed by more of my favorite past guests, at least 16 of them when I counted, than probably any other company that I'm aware of, a list that includes Ravi Gupta at Sequoia, Josh Kushner at Thrive, Keith Raboi at Founders Fund and Coastal Ventures, Patrick and John Collison, Michael Ovitz, Brad Gerstner. The list goes on and on. These facts demand the question, why? Having been personally obsessed with the great businesses through history, one clear lesson is that the best of them are run by disciplined operators. These operators manage costs with incredible detail and they are constantly thinking about how they can reinvest every dollar and every hour back into their business. This is Ramp's mission, to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. First, on expenses, the average American business has a profit margin of 7.7%. This means saving 1% on costs is the equivalent of making 13% more revenue. The average Ramp customer is able to save 5% on their expenses each year. Of course, every entrepreneur is looking for ways to grow revenue by 50%. They should just as seriously seek to save 5% on their expenses. Second, on time, unnecessary complexity is why most finance teams spend 80% of their time doing operational work and only about 20% of their time on strategic work. Ramp makes spend management very simple by handling your company's expenses, travel, bill payments, vendor relationships, and even accounting. It's notable that some of the best-in-class businesses today, companies like Airbnb, Andrel, and Shopify, and investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity are all using Ramp to manage their spend. They use it to spend less. They use it to automate tedious financial processes, and they use it to reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At both Colossus and PositiveSum, my businesses, we've used Ramp for years now for these exact reasons. Go to ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. That's ramp.com/invest.