Mike Novogratz on Investing, Bitcoin, Ayahuasca, and Running Through The Sahara Desert (#451)

Michael Novogratz (@novogratz) is the founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital. He was formerly a partner and president of Fortress Investment Group, LLC. Prior to Fortress, Michael spent 11 years at Goldman Sachs, where he was elected partner in 1998. Michael served on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Investor Advisory Committee on Financial Markets from 2012–2015. Michael serves as the chairman of The Bail Project and has made criminal justice reform a focus of his family’s foundation. He also serves as the chairman of Hudson River Park Friends and sits on the boards of NYU Langone Medical Center, Princeton Varsity Club, Jazz Foundation of America, and Artists for Peace and Justice. Michael received an AB in Economics from Princeton University and served as a helicopter pilot in the US Army.

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The transcript of this episode can be found here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

#451: Mike Novogratz on Investing, Bitcoin, Ayahuasca, and Running Through The Sahara Desert

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SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…

Want to hear another conversation with an investor who’s got his mind on more than the market? Listen in on my interview with Howard Marks in which we discuss the secret formula to getting along with business partners, turning dumb money into smart money, why it’s not what you buy but what you pay, measuring the intrinsic value of cryptocurrency, and much more.

#338: Howard Marks — How to Invest with Clear Thinking

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

Connect with Mike Novogratz:

Galaxy Digital | Twitter

The Bail Project
Hudson River Park Friends
NYU Langone Medical Center
Princeton Varsity Club
Jazz Foundation of America
Artists for Peace and Justice
A Sidelined Wall Street Legend Bets on Bitcoin | The New Yorker
Speed Racer | Prime Video
Fred Segal
Princeton University
The P-rade | Princetoniana
Mike Novogratz | National Wrestling Hall of Fame
What is a Redshirt? | The Recruiting Code
Beat the Streets
Fortress’ Novogratz ‘Wrestles’ With Olympic Committee | CNBC
Presidents Have Long Wrestling History | National Wrestling Hall of Fame
Goldman Sachs
Sierra Tucson
Crisis Communication: Lessons from 9/11 | Harvard Business Review
Eurodollar | Investopedia
US Treasury Contract Explorer | Data Lab
Fortress Investment Group
Marathon Des Sables (The Marathon of the Sands)
Complacent Investors At Morgan’s Lyford Gathering Could Lead To Sudden Downturn | Seeking Alpha
Ten Famous Things Napoleon Bonaparte Never Said | War History Online
‘The Last Dance’ — The Untold Story of Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls | ESPN
What Does It Mean to Be Long or Short a Derivative? | Investopedia
Bitcoin
Paul Tudor Jones Buys Bitcoin with Reminder of Gold in 1970s | Bloomberg
Bitcoin Endorsed by Top Hedge Fund Manager | Financial Times
What Is ‘The Halvening’? | Bitcoin Magazine
TD Ameritrade
Charles Schwab
Coinbase
Square
Robinhood
Collibra
Memento | Prime Video
Pretty in Pink | Prime Video
Army West Point Athletics
Changing the Way the World Tackles Poverty | Acumen
To Tackle the World’s Big Problems, This Is the Kind of Imagination You Must Have | Jacqueline Novogratz, Ideas.TED.com
Jacqueline Novogratz: Inspiring a Life of Immersion | TED Talk
Manifesto for a Moral Revolution: Practices to Build a Better World by Jacqueline Novogratz
What Brownies Do | Girl Scouts
Equal Justice Initiative
Smith Street Tattoo Parlour
The Wild History Behind Traditional Panther Tattoos | Tattoodo
What Is Ayahuasca? Experience, Benefits, and Side Effects | Healthline
The College of Education Commencement and Teacher Education Program Recognition Ceremony | University of Iowa
Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy (Resources) | tim.blog
Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland | Disney Video
99 Zen Koans | AshidaKim.com
Egoscue Institute
Bryan Stevenson: We Need to Talk About an Injustice | TED Talk
The Bronx Defenders
A New ‘Birth of a Nation’ Dredges Up the Complicated, Ugly Legacy of the Groundbreaking 1915 Film | Los Angeles Times
Ethereum
Wampum Resurfaces as Bitcoin | The East Hampton Star
Build Your Own 2020 G 550 SUV | Mercedes-Benz USA
Galaxy Gives
International Incarceration Comparisons | Prison Policy Initiative
Reform Alliance
A State-by-State Look at Coronavirus in Prisons | The Marshall Project
Robin Steinberg: What If We Ended the Injustice of Bail? | TED Talk
Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff: How We Can Make Racism a Solvable Problem — and Improve Policing | TED Talk
Jared Kushner’s Felon Father Brought Two Fellow Inmates Into Company | Bloomberg
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre
The Confessions of Saint Augustine: Book VIII | Sacred Texts
The 4 Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat Loss, Incredible Sex and Becoming Superhuman by Timothy Ferriss

SHOW NOTES

Clearing up two burning questions: what are Mike’s Speed Racer pants, and has he ever piloted a helicopter down Prospect Avenue? [06:57]
What was Mike’s Princeton experience like? [09:27]
Athleticswise, what flipped for Mike in his junior year? [11:34]
What part has wrestling played — and continues to play — in Mike’s life? [12:39]
How did Mike work his way through a particularly painful part of his journey — when he thought, after resigning from Goldman Sachs, his life was over at age 33? [14:00]
What did Mike’s routine look like between rehab and ringing the bell after not working for almost six years? Did he change any habits in particular? [22:38]
Mike may not consider himself the smartest guy in the room, but his intuition might make him one of the luckiest. [26:43]
How has Mike learned to discern intuition and pattern recognition from irrational confidence? [29:16]
Why does Mike consider himself the Forrest Gump of Bitcoin, and how does his speculation over cryptocurrency differ from that of fellow investor Paul Tudor Jones? [35:10]
Putting on the Nostradamus hat, where does Mike see Bitcoin going over the next 12 months? [38:48]
Growing up in a family of strong personalities, what was Mike’s childhood like? [40:54]
Who is Jacqueline Novogratz? [45:01]
Does Mike think the pressure he’s felt to excel comes from having so many high-achieving people in his family? [48:31]
Mike describes the not-so-small tattoo on his forearm. [51:57]
Why did Mike decide to include an experience with ayahuasca in a commencement speech he recently gave at the University of Iowa? [53:32]
As someone with a competitive drive, how has Mike learned to be more forgiving of himself when he doesn’t come in first place? [57:21]
What advice does Mike think his older self, 10-20 years from now, might give to his current self? [1:03:02]
How did Mike come to be so passionate about criminal justice reform? [1:05:10]
Interested in learning more about criminal justice reform and why it’s so important? Here are a few jumping-off points Mike recommends. [1:12:50]
What books has Mike given often as gifts? [1:14:55]
How does Mike refocus when he’s feeling overwhelmed? [1:16:30]
Favorite quotations. [1:18:28]
What investment of money, time, energy, or other resources has been Mike’s most worthwhile? [1:20:08]
Parting thoughts. [1:21:49]

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