Altimeter (with Brad Gerstner)

We hear a lot these days about hedge funds becoming venture firms, and venture firms becoming hedge funds. But a decade before either of those approaches became mainstream, a tiny $3m fund in Boston named Altimeter Capital set out simply to invest in a concentrated portfolio of America’s very best technology companies, regardless if they were public or private. Today that tiny firm has grown to nearly $15B under management and become a premier “capital partner” to founders at all but the very earliest stages - companies like Snowflake, Facebook, Roblox, Plaid, Grab and Acquired fan-favorite Modern Treasury. We sit down with founder & CEO Brad Gerstner to dive into the story behind Altimeter’s meteoric rise.
This episode has video! You can watch it on Spotify (right in the main podcast interface) or on KZbin.
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Sponsors:
Thank you to our presenting sponsor for all of Season 10, Vanta! Vanta is the leader in automated security compliance - making SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, and more a breeze for startups and organizations of all sizes. You might say they’re like the “AWS of security and compliance”. Everyone in the Acquired community can get 10% off using this link: bit.ly/acquiredvanta
Thank you as well to Vouch and to SoftBank Latin America. You can learn more about them at:
bit.ly/acquired-vouch
bit.ly/acquiredsoftbanklatam
Carve Outs:
Brad’s Twitter thread on Invest America: altcap/status/134...
‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

[@justinpfortier]

Thesis driven investors make for the best interview IMO. This rocked. So good.

[@alexNGMI]

thankful for the people chamath has introduced me to, like david friedberg and brad gerstner.

[@TheMccormjx]

Brad is what is right with America. Great story on the pod. And makes you hopeful

[@Alew8]

Phenomenal content

[@simonnilsson5356]

Incredible. Some people are different.

[@tobennaikejiani9583]

Great podder!

[@franciscoh.demello6518]

Brad sounds incredibly like Matthew McConaughey’s voice/diction twin. I kept imagining him saying alright alright alright lolololol

[@phemartin]

Looks like he's more pumped about InvestAmerica than Altimeter. I'd love it if he could take this idea further!

[@williamchurch711]

My favorite investor currently

[@oc5685]

for next similar shooting would be good if you can fit you all in one frame - gives more of a conversation vibe rather than just switching images - like how you did in the ACQ Session with Calacanis!

[@jordanjackson7171]

excellent interview

[@armandobraun5235]

Ah, you didn't circle back on the investments along Ted Weschler... would have been great to hear that.

[@djrosent]

Ah we did -- it's Snowflake! We just forgot to say that was it. :)

[@harmhoeks5996]

@@djrosent why positive on Snowflake?

[@Yi-fr3gt]

✌✌✌