The Value of Stories in Business | Aswath Damodaran | Talks at Google

The world of investing/finance is divided into two camps. In one, you have the number-crunchers, who believe that the only things that matter are the numbers and that imagination/creativity are dangerous distractions. In the other, you have the storytellers, who build on the stories they tell about companies and how these stories will bring untold wealth. Each side believes it has a monopoly on the truth and looks with contempt at the other. Prof. Damodaran contends that stories matter, but only if they are connected with numbers. And numbers are empty, unless they are connected with narratives. In this talk, he looks at the process by which one might build narratives, check them against reality and convert them into valuations. Uber and Ferrari examples are used to illustrate the process.
Slides for the talk: goo.gl/zKVaQL
Check out the book on Google Play: goo.gl/tnGlDe
This talk was moderated by Saurabh Madaan.

[@presley492]

The most important thing that should be on everyone mind currently should be to invest in different sources of income that doesn't depend on the government. Especially with the current economic crisis around the word. This is still a good time to invest in various stocks, Gold, silver and digital currencies.

[@candideharrison5568]

That's so true. but if i may ask, do you trade all by yourself?

[@presley492]

I have been investing in stocks for over 10 years now and I have made a lot of money. My portfolio has grown exponentially and I can't thank stocks & TERESA JENSEN WHITE enough for such an amazing way to make money!

[@susannabruemmer3683]

Is she on youtube, please how do I find her?

[@presley492]

*TERESA JENSEN WHITE,* that's her official page name you can do a web search to get in touch with her

[@susannabruemmer3683]

Wow! I just looked up this person out of curiosity and I'm super impressed with her qualifications. Thanks for sharing.

[@saurebh8109]

*This man is Underappreciated.*

[@flytoy77]

But the waves he is creating, gonna change the world by some hands

[@stephenobelisomeday]

You can say that again

[@salvationinabottle5722]

And again

[@euming]

Damodaran is a brilliant eloquent speaker. This talk was a joy to watch. It was like watching a stand-up comedy show plus a gripping documentary all at the same time!

[@dragaashenoak5338]

0

[@aks957]

Great Prof. Great content. What is most impressive is with hardly any audience ( almost empty) a World Renowned Prof has the same passion and energy as if it were his MBA class at Stern with 300 students.

[@Aman13579]

I made a similar comment on the other google talk by him :)

[@Milindriify]

I wish a teacher like YOU. I can feel your Investing's passion. Thanks you for all the knowledge you share for free! Nobel Prize!!!

[@AIwithOksana]

This is the best valuation explanation I’ve ever heard

[@BMJC99]

His lecture is so interesting that I have to make sure I understand every word, so I searched Bambi's mothers death, now i regret it

[@ibrahimnadeem1064]

We are same bro❤

[@JR-ly6bx]

love his passion for valuation and his profession, with his accomplishments and his name he should be a managing director of some PE or VC firms collecting millions

[@Amoney1827]

You are out of your mind if you think he doesn't make millions already

[@notebookled]

I think he would be a very bad investor and he also said that about himself. Pricing is not valuation, he mentioned that in his last google talk and he's absolutely right.

[@Trenacetate43]

@@Amoney1827 How you know if he already made millions? not every academics is going to be a good professional, a lot of good professors fail miserably in professional world, most of those that can succeed don't even care about money. Professors make around 150-400 k a year, not more than that. Last time I checked his linkedin, he never worked for the finance industry. He started teaching at NYU after he got his PhD and had been doing that ever since.

[@FinanceAcademy7799]

He is a billionaire. We just need to wait for the market to correct itself.

[@wnuoyi1118]

You don’t have the right to say what this amazing guru “should” be doing. Who do you think you are? I think you should widen your vision

[@InJunoWeTrust]

Can't believe I am just discovering this guy now. He is wonderful and kept me engaged right at the start.

[@jorgipogi]

He saw the light. I remember watching his podcast and it was all about numbers and no context. Now, he is there.

[@dinanyandoro5795]

Great storyteller and that comes through in his presentation. Stories shape us because they inform us of the value of things within us and around us. Admirable teacher and something to aspire to in myself : the art of story telling

[@MihirrPanchaal]

Of course I loved your talk about valuation, but the thing that will stay with me is your message about faith in your own convictions.

[@NihalRanjan]

Professor Damodharan dissect valuation in terms that can be understood by anyone. Thanks for enlightening world and me

[@JapaneseStockInvestor]

Thanks Aswath Damodaran. You are great.

[@djepifanio8901]

Hi Mr. Damodaran. As Brazilian and also passionate about valuation, let me congrats you on the brilliant lecture. I hope you come to Brazil soon to share your thoughts with us.

[@alexi2460]

He's brilliant and fun, what else can one ask for

[@codyzanderson]

"valuation is the bridge between stories and numbers"

[@shankerpai5052]

What happens if you break a bridge or story or numbers ? Destruction ..construction

[@osamaa.h.altameemi5592]

This is pure gold.

[@Being_Unidirectional]

This man is a gem... He made me watch such a boring unheard subject for the while 1.5 hour with such zeal & enthusiasm to teach

[@CJinsoo]

what an insightful and apparently transparent and kind teacher and investor. his thoughtfulness and insights are hard to match.

[@24Elliottwaves]

Yes, the story and numbers must be combined in a timely fashion to profit in the financial markets. I am glad that @Aswath is banging on it throughout this amazing tutorial. The funny thing is that people often spend like ten minutes to watch a valuable free tutorial like this one instead of watching it in full.

[@pasticcinideliziosi1259]

you can see that like 9/10 of people just skipped to the parts where it spoke about specific companies, and only 1/10 watched it in full. So sad that all these people are losing such an opportunity to learn these things

[@sundaradiseshan7277]

Ashwath has added substance to the world of Valuation by making it Number Crunching with Narrative support.

[@paolobernardi6835]

As someone who has picked businesses apart for 30 years and still tries to understand and value them, I find his lectures absolutely great. I don’t always agree with everything he says. But the point is to always read and listen critically to everything. And change your mind if facts tell you that you are not right. He is a true teacher. 👏

[@TheNavinsamuel]

One of the most amazing lectures given at Google, among the many. Prof Aswath is simply brilliant!

[@ankitkalavagunta8951]

The best talk on investing ever! Loved his sense of humor and his passion for the field is incredibly contagious.

[@elainajohn8654]

love his passion for valuation and his profession, with his accomplishments and his name he should be a managing director of some PE or VC firms collecting millions

[@nikhilkalasala9128]

Damodaran..... Valued like a pro

[@prateeksaini4812]

I love the energy and the examples used by the prof. We grew up using your books and now learning from you on youtube channel is a blessing. Thanks for sharing this information.

[@jonweber8778]

Remarkable....as smart as this professor is, distills and validates the requirement of imagination, fun, satire etc.., to leverage the mortar in the brick....be great if all managers would take a page from his unique perspective....a number is an endpoint, the inputs are the dark energy yet so much "coaching" at management/leadership levels centers on the sophomoric fossilization of the end....wow...has changed my education path relative to how I think, speakers I am gravitated towards....awesome

[@beautydoctorcardiff]

Amazing, love every minute thanks for the share

[@jimmyfortef3674]

Great lecture, would love to be in his class

[@MihirrPanchaal]

Venerable Mr. Damodaran. Thank you for this talk.

[@tcharles8172]

I enjoyed your presentation! Thank you for sharing passion. You are an inspiration!!!

[@elainajohn8654]

GREAT talk. This gave me more new information and ideas to consider than 10 talks on value investing would have.

[@dheerajmaske1194]

you have became a good story teller from number cruncher that's how you have given the speech.

[@C_R_O_M________]

The lesson with Valeant is that immorality ALWAYS ends up bankrupt (and that’s where I fundamentally disagree with the professor - and I agree with Buffet when he said “looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.” This goes for investing and management/owners. Therefore primarily look for descent/driven people to invest into. A way to know this is to look back at conference call transcripts and see whether these people have actually did what they said they will do or do they always find excuses to cover their mistakes/inadequacy or even deceit.

[@paradevparadev5371]

He is great teacher, i was seeing all his videos, wonderful free knowledge

[@roberts7608]

This is one of the video i would like to watch it again and again

[@Mztbtc]

So glad this is available

[@Aman13579]

His sense of humor is great as well. One does not feel a generational gap while hearing to him.

[@arunsreenivasan4746]

It is just amazing the way he distinguishes a good business and bad business. 🙏

[@parthadlakha1641]

moderator did a good job as well and what to say about damodaran, just a legend

[@amilrahman]

Every word is gold standard !!!!!!

[@l.s.754]

Aswath is brilliant thinker.

[@davidlebese644]

The passion is on the other level. Wow!

[@Jay.05]

Funnier than stand up and informative too !!

[@jaigurudevkishorekumar]

Essentially logic & emotion.. Numbers & story

[@erwinargoismanto8348]

He is a wise teacher for sure in investment world

[@brianfollendorf168]

This was amazingly informative and I loved every second of this. Thank you!

[@debasishraychawdhuri]

There should be a love sign for videos.

[@MrPranab2011]

I am glued thru the whole video.. Thankz a lot for video.. This art is missing in corporate guys and in universities.. They have more mechanical approach, doesn't cover the underlying

[@ItzGanked]

Great content from Damodaran par usual, I know valuing and pricing are different, but look at NFLX now I think it is overvalued, but modeling these things is so difficult. Maybe this discipline will find more value in more difficult times, people are ignorant in late cycle booms. Time to put blinders on and make money

[@infavorofdemocracy5770]

So eloquent...

[@wm6549]

Great talk. I especially liked the Q&A session at the end.

[@NeyVasconcellosJr]

Great as always

[@quant-trader-010]

This is gold!

[@deepakchapagain1360]

Excellent talk for valuation.

[@paradevparadev5371]

Pranaam guruji

[@ramyasri6093]

Wonderful talk... And too much knowledge

[@arungadre5805]

great talk

[@GeraBizuneh]

Captivating !!!

[@afrianespratama2677]

so fascinating!

[@jimboford9504]

Very important talk!

[@rms4621]

Wow so much valuable info thanks google!!

[@ghaffarellis]

That was fulfilling!

[@yusufsamad9764]

Fantastic video with some very deep stuff on why investing is fun

[@pmkshameer]

Great talk!!

[@ModusTraveller]

One of most valuable videos about investing :) Thank you :)

[@masisoganesyan9048]

Amazing professor

[@non5309]

Как же интересно он рассказывает!

[@jacksonkamungu5387]

Thank you.

[@Being_Unidirectional]

Few days into him & such priceless insights.... Surely TIME is limited bt Life is not... Should explore bfor anyway get old n RIP😶‍🌫

[@rakeshtanwar2954]

Amazing.... ❤

[@sudhirnirvana]

Tight storytelling 🙌🏻 very much enjoyed the lecture

[@oah8465]

Apart from the awesome valuation talk, the Gale-Shapley algorithm (mother of all match-making) still rules. Again, fantastic talk professor.

[@alexoswaldoestradasteiger400]

I really enjoyed that talk

[@mohammadsaeed3494]

Very informative & interesting.Thanks !

[@shankerpai5052]

"It's got to come from within " prof aswath damidaran

[@vkmohanan1597]

The VolksWagon Car symbol (vw) is ideal for Prof.Damodaran as "Valuationguru of the World"!

[@johnalmeida1483]

Some great nuggets...Looking at re-investment beyond capex

[@susydyson1750]

Excellent Talk !

[@goulchat1]

Excellent lecture!

[@Hsinkuang]

He is very true about luck !

[@jaigurudevkishorekumar]

Possible, plausible, probable - brilliant

[@srimaldemel4381]

We who look for certainty found the reality of uncertainty in valuations and resultant prices

[@DomAviationChannel]

Should be a must watch fof founders and start up teams :-)

[@elainajohn8654]

The best talk on investing ever! Loved his sense of humor and his passion for the field is incredibly contagious.

[@NourLababidi]

Thank you

[@tomr6955]

📁 2020 📁 Stories 📁 The Fed 📁 Numbers ⚠️ *This Folder Is Empty*

[@shankerpai5052]

" Know ...you never know ..( accounting is comfortable ) There is no confirmation mechanism in valuation . " prof aswath damodaran

[@user-gv7pu2mp7l]

Great Talk! That being said, 36:00 But the 29 year old kid from your class in 2015 who picked NFLX is spot on with the price projection for 2025 is going to be from $120 to $500. His share price projection target reached in less than 5 Years, EOY 2020 was $543.00. It was an IMPOSSIBLE then but now it is PROBABLE. Video streaming giant Netflix had a total net income of over 2.76 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, whilst the company's annual revenue reached 25 billion U.S. dollars.

[@user-rf5df8ki9d]

Pixar book, 1. Creativity Inc, 2. To Pixar and beyond, 3. Pixar Storytelling, rules for effective... I guess it is the third one？ I have one that's worth reading 《STORY: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting》

[@sundeepsingla2299]

Impressed

[@semihaksoy8182]

The story is something like PEST and SWOT analysis

[@brendansmith7842]

35:45 well, netflix is $512 now. Not 600b revenue , but 20b. I guess we could say netflix is very overvalued? So the share price wasnt impossible... but the valuation seems to be way out of whack, they also have 200m subscribers ,not 6b.

[@yashagar4443]

Awesome

[@jamesdean44775]

4:00 👌

[@down2rock]

I love this man. $$$

[@hireshtrivedi9731]

So, ommpa-lumpa valuations, I guess only relying on setting aside money from revenue/capital wouldnt do so, should we factor in another round of investment, dilution of equity? etc I understand its highly speculative, but idk, may be we can avg the numbers in growth young companies in same sector

[@Er.Sunil.Pedgaonkar]

Valuation of physical assets should be done only by Registered Engineer-cum-Valuer of concerned discipline -market value matters, depreciation taken into account alongwith market characteristics & environment.This is required while buying, selling, liquidation, bankruptcy,tender floating & alloting,auction,court suits,court orders. Also valuation of Co. must have seal& signature of CA/CPA. Others not allowed

[@aljacksonartist]

I think story valuation is how to see a product the way the end buyer sees it. Apple and Nike may be the best at creating an image for their products that appeals to end buyers. While Nike and Puma are essentially the same shoe, buyers 'think' the Nike shoes is better. Michael Jordan uses them, Tiger woods uses them, the shoes are filmed beautiful and perform fabulously on the world's greatest sports stages. Apple does the same. It creates for the buyer an image this is the computer that hitory's greatest innovators would use. Plus the cinematography, brand packaging and hardware design looks far cooler, more modern than any PC or other brand's smartphone. The word is "aspirational." Apple and Nike make buyer "aspire" to be like the people who use these brands. Winners, geniuses and coolness. Intangible assets with immeasurable value. The very reason these two companies soar ahead of their competitors.

[@nickvoutsas5144]

It’s so weird your predictions or Tesla’s stock market valuation sounds more true than the actual high stock that Tesla is priced at in 2021. Life is sometimes so unpredictable.