Investor Interview: Prashant Sharma
Watch the full interview below.
Prashant Sharma has extensive experience in the venture capital space. He worked on Microsoft’s venture business, and now he is currently the Head of Developer Experience at Qualcomm. He is also a venture partner at Mindset Ventures.
Chris Carsley, our Chief Investment Officer, had a very candid conversation with Prashant, ranging from his background and experience as a Microsoft executive, to his current investment thesis, why he invested in the Kirkland Income Fund, and a lot more.
Video Highlights:
Prashant's background as an employee, venture capitalist and real estate investor.
How Chris and Prashant met.
How he came to invest in the Kirkland Income Fund.
How his investment philosophy has changed in the past couple of years.
What he sees is happening in the Venture Capital world.
Why he chose to diversify his portfolio with Real Estate.
“I’m more intentional about looking hard at my portfolio and figuring out what I want to stay invested in and where should I consolidate. I think the last two or three years have really taught me to ask ‘Do I truly believe in X, Y, Z as an organization from an equity spread standpoint?’ And the thinking is, if I look at the next 5, 10, 15 years, would I be happy owning that piece of business?”
“Market upsets are always very, very, painful on many, many fronts but a lot of good has come out of that as well. Obviously a lot of shenanigans and people who were Ponzi schemes got the light shown on them in 2008. I mean, that’s one good thing that came out of that.”
Watch the full video below.
Transcript
Chris: Hello everybody. I'm Chris Carsley from Kirkland Capital Group and I'm here with Prashant Sharma. Um, who I think we met when I invited you to speak at a CAIA event and I can't remember, you were with Microsoft Yeah, yeah. On the venture side. Um, so we'll talk a little bit more about that and some of your background, but thank you for joining us.
Prashant: Absolutely.
Chris: Um, I'd love for you to kind of, uh, tell the audience a little bit more about yourself. Uh, you're, you know, obviously you live sight
h you know, not in Seattle, but on the other side of the pond. Um, and a little bit about how you got here, you know, your work experience and you know what you're doing now.
Prashant: Absolutely. Um, thanks Chris for inviting me. I think this is fascinating, uh, to, I can't imagine where I think we met seven years roughly, six or seven years, and I think, uh, I thought it's gonna be a transactional opportunity where you get invited to industry events and you talk about venture and venture capital was new.
Microsoft was just about getting into the space. It's gonna last not beyond that occasion, and then we obviously remained in touch, being connected. So I'm coming back to your question. I was born and raised in India, studied in the northern part of India, then traveled all around, lived in Mumbai, and spent a lot of time in Bangalore, which is in the Southern part of India.
Chris: Mm-hmm.
Prashant: Probably about, I covered roughly about 15 of the 25 states that India has. Then, um, um, I joined Microsoft in 2005, but prior to that, I spent some time in New York, uh, very working very closely with hedge funds and the financial district.
Chris: What specifically?
Prashant: I was with Sibu.
Chris: Oh, okay.
Prashant: And we used to provide consulting services to, um, healthcare and financial services. I was focused on the financial services center. This was the 2002 and three and then in 2005 went back to India yeah. Uh, Microsoft was setting up a new office and a new office in both Bangalore and Hyderabad so spent some time there.
And then 2014, 2015 is when, um, We decided there was, there was the opportunity to, uh, lead Microsoft's venture business and the start of acceleration business in Seattle. It was a new endeavor. And then, um, someone that I worked with in the past, in Bangalore, he asked me if I would be interested in this opportunity.
Have never worked on the mothership before. Um, I never had the experience of working in headquarters and I thought it would be a good experience. So 2015 is when we relocated. Over to Seattle Redwood actually. So that's where we, that's where we live today. Right across the Microsoft campus. And then, uh, did a bunch of things.
Was part of the, the, the, the accelerators part of the ventures business. I was the global CTO for, uh, the accelerator, uh, part of, uh, business development. I did developer experience and developer relations. So that lasted roughly about seven years, and I took a break, um, moved to another really, really small company in 2020, at the end of 2020, um, Wix.
Um, I was leading their developer relations team, helping them understand what it takes to be a developer first as an organization. And then, um, uh, very, uh, very, very recently, um, now I'm part of Qualcomm and, uh, Qualcomm, the semiconductor maker, um, and I am helping them, uh, imagine developer experience, developer first engagement, um, for all kinds of development. Machine learning, robotics, AI, um, automotive developers, um, traditional handset, as, as a business, and everything in the middle industrial IoT and so on and so forth.
So it's been the last six months with Qualcomm enjoying it. And then, um, on the side, I'm also a venture partner with a venture capital firm called Mindset Matches. They are, uh, Brazilian fund operating in the US and Israel. Those are primary markets that we focus on and, um, help them with technical due diligence, deal flow, introductions, and basically deploying my network for our portfolio companies.
Chris: What's their focus? I mean, I mean, there's a lot in venture these days, lots of things where people sort of say, we're gonna specialize in certain areas where, where are they focused on.
Prashant: So mostly SaaS, uh, marketplaces. Uh, we recently launched our Web 3 focus fund as well, so it's a, it's a pure focus on Web 3.
Um, so we look at, we look at a bunch of deals, but I think mostly SaaS, healthcare, marketplaces, those are areas and then, Startups and companies that are looking to move beyond geographies. So if you want to expand to South America as a business, you want to expand to Israel, you want to expand to the east, I think that's where uh, we come and our experience comes in handy to these.
So we are essentially the extended distribution mechanism arm for them, and um, yeah, I think,
Chris: Well, that's great for the listeners. So you just heard it right here. If you're needing any of those things, um, obviously I'm in real estate, but if you're looking for some of that exposure, you know, uh, you reach out to Prashant, you can find his access.
If you can't, um, reach out to me. Love to make intros if there's business to be had there. So that's great. Let's shift a little bit, um, cuz obviously we're talking about some of investing today. Been some interesting times of late in 2022 and uh, into 23, but let's back up. How did you get into investing?
What, what, what was that sort of driving like when was that first time I got, I gotta learn how to do this? Or was it sort of a passion for you?
Prashant: I think what happened was, uh, there were two triggers. The first trigger was mostly in technology, your wealth creation is essentially locked in the equity that the company assigns you.
And then equity has its volatility and it has its own cycle. The fact that on Great Times it's amazing how things were a couple of years back. And then you start looking at it and then you, you believe you are not diversified enough, then you start thinking about what else can you do? So I think that I've been reading enough about alternate investing and the biggest problem is do you trust a platform or a, or an individual?
And then there are, there are lots of Ponzi schemes that a lot of people will show you percent, 15% a year like clockworks and then you think like, Nah, this can't be true. There is something going on there. And I think I started reading as much as I could. And then I think going back to what I said earlier you and I met 7 or 8 years back, you invited me over, uh, for the Alternative Investment forum and then I think, uh, I learned a lot interacting with you.
Um, you have this amazing ability to deploy information in the easiest way possible for the dumbest of listeners like me.
Chris: I, I, I try, trust me, um, my partner Brock is always, uh, texting me in the middle of conversations of, Hey, uh, no one knows what you're talking about. Back up.
Prashant: No, no. That's not, I, I, at least I, I understood and I was pretty early in my understanding of Alternative investing.
So I think, um, I remember you forwarded me a bunch of, Articles and I read a lot, and then you shared links, YouTube videos, and whatnot. And I think, um, at some stage, I felt you always came across as a person who was not trying to sell me anything. You were not saying, Prashant, come invest, and here's what I'm doing, and here's our fund, and here's our returns.
You, you never publicized or you were not selling it to me. You were like, I'm, you were, you were informing me. You were informing my decision-making. And I would ask you questions and I think I asked you for intros and you introduced me to people that you knew, but not even once, there was you, and you had the opportunity. You had multiple opportunities, opportunities to do that, but you did not. You chose not to. And I think that has been fairly consistent, and that's when I decided that I need to diversify. I think you would've,
Chris: Well, I remember some of those conversations and you were asking for things that I didn't do.
Prashant: Yeah.
Chris: So I wanted to give you the information.
Prashant: Exactly.
Chris: And I wanted to make the introductions to you. You said you could go get that. Yeah. And then when you're like, okay, you know, I do need something that's gonna be on the other end of the spectrum, the risk spectrum, and I was like, okay, now I can tell you what I'm really doing because you know, I, I don't want to, I want to talk to you about something that you're not actually looking for.
Prashant: Exactly.
Chris: Because I don't know your portfolio. I mean, it's important that anybody you're working within the financial advisor world, they should be doing a lot more listening and supplying the information you're asking about rather than trying to like, Hey, overload you with information or share things that you're not looking for.
Prashant: And I think none of that was ever conditioned where neither were you selling, nor did I commit that, Hey Chris, if you can do this one little thing for me, then you know I'm gonna come back and, you know, invest in the fund. Never was the case. And I think that's where I sort of developed that trust. Uh, I can trust you with my money, hard-earned money, and I think you'll do a good job.
I think you are probably more transparent than I expected. To me, I think you're over-transparent, which is a good thing.
Chris: If you could be over transparent in this, in this world.
Prashant: You don't have,
Chris: I might share more information than you care to hear, but it's like, okay, I wanna make sure there's, you can never come back and say, oh, I didn't know that, or You never talked about that.
Um, because you never really know. And what 2022 and 23 have shown us is you never know how nasty that pitcher's curve ball's gonna be. And sometimes, you know, in my history, it's always be prepared for what you don't see coming. Um, I have a saying of, you know, if you're worried about what's gonna get you next, it's not the dog you're looking at that's gonna bite you.
It's the dog you don't see is what I always say. And that's where it's like, well, I might be, you know, that over transparency is, you know, I laugh cuz I get that from a lot of people. Some investors are like Chris, we really don't need to talk this much. You, you, you supplied enough information.
Prashant: Yeah, but don't use that dog analogy because dogs usually don't, I mean, they're nice. Replace it.
Chris: Oh yeah. If you find yourself in that situation. But, um, no, I mean, so, well, let's shift a little bit. We've had, some interesting and troubling times for a lot of people. Um, How has that shifted a little bit about what you were looking for diversifying away from some of your equity and venture exposure?
Um, and you, you've done that, talk about some of the things you've changed, but also if you could kind of talk a little bit about, well, what's changed if anything in the last couple years, um, we've, we've had a lot of, like I said, um, A meteoric rise of interest rates faster than anyone's ever seen. I mean, that's really caught a lot of people off guard.
Um, and, you know, talk a little bit of how, what you're looking for and how that's changed in your sort of investment outlook and where do you see the challenges, man, you know, what, what are the questions and challenges you're sort of thinking about right now, even in your own list?
Prashant: I think, uh, I have, and I think, yeah, I probably used to do that, but I'm more intentional about looking.
How did your portfolio and figuring out what you wanna stay invested in and where should we consolidate? I think the last two, or three years have really taught two years, really taught where do I truly believe in X, Y, Z as an organization from an equity spread standpoint and thinking is if I followed the next 5, 10, 15 years, would I be happier owning that piece of business?
And in some cases, you look at it and you're like, no, this industry. And sometimes you look at how the industry reached its majority, and if it has, it's downhill from there on and then, you know, pull that out and then go back and reinvest and deploy to places where, um, you believe the opportunity lies for the next few years.
I think, um, being somewhat on the leading edge of technology in my space, both as. As an employee with a large tech firm, but also working on the venture investment side gives you a good flavor of where the technology is heading so you can somehow see a little ahead of many other people. So I think for me, that consolidation has been, has been effective and I think I have begun to think more seriously about alternate investing and real estate.
Chris: Mm-hmm.
Prashant: And more just, Being myopic about the Pacific Northwest because Seattle and, and, and it's, and it's, uh, and its surrounding area is, is in a bubble itself. Then you start looking beyond that and see. So I think some of that has been, uh, shifted how I would approach investments, how I would approach long-term value creation.
And I think that's where I would lean on you, reach out to you. Tactically, or, you know, thinking, Hey, what do you think of this? And then, you know, he will come back to me with six reasons why I should and shouldn't consider. Along with a long way where you say, okay, don't trust me, but trust these independent sources of information.
Chris: The economist on this hand, it works this way on this hand, it doesn't work.
Prashant: So I think that's been a change, and I think the last couple of years truly have been challenging, irrespective of what your, uh, your economic situation is. It has impacted less or more. I think it has impacted everyone in one shape or form, and I think it's also driven by the fact that we all have these scars emerging from COVID, which we do not realize being fully logged down for year, year and a half.
I think the psychological effect of it will only be visible in years to come. It takes a long time to overcome that while people felt you were comfortable working from home.
Chris: Mm-hmm.
Prashant: Show up for a meeting in your pajamas. It has no impact, on, on individuals, but it does. So I think that coupled with the economic, uh, downturn in the last, uh, year or so year, year and a half, and I think you look at crypto and you look at, you know, the bubble burst.
Um, it's, and I think we are still, we are still in the woods. I think it's gonna be, it's gonna be a while before things truly recover. Um, so yeah.
Chris: So you're, you're not falling into a lot of venture guys. I talked to them, I think it's a wish rather than a, in reality, the Fed has to lower rates, it's, it's, it has to drop rates.
And, and I and I think that they're a little biased based on that's what they want to have to happen.
Prashant: Yes.
Chris: Rather than what might actually happen.
Prashant: True.
Chris: Um, and if you're believing in that, I mean, well, what adjustments are you making? I mean, even, you can talk a little bit about the venture world. You can talk about some of your personal investments and sort of outlook.
I mean, if you think you're going to, you know, how are you thinking about that as that challenge of or Right, things are gonna be more expensive for a longer period of time.
Prashant: Yeah. And that's where you start prioritizing what you need and what you want. So I think that clarity, I believe a lot of people do have today, where, what can you not spend your money on today?
I mean, long term there is optimism. There is, there is no, there is no denying that in the coming few years and for a few decades, hopefully, things will be, generally speaking, for people belonging to a certain profession and certain domain, they will continue to prosper.
Chris: Mm-hmm.
Prashant: When you start to think about what's short-term, what's long-term, what decisions you need to make.
So I think you kind of start figuring out that priority for yourself. Um, I do believe from a venture capital standpoint, Deals are at a more attractive valuation than they were. I have, I have, I have heard from very, very trusted sources about a year and a half back that companies have raised 50, 60, 100 million dollars on, on, on a product that hasn't really reached maturity or product market fit. And now I think there's some balance where truly good investors And truly good entrepreneurs are finding each other somewhere midway and, uh, there is less noise and there is, there are more signals.
So you, the deals are more attractive, both primary and secondary. And then, uh, deals are more attractive at the venture stage. Uh, so I do believe that, uh, that's a good sign. The flip side, money is hard to raise, uh, both for the VC funds. Uh, Not just for, uh, for, for entrepreneurs, but for VC funds. Um, I know of, I know of this, uh, this person that I met, high Net worth.
How do you classify High net worth or I don't know.
Chris: You'd give 'em ultra whatever you wanna call
Prashant: I met an individual who, uh, was on a road show to Sandhill Road, I think a couple of years back, went to a tier-one VC fund. And said I want to write $100 million for your fund. And they said sure you're in. The year is 2038. So they were kind of booked out all the way.
Chris: Wow.
Prashant: And that is no longer the reality. Tier one funds are still doing well. Most of the tier two, and tier three funds, with no thesis, and no discipline of investing, they kind of wiped out and evaporated. And that's true for startups as well. So you are finding that balance here. Entrepreneurs are rational about what they believe their company's worth, and, um, investors are rational about what they invest in because they're answerable to LPs on a daily basis of where are you deploying cash, what are you drawing the money for?
So all of those things are happening, uh, which I think is a net positive for the industry. Mm-hmm. Who's been burned has been burned, uh, those who have raised have raised. There is no way to go back to that. Then I think there is more rush, there is more rationality now than it was in the past.
Chris: Yeah. You always need these, uh, market upsets to kind of reset the mind.
Um, I mean, it's, it, it's happened before and so, I mean, there were many people in my previous career being in hedge funds, um, '08 it was very, very painful, uh, on many, many fronts, but a lot of good came out of that as well, where obviously a lot of shenanigans and people who were Ponzi schemes got the light shown on them.
I mean, that's a good thing that came out of there. Um, and you know, there's always a clearing of the deck. You had mentioned earlier, so I wanna go back to your earlier statements of like, yes, obviously you've got the venture, but you were looking more towards real estate as an added to your portfolio.
Yes. Obviously, real estate is a very diverse area. Where have you kind of focused or found what fits you? And you know, you don't have to mention any names but talk about some of the stuff that you've added to your portfolio up to this date.
Prashant: I think, um, it's mostly being, uh, multi-family homes.
Chris: Mm-hmm.
Prashant: That's been a very impressive space where I believe you can further diversify as opposed to single-family homes. That's been an area of focus for me. I also believe, um, this is one domain slash industry where true expertise is super hard to come and you don't really find people who are really knowledgeable about the space per se.
So I think finding out who those individuals are has been, for me, it has always been a personal journey of finding the right people. Because once you find the right people, they'll have the right business model. And they can educate your decision-making, and they can educate your process of investing. So as an example of your group, I think for me it was, it was, it was simple that I'll go to Chris, and Chris knows this.
Uh, now he has informed me. Now he has, everyone has blind spots, but he's far more aware of what he doesn't know. Sometimes you don't know what you don't know, but he is, clearly he knows his circle of competence and he knows what's outside and inside and finds the right people for help. So I think, uh, that has been, that has been interesting.
But coming back to your question, I think finding those right partners locally and beyond the Pacific Northwest has been, uh, has been important. And you, you made some connections as well for
Chris: Mm-hmm. Yep.
Prashant: Where, uh, I looked at individuals at the dam and somehow it becomes, can I use Mathematics in this concept of transitive trust where if Chris is making an intro, that's a valid intro.
So you cannot, cannot take it more, uh, seriously. And you, you feel you have done some level of vetting and then, you know, so I think that has been the process. But to be honest with you, um, I still believe I need to learn more. Again, you need to find trusted partners that you'll go down and do business with.
But then also, uh, you need to know more. You need to know enough that you can ask the right questions at that stage. But I think Multi Family Homes is basically what I'm thinking about next in terms of, uh, some long-term investments.
Chris: And obviously you are an investor in the Kirkland Income Fund. Um, and one of the things that was very interesting is, When we're talking about real estate, everyone immediately goes to equity.
Prashant: Yeah, yeah. True.
Chris: Um, and for me, being on the debt side, being lender into real estate, um, that's been an education for me of realizing, wait a second, I gotta be careful what I say, cuz there's, there's a general belief if someone talks about real estate, they're instantly assuming, you know, equity. But there is a very huge component.
And now, um, I've been in a series of events recently and it's amazing to see the demand for this private debt, um, supported by real assets. Right. And there are lots of different, I mean, I deal with just the private debt supported by, you know, real estate, but there are other versions of that, uh, even in the venture space.
Prashant: Yes.
Chris: Um, uh, we don't have time to go into that, but I know that's a really interesting space in a lot of open fields that have, uh, come around with recent banking problems. Um, but on the private debt, I just, I mean, other than me and you were like, okay. Hey, I, I kind of trust in this. From an investment standpoint, how are you looking at, okay, the private debt, why not venture debt?
Or maybe you have venture debt exposure as well. Why look at private debt in real estate in your mind when you were like, Hey, I'm, I'm gonna deploy money into this. Why?
Prashant: I think, uh, I think for me it was, you need to look at non-correlated events. You need to look at things which are uncorrelated and they have minimal dependencies. We have always loved businesses, which may sound boring to others, but then are solid. They have a solid foundation.
Chris: Mm-hmm.
Prashant: There is a method to doing it. And then you also realize there are super big companies and super big investment groups that are doing the big transactions.
There are banking sectors. There’s small traditional investment. It's, uh, the debt sector. Mm-hmm. Which is underserved, that there'll always be a market. Would it be a trillion-dollar market in the future? Who knows? But then
Chris: In aggregate, yeah, it's probably large, but yeah. And individual silos, probably,
Prashant: Probably not that big, but then they'll always be, be for this investment vehicle that caters to a certain segment, of commercial lending.
And I do believe, uh, just because it doesn't matter where S&P today is. It doesn't matter what Nikkei is doing. It doesn't matter what's happening to the crypto market. Someone comes to you renovating a property in Iowa for $300,000, has nothing to do with any of this.
Chris: Correct.
Prashant: They wanna renovate, they borrow.
Assuming they have, they have the right business fundamentals, and build the right thing for their business. They're gonna pay you back, and then they're gonna give you interest on top of it. So for me, the secret sauce here is who is validating and vetting those deals, which has been your group, probably over-conservative in some cases, but probably that's the right thing to do.
Um, so once you know that it is uncorrelated, with the rest of your exposure. Then those are simple decisions. Then, the principle is how much do you invest and what kind of risk exposure you want. Which by the way would like to expand beyond where I am today, in my existing investment.
Chris: Well, I'm just letting you know you're not in the investment world, but you're ahead of the curve from a lot of people who are in the investment world.
Understanding the idea of cross correlation and the impact of adding those niche alternatives to a broader portfolio and the risk-adjusted return impact of that.
Prashant: Exactly.
Chris: I mean, I know we've had that conversation a lot, but I still have those conversations, and uh, it's scary enough with some people.
Even in the business of managing other people's money. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, for the last 10 years, not many people have cared about Alternatives. It's, it's very, it's been a big pension endowment, institutional sort of investment platform. But that is changing. So, um, you need anybody who wants to talk about it.
Um, it's one of my big platforms. I'm out there trying to talk to anyone. He's like, Hey, I have questions about this. Um, you know, what are alternatives, how do they affect my portfolio? How should I think about those things? Yes. So, um, I'm shy and, you know,
Prashant: Not at all.
Chris: Not, not about even investing in my fund.
People just want to know, how should I think about this? Love to talk to 'em. Um, on that note, you said, Hey, there's always, you always gotta learn more. I totally agree. You can't know everything. Um, what are some of the biggest challenges and information or like the questions you have in today's, I, okay, I wish I had more information on this right now because this is what maybe keeps you up at night.
Prashant: Yeah. I, I think, uh, I think the amount and magnitude of risk that I take, I think nothing really keeps me up at night. I, I think you, I mean,
Chris: Maybe you're lucky.
Prashant: Yeah. But that said, I think if there is, if there is a, if there is a process whereas you look at diversification, as you, as the, as the fund size grows, which obviously will at some stage when you start figuring out equity creation on Multifamilies, I think that would be an area, and as I said, that's an area of active interest.
Chris: Mm-hmm.
Prashant: I'm actively looking at, uh, some of those opportunities. But if under your umbrella, you could expand to a stage where we start doing those kinds of deals. I think that for me will be really interesting.
Chris: We've done those not directly from our fund's standpoint.
Prashant: Yes, yes.
Chris: But we do look at this, I know we love, we love the equity side, even though we're that people, we love the equity side.
So it's, it's one of those things. But we've been on a pause there, um, because I like to let uncertainty in things that I'm looking at, sort of shake out.
Prashant: Yes.
Chris: Um, and you are seeing a lot of people, there's an education curve.
Prashant: Yes.
Chris: That they've gotta learn how, Hey, I'm gonna go, I have to do, a further call for my LPs
Prashant: Yes.
Chris: Because my property's gonna need more money. Yeah. Um, there's a lot of people you know who haven't been around that long. I know it sounds like you've been around for 10 years, you haven't seen trouble.
Prashant: True.
Chris: And so, I want those people to get that education. These are smart people.
Prashant: Yes.
Chris: Uh, but they haven't seen that cycle.
And I know a lot of people are dealing with that cycle right now. Um, and so you let that shake out. I totally agree with you. Great space. There will be more opportunities, that's for sure.
Prashant: Okay. Yeah.
Chris: Um, I know some people are looking for the distressed plays. Yes. There will be those, but you know.
Prashant: Yeah. I mean that's, that's just one moment in time.
Chris: Right.
Prashant: I think once you look at, once you look at how it pans out for the next decade or so, I'm looking at, I think what I'm researching more and more about is figuring out these alternate income streams that hopefully play out for the next 10, 15, 30 years. And I think that's where the single-family conversation comes in, in my mind.
So I think, I think as you, as you've developed your thinking and thesis, Yeah, I would love to learn more.
Chris: Oh yeah, no, we're, we're definitely pulling information together on that spot. Changing gears a little bit, um, we've talked about some investment, we learned about your background, so thank you for that time, that information.
Um, we're all very busy. It seems like now that we don't go to the office every day, we're more busy somehow.
Prashant: Yes.
Chris: Um, with that, with that, what do you wish you had time to do? I mean, outside of what we discussed.
Prashant: I think I, uh, I would love to pick up new skills and I think there are, there are enough medical studies and evidence that suggests that once you are over 40 you've got to pick up new skills every few years that you keep what's here.
Chris: Mm-hmm.
Prashant: Whatever limited you have, uh, you want to keep it intact, you wanna keep it fertile. So I think, um, I wish I could get more time to pick up new skills.
Chris: Uh, like what?
Prashant: My carpentry, uh, um, picking, picking, learning a new musical instrument. Yeah. Music instrument has been on my list.
Chris: That's definitely, that's a different brain mechanism.
Prashant: Yes.
Chris: Music.
Prashant: Yes. But, uh, brain, um, Music, and math are correlated. Mm-hmm. I'm, I'm okay with math, so hopefully I can, I can pick up, uh,
Chris: I'm really good at math and not good at music. So I'm, I'm the, I'm the,
Prashant: You haven't found the right teacher. Reading, uh, picking up a new language. There are so many of these, um, Indian languages and then there are Eastern, Eastern European languages that fascinate me. I mean, I'm jealous of my wife. She speaks seven languages, seven Indian languages.
Chris: Wow.
Prashant: I can barely manage one. And I like gosh, I wish I had more time to learn languages because that's where you learn more. Um, I have, I've begun to, I'm, I'm dabbling with writing poetry.
Chris: Nice.
Prashant: Uh, so I think that keeps me so, I mean, 24 hours are never enough.
Now I can,
Chris: No.
Prashant: I can do so much outside of work.
Chris: I can work 24 hours a day. I mean, that's how much is going on. You just have to make that choice. I'm not gonna do that
Prashant: Exactly. I think saying no by five o'clock in the evening is the hardest thing and that makes you prioritize what you want to spend your time on.
But if I had time. If I had more time, then I would rather do some of these things.
Chris: And just for the audience, um, What's the latest or best book or podcast that you listened to or read that, you know, regardless of subject, whether I'm just, uh, it doesn't have to be about investments, uh, that you would recommend people to read.
Prashant: Yeah, I'm, I, I'm reading Shoe Dog. Um,
Chris: I don't know that one.
Prashant: Um, the founder of Nike wrote this book three, three, or four years back, so I think maybe Shoe Dog. Um, there is another book on I, I love history, so I'm reading a bunch of things on World War 2. World War Two is extremely fascinating. World War One is underappreciated, but World War Two is when everything comes together.
Chris: Mm-hmm.
Prashant: It's like the finale, if you will, um, of, uh, of a super complex story of Europe. But I'm reading, uh, this book by Malcolm Gladwell, um, about, it's called The Bomber Mafia. And you know, he obviously is a master narrator. And even if you take the entire text and, you get about 10 to 15% of it is true.
And if it actually happened, it's a fascinating tale of how American um, bombers and fighters approach the world, the second world war differently from their European counterpart, the mentality that they came from, and how, uh, and how these fighters were looked down upon. The military was already, was at the forefront, followed by the Navy, and then it first was even considered a branch of warfare.
Chris: Mm.
Prashant: Uh, so I think that's a, it's a fascinating work, I think between these two. Um, I, I, I think I'm getting really new content that I have never been exposed to in the past.
Chris: Nice.
Prashant: And I'm learning about, there is, there is. I'm thinking, I'm just, I'm just learning, uh, work of, uh, Van Gogh and all of his work that has been recently compiled, all known work of Van Gogh, I'm just going through that as well.
Art, art is, is very, very attractive especially some of the work of some of the masters.
Chris: Yeah, little known fact, I used to actually do a lot of art. Um, I get, I get scolded by my mother to this day cuz I, I don't do my art as much as I used to.
Prashant: Okay.
Chris: If at all. But, uh, I do sit down with my daughter and draw.
Prashant: Nice.
Chris: Luckily she's taken up the mantle, so the pressure's off me.
Prashant: Good.
Chris: But, well, Prashant, I want to thank you for this time. Thank you again for joining us and as always, Thank you for supporting us and being here as one of our investors and so everybody, thank you for listening to us Prashant Sharma.
Prashant: Thank you so much. Thanks, Chris.
