Shane Battier - The No-Stats All-Star - [Invest Like the Best, EP.304]

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Today’s episode is a special one, in a format that may turn into a series. It is a conversation between</span> <a href="https://twitter.com/GuptaRK22"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Ravi Gupta</span></a> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">and</span> <a href= "https://twitter.com/ShaneBattier"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Shane Battier</span></a><span style= "font-weight: 400;">. Ravi is a partner at Sequoia, one of our most popular past guests, and a good friend. Shane is Ravi’s friend, and one of the most successful basketball players ever, having won championships and awards at the high school, college, and NBA levels.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I spent 10 years as a purely quantitative investor, so naturally I was obsessed with data in sports. When I was meeting with prospective investors, Michael Lewis’s book Moneyball—which chronicled the data analytics revolution in baseball—was my go-to analogy to explain what I did… “Moneyball, but for investing.” I used that line for years.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I’ve learned firsthand that it’s wise to follow your curiosity, no matter how strange or different it may be. The podcast is my curiosity tour, and years ago it led me to Sam Hinkie—who is himself on the Mt. Rushmore of analytics in sports. Sam introduced me to Ravi. Then Ravi sent me Michael Lewis’ article written about Shane called “The No Stats All-Star.” I highly recommend you read it.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">All this serendipity around friends, data, investing, and sports gave me an idea: why not ask Ravi to interview Shane? There were so many valuable ideas in the Michael Lewis article, I thought we’d get even more in a real taped interview with someone that knew Shane well, and that’s exactly what happened. Ravi likes the idea of playing for the front of the jersey, not the back. It is hard to imagine someone that lived that more than Shane. Shane shares his story, lessons lear