My guest this week is Brian Singerman, a partner at the venture capital firm Founders Fund. Founder’s Fund is widely considered one of the top VC firms and its partners are known to have diverse investment strategies.Brian invests across industries and focuses on backing exceptional founders. You’ll hear right off the bat that he cares about moat, market, and strong execution. I love his point that the only way to become a good investor is to do a lot of investing. He describes himself an investor who uses his gut a lot, which took me a while to get used to in our conversation. But I have to say that at the end of this episode I felt refreshed and generally excited to keep putting in reps in my own way, both in the podcast and the quant research settings. I hope you enjoy.For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshagShow Notesd1:28 - (First Question) – What Brian looks for when evaluating companies2:38 – What a moat looks like in investing3:11 – Most memorable initial moat4:17 – How he evaluates a potential market5:28 – Attributes they look for in founders6:24 – Most significant technological changes and how they have impacted his investment strategy8:57 – The sourcing of his deals13:00 – Qualities he likes at various stages of deal sourcing13:46 – How he evaluates the teams he may fund15:17 – His take on the pricing landscape for deals16:13 – How he allocates his time as a board member17:16 – Thoughts on long term stock exchange18:26 – How much research does he do on an industry in order to stay on top of his investments20:10 – Outside information he follows21:20 -  Other investors he’s learned a lot from23:12 – What values does Peter Thiel instill in the partners24:05 – Process of StemCentrics26:03 – Other places holding his interest today26:57 – His interest in e-sports31:44 – Interactions with LP’s32:51 – What they look for in recruiting new partners34:32 – How geography impacts the opportunity for new ideas36:24 – Opportunities in public companies and other investment types37:57 – Aspects of overseeing a startup venture39:26 – Kindest thing anyone has done for himLearn MoreFor more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclubFollow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag