Podcast
Chai with Pabrai
Hosted by Mohnish Pabrai · EN
Mohnish Pabrai is the founder and Managing Partner of the Pabrai Investments Funds, the founder and CEO of Dhandho Funds, and the author of The Dhandho Investor and Mosaic: Perspectives on Investing.
Views expressed on Chai with Pabrai are exclusively those of Mohnish Pabrai and not of any affiliated firm or organization.
22episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Mohnish Pabrai's Talk with the My First Million podcast on March 27, 2025
5d ago01:49:56Tap to summarizeMohnish Pabrai's Talk with Shaan Puri at the My First Million podcast on March 27, 2025. (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:00:28) - Why the small investor has an advantage (00:02:51) - Investing $10K to make $1 Million (00:08:16) - Frontline (00:17:13) - Berkshire's 12 great decisions in 58 years (00:18:34) - Buffett's selection process: Moody's Manual (00:23:38) - Value Investor's Club (00:27:33) - The Japan Company Handbook (00:28:46) - Berkshire's investment in Japan (00:36:13) - Thou shall not use Excel (00:40:26) - Leverage: Rick Guerin (00:49:00) - Do not cut the flowers to water the weeds (00:51:21) - Costco (00:56:38) - My interactions with Charlie Munger & Warren Buffett (00:58:23) - Risk vs. Uncertainty (01:00:16) - Coca-Cola Icecek (01:01:42) - Warren's "Too Hard Pile" (01:03:01) - Circle of Competence: John Arrillaga (01:07:03) - Sam Walton: Walmart and Sol Price (01:12:18) - A power nap is good for productivity (01:15:39) - My owner's manual (01:21:52) - The Dakshana Foundation: A mathematical game (01:23:53) - Super 30: Model cloned by Dakshana (01:28:53) - Large inheritances cause more harm than good (01:31:35) - Mohnish's Blackjack System (01:37:46) - Michael Burry (01:41:21) - Rakesh Jhunjhunwala: Titan Industries (01:44:26) - Starting early to lengthen your runway (01:47:02) - Macroeconomic factors (01:47:37) - AI in investing The contents of this website are for educational and entertainment purposes only, and do not purport to be, and are not intended to be, financial, legal, accounting, tax or investment advice. Investments or strategies that are discussed may not be suitable for you, do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and are not intended to provide investment advice or recommendations appropriate for you. Before making any investment or trade, consider whether it is suitable for you and consider seeking advice from your own financial or investment adviser.
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Mohnish Pabrai speaks at Trinity College Dublin - February 21, 2019
6d ago01:14:02Tap to summarizeMohnish Pabrai lecture to Trinity Student Managed Fund at Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin, in Dublin, Ireland, on February 21, 2019. (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:02:59) - BULL! A history of the boom and bust, 1982-2004 by Maggie Mahar (00:03:54) - THE DOW (1896 – 2019) (00:07:52) - Market conditions when Pabrai Funds started (00:09:36) - Price matters (00:12:14) - S&P 500 (1928 – 2019) (00:12:43) - Nasdaq (1971 – 2019) (00:13:19) - Sensex (1979 – 2019); Dax (1988 – 2019) (00:13:58) - Property bubble to NIKKEI (1970 – 2019) (00:16:28) - KOSPI (1980 – 2019) (00:24:50) - Lessons from Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett (00:30:11) - Advice on Starting a Career (00:32:22) - Definition of Success (00:35:06) - Hedge Fund Fee Structure (00:43:14) - When should one start a Fund (00:50:11) - Succession plan at Pabrai Funds (00:51:10) - Mental Models with Philanthropy; Dakshana Foundation (00:59:07) - Low Risk and High Uncertainty Bets (01:05:25) - Finding your own rope during drawdowns (01:09:35) - Thoughts on current market levels The contents of this video are for educational and entertainment purposes only, and do not purport to be, and are not intended to be, financial, legal, accounting, tax or investment advice. Investments or strategies that are discussed may not be suitable for you, do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and are not intended to provide investment advice or recommendations appropriate for you. Before making any investment or trade, consider whether it is suitable for you and consider seeking advice from your own financial or investment adviser.
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Mohnish Pabrai Lecture at Univ. of California, Irvine (UCI), May 24, 2016
6d ago01:45:10Tap to summarizeIn this talk, Mohnish discusses the three basic attributes an investor should possess to effectively beat the odds. 1. Patience 2. Decisiveness and 3.Being different from the crowd. Mohnish reviews the multiple mental models behind Berkshire's investment in Coca-Cola. Buffett's lessons from his See's Candies investment played a major role in his decision to invest in Coca-Cola. (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:03:36) - Traits of successful people (00:06:52) - How do you make investment? (00:09:52) - Buffett's See's Candies Investment (00:15:12) - Difference between See's candies and Coke (00:18:51) - Long runway of Coke (00:26:36) - Coca-Cola Model (00:34:22) - Mental Model on Branding (00:40:21) - Coke's Management (00:48:09) - Mental Model on How Human brains are screwed up (00:49:54) - What not to do (00:55:53) - Holy grail of investment (00:57:05) - What's a great business? (00:59:08) - What Mohnish does as value investor (01:04:07) - Biggest mistake as an investment (01:06:53) - Indexing investing (01:08:22) - Key to becoming wealthy (01:11:49) - Insurance company business (01:13:15) - Cloning (01:15:02) - Pabrai Fund Model (01:16:48) - TransTech (01:21:14) - Challenge as an investor (01:24:34) - Dakshana Foundation (01:27:35) - Portfolio Diversification (01:29:06) - Cash vs. Opportunities (01:34:17) - Businesses that Mohnish admire (01:39:35) - Doing what you love
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Mohnish Pabrai Lecture at Boston College on October 14, 2021
6d ago01:55:09Tap to summarizeDistinguished Speaker Series Professor Arvind Navaratnam October 14, 2021 (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:02:04) - Competition is For Losers, Peter Thiel (00:08:25) - Rain Industries (00:12:39) - Monopolistic business models, Amazon and Google (00:17:14) - Redoing the Spaghetti code, AWS in business (00:19:09) - A Whale only gets harpooned only when it surfaces, Warren Buffett (00:20:00) - AWS, cloning by Microsoft and Google (00:24:15) - Monopolistic characteristics of giant Chinese tech companies (00:28:19) - Tencent (under)reporting style (00:30:24) - Naspers business model, Koos Bekker (00:40:58) - Better capital allocation by Amazon and Tencent (00:43:37) - Tencent business model (00:50:24) - The bazooka Model of Pony Ma (00:57:33) - How I became a value investor (01:02:22) - Chinese tech giants and political risk (01:03:16) - Dakshana Foundation's Education Model (01:09:01) - Evolution of my investing style (01:12:58) - Mohnish's investing framework on start-ups (01:17:31) - Ali Baba (01:23:18) - Competence and edge (01:24:54) - Change in Investment strategy due to Covid (01:37:50) - Application of NLP (Natural Language Processing) in investing (01:45:10) - Up and comers in the investment sector (01:47:40) - Quality of Management (01:50:29) - Book recommendations
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Mohnish Pabrai's Interview with My First Million on May 5, 2026
6d ago01:30:22Tap to summarizeMohnish Pabrai's Interview with Shaan Puri at My First Million on May 5, 2026. (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:00:30) - Value investing in the US; Importance of patience in investing (00:02:15) - Mental models: The mistress is always hotter than the wife (00:04:58) - Introduce randomness in your life; Peter Lynch's One Up on Wall Street (00:08:12) - Elon Musk (00:09:42) - From admiring to executing; Sam Walton & Cloning (00:13:24) - Tesla; Blue Origin vs. SpaceX (00:14:10) - Randomness & Cloning; Farm Con & Kevin Van Trump to Milk road (00:16:40) - McDonald's vs. Burger King (00:17:05) - The Bedrock model: Take a simple idea and take it seriously; Turkey vs. Indian markets (00:20:39) - Mental model conflicts; Circle of competence (00:23:13) - The salad oil crisis; Buffett's stake in AmEx and Disney (00:26:12) - Traits of great investors: Keep investing simple; Warren's Too Hard Pile (00:30:27) - Aksarben racetrack and Buffett's tickets adventure; Moody's Manual (00:33:02) - Japanese Company Handbook; Look for needles in haystacks (00:34:40) - Stock market: Church with a Casino (00:38:42) - Lunch with Warren Buffett; Leverage lesson from Rick Guerin (00:41:39) - Inner scorecard vs. Outer scorecard (00:43:25) - Cash and capital allocation at Berkshire Hathaway (00:45:14) - My best investments; Investing in Turkey - Reysas & TAV Airports (00:54:57) - Active vs. Passive investing (00:57:22) - Business Moats; McDonald's & FICO (00:59:25) - Investing with AI (01:02:58) - Constellation Software Services; Mark Leonard (01:09:45) - GLP-1 (01:10:48) - Bitcoin vs. Gold (01:11:32) - Do not die at 25 and get buried at 75; Get your music out (01:15:37) - Studying great investors: Ed Thorp (01:20:45) - Ken Griffin: Citadel (01:23:01) - Advice to listeners: Lead an aligned life - My owner's manual by Jack Skeen (01:28:08) - Guy Spier's letter to me The contents of this website are for educational and entertainment purposes only, and do not purport to be, and are not intended to be, financial, legal, accounting, tax or investment advice. Investments or strategies that are discussed may not be suitable for you, do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and are not intended to provide investment advice or recommendations appropriate for you. Before making any investment or trade, consider whether it is suitable for you and consider seeking advice from your own financial or investment adviser. Views expressed on Chai with Pabrai are exclusively those of Mohnish Pabrai and not of any affiliated firm or organization.
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Mohnish Pabrai's Interview with Knowledge Inside podcast on June 8, 2026
6d ago00:55:04Tap to summarizeMohnish Pabrai's Interview with Kim Kiho at Knowledge Inside podcast on June 8, 2026. (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:01:44) - Lunch with Warren Buffett vs. Eric Schmidt; Introduction to Charlie Munger (00:11:47) - Impact of declining population of South Korea; SK Hynix, Samsung & Micron (00:17:19) - KOSPI (00:17:57) - My Investment checklist - an inspiration from the FAA; Buffett's Dexter Shoes investment (00:25:27) - Three most important items in a checklist; IKEA & Amorepacific (00:31:19) - Active vs. Passive investing; Look for risk-free investments (00:35:10) - Investing in Turkey; Reysas (00:39:24) - The Dhandho investing: Heads I win, Tails I do not lose much (00:41:20) - Investing in AI; Do not buy shiny items (00:43:39) - How to build wealth; The Rule of 72 & The Manhattan island deal in 1623 (00:50:24) - Giving back; The Dakshana Foundation (00:53:52) - Advice to listeners The contents of this website are for educational and entertainment purposes only, and do not purport to be, and are not intended to be, financial, legal, accounting, tax or investment advice. Investments or strategies that are discussed may not be suitable for you, do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and are not intended to provide investment advice or recommendations appropriate for you. Before making any investment or trade, consider whether it is suitable for you and consider seeking advice from your own financial or investment adviser. Views expressed on Chai with Pabrai are exclusively those of Mohnish Pabrai and not of any affiliated firm or organization.
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Mohnish Pabrai's Interview with The Investor's Podcast on March 23, 2026
Jun 500:51:00Tap to summarizeMohnish Pabrai's Interview with Stig Brodersen at The Investor's Podcast on March 23, 2026. (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:00:41) - Berkshire Hathaway: Warren Buffett vs. Greg Abel (00:04:39) - Greg Abel vs. Ajit Jain; Compensation at Berkshire (00:08:15) - Investing horizon of 50-100 years; Berkshire Hathaway vs. S&P 500 index (00:09:48) - Running my own company and team; Delegation and structuring (00:12:34) - Pabrai Wagons ETF (00:13:24) - Inner scorecard vs. Outer scorecard (00:16:16) - Investing in Turkey; Micro trumps the macro (00:18:44) - Diversification of portfolio; Walmart (00:21:25) - Constellation Software Services; Mark Leonard (00:25:14) - Frontline; Micheal Burry (00:29:58) - Met coal vs. IPSCO; CONSOL Energy & AMR (00:35:48) - Selling a stock; Walmart and Nifty 50 in 1970's (00:39:49) - Portfolio concentration (00:41:24) - What I Learned About Investing from Darwin by Pulak Prasad; Microsoft & Walmart (00:44:22) - Guy Spier The contents of this website are for educational and entertainment purposes only, and do not purport to be, and are not intended to be, financial, legal, accounting, tax or investment advice. Investments or strategies that are discussed may not be suitable for you, do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and are not intended to provide investment advice or recommendations appropriate for you. Before making any investment or trade, consider whether it is suitable for you and consider seeking advice from your own financial or investment adviser. Views expressed on Chai with Pabrai are exclusively those of Mohnish Pabrai and not of any affiliated firm or organization. The interview host is an investor in Pabrai Funds and therefore has a financial interest in the funds' performance, which creates a potential conflict of interest. The host was not compensated for this interview. The views expressed are those of the host and Mohnish Pabrai and do not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to invest.
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Q&A session with Dakshana scholars at JNV Bangalore Urban on December 25, 2025
Jun 201:05:57Tap to summarizeMohnish Pabrai's Q&A session with Dakshana scholars at the JNV Bangalore Urban, Karnataka, India on December 25, 2025. (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:00:31) - Charlie Munger's mental models (00:05:40) - The Karam Yogi model; Mukesh Ambani & Jio (00:09:45) - Books: Time travel for entrepreneurs (00:12:01) - The Founders Podcast (00:16:01) - Giving back through Dakshana (00:20:29) - Upanishads: Your deepest desire is your destiny (00:24:13) - Building Dakshana: Cloned from the Super 30 model (00:33:32) - Follow your passion, success follows naturally (00:35:10) - With hard work think smart (00:36:42) - Clone smartly, compete confidently (00:39:05) - Technology is overrated, follow your passion (00:42:48) - Growth begins outside comfort zone; Toastmasters (00:46:25) - Cloning Dakshana from Super 30; Anand Kumar (00:50:36) - Human reciprocation mental model (00:57:28) - Execution and determination make the idea successful (01:00:29) - Life's reverses; Charlie's No self-pity mode The contents of this audio are for educational and entertainment purposes only, and do not purport to be, and are not intended to be financial, legal, accounting, tax, or investment advice. Investments or strategies that are discussed may not be suitable for you, do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation, or needs, and are not intended to provide investment advice or recommendations appropriate for you. Before making any investment or trade, consider whether it is suitable for you and consider seeking advice from your own financial or investment adviser.
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Mental Models by Mohnish Pabrai at Heilbrunn Center for Graham and Dodd Investing on April 21, 2026
Jun 100:51:45Tap to summarizeMental Models for Exceptional Capital Allocation by Mohnish Pabrai at Heilbrunn Center for Graham and Dodd Investing on April 21, 2026. (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:02:03) - Charlie Munger's mental models (00:03:54) - Model 1: The Bedrock model: Take a simple idea and take it seriously (00:04:51) - Model 2: Ben Graham's three ideas on markets (00:05:28) - Model 3: Do not overdose on Ben Graham; Poor Charlie's Almanack, Philip Fisher, and Pulak Prasad (00:06:27) - Model 4: Buffett's lifetime 20-punch card (00:07:15) - Model 5: Stay in the epicentre of your circle of competence; John Arrillaga (00:09:09) - Model 6: A high error rate is guaranteed in investing (00:09:26) - Model 7: Circle the wagons: the 4% rule (00:10:36) - Berkshire's 12 best decisions in 60 years (00:12:02) - Mistakes in investing: Ferrari, Progressive Insurance & Goldman Sachs (00:12:55) - Model 8: Do not cut flowers and water weeds; The Nifty 50 crash in the 1970s & Walmart (00:15:34) - Model 9: Be a shameless cloner; VIC & Dataroma; Gimat Gross (00:16:43) - Model 10: History does not repeat itself; Investing in Turkey & Reysas (00:19:50) - Model 11: Explain your investment thesis in 3-4 sentences to a 10-year old (00:19:58) - Model 12: You always need a rope to get out of the deepest well (00:23:14) - Model 13: Nick Sleep; Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (00:26:52) - Model 14: Thou shall not use Excel (00:27:17) - Model 15: Use a pre-investment checklist (00:28:06) - Model 16: Be singularly focused like Arjuna (00:29:27) - Read the footnotes; Turn every page: Robert Caro (00:31:16) - Model 17: Enjoy hunting for needles in haystacks; Buffett's childhood entrepreneurial adventures (00:33:40) - Japanese Company Handbook; My introduction to Charlie Munger & Debbie Bozanek (00:37:27) - Model 18: Your deepest desire is your destiny (00:38:53) - Model 19: You should always have someone to discuss your investment ideas with; Li Lu (00:40:45) - Model 20: The mistress is always hotter than the wife! (00:41:12) - Model 21: Neither a short-term borrower nor a long-term lender be (00:41:33) - Model 22: Introduce randomness into your life; Peter Lynch's One up on Wall Street (00:43:11) - Model 23: Be a Swiss Army knife (00:43:24) - Model 24-26: Focus on spin-offs, uber cannibals & spawners; Alpha-Metallurgical Resources (00:44:02) - Model 27: Arbitrage is wonderful; Transocean vs. Valaris (00:44:17) - Model 28: Heads I win, Tails I don't lose much!; IPSCO and CONSOL Energy (00:46:10) - Model 29: Focus on low-risk; high uncertainty bets (00:46:45) - Model 30: Do not skim off the top (00:47:23) - Book recommendations: Poor Charlie's Almanack, Influence & Excellent advice for living (00:47:41) - Investing in Turkish vs. Indian markets (00:50:17) - Follow your passion The contents of this website are for educational and entertainment purposes only, and do not purport to be, and are not intended to be, financial, legal, accounting, tax or investment advice. Investments or strategies that are discussed may not be suitable for you, do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and are not intended to provide investment advice or recommendations appropriate for you. Before making any investment or trade, consider whether it is suitable for you and consider seeking advice from your own financial or investment adviser. Views expressed on Chai with Pabrai are exclusively those of Mohnish Pabrai and not of any affiliated firm or organization.
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Mental Models for Exceptional Capital Allocation by Mohnish Pabrai at The UNO on May 1, 2026
May 2601:16:32Tap to summarizeMental Models for Exceptional Capital Allocation by Mohnish Pabrai at The University of Nebraska, Omaha on May 1, 2026. (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:02:11) - Charlie Munger's mental models (00:03:43) - Model 1: The Bedrock: Take a simple idea and take it seriously (00:04:06) - Model 2: Ben Graham's Fundamentals (00:04:59) - Model 3: Do not overdose on Ben Graham; Poor Charlie's Almanack, Philip Fisher, and Pulak Prasad (00:05:16) - Model 4: Buffett's lifetime 20-punch card (00:06:05) - Model 5: Stay in the epicentre of your circle of competence; John Arrillaga (00:07:52) - Model 6: A high error rate is guaranteed in investing (00:08:06) - Model 7: Circle the wagons: the 4% rule (00:08:44) - Berkshire's 12 best decisions in 60 years (00:09:41) - Mistakes in investing: Ferrari, Progressive Insurance & Goldman Sachs (00:12:10) - Model 8: Do not cut flowers and water weeds (00:13:02) - Model 9: Be a shameless cloner; VIC; Dataroma & SumZero (00:15:11) - Model 10: History does not repeat itself - but it does rhyme (00:16:16) - Model 11: Explain your investment thesis to a 10-year old in 3-4 sentences (00:16:41) - Model 12: You always need a rope to get out of the deepest well (00:20:50) - Model 13: Pursue quality intensely; Nick Sleep, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (00:25:31) - Model 14: Thou shall not use Excel (00:25:52) - Model 15: Develop and use a pre-investment checklist (00:27:54) - Model 16: Be singularly focused like Arjuna (00:29:31) - Read the footnotes; Turn every page: Robert Caro (00:31:44) - Model 17: Enjoy hunting for needles in haystacks; Buffett's childhood entrepreneurial adventures (00:33:41) - Japanese Company Handbook; My introduction to Charlie Munger & Debbie Bozanek (00:38:02) - Model 18: Your deepest desire is your destiny (00:41:15) - Model 19: You should always have someone to discuss your investment ideas with; Li Lu (00:42:53) - Model 20: The mistress always looks hotter than the wife! (00:43:30) - Model 21: Neither a short-term borrower nor a long-term lender be (00:43:54) - Model 22: Introduce randomness into your life; Peter Lynch's One up on Wall Street (00:46:28) - Model 23: Be a Swiss Army knife (00:46:36) - Model 24-26: Focus on spin-offs, uber cannibals & spawners (00:47:18) - Model 27: Arbitrage is wonderful; Rupert Murdoch (00:48:26) - Model 28: Heads I win, Tails I don't lose much!; IPSCO and CONSOL Energy (00:51:43) - Model 29: Focus on low-risk; high uncertainty bets (00:52:56) - Model 30: Do not skim off the top (00:53:37) - Book recommendations: Poor Charlie's Almanack, Influence & Excellent advice for living (00:54:48) - Importance of the Bedrock model (00:55:30) - Finding great businesses (00:58:11) - Focusing on my deepest desire (00:59:23) - Berkshire Hathaway A-shares (01:00:35) - Intrinsic value of a company (01:02:17) - The Founders Podcast & Value Investors Club (01:05:34) - Pursue your passion (01:07:49) - Making of a Great American Capitalist by Lowenstein (01:09:05) - Family-run businesses; Walmart (01:10:24) - The Dakshana Foundation & Giving back (01:12:45) - Micron (01:13:43) - Warren's Too Hard pile & Charlie's pie-counter trips The contents of this website are for educational and entertainment purposes only, and do not purport to be, and are not intended to be, financial, legal, accounting, tax or investment advice. Investments or strategies that are discussed may not be suitable for you, do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and are not intended to provide investment advice or recommendations appropriate for you. Before making any investment or trade, consider whether it is suitable for you and consider seeking advice from your own financial or investment adviser.
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