Michael Novogratz (@novogratz) is the founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital. He was formerly a partner and president of Fortress Investment Group, LLC. Prior to Fortress, Michael spent 11 years at Goldman Sachs, where he was elected partner in 1998. Michael served on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Investor Advisory Committee on Financial Markets from 2012–2015. Michael serves as the chairman of The Bail Project and has made criminal justice reform a focus of his family’s foundation. He also serves as the chairman of Hudson River Park Friends and sits on the boards of NYU Langone Medical Center, Princeton Varsity Club, Jazz Foundation of America, and Artists for Peace and Justice. Michael received an AB in Economics from Princeton University and served as a helicopter pilot in the US Army.

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Want to hear another conversation with an investor who’s got his mind on more than the market? Listen in on my interview with Howard Marks in which we discuss the secret formula to getting along with business partners, turning dumb money into smart money, why it’s not what you buy but what you pay, measuring the intrinsic value of cryptocurrency, and much more.

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

• Connect with Mike Novogratz:

Galaxy Digital | Twitter

SHOW NOTES

• Clearing up two burning questions: what are Mike’s Speed Racer pants, and has he ever piloted a helicopter down Prospect Avenue? [06:57]
• What was Mike’s Princeton experience like? [09:27]
• Athleticswise, what flipped for Mike in his junior year? [11:34]
• What part has wrestling played — and continues to play — in Mike’s life? [12:39]
• How did Mike work his way through a particularly painful part of his journey — when he thought, after resigning from Goldman Sachs, his life was over at age 33? [14:00]
• What did Mike’s routine look like between rehab and ringing the bell after not working for almost six years? Did he change any habits in particular? [22:38]
• Mike may not consider himself the smartest guy in the room, but his intuition might make him one of the luckiest. [26:43]
• How has Mike learned to discern intuition and pattern recognition from irrational confidence? [29:16]
• Why does Mike consider himself the Forrest Gump of Bitcoin, and how does his speculation over cryptocurrency differ from that of fellow investor Paul Tudor Jones? [35:10]
• Putting on the Nostradamus hat, where does Mike see Bitcoin going over the next 12 months? [38:48]
• Growing up in a family of strong personalities, what was Mike’s childhood like? [40:54]
• Who is Jacqueline Novogratz? [45:01]
• Does Mike think the pressure he’s felt to excel comes from having so many high-achieving people in his family? [48:31]
• Mike describes the not-so-small tattoo on his forearm. [51:57]
• Why did Mike decide to include an experience with ayahuasca in a commencement speech he recently gave at the University of Iowa? [53:32]
• As someone with a competitive drive, how has Mike learned to be more forgiving of himself when he doesn’t come in first place? [57:21]
• What advice does Mike think his older self, 10-20 years from now, might give to his current self? [1:03:02]
• How did Mike come to be so passionate about criminal justice reform? [1:05:10]
• Interested in learning more about criminal justice reform and why it’s so important? Here are a few jumping-off points Mike recommends. [1:12:50]
• What books has Mike given often as gifts? [1:14:55]
• How does Mike refocus when he’s feeling overwhelmed? [1:16:30]
• Favorite quotations. [1:18:28]
• What investment of money, time, energy, or other resources has been Mike’s most worthwhile? [1:20:08]
• Parting thoughts. [1:21:49]

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