Tal Zaks

No, I think it is possible. I think it's been proven possible. I think those people who are successful in it are successful because they're smart in recognizing the multidisciplinary nature and knowing how to ask the questions. I've seen this upfront. In fact, some of my colleagues, even at Orbimed, are not people with operational experience at all.

No, I think it is possible. I think it's been proven possible. I think those people who are successful in it are successful because they're smart in recognizing the multidisciplinary nature and knowing how to ask the questions. I've seen this upfront. In fact, some of my colleagues, even at Orbimed, are not people with operational experience at all.

And one of my realizations early on was, huh, I thought I needed all this experience to be good at it. Well, in fact, no. It turns out that people can be much smarter than me and can get there without the experience just by virtue of their wisdom. Now, that being said, I do believe that you can replace experience with wisdom up to a point. Beyond that, you better go and ask somebody.

And one of my realizations early on was, huh, I thought I needed all this experience to be good at it. Well, in fact, no. It turns out that people can be much smarter than me and can get there without the experience just by virtue of their wisdom. Now, that being said, I do believe that you can replace experience with wisdom up to a point. Beyond that, you better go and ask somebody.

And so I think those investors who can and have earned great returns without the deep domain expertise have done so because they know how to find the right expertise, how to understand the question. And again, given it's such a multidisciplinary challenge, look, even I don't have the expertise, I've got a narrow band of it.

And so I think those investors who can and have earned great returns without the deep domain expertise have done so because they know how to find the right expertise, how to understand the question. And again, given it's such a multidisciplinary challenge, look, even I don't have the expertise, I've got a narrow band of it.

All I've learned, if anything, is to ask the questions of the areas that I don't understand. And so if that's true, then of course, somebody doesn't even need my expertise to go ask those questions. They can come from wherever. And you've seen people do that.

All I've learned, if anything, is to ask the questions of the areas that I don't understand. And so if that's true, then of course, somebody doesn't even need my expertise to go ask those questions. They can come from wherever. And you've seen people do that.

It's that ability to ask the right questions and find the people whose answers you trust and the understanding of why you trust their answers that I think makes a great investor. It's also the traits that make a great general manager. I mean, again, I was fortunate to work with Stéphane Bancel and his executive teams were

It's that ability to ask the right questions and find the people whose answers you trust and the understanding of why you trust their answers that I think makes a great investor. It's also the traits that make a great general manager. I mean, again, I was fortunate to work with Stéphane Bancel and his executive teams were

His brilliance is being able to go function by function and just ask the five whys. Why is this? Why is this? Why is this? And the second thing that made him so effective is that when you gave him the answer, it had to be in plain English that he understood. If he didn't understand, he said, I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're telling me. Can you please? Say it again. Yeah.

His brilliance is being able to go function by function and just ask the five whys. Why is this? Why is this? Why is this? And the second thing that made him so effective is that when you gave him the answer, it had to be in plain English that he understood. If he didn't understand, he said, I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're telling me. Can you please? Say it again. Yeah.

Dumb it down for me. Why is it? And my PhD mentor taught me early on that if you can't explain what you're doing to a kindergarten student, then you don't understand it.

Dumb it down for me. Why is it? And my PhD mentor taught me early on that if you can't explain what you're doing to a kindergarten student, then you don't understand it.

The bear case is that they make slow roads easier. one thin vertical domain at a time. That's already starting to happen, but it's slow. It gets encumbered by finding return on investment for each one of those thin verticals.

The bear case is that they make slow roads easier. one thin vertical domain at a time. That's already starting to happen, but it's slow. It gets encumbered by finding return on investment for each one of those thin verticals.

Well, it means that I've got a company that's figured out how to do better transcription for nurses, but not physicians. So they're going around and they're making a new AI tool just for nurses and nursing homes. Okay. And then I got somebody else who said, hey, I've got a great system that can read the charts and figure out who's a good patient for a clinical trial.

Well, it means that I've got a company that's figured out how to do better transcription for nurses, but not physicians. So they're going around and they're making a new AI tool just for nurses and nursing homes. Okay. And then I got somebody else who said, hey, I've got a great system that can read the charts and figure out who's a good patient for a clinical trial.

I'm going to go and deploy that in more institutions. Okay. That's all such thin piecemeal applications that's going to be super challenging to get integrated. The bullish case is that there's somehow an integration of these systems and a realignment of incentives that allows people to leverage productivity. I mean, I think it was one of your prior guests who made the point

I'm going to go and deploy that in more institutions. Okay. That's all such thin piecemeal applications that's going to be super challenging to get integrated. The bullish case is that there's somehow an integration of these systems and a realignment of incentives that allows people to leverage productivity. I mean, I think it was one of your prior guests who made the point