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For 18 years Whitney Tilson was managing partner of Kase Capital Management, a hedge fund. Although successful at first, he struggled to regain his footing in the years after the financial crisis. In September he closed the fund and launched Kase Learning, where he teaches aspiring hedge fund managers the do's and don'ts of the trade.
How did you become a hedge fund manager?
I learned about Warren Buffett and value investing, which means buying stocks in quality companies at depressed prices. I hadn't worked a day in the financial industry when I launched my fund, but eventually I landed a column at The Motley Fool, called The Boring Portfolio. I was about the only person on that site with any credibility left after the internet bubble burst in 2000. Readers got in touch with me, and soon my hedge fund was growing fast.
How did that go?
I thought I was God's gift to investing and had an A-plus in hubris. By 2010 I was managing $200 million, and my fund had returned 186% since inception, compared with 3% for the...