Wall Street Wildlife Investing Podcast

A 24-year-old prodigy builds a $45 billion fund on a single correct idea about AI, then watches 67% of it evaporate in a month. This week, Badger and Monkey dissect the brutal drawdown at Situational Awareness, the hedge fund that was right about everything except how to survive being right. It's not dead, but it's a gut-check case study in what leverage does even when your thesis holds. What went wrong, what it reveals about greed, ego, and leverage, and what every retail investor can learn before the next correction hits them.

⚠️ A $45B fund lost 67% in 30 days while holding positions that were fundamentally CORRECT — here's the brutal lesson on why being right isn't enough
🧠 Krzysztof names his greatest investing mistake over decades — and it's not what most people expect
🎯 Luke's mechanical 15% rule saved him from the $RKLB round-trip — and it has nothing to do with predicting the market
📊 $RKLB did a 58% round trip in 10 weeks — Badger walks through exactly how he managed it in real time
🤖 Was Leopold Aschenbrenner actually wrong about AI infrastructure? The contrarian case that's making Krzysztof rethink his entire portfolio
🎓 4X leverage explained plainly: why the structure of your bet can wreck you even when the call itself is right

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If you want to see our furry faces, this podcast is also available on YouTube at ⁠youtube.com/@WallStreetWildlife?sub_confirmation=1⁠
**********
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND BECOME A PATREON:
wallstreetwildlife.com
**********
Follow us at:
⁠⁠x.com/7LukeHallard
⁠x.com/7FlyingPlatypus
**********
Fiscal.AI is the Complete Stock Research Platform for fundamental investors. With its beautiful design and institutional-quality data, Fiscal AI is incredibly powerful and easy to use.
Get 15% off any premium plan with:
fiscal.ai/wildlife
**********
Monkey’s “Zen, Nietzsche, How to Live” Substack:
firephilosophy.substack.com
**********
To use the same portfolio tracking tool as Luke, check-out:
portseido.com/?fpr=lukehallard
**********
Disclosure: Wall Street Wildlife hosts and guests are not financial advisors, and nothing they say on this show is formal advice or a recommendation
**********
Fed up with the stock market giving you a hard time?
- Invest like seasoned pros with over 40 years in the game
- Discover the world's leading companies
- Sharpen your best investing practices and ditch the worst
- Learn how to start investing
- Essential investing principles to boost your returns

Keywords:
Situational Awareness hedge fund, Leopold Aschenbrenner, AI infrastructure stocks, leverage investing, hedge fund blowup, $RKLB, Rocket Lab, position sizing, portfolio risk management, greed and investing, ego investing mistakes, AI drawdown 2024, $ASTS, AST SpaceMobile, $IRIN, margin call, 4x leverage explained, investing psychology, Kelly Criterion, long short fund, Citadel, Micron earnings, AI data centers, retail investor mistakes, Wall Street Wildlife

This week, we took the long, scenic, cosmic route through AST SpaceMobile, a company we think has a real shot at mattering — both for the problem it solves and for the investors who don't fall off the drunken-price-action rollercoaster.This five hour epic episode goes deep, don't miss the full hour heated bull vs bear debate that answers the question, should you invest in $ASTS?Segments:00:00:00 PART 1: THE GAP — Abel's phone call 00:03:16 90% of Earth, 3bn people, no signal 00:07:30 Fishermen, M-Pesa and GDP growth 00:11:04 When Wire Was King: the AT&T years 00:15:49 The case against universal coverage00:22:15 PART 2: THE GRAVEYARD — all dead 00:23:15 Five companies, $17bn, no survivors 00:24:58 Iridium: the $3,000 brick phone 00:29:04 Globalstar and Apple's SOS 00:32:35 LightSquared, Ligado and the FCC 00:37:20 The handset trap and spectrum trap 00:39:55 Rocket Lab buys Iridium $RKLB00:41:46 PART 3: ABEL — one man's company? 00:42:25 45, rich, one impossible problem 00:44:36 No salary, $50m in, 71.6% control 00:58:51 The Kerrisdale short, answered 01:05:20 Wisniewski: the banker who quit 01:11:03 Mikitani, Rakuten and the call01:15:30 PART 4: THE SCIENCE — the physics 01:16:58 What is light? Faraday and Maxwell 01:25:46 170x further away, 29,000x weaker 01:30:36 223 sq m vs Starlink and Iridium 01:35:54 Phased arrays: 20,000 antennas 01:43:43 The bent pipe: dumb satellites win01:56:23 PART 5: THE BIRDS — the hardware 01:58:20 Block 2: 6 up, 7 lost, 8-10 flying 02:04:48 Inside the Midland factory 02:07:05 The only chart that matters 02:14:59 The Tesla Model 3 ramp lesson $TSLA02:18:57 PART 6: SPECTRUM WARS — invisible 02:26:54 Don't buy spectrum, partner for it 02:28:49 Ligado: $550m for $9-27bn of value 02:37:46 1,150 MHz vs T-Mobile's 5 02:43:35 Japan picks AST, Europe follows02:49:32 PART 7: THE BUSINESS — the model 02:50:18 AST doesn't sell you anything 02:53:52 $10 a month, split 50/50 02:54:44 Scrooge McBadger objects 03:04:42 Are 90% margins credible? 03:07:04 The hidden business: defence03:12:31 PART 8: THE COMPETITION 03:14:11 T-Satellite live: 16 million users 03:15:22 Amazon buys Globalstar $AMZN 03:20:55 Wild card: Starlink V3 and Starship 03:27:01 Badger: it's a commodity 03:32:56 China and India carve up a quarter03:39:40 PART 9: THE MONEY 03:41:29 Valuation today is a fool's errand 03:45:22 Burn rate, and how dilution hurts 03:46:36 The billion dollar raise 03:49:46 Bears: zero. Bulls: a trillion03:52:22 PART 10: BULL VS BEAR 03:52:56 The bull case: Abel's July tweet 03:59:46 Space AI edge computing 04:03:30 The bear concedes the technology 04:05:59 Bear: European regulatory approval 04:13:43 Bear: hostage to a rival's rockets 04:37:18 Bear: the space mob is a risk 04:39:26 Shout-outs: Kook, Anpanman, CatSE 04:49:12 The Badger reveal 04:53:21 The bookend, and the 911 call
**********
If you want to see our furry faces, this podcast is also available on YouTube at ⁠youtube.com/@WallStreetWildlife?sub_confirmation=1⁠
**********
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND BECOME A PATREON:
wallstreetwildlife.com
**********
Follow us at:
⁠⁠x.com/7LukeHallard
⁠x.com/7FlyingPlatypus
**********
Fiscal.AI is the Complete Stock Research Platform for fundamental investors. With its beautiful design and institutional-quality data, Fiscal AI is incredibly powerful and easy to use.
Get 15% off any premium plan with:
fiscal.ai/wildlife
**********
Disclosure: Wall Street Wildlife hosts and guests are not financial advisors, and nothing they say on this show is formal advice or a recommendation
**********
Fed up with the stock market giving you a hard time?
- Invest like seasoned pros with over 40 years in the game
- Discover the world's leading companies
- Sharpen your best investing practices and ditch the worst
- Learn how to start investing
- Essential investing principles to boost your returns

Two very different investors. One philosophy episode that might change how you think about your entire approach to the market. This week, Luke lays out his complete investing framework — 23 years, 23% CAGR, distilled into rules you can actually use — while Krzysztof makes the case for a $161M micro-cap that could be the infrastructure backbone of the AI + satellite era. Plus: is Palantir a world-changing tool or a surveillance weapon you shouldn't own?

🧠 Luke's single most powerful investing rule — and why 'press no buttons' is actually a superpower most investors will never master
🎯 The 3-skill hierarchy that explains why most stock pickers are working on the least important skill (and what to focus on instead)
💀 Krzysztof admits he's 'a disaster right now' — but the King of the Jungle track record tells a more complicated story
🤖 $AMPG: a 46-person Long Island company that might be the only American-made radio supplier for the AI + satellite revolution
🚀 Why $ASTS led Krzysztof down a rabbit hole to amplifiers, NVIDIA partnerships, and a micro-cap with a massive upcoming earnings catalyst
📊 $PLTR is trading at 113x free cash flow — and Luke owns it anyway. Here's the uncomfortable math behind that decision
🌐 The ethical tightrope of owning Palantir: surveillance weapon or the reason COVID vaccines reached 300 million arms?
🎓 Cash as an emotional hedge: why Luke runs 23% cash right now and how it rewires your psychology during drawdowns

Segments:
00:00:00 Pessimists Sound Smart But Optimists Make Money
00:01:13 Episode Overview: Philosophy, $AMPG & $PLTR
00:01:33 What Is Philosophy — And Why It Shapes Your Portfolio
00:07:14 Luke's 23-Year Investing Framework Explained
00:14:03 The 3 Skills of Investing (Most People Focus on the Wrong One)
00:17:45 Rules That Keep Luke Emotionally Neutral: Cash, Caps & Inaction
00:24:51 Drawdowns in Days Not Dollars: The Mindset Trick That Works
00:35:32 Should You Buy $AMPG? Krzysztof's King of the Jungle Pick
00:43:49 American-Made RF Tech: The Huawei Angle Nobody's Talking About
00:48:02 $PLTR Deep Dive: Gotham, Foundry & AIP Explained Simply
00:51:07 Is Palantir Dangerously Overvalued? The Bear Case in Plain English
00:53:12 The Ethics of Owning Palantir — An Honest Conversation

**********
If you want to see our furry faces, this podcast is also available on YouTube at ⁠youtube.com/@WallStreetWildlife?sub_confirmation=1⁠
**********
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND BECOME A PATREON:
wallstreetwildlife.com
**********
Follow us at:
⁠⁠x.com/7LukeHallard
⁠x.com/7FlyingPlatypus
**********
Fiscal.AI is the Complete Stock Research Platform for fundamental investors. With its beautiful design and institutional-quality data, Fiscal AI is incredibly powerful and easy to use.
Get 15% off any premium plan with:
fiscal.ai/wildlife
**********
Monkey’s “Zen, Nietzsche, How to Live” Substack:
firephilosophy.substack.com
**********
To use the same portfolio tracking tool as Luke, check-out:
portseido.com/?fpr=lukehallard
**********
Disclosure: Wall Street Wildlife hosts and guests are not financial advisors, and nothing they say on this show is formal advice or a recommendation
**********
Fed up with the stock market giving you a hard time?
- Invest like seasoned pros with over 40 years in the game
- Discover the world's leading companies
- Sharpen your best investing practices and ditch the worst
- Learn how to start investing
- Essential investing principles to boost your returns
Keywords:
$PLTR, Palantir, $AMPG, AmpliTech, investing philosophy, position sizing, cash allocation, portfolio management, behavioral finance, investing psychology, growth investing, long-term investing, Kelly Criterion, $RKLB, $ASTS, NVIDIA, AIP Palantir, RF amplifiers, 5G infrastructure, AI infrastructure, micro-cap stocks, valuation, free cash flow, King of the Jungle, Wall Street Wildlife

Two gorillas, one marketplace — and Waymo just walked out the door. This week Luke and Krzysztof tear apart three King of the Jungle stocks with real money on the line, debate whether active fund management is structurally broken, and wade into the most confusing rights offering either of them has ever seen. Buckle up.

💀 Fundsmith, the legendary UK fund manager just abandoned his own principles — and Luke says it proves you should NEVER give your money to an active manager, no matter how good their track record
🤖 Waymo ditched Uber's platform to go solo. Luke owns $UBER. Is his entire thesis now in jeopardy — or is this actually fine?
🚗 $TSLA at 180x earnings: is it a car company, an AI company, or just a Musk narrative trade? The hosts disagree on when, or whether, to buy
💊 Krzysztof makes the case for $PRCT (Procept BioRobotics) at near all-time lows and explains exactly what he's watching in the August 5th earnings call before he adds a single share
🎯 Down 40% on a position and refusing to add, Krzysztof walks through the discipline behind sitting on your hands when every instinct says buy
🎓 The Fundsmith collapse explained: why "do nothing" is the right strategy for YOU but a career-ending strategy for a fund manager — and why that misalignment matters
⚡ EOS Energy's rights offering has become a genuine disaster — death spiral mechanics, four-cent warrants, and brokers who have no idea what's happening. Krzysztof breaks it all down and tells you what to do RIGHT NOW if you're a holder

Segments:
00:00:00 Cold Open
00:11:00 Fundsmith's Fallure: Why Even the Best Fund Managers Crack
00:20:13 $PRCT Procept BioRobotics — Near All-Time Low, August 5th Catalyst
00:36:13 How to Sit on Your Hands When You're Down 40%
00:41:20 $TSLA Tesla — Car Company, AI Play, or Pure Narrative?
00:54:07 $UBER vs Robotaxi: Does Uber Survive If Waymo Goes Solo?
01:01:00 The Gorilla Problem: Why Krzysztof Isn't Convinced on $UBER
01:13:37 $EOS Energy Rights Offering Disaster — What Holders Must Do Now
01:23:11 Learning in Public: Why We Don't Delete Our Mistakes

**********
If you want to see our furry faces, this podcast is also available on YouTube at ⁠youtube.com/@WallStreetWildlife?sub_confirmation=1⁠
**********
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND BECOME A PATREON:
wallstreetwildlife.com
**********
Follow us at:
⁠⁠x.com/7LukeHallard
⁠x.com/7FlyingPlatypus
**********
Fiscal.AI is the Complete Stock Research Platform for fundamental investors. With its beautiful design and institutional-quality data, Fiscal AI is incredibly powerful and easy to use.
Get 15% off any premium plan with:
fiscal.ai/wildlife
**********
Monkey’s “Zen, Nietzsche, How to Live” Substack:
firephilosophy.substack.com
**********
To use the same portfolio tracking tool as Luke, check-out:
portseido.com/?fpr=lukehallard
**********
Disclosure: Wall Street Wildlife hosts and guests are not financial advisors, and nothing they say on this show is formal advice or a recommendation
**********
Fed up with the stock market giving you a hard time?
- Invest like seasoned pros with over 40 years in the game
- Discover the world's leading companies
- Sharpen your best investing practices and ditch the worst
- Learn how to start investing
- Essential investing principles to boost your returns
Keywords:
$UBER, $TSLA, $PRCT, $EOS, Procept BioRobotics, Tesla robotaxi, Uber Waymo, Fundsmith Terry Smith, active management, rights offering, aquablation, Optimus robot, full self-driving FSD, robotaxi investing, network effects, position sizing, investing psychology, King of the Jungle portfolio, razor blade business model, med tech investing, EOS Energy warrants, retail investor mistakes, anchoring bias, compounding stocks, growth investing

The AI hacking apocalypse is closer than you think — and two companies are quietly positioning themselves as the last line of defense for every business on earth. This week, Badger makes the bull case for the two cybersecurity gorillas dominating the sector, Monkey digs into a beaten-down beauty-tech turnaround with a suspiciously fixable problem, and together they rain cold water on one of the hottest narratives in investing right now.

🛡️ $CRWD vs $PANW — Badger owns both and is adding more. But are these priced-for-perfection giants still a buy at nosebleed valuations, or is the AI tailwind big enough to justify the premium?
🤖 Project Glasswing: Why Anthropic quietly handed $CRWD and $PANW a massive moat over every other cybersecurity vendor — and what it means for the companies left out in the cold.
🧠 Quantum computing: hype, hope, or the most uninvestable sector on the planet? Badger and Monkey deliver a blunt verdict that Andreas from Patreon definitely didn't want to hear.
🎯 Monkey's contrarian bet on Oddity $ODD — a 49% single-day collapse, a Meta algorithm crisis, and a balance sheet that's almost as big as the market cap. Is this the setup he's been waiting for?
📊 The real numbers behind Palo Alto's "31% revenue growth" — and why that headline figure is smoke and mirrors hiding a very different story.
🎓 Why waiting for quantum computing to prove itself isn't cowardice — it's strategy. The Nvidia lesson every early-stage tech investor needs to hear.

Segments:
00:00:00 Cold Open: AI Hacking & The Cybersecurity Reckoning
00:01:09 Intro
00:04:50 Quantum Computing: Uninvestable Hype or Early Opportunity?
00:15:30 Why You Don't Need to Be Early — The Nvidia Lesson
00:19:32 Oddity: Beauty-Tech Turnaround or Meta Dependency Trap? $ODD
00:28:34 $ODD Balance Sheet Deep-Dive: Trading at Cash Value?
00:39:00 $CRWD CrowdStrike: The AI-Native Security Gorilla
00:49:33 $PANW Palo Alto Networks: Cheaper Giant or Frankenstein Platform?
00:58:16 $CRWD vs $PANW: Which One Do You Actually Buy?
01:05:00 Project Glasswing: Why Anthropic Just Changed the Cybersecurity Game

**********
If you want to see our furry faces, this podcast is also available on YouTube at ⁠youtube.com/@WallStreetWildlife?sub_confirmation=1⁠
**********
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND BECOME A PATREON:
wallstreetwildlife.com
**********
Follow us at:
⁠⁠x.com/7LukeHallard
⁠x.com/7FlyingPlatypus
**********
Fiscal.AI is the Complete Stock Research Platform for fundamental investors. With its beautiful design and institutional-quality data, Fiscal AI is incredibly powerful and easy to use.
Get 15% off any premium plan with:
fiscal.ai/wildlife
**********
Monkey’s “Zen, Nietzsche, How to Live” Substack:
firephilosophy.substack.com
**********
To use the same portfolio tracking tool as Luke, check-out:
portseido.com/?fpr=lukehallard
**********
Disclosure: Wall Street Wildlife hosts and guests are not financial advisors, and nothing they say on this show is formal advice or a recommendation
**********
Fed up with the stock market giving you a hard time?
- Invest like seasoned pros with over 40 years in the game
- Discover the world's leading companies
- Sharpen your best investing practices and ditch the worst
- Learn how to start investing
- Essential investing principles to boost your returns