Team 10 of the CBS Investment Funds participated in the Lean Launchpad program from August 26-30, 2013. Over the course of the program, they conducted 76 customer interviews, revised their value proposition and business model based on feedback, and developed a new focus on targeting friends, family, classmates and Tier 2 individuals with $250K or more to invest. Their winning value proposition is providing a disciplined, market-beating investment process with 0% management fees to align investor interests with the firm.

1. CBS Investment Funds
Kumar Mani Andrey Menemshev
Pradeep Ramani Neeraj Kulkarni
Sophia Mighty
LEAN LAUNCHPAD with Steve Blank, Bob Dorf and
the other awesome 15 teams!
AUGUST 26-30, 2013 Total Interviews 76 (14 scheduled)

2. Columbia Business School
MOVIE
2

3. Columbia Business School
On Day 1
3
Money Mgmt
It Just Works
(Better than
2-20 fund or
Betterment etc)
“Hedge Fund”
* 0-25 cost
* Above market
returns
Brokerage
Research
Legal
Regulatory
Audit/Tax
Core: Research;
Enabling:
Legal/Audit/etc
Industry 2-20
We are for 0-25
Key costs – transactions,
research, management
Personal, direct, Tier 1 Individual
Not costly, but Tier 2 Individual
Cost-sensitive Mostly “mass”,
Some “niche”
(Existing investors
are mass)
T1/T2 pays 0-25%
Performance fees only
WE THOUGHT EVERYONE WOULD
JUST UNDERSTAND OUR STORY.
WE THOUGHT ‘IT IS ABOUT JUST
MONEY’ AND THAT’S THE BALL
GAME

4. Columbia Business School
But on day 1 we were asked:
4
Do you know your
customer? Really?
Do you really
understand them and
their pain points?
Have you really figured
out why they will buy
from you??
We said:
Size of market is XYZ
Demographic is XYZ
Finance is $$$
Customer = number, chart,
graph, statistic (with
standard deviation)
To which they said
Get Out Of The
Building And Discover
Them!

5. Columbia Business School
On Day 2
5
Money Mgmt
Current 2%-
20%
We are 0%-
25%
? Fin Analyst
(Recommend,
not
Manage)
Investments
Portfolio
Risk
Brokerage
Research
Legal
Regulatory
Audit/Tax
Cap Introducer
(recommend FA) Core: Research;
Enabling:
Legal/Audit/etc
Build relationship
With Cap Intro
Industry 2%-20%
We are for 0%-25%
Key costs – transactions,
research, management
(See next chart)
Personal, direct, Tier 1
Individual
Not costly, but Tier 2
Individual
Cost-sensitive
T1/T2 pays 0-25%
Performance fees only
T1/T2 –
Decision
Makers
(knowledge?)
? Consider
FA -
Recommenders
? Cap Introducer
as “Distributor”
We found
The High Net Worth, our perceived
customer, will only talk to us if his
Financial Advisor or Capital Introducer
okays us.
We also need to revise our value
proposition beyond just the 2 and 20.
(Why, our classmates asked, do you
guys think you’re so special?)
And the teaching staff said:
Re-look at your value
proposition and form a revenue
model

6. Columbia Business School
On Day 3
6
Scale (expenses)
1. Operate in GZ
until $50M
2. YZ when $100M
3. Establish corpus
to sustain YZ
We started with a very
important customer
interview (lasted 2 hours)
that really blew our mind.
We understood how a real
HNW thinks and works.
We also formed a revenue
model (this was easy after
so many finance classes).
To which the teaching staff
said:
Now explain your business
model on the canvas in this
context

7. Columbia Business School
By this time
● We had done a whole bunch of interviews
● We had done a whole bunch of presentations
● We even pitched a few people
But it felt like we were looking
at a complex problem
7
And the winning move, while there, wasn‟t
really apparent

8. Columbia Business School
On Day 4
8
We explained:
● We have been performing
well against the market for
the past 5 years (good and
bad years), always over
the best index
● We do deep fundamental
analysis and only stick
with good safe companies
with good earnings
● And we are disciplined
about how we invest. (We
don‟t hesitate to pass.)
OUR WINNING MOVE:
Our disciplined market-beating investment
process, and our 0% management fees that
aligns YOUR (investor) interests with ours.

9. Columbia Business School
On Day 5
9
Money Mgmt
Current 2%-
20%
We are 0%-
25%
„Value
Investing‟
Investments
Portfolio
Risk
Brokerage
Research
Legal
Regulatory
Audit/Tax
• Core: Research
• Enabling:
Legal/Audit/Tax
• Relationship
with Cap Intro
Key costs – transactions,
research, management
Operational costs – Taxes,
Brokerage, Auditing, Legal and
Bookkeeping
Other costs – Rental Space, Events
Personal,
direct,
Not costly, but
Cost-sensitive
• T2 individuals
with at least
$250K to
invest
• Friends and
family, classm
ates
• Cap
Introducer(rec
ommend FA)
Performance fees from investment profits of
• Friends and Family, Classmates
• T2 Individuals
• Investors acquired through Cap Introducer
• Cap Introducer
as “Distributor”
• Friends and
Family,
Classmates
• Organized
Events
Focus on a
specific segment
of potential
investors
• Friends, family
, classmates
• T2 individuals
with at least
$250K to
invest
Your connections
and network are
your channels
Our value
proposition is not
just our unique
management
fees
It is also our
„Value Investing‟
method

10. Columbia Business School
And now
● We would like to invite you to learn more about us and invest with us
● Office hours
● One on one sessions
(sign up sheet available)
● As many classmates suggest,
we are happy to explain our
investment process in more
detail so you can make the
winning move
10
Kumar Mani Pradeep Ramani
Andrey Neeraj Kulkarni
Menemshev
& Sophia Mighty

11. Columbia Business School
Those who inspired us, and showed us the way
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And all of you!

12. Columbia Business School
For the curious
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The movie is the true story of real life US chess
champion Josh Waitzkin.
He found a real teacher in Bruce Pandolfini.
Warren Buffett found his teacher in Ben Graham.
We, Team 10, found our teacher in Bruce Greenwald
and many other professors at Columbia Business School.
But more important, we found our passion for value investing.
This, as Bob said on Day 1, is our “inner light”.
It is our real winning move.

13. Columbia Business School
THANK YOU!
13

14. Columbia Business School
APPENDIX
● Number of interviews: 12 + 10 + 11 + 13 + 16 + (14) scheduled = 76
● Key Hypotheses:
H1 – HNW will directly invest (No, will invest after FA OK/s)
H2 – Everyone is just interested in money
● Insights:
(1) Everyone wants better money management
(2) Personal interactions, 1x1 Q&A is key to Get customers; returns necessary
to Keep customers
14

15. Columbia Business School
REVENUE MODEL
$20M AUM (12%)
In 2/20,
Investor gets $1.52
With us (0/25)
Investor gets $2M
Our fee $400K
15
AUM ($M)
Chart showing 7% returns