Maverick Capital

Lee Ainslie had already said yes to Goldman Sachs.

He was finishing his MBA at UNC Chapel Hill. He had an offer from the most prestigious firm on Wall Street, and he took it.

Two weeks later, his phone rang. It was Julian Robertson.

Robertson asked Ainslie whether he would consider joining Tiger Management instead. Tiger did not hire fresh MBA graduates, but that was clearly changing.

Ainslie said yes. And that call was one of the two biggest breaks in Ainslie's career.

A Teacher's Son From Virginia

Ainslie grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, a wealthy suburb outside Washington, D.C. His mother was an accountant. His father was a teacher who went on to run two different schools. One of them was Episcopal High School, from which Ainslie graduated.

That school would matter more than anyone could have guessed. Some of its alumni would go on to play a big part in his career. One became his future boss, Julian Robertson. Winston Holt served as head of client relations at Tiger Management before joining Ainslie's firm in the same capacity. And Lee Hobson became one of Ainslie's very first hires at Maverick Capital.

Ainslie was interested in stocks from eighth grade on, but he did not study finance in college. He went to the University of Virginia and majored in Systems Engineering.

After graduation, he worked as a tech consultant at KPMG Peat Marwick.

Then he decided to get an MBA.

He applied to Stanford GSB. Stanford rejected him.

He went to UNC Chapel Hill instead. Today, he thanks Stanford for that rejection at every public appearance.

The Board Member Who Liked to Talk Stocks

At UNC, Ainslie worked on a project with the UNC board of trustees. One of the board members was Julian Robertson, the founder of Tiger Management and a fellow alumnus of Episcopal High School.

The two hit it off. They talked about stocks for hours. For a kid who had loved the market since eighth grade, it felt like talking to the Michael Jordan of stock picking.

But Tiger did not hire MBAs. So when Goldman Sachs made an offer, Ainslie accepted.

Two weeks later, Robertson called and offered Ainslie a seat at Tiger Management, which at the time managed $700 million.

He took it.

From Rookie to Technology Sector Head

For the first three months, Ainslie was a generalist covering mostly consumer and retail stocks. When his first performance review came around, he was nervous, because he thought he sucked.

He was wrong.

Not only did he get a big bonus, he was promoted to technology sector head. Technology would remain his specialty for years to come.

This was a bigger deal than it sounds. The previous tech sector head did not last long.

Behind the scenes, the man who made it happen was none other than Steve Mandel, a consumer analyst who went on to found Lone Pine Capital.

Mandel had joined Tiger just a few months before Ainslie. The two could not have been more different on paper. Ainslie had no professional stock-picking experience. Mandel had spent six years as a sell-side research analyst covering retail at Goldman Sachs. Mandel became Ainslie's boss, and he saw what Ainslie could do. He vouched for Ainslie in front of Julian Robertson for the promotion.

Two big breaks: a seat at Tiger Management, then a promotion to tech sector head.

The Billionaire From Dallas

After three years at Tiger, Ainslie got an interesting visitor. His name was Sam Wyly.

Wyly was a serial entrepreneur. He had been classmates with Ross Perot at IBM's education center. Sam and his brother Charles made their fortune founding several companies.

In 1990, the brothers formed First Dallas, a private limited partnership and the predecessor fund to Maverick. Sam Wyly ran the portfolio himself. In 1991, the partnership was up more than 100%, thanks to his gutsy bet on junk bonds.

Wyly looked at the hedge fund business model and saw huge potential. After a couple of years of impressive returns, the brothers decided to turn it into a hedge fund and open it up to outside investors. They recruited Ainslie to run it.

Ainslie said no at first. He was happy at Tiger Management.

Wyly kept coming back. Every time, he made the idea of leaving a little more attractive.

The truth is, Ainslie had always wanted to run his own portfolio. And he realized there would never be a perfect moment. Wyly's offer was too good to pass up.

So Ainslie decided to take the leap.

"Other Adjectives Involved"

Now Ainslie had to sit down with Julian Robertson and break the news.