Origins
Born in California in 1907, he entered the nascent Stanford Business School but left after a year to become an analyst at a San Francisco bank, just in time to witness the 1929 crash.
Finance
🇺🇸 Philip Fisher(b. 1907)
Wrote Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits
Philip Fisher pioneered growth investing, emphasizing qualitative analysis of companies and their management for long-term compounding returns.
“Scuttlebutt method.”
8 Courses · 40 Lessons · 5 Hours
30-day money-back guarantee
Biography
The story of Philip Fisher, from the beginning.
The turning point
In 1931, in the midst of the Depression, he opened his own consulting firm: few clients, no competition, and ample time to study companies in depth.
The rise
He built a legendary reputation with a few key selections held for decades: he bought Motorola in 1955 and kept it until his death over forty years later. In 1958, he published “Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits,” the first investment book to make the New York Times bestseller list.
The method
He invented “scuttlebutt”: talking to customers, suppliers, former employees, and competitors to truly understand a company. His fifteen points assessed research, sales strength, management quality, and integrity. His portfolio was highly concentrated, with almost no turnover.
Today and the legacy
He died in 2004 at 96. Buffett declared he was “85% Graham and 15% Fisher”: without him, the modern idea of buying quality and holding it forever would not exist.
His library
8 courses on how Philip thinks.
8 Courses · 40 Lessons · 5 Hours. Select a course to see every lesson inside it.
New to Philip? Start here
The Fifteen Points: A Scuttlebutt Investor's Checklist
Master Fisher's qualitative framework for identifying exceptional growth companies.
Beginner
Intermediate
Deep Dive
Beginner
The Fifteen Points: A Scuttlebutt Investor's Checklist
5 lessons
- 01
Beyond the Numbers: What is Qualitative Analysis?
8 min read - 02
Management Integrity: The Heart of a Sound Investment
8 min read - 03
Scuttlebutt: Listening to the Right People, Asking the Right Questions
8 min read - 04
Productive R&D: Finding the Innovation Engine
8 min read - 05
Profit Margins and Adaptation: The Competitive Edge
8 min read
Tiptico courses are independent educational analyses based on publicly available information, writings, interviews, speeches and documented decisions. The individuals featured are not instructors, employees, partners, sponsors or endorsers of Tiptico unless explicitly stated.
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