In the Company of Mavericks

Jeremy McKeown
In the Company of Mavericks

Conversations with entrepreneurs who dared to be different

  1. 12/26/2024

    Javier Milei: The Maverick President - with Robert Marstrand

    During the pandemic, an Argentinian economist called Javier Milei began to make a name for himself on TV panel shows for his wild libertarian ideas and idiosyncratic, abrasive delivery. Milei raged against politicians of all persuasions, always prepared to outrage his opponents and entertain his audiences. By 2021, he had become a congressman, denouncing the political class as useless parasites who had never worked and thought only of self-enrichment. He assured his electorate that he would kick these criminals out. He didn't seek to lead lambs, he told them, but to awaken lions, and the lions he awoke were younger people attracted to his unique combination of in-depth economic knowledge and flamboyant shock-jock delivery. While other politicians and the mainstream media depicted him as a performative clown, Milei had taught economics for twenty years and published over fifty academic papers. Unlike most academics, Milei was a showman, playing drums for a Rolling Stones cover band. He was an evangelist who sold out increasingly large venues, lecturing his audiences about the workings of the price mechanism, the moral justification for capitalism, and the crime of collectivism while raising a sense of moral outrage. The coincidence of Argentina's economic cycle of despair with Milei's arrival as a chainsaw-wielding showman, backed up by the deep conviction that he knew the solution to his country's woes, unexpectedly led him to the highest office in the land in less than a year. Last December, he became Argentina's 59th president. He won the largest number of votes and the largest percentage of votes recorded in any election since the transition to democracy, but it came with only a minority position in the legislature. This left him with an enormous challenge in executing his reforms, but despite this, his first year in office has been largely successful. Unanswered are the questions as to whether Milei's remedies will prove sustainable, whether this time will differ from all the other times, and whether he can end Argentina's era of missed opportunities. Can he continue painful reforms while remaining sufficiently popular to complete the project? I spent a few days in Buenos Aries in early November to learn more about this man and the libertarian experiment he was implementing. I met several people there, including Robert Marstrand, an author and investor who writes the investment stack OfWealth.  Robert has a background in investment banking and has lived in Argentina for 16 years. He was very generous with his time and explained the opportunity for Argentina and how investors might like to think about this Maverick nation with its maverick president.   Please enjoy our conversation about Argentina and its maverick president.

    48 min
  2. 12/13/2024

    Long Short Equity Management with Richard Stuckey of Ennismore

    Have you ever wondered how fund managers deliver a successful long-short strategy?  David Seaman of Alpha Cygni Investment Management recently joined me for a conversation with Richard Stuckey, the manager of the Ennismore Global Equity Fund, about managing such a strategy in smaller global companies.   In this fascinating chat, Richard discusses different approaches to shorting equities and how they involve different approaches to risk management at the stock and portfolio levels. He outlines a couple of examples of stocks he and his team have successfully shorted that turned out to be deceptions.  We then discuss two long positions he recently added to his portfolio. Genus, a UK–listed animal genetics company, Genus and Paradox Interactive, a Scandinavian-listed games publisher Richard then discusses the geographic spread of his fund and how to think about market inefficiency driven by the rise of the mega-cap tech stocks, passive investment and meme-driven markets. And… importantly, how to adapt investment strategy in a market that can remain inefficient for a long time.  This is a masterclass in the often counterintuitive art of managing an absolute return strategy in a volatile and illiquid asset class.  While not for everyone, it can offer downside protection in choppy markets while providing long-term exposure to quality compounding equities. I must remind you that this is only for information purposes and is NOT investment advice. The views expressed in the podcast are personal to the contributors and do not represent Progressive Equity's views.  Please enjoy our conversation with Richard Stuckey. Made possible by Progressive Equity.

    51 min
  3. 11/29/2024

    Betting, Investing & Understanding Risk with Mark Blandford, Founder of Sporting Bet

    In this episode, Progressive’s legendary technology analyst, George O’Connor, joins me in a conversation with Mark Blandford, the online betting pioneer and founder of Sporting Bet. Always interested in horse racing and betting on horses, Mark moved from traditional bookmaking into the emerging world of the internet in the late 1990s, building Sporting Bet into a high-growth AIM company, later acquiring US-facing Paradise Poker. Things changed suddenly in the US online gambling market in 2006, and Mark eventually left Sporting Bet to focus on his racehorses and his family office.  In 2002, Mark was named AIM Entrepreneur of the Year, and in 2015, his horse, Next Sensation, won Cheltenham.  Mark has also had several winners as a venture capital investor and has several strategic public company investments. His wide-ranging portfolio includes interests in NASDAQ-listed Gambling.com and the UK-listed small-caps Gaming Realms, B90 and Good Life Plus.  Among his private investments, Mark has stakes in platform, payment, ag-tech, and ed-tech businesses.   He discusses his interest in quantitative analysis, improving operating efficiencies and working with entrepreneurs who are prepared to listen and take advice. This is a fascinating conversation with many lessons and reminders of how technology can change industries AND how a changing regulatory environment can create radical uncertainty and existential risk. Mark talks openly about his eventful journey from a traditional bricks-and-mortar bookmaker to a seasoned VC and investor.     I must remind you that none of what you are about to hear is investment advice, but it is solely for your information and entertainment. Please take professional advice before investing your money in these crazy markets.  Please enjoy our conversation with the maverick, Mark Blandford. Brought to you by Progressive Equity

    43 min
  4. 10/24/2024

    Navigating Emerging Markets with Leila Kardouche of Variis Partners

    Have you ever wondered what investing in Emerging Markets is all about? It’s complicated, right? And having witnessed a decade or more of US dollar dominance and outperforming developed markets, particularly US markets, why bother looking at the rest of the world? After all, isn’t that where all the bad stuff happens, like currency crises and debt defaults?  Recently, there have been signs that Emerging Markets might be re-emerging. This year, there have been signs that the dollar’s dominance may not be so dominant. Following the Fed’s decision to cut rates by 50 basis points, China announced an intention to add significant heft to its policy of loosening monetary and fiscal conditions in the world’s second-largest economy.    Following an extended period of being considered uninvestable, Chinese equities had a near 30% bounce in a couple of weeks. Was this just some hasty short closing or a re-awakening of the biggest emerging markets? This is currently one of the fiercest debates among global investors. I wanted to get the perspective of an emerging markets expert, so I was delighted to have the chance to speak with Leila Kardouche of Variis Partners. Leila is a veteran of the space, and she and her small team recently launched a new London-based emerging markets partnership. This partnership fills a space left by several high-profile investors who have recently left this area due to its long period of disappointing returns.  In this episode, we learn about the structure of Emerging Markets and how benchmark indices such as the MSCI are not very helpful in uncovering the full potential of the growth opportunities often obscured within these markets. Among other things, Leila discusses how to evaluate political risk in this widely diverse range of markets as we tour what’s hot and what’s not in an investment universe covering 85% of the world’s population.   Critically, Leila and the Variis team focus on stock selection. Leila discusses how the challenges of growing businesses in emerging markets have produced some very successful compounding growth opportunities. Yes, these companies have outperformed strongly even within markets like China, which has been disappointing overall. For my recent Substack covering emerging markets, please see, Are Emerging Markets Re-emerging?  Be sure you are subscribed to In The Company of Mavericks on your podcast app to avoid missing the next and future episodes. Made possible by Progressive Equity.

    50 min
  5. 10/21/2024

    COMING SOON - Navigating Emerging Markets with Leila Kardouche of Variis Partners

    Have you ever wondered what investing in Emerging Markets is all about? It’s complicated, right? And having witnessed a decade or more of US dollar dominance and outperforming developed markets, particularly US markets, why bother looking at the rest of the world? After all, isn’t that where all the bad stuff happens, like currency crises and debt defaults?  Recently, there have been signs that Emerging Markets might be re-emerging. This year, there have been signs that the dollar’s dominance may not be quite so dominant. Following the Fed’s decision to cut rates by 50 basis points, China announced an intention to add significant heft to its policy of loosening monetary and fiscal conditions in the world’s second-largest economy.    Following an extended period of being considered uninvestable, Chinese equities had a near 30% bounce in a couple of weeks. Was this just some hasty short closing or a re-awakening of the biggest emerging markets? This is currently one of the fiercest debates among global investors. I wanted to get the perspective of an emerging markets expert, so I was delighted to have the chance to speak with Leila Kardouche of Variis Partners. Leila is a veteran of the space, and she and her small team recently launched a new London-based emerging markets partnership, filling a space left by several high-profile investors who have recently left this area due to its long period of disappointing returns.  In this episode, we learn about the structure of Emerging Markets and how benchmark indices such as the MSCI are not very helpful in uncovering the full potential of the growth opportunities often obscured within these markets. Among other things, Leila discusses how to evaluate political risk in this widely diverse range of markets as we take a tour of what’s hot and what’s not in an investment universe covering 85% of the world’s population.   Critically, Leila and the Variis team focus on stock selection. Leila discusses how the challenges of growing businesses in emerging markets have produced some very successful compounding growth opportunities. Yes, these companies have outperformed strongly even within markets like China, which has been disappointing overall. Be sure you are subscribed to In The Company of Mavericks on your podcast app to avoid missing the next and future episodes.  Made possible by Progressive Equity.

    2 min
  6. 10/03/2024

    Beating the Fade with Alex Sweet of Sweet Stocks

    A few months ago, I chatted with Adam Rackley, the SVS Dowgate Cape Wrath Focus Fund manager featured in Episode 39, Market Capitulations & Narrative Shifts.  We were reading a great new Substack called Sweet Stocks, which featured weekly in-depth write-ups of some fascinating quality compounding growth stocks. Not only were we impressed with Sweet Stocks’ quality, but the weekly publication cadence also meant it was the work of a highly experienced and disciplined analyst.    A few weeks later, we chatted with Alex Sweet, the man behind the Substack, about what motivates his work, his investment philosophy, his analytical rigour, and, crucially, some of his UK stock ideas.  Alex didn’t disappoint. He gave a masterclass on investing in quality compounding companies capable of “beating the fade” and on how he uses his fundamental analytical approach to find these anomalous gems globally.  This episode teaches how Adam and Alex use similar, in-depth fundamental frameworks to derive different strategies. Adam focuses on contrarian deep value, while Alex focuses on growth at a reasonable price. These two investors illustrate the type of discipline involved in professional investment analysis. They also share an interest in the crazy world of Ultrarunning. Alex talks about his newfound passion for the Backyard Ultra, an offshoot of the Barkley Marathons, an event he hopes to run 300 miles in three days later this year. The stocks we cover in this episode are 4imprint, YouGov and Loungers.  I must just tell you that the people on this podcast might own shares in the companies mentioned, but nothing you are about to hear is investment advice. The opinions expressed are purely the contributors' personal views and do not represent the views of Progressive Equity or any other organisation mentioned in this podcast. I hope you find this content informative and entertaining. I learned a lot, but please take professional financial advice before investing a penny in these crazy markets. I also wrote a Substack article about this podcast at HyperNormalTimes. Made possible by Progressive Equity.

    56 min

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