Ian Cassel — All Great Things Start Small (EP.113)

Ian Cassel is the founder of MicroCapClub, a community where hundreds of investors have discussions on US and Canadian microcap companies. They also help you become better investors with educational content covering investing strategies, intelligent fanatic CEOs, great investors, and more.

Ian is also Founder and CIO at Intelligent Fanatics Capital Management, whose goal is to own the smallest, most illiquid, least institutionally owned, misunderstood businesses that are run by intelligent fanatics.

Ian’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/iancassel
MicroCapClub: https://microcapclub.com/
Intelligent Fanatics Capital Management: https://if.capital/

Show Notes:

Microcaps are boons for quants
How Ian fell in love with microcaps
Managing other people’s money
Advantages and risks of microcap investing
Profitability, scarcity, and great stories
The top-down and bottom-up investment framework
Not being limited by minimum market caps
Being a hands-on investor
Turnovers in microcap portfolios
PE taking over microcap firms
Increasing the flywheel of serendipity
Preparing to be effortless
Not getting into arguments with people with made up minds
Being honest about your investment approach
The “mute” button hack
Identifying bad management
Importance of base rates
Educating about microcaps
Optimism beats pessimism
Do macroeconomic factors really matter?
What is chasing you?

Books Mentioned:

The Psychology of Money, by Morgan Housel
The Tao Jones Averages, by Bennett Goodspeed