My Portfolio Approach

Thesis, Criteria, Style

I’ve been asked recently about my portfolio approach and how I decide on what stocks to purchase.

In this short article, I’ll run through my investment thesis, stock picking criteria and investment style.

Investment Thesis

I want to back technology-driven companies that are:

• Market leaders or disruptors in their respective sectors.

• Operating in or expanding into emerging markets with significant room for expansion (e.g., Southeast Asia, Latin America)

• Benefit from network effects, scale economies, and asset-light models that can drive strong operating leverage over time.

• Are often underestimated or misunderstood by the broader market due to macro headwinds, early-stage volatility, or unconventional business models.

• Have optionality across business lines, allowing them to evolve into platforms or ecosystems rather than single-product companies.

These are broad segments and not “must-haves”, but I have found that I gravitate towards backing businesses that have the above characteristics.

Stock Picking Criteria

1. Platform Potential / Ecosystem Play

   1. I favour companies that build interconnected ecosystems, enhancing user engagement and creating a flywheel around their products/services.

   2. Examples:

      1. Sea Limited: Shopee + Garena + SeaMoney

      2. Mercado Libre: Mercado Libre + Mercado Pago + Mercado Envíos

      3. Grab: GrabCar + GrabFood + GrabFin

      4. Apple: iPhone + Mac + iOS + MacOS + AirPods + App Store + iCloud

2. Exposure to Emerging Markets with Secular Tailwinds

   1. I target companies that are poised to benefit from decades-long secular tailwinds, often found in emerging economies.

   2. Examples:

      1. Mercado Libre: MELI has capitalised on increasing e-commerce and FinTech penetration in LatAm for the past 2 decades with a couple more decades of tailwinds to go.

      2. Sea Limited + Grab: Capitalising on a hugely underbanked/underserved Southeast Asian population with a rising middle class and rapidly growing mobile-first population driving demand for digital services.

      3. Robinhood: While heavily popularised in the US, it has yet to expand to other markets such as Canada, Europe, Asia etc, that could provide decades of user growth.

3. Asymmetric Risk-Reward or Mispriced Assets

   1. I attempt to identify opportunities where common market perceptions result in undervalued potential in certain businesses.

   2. Examples:

      1. Robinhood + Hims: Both have hugely misunderstood business models, either due to prejudice or sheer lack of knowledge.

      2. Sea Limited + Grab: Sea Limited was hugely undervalued in 2022 post ~90% drop in the stock price. The business was operating from the greatest position of strength but was overlooked by the market. I believe Grab is in a similar position today.

4. Visionary Founder/Operator

   1. This is perhaps the most important criteria that I look out for. Visionary founders with a clear and compelling vision can steer their companies through challenges and pivot when necessary.

   2. Examples:

      1. Elon Musk (Tesla)

      2. Tobi Lütke (Shopify)

      3. Daniel Ek (Spotify)

      4. Reed Hastings (Netflix)

      5. Jeff Bezos (Amazon)

5. Optionality

   1. Companies with multiple growth drivers often outperform the market over the long-term and gives them an ability to pivot.

   2. Examples:

      1. Sea Limited: Started off as a gaming publisher, but has since morphed into the most dominant e-commerce business in SEA and a formidable FinTech player.

      2. Amazon: Started off selling books, but now sells everything. Not to forget AWS, Prime etc…

      3. Tesla: Starting off as just a car company, Tesla perhaps has the largest potential for optionality with Robotaxis, Autonomy, Optimus Robots etc.

Investment Style

I look for businesses that I believe will be an integral part of the future of their respective niches.

Often, these are businesses that are overlooked or misunderstood by the market, leading to depressed valuations. Many of these appear in emerging markets due to the lack of perfect information in these markets.

As long as the business has a clear upward trajectory for the coming decades, I am willing to hold through the volatility.

My focus is generally on tech-enabled, scalable businesses with the potential to become platforms or ecosystems. These businesses tend to be asset-light, high-margin, and capable of generating operating leverage over time.

They are also often run by visionary founders, backed by structural tailwinds, and multiple growth engines — not just a singular product or market.

I concentrate on a few high-upside ideas with long runways and place a large portion of my portfolio weightage on each.

Thank you for reading!

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