Sanjay Ayer (WCM) - Think Different, Get Better

Far From The Finishing Post

Sanjay Ayer is a portfolio manager at WCM Investment Management, a California-based asset manager investing in good quality companies with strong cultures and improving competitive moats. Sanjay talks about his evolution as an investor, how a good culture can reinforce a company's competitive advantage, and why it is so important for investors to learn from mistakes and compound knowledge to sustain success.
Show notes:
[1:15] Sanjay talks about his early career and moving from Morningstar to WCM
[4:10] Why one should focus on companies that are expanding their competitive moat
[6:46] Testing the trajectory of a moat
[9:11] Amazon and Shopify
[10:55] Compounding knowledge to sustain success
[14:27] Learning from mistakes
[16:26] Niche industrial and influencer typologies
[20:00] The importance of culture
[21:13] Cultural optionality and culture as a durable competitive advantage
[25:23] Balancing centralisation and decentralisation in regulated industries
[27:21] Cultural trajectory
[29:12] Portfolio construction as a foundation for rational decision-making
[32:19] The role of valuation
[34:42] R&D to sustain an investors' competitive advantages
[38:41] Persistent inefficiencies in the investment profession
[42:30] Using growth and scale to advance culture
[44:51] Embrace cognitive dissonance and consider return on time