AppLovin Case Study: Meeting Founders and Spotting Ad Inflection

Michael Barton, Sector Head at Coatue, joins Sourcery to unpack how one of the world’s largest hedge funds is navigating tectonic shifts in markets. From the Gamestop meme stock saga and the rise of retail investors, to Coatue’s $70B multi-strategy platform across public equities, privates, and credit, Barton shares a behind-the-scenes view into how ideas are generated, trades are sized, and risks are managed.

We cover Coatue’s unique approach, sitting at the intersection of public and private tech investing. And why AI is the biggest tech wave yet, bigger than Web1, Web2, or mobile. Barton explains where he sees value accruing in the AI stack, how retail sentiment now drives price action, and why the next hedge fund edge comes from integrating data science, practitioner insights, and AI-native workflows.

This conversation reveals how Coatue is positioning itself for the future of markets, and what founders, investors, and institutions should learn from these shifts.

KEY POINTS

• ​Coatue’s Scale & Strategy: ~$70B AUM, with ~$25B in public equities, alongside private and credit strategies
• ​Rise of Retail: Gamestop and Reddit proved retail investors can move markets—forcing funds to adapt new risk frameworks
• ​Idea Generation & Investing Discipline: Successful investments at Coatue require both deep analysis, differentiated insights and the ability to distill a pitch into a few sentences that win buy-in from the team
• ​AI’s Impact: Advertising is the first major AI use case driving revenue growth; Coatue sees AI as the largest tech wave yet, reshaping companies, investing processes, and even their own hedge fund workflows
• ​Winners & Losers: Value will accrue differently across the AI stack (labs, agents, infrastructure, cloud); the challenge is identifying which layer ultimately dominates

Michael Barton: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-lord-barton-jr-390b4145/

Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠

Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠

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