Samantha Greenberg - Recognizing True Asymmetry

Jan 29, 2021

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Many of the guests that I've had on this program are people I've known for years. We approached those conversations as an opportunity to explain together to the audience their methods, philosophies, and approach. Today’s conversation with Samantha Greenberg is a bit different. Samantha is someone I’ve looked forward to meeting for some time now as she would come up constantly in conversations with other investors and I’m happy to get to know her alongside you.

Samantha Greenberg is Portfolio Manager of Technology, Media & Telecom investing at Ashler Capital, a Citadel company. Before joining Ashler Capital, Samantha was Chief Investment Officer of Margate Capital Management which she founded in 2016, a partner and TMT/consumer sector head at Paulson & Co. Inc., and a vice president in the Special Situations Group of Goldman Sachs. Samantha received her MBA from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a BS in Economics.

On this episode, Samantha and I discuss how she developed an interest in the investment industry, why asset management is a particularly good field for women, how her experiences at Goldman and Paulson shaped her investment philosophy, her catalyst-driven approach, why resources are critical to scaling, the benefits of extensive data modeling, and so much more!

Key Topics:

Samantha’s early discovery and passion for the markets (3:26)
How Samantha’s interest in investing continued throughout her school years (4:28)
The experience that drove Samantha’s passion for entrepreneurship (5:52)
How Samantha’s experience as an internet and media analyst shaped her passion for tech (7:58)
Formative experiences from successive market crises in Samantha’s early career (9:24)
Learning true process diligence (11:52)
Critical lessons about catalysts from John Paulson (14:19)
Samantha’s experiences at Goldman Sachs and Paulson & Co. in the late 2000s (15:59)
Why asset management is a great industry for women, despite the current demographics (19:26)
Comcast as a powerful example of asymmetry from Samantha’s time at Paulson (22:55)
The importance of steady-state valuations (26:28)
The decision to start Margate Capital (27:58)
Margate Capital’s investment philosophy (29:47)
Samantha’s perspective on idea generation (32:07)
How access to resources acts as a major barrier to entry for hedge funds (33:27)
Understanding the rationale behind mispricing (35:58)
Why a catalytic event is crucial for Samantha (37:24)
Making decisions about portfolio sizing (38:19)
Hedging market exposure (40:25)
Shock testing your portfolio (43:20)
A case study on value-unlocking catalysts with the Madison Square Garden Company (45:12)
The leisure industry is one to watch for the future (50:46)
Why Samantha left Margate Capital for Ashler Capital (52:24)
How regulatory risk impacts the future of investments in the technology industry (55:47)
The current tech trends Samantha is keeping an eye on (58:48)
And much more!

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Thanks for Listening!

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