Motion Blur Trevor Noren – Building Sage Road Research and Seeing the Future
A discussion with the Founder of Sage Road Research on the biggest forces reshaping the world.
Today we’re interviewing someone Grant has been following since 2019: Trevor Noren, Founder of Sage Road Research.
Trevor is an information omnivore. He’s a renowned financial analyst and thought leader, but we almost feel like that is too reductive; Trevor consumes huge quantums of data, synthesizes it all, and then packages it into coherent frameworks and analysis for his clients. Everything from tariffs to AI to demographics and investing.
We brought him onto the podcast so we could discuss the takeaways from some of his recent reports, as well as go through his overall research process. We cover deregulation, reshoring, the retailization of private markets, and some glimpses into his upcoming report on AI productivity. Longtime Motion Blur listeners will recall that Trevor played a huge role in the Sate of Adventure deck. This conversation covers that and so much more.
We also spend some time talking about Sage Road. After spending time at 13D and Wellington, Trevor decided to set out and build a firm that combines his unique synthesis abilities with his long-term time horizon. Sage Road focuses on the core themes and challenges that will define the next few decades.
In Trevor’s words: Sage Road is dedicated to industry-leading research into return-defining themes. From my time as an analyst at 13D Research to my time leading investment content for Wellington Management, I have always valued yet struggled to find comprehensive and unbiased thinking on the biggest trends influencing investment outcomes. I founded Sage Road to fill that gap—to get beyond the day-to-day noise, challenge consensus thinking, and connect-the-dots on key investment themes many may recognize, but few have time or opportunity to fully understand.
About Trevor: For more than a decade, Trevor Noren has been a financial industry thought leader. He worked for the world-renowned research firm 13D as a managing director and contributor to its flagship publication, What I Learned This Week. His areas of analytical focus ranged from tech disruption to consumer trends to financial industry plumbing, politics, and macroeconomics. After his tenure at 13D, he joined Wellington Management, a Boston-based firm with more than $1 trillion in AUM. In his role as Director of Investment Content, he led efforts to bring vital insights from the firm’s best-in-class, bottom-up investment dialogue to a global client base. He created and spearheaded the firm’s flagship publication, The Wellington Week, which became a go-to resource for thousands of investors and asset allocators across the world. Trevor is a proud graduate of Brown University. He lives in Ketchum, Idaho with his wife, two kids, two dogs, and many fishing rods.
Enjoy!
🔗 Show Resource Links
Sage Road Research, and a link to the excellent reports
Trevor’s Real Vision interview Grant saw back in 2019 (and the tweet)
🎙️ Podcast Links
🌀 About Motion Blur
Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam. Grant is a Partner at Cantos where he focuses on physical world technologies. Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures, Susa’s growth fund. Learn more about the hosts:
Grant Gregory, @grant__gregory, Embers
Hammad Aslam, @_hammad_aslamh, Susa Ventures
If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every week for new episodes.
Intro music credit: Will Harrison
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