Interview #90 : Vincent Lo (Kathmandu Partners)
Interview #90 : Vincent Lo (Kathmandu Partners)
Patience and discipline
For this issue we have the pleasure of interviewing Vincent Lo from Kathmandu Partners.
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Hi Vincent, thanks so much for taking the time out to do this interview.
Could you please share your background and how you became involved in investing?
I grew up following my mother to the local stock brokerage in Taiwan, which naturally acquainted me with the industry. After my family moved to the U.S. when I was 14, my mother opened a stock brokerage as a welcome gift.
Without speaking a word of English, I began investing independently, learning the language by reading 10-Ks and 10-Qs. The Global Financial Crisis hit soon after, nearly wiping out my entire portfolio.
It was a tough, yet valuable, lesson. It highlighted the importance of identifying undervalued assets rather than succumbing to speculative impulses and following market headlines.
Importantly, this experience introduced me to the value investing philosophies, which deeply resonated with my personality. The crisis also pushed my family to the brink of bankruptcy, forcing us to channel our last hopes into the beaten down real estate market.
This decision not only put sister and I through college, but it also enabled me to witness firsthand the profound impact of compound interest and the critical importance of fiduciary duty, reinforcing my commitment to becoming a lifelong student and proponent of value investing.
However, my journey to Wall Street was far from smooth. I attended a non-target school, and a family emergency disrupted my initial recruiting efforts. I took two year-long career gaps to fully immerse myself in investing and to intern at First Pacific Advisors, all while subsisting on the McDonald’s dollar menu.
At one period, I was also working 80 hours a week in management consulting while completing my CFA and managing two side jobs related to investing. After 1,200 rejections, I secured a position on the sell side, working alongside a top Wall Street analyst covering the Cannabis industry.
Later, I worked at a real estate billionaire’s family office as a buyside analyst before founding Kathmandu Capital.
Looking back, the capacity to suffer has shaped who we are as investors and played a critical role in developing our patient, long-term focus.
Why did you launch Kathmandu Partners? And who do you manage funds on behalf of?
At my lowest point during the job search, I traveled alone to Kathmandu, Nepal, and secluded myself in a temple to deeply reflect on my life and its purpose.
There, I made a solemn vow to establish a hedge fund that would prioritize investor interests and spread the invaluable lessons learned from the luminaries of value investing. Inspired by Professor Bruce Greenwald’s seminal work, 'Competition Demystified,' I conceived Kathmandu Capital six years later.
This U.S.-based hedge fund is value-oriented, long-only, small-cap, internationally focused, and maintains a concentrated portfolio.
We manage capital on behalf of our clients, which includes seed capital from the number one performing fixed income fund in China, institutions in Taiwan, as well as high net worth individuals who have followed my journey through the blog I write in Mandarin.