Challenges with Small Checks, Concentrated Bets, and Taiwan

I’ve written before about how I try to hold stocks for as long as possible to avoid rash trading and constantly realising capital gains.

I try to keep my rule for selling simple: if the founder CEO steps away, I sell. Not because the company is bad, but because the specific edge I’m betting on - a founder with outsized ownership, control, and long-term thinking - is no longer there. A few quarters ago, that rule triggered on Spotify in my growth fund (Daniel Ek moved to Executive Chairman) and led me to continue selling down my position. In my personal fund, it was the reasoning behind starting to trim Berkshire last year after Buffett stepped down. In an unexpected and sad way, that happened again last quarter when David Simon, the CEO of Simon Property Group, passed away.

I also broke slightly from my preference for founder-CEO owned stocks when I added small positions in ASML and Intel - each about 2% of the portfolio. My thesis isn’t about these companies individually. It’s a (not confident) hedge against Taiwan risk. If something disrupts TSMC - whether geopolitical or otherwise - ASML (a key part of the supply chain for machines to make advanced chips) and Intel (the only Western company building leading-ish-edge fabs) are maybe positioned differently than most tech stocks. It’s also a small way to get some AI exposure in a portfolio that is otherwise very traditional.

Specific updates now follow for paid subs.

On the personal funds side, I trimmed my Simon Property Group position slightly and redeployed into TIPS, EUR, Intel and ASML. On the growth funds side, I continued the Spotify sell-down, opened positions in two new founder-led companies, and have a reflection on a private investment that didn’t work out.