Geopolitical Alpha

Foreword

Montreal. February 2017.

A cold, dark, and ice-stormy night.

I met Marko Papic for the first time over dinner at a spot he enthusiastically called “the coolest restaurant in town.” Upon entering, I found a dark and empty restaurant save for a bartender, a waiter, a mâitre d', and a lone customer sitting in the back corner. I started strategizing a polite early exit. But the food and drinks were incredible, and we proceeded to have an excellent, wide-ranging conversation. We stayed late and got totally blasted. It was the first of many times I would observe Marko make a correct, out-of-consensus call.

Within minutes of meeting Marko, I knew he was unique. My singular skill is sniffing out quality from crap and gathering the good ones around me – be it finding new money managers to run capital for our institutional clients, bringing together smart investors on a deal, backing founders of new financial technology companies, or convening the most interesting people in the world at an event in some far-flung location. I also seek out those with unique skills and try to persuade them to join the Clocktower Group team.

By the time I met Marko, I'd been looking for a chief strategist for a while. I needed someone to act like a basketball center, a big man in the middle to gel the team. I was looking for a beautiful mind to sit on top of our unique and exclusive information flow, then channel it into a coherent form for our clients. At first, I looked for the typical economist. ...