Founder's Story
The Investor Who Left the Rat Race to Build a $100M Fund | Ep 225 with Sam Chipkin the Founder & CIO of 5AM Capital
Mon, 2 Jun 2025
Sam Chipkin, after nearly a decade in the high-stress world of New York finance, moved to Bondi Beach and rewired his approach to investing. In this episode, he shares how quiet mornings, long walks, and deep research shaped his investment strategy—and why 5AM Capital is betting on patient capital, enduring businesses, and disciplined risk. Key Discussion Points: Leaving Wall Street: Why chaos isn’t required to create value Building a boutique fund that caps growth at $750M The power of investing in monopolistic businesses with durable moats Why the best investors act like long-term owners, not traders Founder vs. hired CEO mindset—and how it affects outcomes How stress and stillness each played a role in shaping his success What most people get wrong about investing returns The underestimated mental load of wearing every hat as a founder Takeaways: Slower, focused growth often outlasts fast, flashy scale The best investments are deeply researched, not broadly scattered Building something meaningful requires clarity, conviction, and capacity to think long-term Culture and alignment are assets—don’t outgrow them Closing Thoughts:Sam Chipkin proves that high returns don’t require chaos. With a boutique, conviction-driven strategy and a firm belief in doing fewer things better, he’s showing why simplicity and discipline are the ultimate edge in business and investing.
Chapter 1: How did moving from Wall Street to Bondi Beach impact your investment strategy?
So, Sam, it was great just chatting about when somebody feels that they're in a chaotic state like Wall Street in New York City, moving to somewhere like the beach, like Bondi Beach in Australia, which seemed like two completely different places could shape their entire business. What was that experience from you?
Because I think a lot of people are in what they would call the rat race and they want to get out of that and they want to move to a place that might be more quiet, but still really inspires them and gets the juices going for business.
Yeah, it's a good starting coin. Thanks for having me, Daniel. So I spent almost a decade in New York working in global finance, and it was everything you'd expect, fast-paced, demanding, filled with really talented people. And it was also really formative. I met my wife there. She's Australian too.
And while we both loved New York, I think we had this sort of quiet understanding that Australia would be home one day, and we weren't. really sure exactly when, but we did know that when it came time to raising a family, we wanted to do it in proximity to nature, to community, a place where life could be a little slower and more grounded.
So I moved back from New York in 2014, a bit over 10 years ago, and before we had kids and my three kids had all been born in Australia. And I think
Looking back, and so the point that you raised there is that the decision to move, sort of set the foundation for not just our family life, but then for 5M Capital, being away from this constant market chatter, the daily noise of Wall Street and the financial media and the 24-hour news cycle and the... Being here created the space to think a bit differently.
In Bondi, as I'm saying, you know, we're not commuting through midtown jammed into, you know, a subway like Sardines and, you know, with the CNBC on, you know, the sort of interactive skyscraper there. I'm walking the coastline. I'm spending time with my family and community and thinking about And then, you know, this becomes a key differentiation about long-term capital allocation.
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Chapter 2: What are the key differences between founder-led and CEO-led businesses?
And I think that distance, both like physically and mentally, it helps keep focused on what really matters for us in our investment strategy, backing enduring businesses, managing risk really carefully, compounding wealth effectively. thoughtfully through decades. And we've tried to build 5M Capital to reflect that philosophy.
Recently, we had a doctor on that was talking about how stress was like the number one factor of causing aging for people, like their biological marker and their biological age. I imagine Wall Street has to be one of the most stressful jobs or places. At least, you know, that's what I see on TV. That's what I hear.
Chapter 3: Why is patience important in investing?
But what did you learn when you were in that type of environment that you brought into business that has helped with success?
Chapter 4: What characteristics define successful long-term businesses?
I think stress, particularly at the wrong point in your life, when you're not in a way to be able to cope with it, can be really problematic and cause real issues for people. I think stress at... The right time in your life can be really beneficial. And for me, it was. I think it sort of allowed me to push myself.
Chapter 5: How do you approach risk management in investing?
Chapter 6: What role does stress play in achieving investment success?
Recently, we had a doctor on that was talking about how stress was like the number one factor of causing aging for people, like their biological marker and their biological age. I imagine Wall Street has to be one of the most stressful jobs or places. At least, you know, that's what I see on TV. That's what I hear.
But what did you learn when you were in that type of environment that you brought into business that has helped with success?
I think stress, particularly at the wrong point in your life, when you're not in a way to be able to cope with it, can be really problematic and cause real issues for people. I think stress at... The right time in your life can be really beneficial. And for me, it was. I think it sort of allowed me to push myself.
Also, a decade spent there is almost more than a couple of decades of experience elsewhere. And so I wouldn't change that for anything, I think, also. I was probably working double shifts equivalent for most other jobs. It brings you up the curve drastically. You're in the flow of really important dynamics working with great people.
Chapter 7: Why is deep research crucial for investment returns?
I learned a lot from competencies, learned a lot from building my own sense of perspective on intrinsic valuations and managing dynamics. But I think as I started to approach family life, I knew that I needed to change a little bit. There's a lot that I learned from my time in New York. I'm happy to go into different aspects.
Chapter 8: What are the advantages of investing in monopolistic businesses?
One thing that did, I think, really impact our philosophy was that in my sort of I've had a couple of decades of investment experience, but the first decade was investing in unlisted businesses, so owning the whole of a business. And these were typically monopolistic things like airports or telco towers.
And so you had to bring a real rigor to the approach because you're holding these assets together. for a long time and you couldn't just sort of unwind an incorrect decision. You had to think carefully about the cash flows, the durabilities, the long-term profile. And so that was very formative in parts of the philosophy that we've got at
a five and capital um where we invest in um monopolistic businesses in the listed uh space so that the public equity markets but we we're bringing that sort of unlisted uh mindset um where we're identifying great, great businesses and happy to go through the network effects of scale, the economies of scale, the IP, the things that we look for.
But the point is that we take a very deep research analytical. We don't own 100 companies. We just own 25. We study them inside out. And if we wouldn't feel comfortable owning the whole business for like 10 plus years, we don't own a single share of it. And that strategy has helped deliver some great returns, results for our clients, results for us.
30% annualized in my prior CIO role before setting up 5M Capital and then 19% annualized since setting up 5M Capital and I think a lot is attributable to that mindset of the discipline, only investing in a business when we really understand it, the long runway for compounded growth, and that mindset of bringing that unlisted to the listed space.
It gives us conviction when volatility hits, when there's Trump tariffs and trade wars and headlines. We're able to know really clearly what we own, why we own it, and that clarity helps us avoid some knee-jerk reactions that plague most public market investors.
I imagine knee-jerk reaction is the definition of 2025 so far. When you think about... what makes a successful company so if you're looking at a company and you say these are the factors that make it successful or this is a company that has potential what are you looking for
So we're really focused on long-term, durable, high-quality businesses. And to have conviction over the long term, you need to have a very strong, sustainable, competitive advantage. And a lot of that then falls under what we loosely refer to as monopolies. It's sort of funny.
Monopolies often get a bad rep, but in the right reputation, but in the right category with the right dynamics, they can be incredibly beneficial for their customers, their employees, their shareholders, sort of the whole trifecta as long as sort of the North Star is aligned correctly and it can create great outcomes to everyone over an extended period of time.
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