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
02 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.
Full Episode
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.
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.
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