Gavin Baker – Truth-Seeking and Crossover Investing at Atreides (EP.489)
Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry
Ted Seides – Allocator and Asset Management Expert
4.7 • 841 Ratings
🗓️ 2 March 2026
⏱️ 72 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Gavin Baker is the Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Atreides Management, which oversees $7 billion across public, private, and crossover strategies focused on technology and the consumer.
Gavin's deep knowledge of semiconductors and AI may be second to none, but our conversation barely touches the space. We begin with Gavin's upbringing, intellectual curiosity, and path to investing, before turning to the beliefs that shape his approach. We explore his view that investing is a search for truth best pursued through debate, intellectual honesty, and a willingness to be wrong, and why people, culture, execution, and risk management matter more than investment process in driving long-term performance.
We then turn to the application of those beliefs at Atreides, where Gavin emphasizes the importance of deep fundamental understanding, hypothesis-driven research, and culture that rewards constructive disagreement. We discuss how crossover investing can create informational and behavioral advantages - particularly in AI - and how portfolio construction in both hedge funds and venture capital can narrow the gap between insight and performance.
As a disclaimer, I am both an LP and an advisor to Atreides, so I'm a little biased in my suspicion that you will really enjoy this conversation with Gavin Baker.
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All opinions expressed by Ted and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of Capital Allocators or their firms. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. It should not be construed as investment advice or a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offering of any kind. Clients of Capital Allocators or podcast guests may maintain positions and securities discussed on this podcast. The statements and opinions contained herein may change at any time, based on market or other conditions.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | a lot of being successful as investor is finding an investment's philosophy that fits your own |
| 0:05.9 | emotional makeup such that you can be rational when you were wrong. I'm wrong a lot. This is a humbling |
| 0:11.9 | business. When I am wrong, and it's because of something I hadn't considered, or a risk I was |
| 0:18.7 | unaware of, that made it hard for me to be rational. But when the stock went down, and it was a risk I was unaware of that made it hard for me to be rational. But when the stock went down, |
| 0:24.2 | and it was a risk I had considered, stocks always go down more than you expect, it was much easier |
| 0:29.1 | for me to be rational and make high quality decisions when I'm wrong, which I think is a lot |
| 0:33.9 | of what being an investor comes down to. That's very important. As an investor, you have to |
| 0:39.8 | either panic early or double down late. And you have to be one of the two. It's hard to be both. |
| 0:46.6 | For me, I'm a double down late person. I'm always buying stocks on the 52 week low list. |
| 0:51.9 | It makes me uncomfortable when a name is in the consensus. |
| 0:55.0 | Sometimes consensus is right, but it's important to me to be contrarian. |
| 1:04.6 | I'm Ted Sides, and this is Capital Allocators. |
| 1:10.5 | My guest on today's show is Gavin Baker, managing partner and chief investment officer |
| 1:16.1 | of Atreides Management, which oversees $7 billion across public, private, and crossover |
| 1:22.2 | strategies focused on technology and the consumer. |
| 1:26.0 | Gavin's deep knowledge of semiconductors and AI may be second to none, but our conversation |
| 1:31.3 | barely touches that space. |
| 1:33.3 | We begin with Gavin's upbringing, intellectual curiosity, and path into investing, before |
| 1:39.3 | turning to the beliefs that shape his approach. |
| 1:42.3 | We explore his view that investing is a search for truth |
| 1:45.1 | best pursued through debate, intellectual honesty, and a willingness to be wrong, and why people, |
| 1:51.3 | culture, execution, and risk management matter more than investment process in driving |
... |
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