In this episode, Brett Caughran and Khe Hy sit down with Raj Shah, co-founder of Stoic Point and a former partner at Light Street, to get into how a two-person fund can run resourced like a firm ten times its size. Raj makes the case that AI lets a lean, concentrated fund compete with much larger teams and argues he's more worried about AI replacing him than the junior analysts everyone else is fretting over.
We get into:
- How a lean fund recreates the institutional resource stack without the institutional headcount
- The three buckets where AI fits the process: screening, research, and monitoring
- The "meta-screen" that surfaces ideas across 50 filters at once
- The black-box quirk where the same prompt run twice returns two different stock lists
- Separating the deterministic screen from the non-deterministic one — and why he starts in Bloomberg
- How automated monitoring caught a read on Lux Experience from an unexpected place
- Why AI makes a strong junior analyst more valuable, not less
- Turning your own process into an intern training guide — and a sparring partner that rips apart a pitch
- Why Excel with AI was the biggest positive surprise of everything he tested
- Single managers vs. platforms, and what an AI-native fund means for raising capital
We're not coming at this as "experts" with all the answers. We're in it every day, testing, breaking things, and trying to understand where this is going. The goal of the podcast is simple: bring you along as we learn, and give you a clearer view of how AI is actually being used in investing. If you work in equity research, at a hedge fund, or on the buyside and you're trying to make sense of AI, this is a good place to start.
***DISCLAIMER: Everything you hear on this podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. Any companies, securities, or strategies mentioned by our guests or hosts are discussed for illustration and shouldn't be taken advice to buy or sell. Markets carry risk and individual situations differ, so please do your own research or consult a licensed financial advisor before making any investment decisions. The views expressed are those of the individual speakers and don't necessarily reflect those of Fundamental Edge or its affiliates.
Chapters (Timestamps)
Timestamps:
[00:00] Intro
[01:21] — Greenhill to Highline to Light Street: Building Stoic Point
[04:00] — Recreating the $5B Resource Stack at a Lean Fund
[06:30] — The Three Buckets: Screening, Research, Monitoring
[12:00] — Same Prompt, Two Different Stock Lists
[14:39] — Deterministic vs. Non-Deterministic Screening
[15:31] — The UI Problem and the "Meta-Screen"
[17:54] — When Computer Use Got Good Enough to Click Through Bloomberg
[18:49] — Can Codex Run Your Screens Today?
[20:00] — Automated Monitoring: How AlphaSense Caught the Lux Experience Read
[22:30] — The Narrative Violation: Why Juniors Get More Valuable
[25:16] — Turn Your Process Into an Intern Training Guide
[26:55] — Building a Sparring Partner That Rips Apart a Pitch
[27:36] — Excel + AI: The Biggest Positive Surprise
[32:35] — If Big Firms Automate Juniors, Does the Pipeline Break?
[34:41] — What Happens When LLMs Develop Judgment
[35:59] — Measuring ROI in P&L, Not Hours
[38:25] — Single Managers vs. Platforms in an AI World
[43:42] — The Magnetar Read: Build the Product Around the LLM
[47:25] — Flip It: Human on Idea Gen, AI on Risk
[50:42] — Advice for the AI-Native Analyst
[54:34] — Using AI to Deepen an Experience, Not Skip It
Want to actually build these workflows yourself?
The AI Accelerator is Fundamental Edge's 6-month cohort for investors who want repeatable AI workflows. Learn More below:
https://www.fundamentedge.com/ai-accelerator
Watch the full podcast series on our site: https://www.fundamentedge.com/invest-with-ai
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Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033xcEEovVViS7hIYwNuGZ
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invest-with-ai/id1896918892
