Speaker

Nima Shayegh

Nima Shayegh

Founder and portfolio manager of Rumi Capital Partners, a concentrated hedge fund in California named after the 13th-century Persian Sufi poet and mystic Rumi. Iranian-American; first generation born and raised in the US to parents who immigrated after the Iranian Revolution.

Shayegh runs a single portfolio of fewer than ten stocks, finding one or two new ideas a year. His approach centres on qualitative perception — identifying the root qualities of businesses (management alignment, culture, product excellence) that are causally upstream of financial metrics, rather than focusing on quantifiable surface data. A disciple of the concentrated, patient tradition of Lou Simpson and Nick Sleep.

Background

  • UCLA, mathematics and economics
  • PIMCO analyst, 2014–2016 — left after concluding that quantification was focusing on branches rather than roots
  • SQ Advisers (Lou Simpson’s firm), Naples, Florida, 2016–2019 — formative apprenticeship
  • Founded Rumi Capital Partners, October 2019

Investment philosophy

Roots vs branches: Qualitative causal forces (management motivation, culture, product quality) are upstream of all financial metrics. Most investors fixate on branches (current economics); Shayegh tries to understand roots (future economics). See Roots and Branches.

Long duration reinvestment runway: Only invests in businesses with a long-lived ability to reinvest capital at high returns (Munger: “The longer you hold something, the closer you get to the intrinsic reinvestment return of the business”). Will not buy melting ice cubes regardless of valuation. Major positions have included Appfolio (property management SaaS) and Brookfield Asset Management.

Surrender: Stays fully invested; refuses to fight volatility; owns businesses resilient to macro changes. Zero redemptions in six-plus years of operation.

Structure-first: Fee structure: small management fee decreasing at scale, incentive allocation above a 5% cumulative hurdle. “I’m wholly uninterested in being rewarded for simply existing.”

Rumi: Named the firm after Rumi because investing is “an act of perception — seeing beyond the narratives to try to grasp the essence of the business.” Lives by the Rumi quote: “If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?”

Appearances