Authored by Jeff Brown CFA President & CEO, 18 Asset Management Inc.
David versus Goliath is a story of small being pitted against big and of small prevailing despite being up against seemingly impossible odds. Like the fictional David, real Davids prevail daily in business settings, a phenomenon easily illustrated by technology industry examples. Years ago, when then Davids, Apple and Microsoft took on industry Goliaths, IBM and Hewlett Packard, they prevailed, securing their spot in business success folklore.
In the 1990s, Facebook and Google were upstarts up against formidable foes. Now, they are multi-billion dollar organizations. Today, the cycle repeats with thousands of technology start-ups inspired by past David successes.
And this includes the investment management industry. However, while not every new manager will become a David, there are signals institutional clients can look for to find a winning David amongst all new managers.