About ourselves and our strategy
We are Fabian and Jan, and our lives have many parallels. We went to college during the same period at the same University and become good friends. We both worked several years as consultants for Deloitte. And currently, we life two streets away from each other. Also, we simultaneously started to dedicate much of our time understanding how to become better investors. As a result, we discussed our latest insights every now and then as well as the different companies we held in our private portfolios.
As we discovered that our philosophies and ideas about investing were quite synchronized, we decided to formally join forces. Our company FortyTwo Capital B.V. was launched on December 29, 2021. FortyTwo refers to yet another occasion in which our paths crossed. In 2014, we both prepared for our debut on the marathon. For us, the marathon is a metaphor for our view on investing. Being an investor is not about winning a sprint or a 5k race, nor is it about the outcome itself. Just like a marathon, in which you dedicate yourself to a journey from the moment you enroll, we see investing as a never ending opportunity to improve yourselves.
Although in investing, you receive objective results along the way in terms of yearly returns, most joy comes from setting an ambitious goal and constantly shaping the path towards it. Of course, once you cross that finish line after 42,195 kilometers (hence the name FortyTwo) the finish time only matters for a little while. Soon enough, that enjoyment fades and one realizes that it is all about the process. A marathon is all about compounding on the lessons learned from previous experiences, both in running and in life. We belief investing is the same and we will behave accordingly.
In the world of investing, you can pick a portfolio out of countless listed companies. To create some order in that world of chaos, we defined a number of characteristics that correspond to our own values. Characteristics that make it easier to assess a company at a first glance and that filter to companies that we deem to be of lower quality. We belief that acting in line with this little list of do’s and don’ts functions as gatekeeper.