About Investment Thesis Principles Connect
Principal Investor

Isaac
Tekeste

Deploying proprietary capital across public equities, derivatives, foreign exchange, venture capital, private equity, and mergers and acquisitions.

Isaac Tekeste
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Isaac Tekeste, principal investor

A private investor operating across the full breadth of modern capital markets.

On the public markets side, Isaac runs a concentrated equities book alongside active positions in equity options, foreign exchange, and credit derivatives. He uses the derivatives book both to express directional views and to structure asymmetric, risk-defined exposure around core holdings.

On the private markets side, he partners with founders and operators. As a venture investor he backs early-stage companies solving meaningful problems. As a private equity principal he takes larger positions in established mid-market businesses, executing M&A and working alongside management teams to build durable value.

Everything he does is proprietary. No LPs, no outside mandates, no committee. Positions are sized by conviction, structured by discipline, and held for as long as the thesis holds.

4 Asset Classes
Pub. & Priv. Market Coverage
100% Proprietary Capital

Four Pillars

A unified practice across public and private markets. Each pillar informs the others. A thesis that starts in listed equities may become the lens for a private deal. A conversation with an early-stage founder sharpens how he evaluates a public incumbent.

01
Public Equities

Concentrated, research-led positions in listed companies. Long-horizon exposure anchored in fundamental analysis and a view of where markets misprice risk. Patient position-building with a bias toward owning the underlying business.

02
Derivatives & Foreign Exchange

Active books in equity options, foreign exchange, and credit derivatives. Used both to express directional views and to structure asymmetric, risk-defined exposure. Derivatives serve the thesis, not the other way around.

03
Venture Capital

Early-stage investments in founders building category-defining companies. Own balance sheet, decisive process, no committee friction. Capital, network, and an operator's perspective from pre-seed through Series A.

04
Private Equity & M&A

Outright acquisitions and joint ventures in mid-market businesses. Sourcing, structuring, and executing deals with an active focus on the convergence of AI and financial services, a thesis that defines the next cycle of private market returns.

The Convergence of AI and Financial Services

Isaac believes the intersection of artificial intelligence and financial services represents one of the most rewarding opportunity sets of this cycle. The thesis cuts across both his public and private books.

On the private side, he actively pursues M&A in the space, targeting operator-led transformations and roll-up strategies where AI creates compounding value at the operational level. On the public side, he positions around companies enabling or benefitting from this convergence.

This is not a passive sector bet. It is a deeply researched, actively managed conviction that shapes how capital is allocated across the entire practice.

Capital is a single instrument played across many octaves. A read on credit or a sector dislocation in public markets often becomes the lens for a private deal. The best investors do not draw boundaries between listed and unlisted. They see one continuous market.

Isaac Tekeste

Guiding Principles

01

Markets Are One Conversation

Public and private capital inform each other. Signals in one shape decisions in the other. The practice is built to move across both, not specialize in either.

02

Own the Thesis, Not the Trade

Positions are built from research and conviction, not from noise or momentum. Every allocation starts with a thesis that can be articulated, stress-tested, and defended.

03

Skin in the Game

Every position is deployed from proprietary capital. No outside mandates, no layers of delegation. When capital is your own, discipline is not optional.

Inquiries and Co-Investment

For institutional inquiries, deal flow, or co-investment discussions, connect directly through LinkedIn.

Connect on LinkedIn