Five principles for growth

We love to see skin in the game

When you invest with Pie Funds, you invest alongside us.
We invest like it’s our own money because it is. Over $100m of the money we manage comes from our staff, directors, and shareholders (as at 31.10.23). We also look for this commitment in companies we invest in. We love founder-led companies where managers are heavily invested, including financially. They often have extra passion for the company that can give it an edge in the market.

Fundamentals

We look for long-term viability and growth potential.
When we’re considering companies to invest in, we look for fundamentals. We want to make sure a company's business model is future-proofed and well-suited for the changing market and technological landscape, so it can continue to thrive over time. Investing responsibly is important to us, and we have a policy which relates to the consideration of environmental, social, and governance factors in our investment process. We’re proactive and we manage our funds in accordance with a robust risk framework to act in the best interests of our investors.

We invest in people

When driving returns, it matters who drives.
Sure, lots of people can drive, but only a few can race. Even among professionals with millions of dollars behind them, some won’t get to the front, and some won’t even finish the race. It’s the same with company leadership. Skill, experience, passion and ability really do come together to make something more than the sum of the parts. So when we invest in companies, we invest in the senior team running them. And if the people change, we review our investments and exit if we need to. It’s that important.

We like to see tailwinds

Our investment team knows tailwinds generate long-term growth.
The path to profitability is much simpler when you’re riding the prevailing winds. With strong fundamentals that match the direction of industry and world views, the resistance a company faces is significantly lower than if they’re battling headwinds. We live in an age of disruption, and winds can shift quickly. We’ve already witnessed large moves in the market from new innovations, like AI, so it’s important we look at short- and long-term trends for clear tailwinds. 

Set something aside for a rainy day

Make hay while the sun doesn't shine.
Much like you, we have something tucked away for a rainy day. We hold cash in our funds and a seasoned approach to increasing it – as far as 100% - when markets dip or collapse, to preserve investor capital. We’re also well-versed in deploying cash quickly into well-tracked opportunities once markets begin to recover from shocks or recessions. That discipline was the making of our company. In 2008 our first fund, the Australasian Growth Fund, dropped about half as far as its market index because of a high cash buffer. Then it rebounded 105% the following year as we spent our cash resource on good, mispriced companies. We’re ready to act when we see threat or opportunity. We believe long-term wealth comes from long-term thinking.