Oct 14, 2021 · 48m · capital-allocators
Hamish Corlett – TDM Growth Partners (Manager Meetings, EP.15)
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of the Manager Meetings series, guest host Ethan Berman interviews Hamish Corlett, co-founder of TDM Growth Partners, examining the firm's concentrated growth investment philosophy, disciplined four-pillar underwriting framework, and unique culture rooted in psychological safety, patient capital alignment, and long-term compounding.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Ted holds 13.7% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Ted as informed peer 4.9 Guest teaching 5.6 Guest disagreement 0.3 Ted pushing back 0.5
speaking balance: gold is Ted, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 11:58 Frustration with public market takeovers
In a very collegial episode, Hamish shows his sharpest critique when expressing frustration over public companies getting opportunistically acquired right after TDM built long-term positions.
Hardest push from Ted ▶ 15:12 Ethan pushes back against over-agonizing on lossesEthan recounts challenging Hamish and the TDM team to stop agonizing irrationally over a rare loss given their stellar broader track record.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 18:55 Framework for non-consensus decision-making and discomfortHamish delivers an in-depth breakdown of TDM's four-pillar assessment framework and why great investing inherently requires embracing discomfort.
Ted holds their own ▶ 8:44 Ted queries the diligence process from CEO vantageTed demonstrates allocator expertise by steering Ethan to detail the exact mechanics of pre-investment diligence from the perspective of an operating public company CEO.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Ted as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Ted pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethan Berman on Partnering with TDM Growth Partners | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | Ted Seides conducts a warm introductory interview with Ethan Berman, asking sharp questions about research diligence and allocator governance before Ethan begins interviewing Hamish Corlett. | |
| TDM's Investment Philosophy and Shift Toward Private Equity | 5 | 6 | 1 | 1 | Ethan prompts Hamish on TDM's transition toward private investments. Hamish explains the rationale, noting frustration with public markets taking out high-conviction holdings prematurely. | |
| Client Alignment and Capital Preservation Mindset | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | Ethan highlights TDM's capital preservation focus and recounts reminding Hamish not to over-agonize on rare losses. Hamish details their value investing heritage and the pain of their few historical losses. | |
| Decision-Making Dynamics and the Four-Pillars Framework | 5 | 7 | 1 | 1 | Hamish lays out TDM's non-consensus decision-making framework, the 10-person meritocracy, and their four pillars including Hamilton Helmer's 7 Powers. | |
| Scaling Culture, 'Wearing the Yellow Hat', and AUM Growth | 5 | 6 | 0 | 1 | Ethan asks how team decision-making scales from 2 to 10 people. Hamish shares their psychological safety cultural norm of 'wearing the yellow hat' and compounding AUM at scale. | |
| Portfolio Construction and Four-Tier Classification | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | Hamish details the evolution of TDM's portfolio construction from early trading buckets to four tiers: Seedlings, Next Gen Leaders, Good to Great, and Generational Leaders. | |
| Sponsor Break: Ridgeline Investment Management Tech | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Following the mid-roll break, Ethan asks about allocation targets across tiers and scaling challenges, where Hamish discusses operational constraints and in-person relationship building. | |
| Enduring Core Values and Transition from Player to Coach | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | Ethan asks how Hamish balances growth with core values and his changing personal role. Hamish explains his shift from individual player to coach and distinguishing principles from methods. | |
| 10-20 Year Vision across Four Key Stakeholders and Philanthropy | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Hamish outlines his 10-20 year vision centered on four primary stakeholder groups: clients, portfolio companies, internal team, and community philanthropy. | |
| Personal Habits, Core Peeves, and Partnership Chemistry | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Ethan runs through rapid-fire personal questions on habits, pet peeves, and the TDM partnership dynamics, with Hamish discussing probabilistic thinking and avoiding polarization. | |
| The DavidsTea Mistake and Embracing Discomfort | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | Hamish candidly breaks down TDM's biggest mistake in DavidsTea due to misjudging management and culture, concluding with life lessons on embracing discomfort early. |
Statements from this episode (19)
TDM Growth Partners manages $1.5B for just 20 individual investors
“An Australia-based investment firm that manages a billion and a half dollars in growth companies ranging from early stage privates to publicly listed companies on behalf of just 20 individuals.”
TDM Growth Partners never holds more than 15 portfolio companies
“Throughout the 16 or 17 year journey of TDM, we've never owned more than 15 businesses at any one point in time. And usually it's more like eight or 10.”
TDM Growth Partners targets 10 to 15x returns over 10-year holding periods
“Each time we're deploying capital, we're thinking, well, at least this money is deployed for five years, but ideally we're trying to deploy money for 10 years in a business and make 10, 15 times our money.”
Corlett: TDM's portfolio is roughly split between US and Australian businesses
“Probably half of the investing we've done is in US-based businesses. The other half is in Australian businesses, and there's been a little bit in Canada, done a very small number of investments in Europe.”
Corlett: Private companies make up over 50% of TDM's current portfolio
“Where the portfolio is skewed to at the moment is very much private companies where we can genuinely own those businesses for at least 10 years. We've got one or two board seats. We're really involved in supporting those companies, trying to add value and help…”
Corlett: TDM imposes no lockups and has never lost a client
“We never wanted to have a lockup with clients. We only want clients that want to be here. Having said that, we've never had a client that's pulled their money.”
Corlett: TDM made 65 investments and lost money only three times
“So we've made around 65 investments over the course of TDM's life, and we've lost money three times, and we've lost material money two out of those three times.”
Corlett: Ten people is the maximum team size for unanimous investment decisions
“We think around 10 people is probably the maximum number we can have to effectively execute that decision-making capability.”
Corlett: Great long-term investing requires enduring discomfort in non-consensus decisions
“You can't produce great returns for a long period of time by making easy consensus decisions, and so that usually means one or two things, that when we're making an investment decision in the business, there's usually something in the business that other inves…”
Corlett: TDM evaluates investments across four pillars including Helmer's Seven Powers
“We've got four pillars. One is growth opportunity. The second is competitive advantage, where we lean heavily on Hamilton Helmer's Seven Powers. People and culture is the third pillar, and valuation is the fourth.”
Corlett: TDM will compound $1.5B into $15B over next 10 years
“We're now at 1.5, and we think we can keep compounding at the same rate for another 10 years. And over that time, the 1.5 turns into fifteen billion and still be able to invest Exactly the same way we've been investing the past 16 years.”
Corlett: Spotify and Square can grow revenue 20-30%+ for 10 years
“Take a couple of the companies we own at the moment, a Spotify or a Square, which we think can continue to grow revenue at 20, 30% plus for the next 10 years.”
Corlett: Guzman y Gomez can reach a $50B valuation
“In the next gen business, we've got a company like Guzman and Gomez, which we think is the McDonald's of the next generation. It's a great Australian Mexican food retail business that we think can be a fifty billion dollar business down the track.”
Corlett: TDM holds an average 20% of its portfolio in cash
“And on average, we've held about 20% of the portfolio in cash.”
Corlett: TDM builds custom software to run individually managed accounts
“So we manage money in a very different way to most in that we have individually managed accounts for every single client. We don't have A fund where everyone is pulled together. In the 15 years, we haven't been able to find a software platform that can run tho…”
Berman: Historically, leadership triumvirates rarely produce good outcomes
“Historically triumvirates do not have good outcomes”
Corlett: TDM's biggest investment mistake was retailer DavidsTea
“Well, the biggest investment mistake we made was David's Tea. It was a US listed business, a Canadian tea retailer, where we lost a hell of a lot of money.”
Corlett: Concentrated 10-15% public stakes operate like illiquid marriages
“If you think like a long-term business owner, and especially with that one where we own 10 or 15% of the business, it may as well have been a private investment, like you are in a marriage. There was no way out. If we got that wrong, there was no easy way out.…”