The guest on this fireside chat is one of the best investors you’ve probably never heard of. Cristiano Souza has quietly delivered annual returns in the high teens to low twenty percent range for decades.
Over the course of his 30 year career, he rarely gives interviews and has only ever given one in English and one in his native Portuguese before today, so I’m grateful he agreed to speak with me.
Cristiano grew up in Brazil, achieving a BA in Economics at Candido Mendes University in Rio de Janeiro, before joining the renowned Brazilian investment firm Dynamo at just 19 years of age. He spent nearly three decades at the firm, becoming a senior partner and co-managing Dynamo Cougar, which compounded at 24% annually.
In 2015, he launched Dynamo’s UK office, eventually leading to a spinout — Zeno Equity Partners, which he runs and where he now serves as head of the fund management team.
Based in London, Zeno focuses on concentrated, low-turnover, long-only equity investments across the Americas and Europe — and since the spin-off, the fund has returned 19% a year.
Cristiano looks for dominant businesses with strong moats, smart incentives, and resilient cultures. The funds investment principles have remained constant since the firm’s inception in 2005. Each investment must exhibit three key pillars:
Market Power: the ability to maintain or build a dominant market position in a sustainable way
Reinvestment Opportunity: the ability to reinvest excess profits at high returns
Founder Mindset: management who think and act like true long-term owners
Enjoy this podcast, lasting little over an hour, which explores Cristiano’s investment philosophy and his thoughts more generally about investing.
