Skip to content
ZENITH CAPITALAlpha Epsilon Zeta · Berkeley

Approach

Research first. Conviction second.

Zenith Capital blends four strategies into one portfolio built for consistent, low-risk returns. Each one draws on what the brothers who run it do best.

01Philosophy

Three rules every pod follows.

01

Own businesses, not tickers.

Every equity position begins with what a company earns and what it is worth. Price is where the work ends, not where it starts.

02

Risk before return.

Diversification across four strategies, explicit hedges, and hard position limits come first. Returns are what is left after the risks are paid for.

03

Write it down.

No investment reaches the committee without a written pitch. A thesis that cannot be put on paper is not ready to be owned.

02Strategy Pods

Target allocation by strategy.

Targets are a starting point, not a constraint. Each pod’s share moves up to ten points with its performance, so capital follows the strategies that earn it.

  • Long/Short Equity 50%
  • Sector ETFs 25%
  • Fixed Income 15%
  • Derivatives 10%
016 months to 5 years

50%

Long/Short Equity

The core of the fund. Analysts build a thesis on a single company, value it on what it can earn, and size long and short positions so the book carries little exposure to the market as a whole.

  • Single-name equities
  • Paired positions
  • Net beta under 0.2
02Cyclical

25%

Sector ETFs

Where a view is about an industry rather than a company, the pod expresses it through exchange-traded funds, rotating as the macro picture changes.

  • Sector and thematic ETFs
  • Macro research
  • Rotation reviews
03Short to intermediate

15%

Fixed Income

The fund’s ballast. The pod holds high-quality, liquid instruments and keeps the cash reserve the mandate requires for margin and withdrawals.

  • U.S. Treasuries
  • Certificates of deposit
  • Investment-grade credit
04Tactical

10%

Derivatives

The pod works alongside the others: it hedges the risks the Long/Short book cannot diversify away and writes covered calls against existing holdings.

  • Protective puts
  • Covered calls
  • Portfolio hedges

03Risk Management

Diversified by design. Limited by rule.

The pod structure spreads risk across strategies, the Derivatives pod hedges what remains, and the committee approves every pitch. On top of that, the VP of Investments enforces five hard limits.

Position limit
5%
No single investment may exceed 5% of total portfolio value at entry.
Sector cap
30%
Exposure to any one sector is capped at 30% of the portfolio.
Market neutrality
|β| < 0.2
The Long/Short pod keeps its absolute beta below 0.2 to limit the effect of market cycles.
Liquidity floor
10%
At least 10% of assets stay in cash or short-duration Treasuries to cover margin and withdrawals.
Allocation drift
±10%
Pod allocations move up to ten points from target, rewarding the strategies that perform.

04Investment Process

Every position has a paper trail.

Pods write a pitch for every investment they bring to the committee. The pitch states the thesis, the valuation and what would prove it wrong, and stays on file for as long as the position is held.

  1. 01

    Training and endorsement

    Brothers complete pod training and are endorsed by their Pod Leader before they work on live ideas.

  2. 02

    Research

    The pod sources an idea within its strategy, builds the model, and identifies what would prove the thesis wrong.

  3. 03

    Written pitch

    Every recommendation is submitted as a written pitch of at least half a page, reviewed by the Pod Leader.

  4. 04

    Committee vote

    The Investment Committee, the VP of Investments and the Alumni Advisory Council, votes on every pitch.

  5. 05

    Monitor and report

    Approved positions are sized within the mandate, monitored by the pod, and reported in the semester investor letter.

Governance

See who makes the decisions.

The Investment Committee, the VP of Investments, Pod Leaders and the Alumni Advisory Council, and how they fit together.

Fund Structure