S-Curve Framework for Identifying Early Growth with Shawn Behnam and Gabriel Etessami, Garden Capital Management

In this episode of the Planet MicroCap Podcast, I spoke with Shawn Behnam and Gabriel Etessami, Co-Founders of Garden Capital Management, for their first-ever investing podcast appearance.

We break down their S-curve framework for identifying technologies at the early stages of adoption, how they think about position sizing when the outcome is clear but the timing isn’t, and why they run a concentrated portfolio in a space where most people default to diversification. We also get into their current conviction on energy infrastructure as an AI tailwind, a deep look at Joby Aviation and the eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) space, and where they think market consensus is simply wrong right now.

For more information about Garden City Capital Management, please visit: https://www.gardencapitalmanagement.com/

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Garden Capital and the Podcast

02:06 Backgrounds of Sean and Gab and their investment philosophies

06:55 The origin of their interest in equity analysis and early-stage tech

15:06 Understanding the S-curve and its significance in investing

21:10 Differentiating real inflection points from false signals

27:48 Managing uncertainty and sizing positions in long-term bets

32:10 Focus on smaller companies and the investment universe

38:09 Emerging themes like energy demand and quantum computing