#154 Why the S&P 500 Ignores Founders — And How This ETF Fixes It | Haren Bhakta, Inside Ownership

Background: Haren Bhakta, CFA, is the founder of Inside Ownership and creator of the Inside Ownership Index, built on the belief that the people with the greatest influence over a company’s future should have meaningful ownership in it. His work explores the intersection of ownership, incentives, and long-term business performance—put simply, the power of having skin in the game.

Working for the Funds Group in New York, David and his team focus on providing premier banking services to the alternative investment community.  He holds a BBA in Accounting and an MBA in Finance.

Description: On the Alt Funds Network podcast, hosts Mike Schroeder and Skyler Steinke interview Haren Bhakta, CFA, founder of Inside Ownership and creator of the Inside Ownership Index, covering his career from Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley to launching his own RIA and microcap fund, including a proxy contest that led to acquiring and selling a Las Vegas show-ticket microcap business.

Bhakta explains his “aha” moment at the 2024 Berkshire Hathaway meeting about S&P 500 free-float weighting increasing exposure when iconic leaders die, motivating an index that weights S&P 500 stocks by insider dollar-value ownership from DEF 14A filings. He discusses power-law returns, founder/owner-led leadership, issues with passive index fund control, examples like IBM and eBay, and why past earnings can mislead (Intel vs. NVIDIA).

He details launching the OWN ETF with Corgi Funds, SEC timing, marketing lessons, and plans to expand globally.