Trevor Noren – Building Sage Road Research and Seeing the Future

<p><em>A discussion with the Founder of Sage Road Research on the biggest forces reshaping the world.</em></p><p>Today we’re interviewing someone Grant has been following since 2019: <a href="https://x.com/trevornoren" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Trevor Noren</a>, Founder of <a href="https://sageroadresearch.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Sage Road Research</a>.</p><p>Trevor is an information omnivore. He’s a renowned financial analyst and thought leader, but we almost feel like that is too reductive; Trevor consumes huge quantums of data, synthesizes it all, and then packages it into coherent frameworks and analysis for his clients. Everything from tariffs to AI to demographics and investing.</p><p>We brought him onto the podcast so we could discuss the takeaways from some of his recent reports, as well as go through his overall research process. We cover <a href="https://sageroadresearch.com/pages/executive-summary-deregulation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">deregulation</a>, <a href="https://sageroadresearch.com/pages/us-deregulation-executive-summary" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">reshoring</a>, the <a href="https://sageroadresearch.com/pages/retalization-executive-summary" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">retailization of private markets</a>, and some glimpses into his upcoming report on AI productivity. Longtime Motion Blur listeners will recall that Trevor played a huge role in the Sate of Adventure deck. This conversation covers that and so much more.</p><p>We also spend some time talking about Sage Road. After spending time at 13D and Wellington, Trevor decided to set out and build a firm that combines his unique synthesis abilities with his long-term time horizon. Sage Road focuses on the core themes and challenges that will define the next few decades.</p><p><strong>In Trevor’s words:</strong> Sage Road is dedicated to industry-leading research into return-defining themes. From my time as an analyst at 13D Research to my time leading investment content for Wellington Management, I have always valued yet struggled to find comprehensive and unbiased thinking on the biggest trends influencing investment outcomes. I founded Sage Road to fill that gap—to get beyond the day-to-day noise, challenge consensus thinking, and connect-the-dots on key investment themes many may recognize, but few have time or opportunity to fully understand.</p><p><strong>About Trevor:</strong> For more than a decade, Trevor Noren has been a financial industry thought leader. He worked for the world-renowned research firm 13D as a managing director and contributor to its flagship publication, <em>What I Learned This Week</em>. His areas of analytical focus ranged from tech disruption to consumer trends to financial industry plumbing, politics, and macroeconomics. After his tenure at 13D, he joined Wellington Management, a Boston-based firm with more than $1 trillion in AUM. In his role as Director of Investment Content, he led efforts to bring vital insights from the firm’s best-in-class, bottom-up investment dialogue to a global client base. He created and spearheaded the firm’s flagship publication, <em>The Wellington Week</em>, which became a go-to resource for thousands of investors and asset allocators across the world. Trevor is a proud graduate of Brown University. He lives in Ketchum, Idaho with his wife, two kids, two dogs, and many fishing rods.</p><p>Enjoy!</p><p><strong>🔗 Show Resource Links</strong></p><ul><li><p><a href="https://x.com/trevornoren" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Trevor’s Twitter profile</a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://sageroadresearch.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Sage Road Research</a>, and a link to <a href="https://sageroadresearch.com/collections/reports" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the excellent reports</a></p></li><li><p><a href=