About us
The cap8 WAY
Here at Cap8, we are pioneering a new generation of capital management through science, technology and morality.
We embrace a new market reality by harnessing the power of smart data, artificial intelligence and analytics to provide superior returns to our investors. We are grounded in our commitment to science and technology, combined with the pursuit of continuous discovery, transparency and the utmost integrity in everything we do.
- Deliver alpha through the lens of risk management
- Define the finance-economic theory first and build the technology second
- Implement machine learning and A.I. to eliminate emotional bias
- Create a bridge between prediction and allocation
- Capitalize on an agile approach geared to outperform at a lower cost
Driving forces
Cap8 was born to solve a new market reality: it is incredibly difficult to outperform the market. Outperforming requires a new approach – one that combines a stringent scientific method with artificial intelligence and smart data. At Cap8, we call this method symbiotic optimization.
Over the past 20 years, the surge of passive investments has directly impacted fund performance, making it increasingly more difficult to beat the market, especially for long-only strategies. Because of these conditions, most funds tend to underperform their benchmark.* Our approach embraces this new reality and defines a finance-economic theory, along with powerful analytical tools, in order to provide superior returns to our investors.
* 2014-2019. Data and information taken from SPIVA US as of Year-end 2019: https://us.spindices.com/spiva/#/reports
Core values
Our mission is to unleash both human and machine to predict market dynamics, adapt swiftly and deliver alpha.
At Cap8 we are driven by:
TECHNOLOGY
Technology expands our frameworks, ideas and processes. We balance human biases with machine capabilities to deliver the analysis and execution that create alpha-generating opportunities.
RELENTLESSNESS
Good is never good enough. We doubt our beliefs in the pursuit of certainty, which encourages frictionless idea flow. Humility balances our tenacity and we are cooperatively dogged in our pursuit of value creation.
MORALITY
Meritocracy, transparency and ethics anchor our values. We have the capacity to open our minds and consider multiple views in search of the best solutions. We are guided by rational judgement and strive to always lead and act with integrity. Diverse backgrounds, cultures, beliefs and ideas fuel objectivity and leads us closer to the truth.
DISCOVERY
Pioneering continuous discovery is what drives us everyday. Our mindset relies on perpetual growth and we objectively assess ideas, always seeking new ways to solve problems. We think, therefore we are.
SCIENCE
Science is at the heart of who we are. We challenge consensus, eliminate biases and think differently. Our belief that innovative solutions are the outputs of a well-crafted process fuels our ability to predict, adapt and evolve.
AGILITY
We are nimble. Our open mindset enables us to quickly learn, pivot and adapt. Being unencumbered keeps us quick on our feet, allowing us to run faster toward the best ideas and opportunities.
“When it is not in our power to follow what is true, we ought to follow what is most probable.”
– René Descartes
Leadership
Meet the exceptional people that deliver the Cap8 Way everyday.
Santiago Guzman
Joseph Peteul
Martha Moreno
Amir Rezaee
Anthony Francioli
John Gosselin
Santiago Guzman
Joseph Peteul
John Gosselin
Michelle Heath
Martha Moreno
Anthony Francioli
Amir Rezaee
Co-Founder & CIO
Santiago Guzman
Santiago brings his global capital markets expertise to engineer the financial and economic design of Cap8’s theories.
Co-Founder & COO
Joseph Peteul
Joseph brings extensive experience in operations, finance and innovation to drive Cap8’s technology and analytics strategies.
Board Member
John Gosselin
John is a serial entrepreneur who brings decades of experience in successfully scaling businesses to the Cap8 team.
CMO
Michelle Heath
Michelle is a branding and growth strategy linchpin, who brings her customer-first approach and financial services expertise to the Cap8 team.
Business Development
Anthony Francioli
Anthony is an accomplished business development executive with global expertise reaching across the U.S, Switzerland and Asia.
Investments & European Markets
Amir Rezaee
Amir brings financial markets expertise to the Cap8 team, focusing on microstructures and regulation.
Stephen Sacca
Duncan Simester
Advisory board
Duncan Simester
Stephen Sacca
OUR APPROACH
Cap8 has designed a proprietary approach that maximizes the value of human and machine to provide superior returns to our investors.
Passive management instruments, such as ETFs, have democratized diversification for investors but have made it difficult to outperform the market. The Cap8 Way takes advantage of structural shifts that have been happening in the market for decades with the goal of generating alpha through systematic risk.
By combining proprietary models and algorithms, we make a broader analysis of the relevant variables that impact the markets and then transform them into optimized portfolios.
Our approach is different. We take a top down approach by, first, assessing the market and then configuring a portfolio of the most promising sectors in the U.S. equity market. The portfolio is balanced monthly to configure a sector mix that seeks to maximize risk-adjusted returns.
Our approach: Symbiotic Optimization
Top-Down Process
HUMAN
MACHINE
Cap8 Philosophy
As a company that seeks to understand the complexity of the financial markets through rational thinking, our philosophy and the lens through which we see the world resemble the thinking of the revolutionary mathematician, René Descartes.
Known as the father of the scientific method, Descartes was a 17th Century French philosopher and one of the key figures in the Scientific Revolution. He believed that everything could be determined by rational thinking and sought to eliminate ambiguity, uncertainty and faith by starting with facts to derive the answers through logic.
Descartes believed in four principles that guided his work. Here at Cap8, we borrow from Descartes and put these principles* into practice everyday:
René Descartes (1596-1650)
Portrait by Frans Hals
“The first of these principles was to accept nothing as true which I did not clearly recognize to be so: that is to say, carefully to avoid haste and prejudice in judgments, and to accept in them nothing more than what was presented to my mind so clearly and distinctly that I could have no occasion to doubt it.”
“The second was to divide up each of the difficulties which I examined into as many parts as possible, and as seemed requisite in order that it might be resolved in the best manner possible.”
“The third was to carry on my reflections in due order, commencing with objects that were the most simple and easy to understand, in order to rise little by little, or by degrees, to knowledge of the most complex, assuming an order, even if a fictitious one, among those which do not follow a natural sequence relatively to one another.”
“The last was in all cases to make enumerations so complete and reviews so general that I should be certain of having omitted nothing.”
“I think, therefore, I am.”
– René Descartes
As one of Descartes’ most famous quotes, “I think, therefore, I am” is fundamental to our approach. At Cap8, we build a solid theoretical foundation for our financial strategy first – before we move to the technology and implementation phase. Our belief is that building an approach any other way would be hinged on luck or circumstances and could collapse just as easily as it was constructed. By building the strong theoretical foundation, we create the opportunity for proven outcomes.
