Episode 56: Gavin Baker - Managing Partner of Atreides Management

**Amir Fischer** (0:00)
On today's episode of Generating Alpha, I sit down with Gavin Baker, managing partner and CIO Atreides Management, one of the most respected technology investors on Wall Street. Before founding Atreides, Gavin spent nearly two decades at Fidelity, where he managed the flagship $17 billion OTC portfolio and helped make Fidelity one of the largest institutional holders of both Nvidia and Tesla, long before either became the defining stories of this generation. Today, Gavin is widely regarded as one of the foremost experts on AI investing. Few people have felt longer or harder about the compounding effects of AI on markets, valuations and the broader economy, and even fewer have the track record to back it up. This conversation goes beyond AI. Gavin opens up about what it actually takes to be a great investor, the mindset, the discipline, and the emotional fortitude required to hold conviction when markets turn against you. We get into how he's navigated downturns throughout his career and what separates investors who survive volatility from those who get washed out. Consider this your master class in AI, in markets, and in the craft of investing itself. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Gavin Baker. If you enjoy this conversation, I urge you to please subscribe to the YouTube channel, rate this podcast five stars on Spotify, share it to any friends and family who you think might find it valuable. I really appreciate it. Thank you.
Thanks for joining me, Gavin. I really appreciate it.

**Gavin Baker** (1:21)
Really excited to be here, Amir, and I have a lot of admiration for the hustle, man.

**Amir Fischer** (1:27)
I appreciate it. Well, I know a lot of people want you to talk about AI, semiconductors, space data centers, but before that, I want to say true to the roots of my podcast and start at the beginning. Get to know who Gavin Baker is, what made you the person you are today. I want to start off, tell me about growing up, what that environment was like, your formal education, how did all that shape you?
What was the background?

**Gavin Baker** (1:51)
So, I grew up in Texas, which I think has shaped a lot of who I am. My parents really encouraged me and indulged me in all of my interests. Some of my earliest memories are loving, kind of illustrated books about ancient history, like the Phoenicians, the Israelites, the Egyptians, the ancient Greeks, the ancient Romans.
And I've had a lifelong interest in history. My parents were both attorneys. So, I had a fortunate upbringing. And some of my other fondest memories from my childhood is we would go to a bookstore probably three times a month. And I had an unlimited book budget, and we might spend hours there. And I think that was also important to me.
I was probably in my teens the first time there was a family dinner that we went out to, and I did not bring a book to read at the dinner. My parents would always say that I would ask, is this a one-book dinner or a two-book dinner or a three-book dinner? I guess I wasn't reading very long books. So I have a lot of gratitude to my parents. The other part of my childhood was I would spend most of the summer at my grandparents' house in the Texas Hill Country, which was really amazing and my parents, maybe if I was there for eight weeks, they'd be there for two to two and a half weeks of that time. Then I was there with all of my cousins. My dad had a big family, so I'd be there with all of my cousins. We slept on a screened-in porch and just was encouraged just do whatever I wanted, go hike up, hike in the hills, or walk around the hills across the road and look for arrowheads. That was a big thing. Go fishing.
It was a very free-range childhood and all my cousins were there, and then my aunts and uncles were around. There's clearly some deal that my grandparents would never be alone with 10 little kids, so at least one set of aunts and uncles were always on duty and sometimes more. Then my grandfather really also encouraged me to read. I was hurt because he wasn't as encouraging of me hunting and fishing maybe as he was with others. I wanted to do that, so I did a lot of that, but he was just always like, Gavin, if you're loving that book, feel free to hang out at the house. We called my grandmother, Nottie. A signature memory from those days is probably like 2 or 3 PM. Nottie would always say to my grandfather, we called Popo, David, I'm about ready for my first gin and tonic. I just knew that that happened every afternoon. I didn't think anything of it, but that was great, like staying up, there's an armadillo digging holes, and so would stay up all night with my grandfather, and we need to have a high-powered rifle. Although I'm sure mine wasn't that high-powered, but it was a different childhood. And then also always loved games of skill and chance, Stratego, chess, later poker, poker in college. Although I think I played poker at most twice in my adult life, maybe three times. Yeah, and so that's kind of how I grew up. And I was not a good student. I was kind of an indifferent student. I wasn't as engaged. I found it hard to work hard on things that did not interest me. And I was very engaged in other things. Yeah, like Dungeons and Dragons was a big thing for me before high school.