Mike Zapata – The Darkest Night: Lessons from Battle and Value Investing

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (0:00)
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Hello and welcome everyone. I'm Patrick O'Shaughnessy and this is Invest Like the Best. This show is an open-ended exploration of markets, ideas, methods, stories, and of strategies that will help you better invest both your time and your money. You can learn more and stay up-to-date at investorfieldguide.com.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:59)
Patrick O'Shaughnessy is the CEO of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management. All opinions expressed by Patrick and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.
Clients of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (1:24)
My guest this week is remarkable. He now applies his talents on Wall Street, searching for smaller cap companies trading at huge discounts in an effort to compound wealth for his investors. He's classically trained, having earned his graduate degree from Columbia, a school known for producing value investors. But his method also reflects what he learned across more than a decade of active duty in the US military.
Mike Zapata served us all as a Navy SEAL in the aftermath of 9-11, and ultimately as a member of the SEALs Development Group, commonly known as SEAL Team 6 I think everyone listening strives for excellence in what they do. This week we get to hear from someone who has pursued excellence on our behalf.
I'll let him explain the meaning of his firm's name, Sententia, but for now, suffice to say we are lucky to have quiet professionals like Mike. If you are interested in supporting the families of soldiers who fought with Mike and lost their lives, I encourage you to check out the Tip of the Spear Foundation and make a donation along with me, small or large. Please enjoy my conversation with Mike Zapata.
So Mike, a neat place to start would be with a sort of thumbnail sketch of your, let's say, post-college life and career. It's one of the more unique ones of any guests that I've had on the podcast and we'll go into all stages and aspects of that career. But to start just as framing, maybe you could give the 20-second version of, I started here, I went here, I went here, and then we'll dive in.

**Mike Zapata** (2:44)
Well, it's pretty quick. I mean, I graduated from undergrad, I got commissioned into the Navy as an officer, and I was in May of 2001 And just quickly after that, I checked into BUDS, which is basic underwater demolition slash SEAL training.
So I went to SEAL training and I was in SEAL training when the 9-11 actually kicked off. And I knew that day it was just an incredibly fortunate place to be. And the idea was, you know, you just know that the years ahead will be well spent. And they were 10 years, seeing sort of this ramp up in combat, having incredible experiences.
And that took me to 2010 when I transitioned out. So, you know, without going into too much detail, we can, but it was just that experience of being in the SEAL community, working with teams, working in those capacities at that level over those years, just perfect 10 year time window that we were able to do. And it was a fortunate place to be. And that was sort of preceded my time up into 2010 when I got out and did the Columbia MBA.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (3:44)
When you left Columbia, I know Columbia is famous for a value investing tradition that goes all the way back to Ben Graham.
And I know Intelligent Investor was kind of a seminal book for you as well. So maybe quickly describe your experience at Columbia. Did you go in specifically with the intention of learning about value investing? Or was that something you sort of discovered while there?

**Mike Zapata** (4:02)
That's something I discovered just before I started actually. I wanted to be an investor.
And I thought that the right script was sort of emerging market investor because I had been in these uncomfortable positions, uncomfortable places where most people don't like to go. And that's an opportunity for us to go in and sort of create value and infrastructure and investing. About a month before I started Columbia, I was in the Accelerator program in January. I went to a mixer and met some friends and somebody said, hey, do you know about the value investing program? I said, no, what is that? And they said, well, do you know Warren Buffett? Yes, read The Intelligent Investor.