Own Less, Know More with Jeremy Kokemor, Founder and Portfolio Manager at Right Tail Capital

Robert Kraft (0:00)

Welcome to the Planet MicroCap Podcast, the number one destination for everything MicroCap Investing. I'm your host, Robert Kraft, and each week I sit down with elite investors, CEOs and market experts to uncover actionable insights and real world lessons you can apply immediately. Are you a new or experienced MicroCap Investor? Do you want to meet MicroCap Management teams as well as other MicroCap Investors from around the world? Planet MicroCap hosts the highest quality in-person MicroCap events in North America. The mission is to bring the best MicroCap Investors, companies and allocators together to gather, connect and grow. Visit planetmicrocap.com to learn more about our Las Vegas and Toronto events. Now, a quick disclaimer. This presentation is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell any security referenced herein. Planet MicroCap Holdings LLC and MicroCap Club LLC are not licensed brokers, nor registered investment advisors. We, our partners, contractors, members, subscribers, guests, or affiliates may or may not hold positions in one or more of the securities mentioned in this presentation and may trade in such securities at any time. We may have received cash compensation from one or more participants for presenting at past, present, or future events. We recommend you consult a licensed investment advisor, broker, or legal counsel before purchasing or selling any securities referenced in this presentation.

In this episode of the Planet MicroCap Podcast, I spoke with Jeremy Kokemor, founder and portfolio manager at Right Tail Capital, to dig into how two decades inside institutional investing shaped a concentrated quality-focused approach he now runs on his own terms.

We break down his framework for owning roughly 15 high-quality businesses at a time, why returns on capital are central to how he evaluates businesses, how he's thinking about AI both as a research tool and as a threat to the companies he owns, and what covering small cap metals and mining at T. Rowe Price taught him about the wide quality spectrum in public markets. We also get into his process for knowing when a thesis has broken, being patient when the thesis is intact, but moving on when the underlying thesis has genuinely broken.

We discussed a number of companies in our conversation here today, and I'm not a shareholder in any of them. With that, please enjoy my conversation with Jeremy Kokemor. Jeremy, thank you for joining me today. How are you doing?

Jeremy Kokemor (2:09)

Absolutely. Doing great, Robert. Thanks so much for having me.

Robert Kraft (2:12)

Absolutely. It's great to have you. I mean, look, I remember we, I think we met kind of in passing, but back when we were helping to produce the Compounders pod, and you did a great job with Ben, and it's been a few years, and I thought, why not reach out and introduce you to a little bit to the Planet MicroCap audience here. So thanks again for jumping on here, and everything going well. What's going on? What's the latest?

Jeremy Kokemor (2:36)

My pleasure. Yeah, things are good.

A lot to be thankful for, continue to really enjoy running Right Tail Capital. I'd say the biggest change for me personally, over the last couple of months has just been my oldest daughter plays JV field hockey. And one of the things I would have never had on my 2026 bingo card was being an assistant JV field hockey coach, because our coach ended up quitting kind of right before the season started.

Robert Kraft (3:06)

Oh, nice.

Jeremy Kokemor (3:07)

So it's led to a lot of new learnings, a lot of great time with my daughter and with the team. And it's been really, really fun. So very thankful for that.

Robert Kraft (3:19)

You know, field hockey, I feel like, is one of those very underrated sports to play in high school. You know, not just for the fun and getting your exercise and all that stuff, but also from just a scholarship standpoint, right? I mean, I think I remember hearing that on Bill Simmons, where he was like the top 20 sports to play that are great on the scholarship. I'm pretty sure it was in like the top five or top eight or something like that.

Jeremy Kokemor (3:40)

I think you're right. That was a great episode of Bill Simmons. I really enjoyed that. I agree with you.

It's a great sport, fun to watch, fun to help the girls with.

Robert Kraft (3:52)

Well, I'm a little bit behind you. I'm taking on my first, this is my first time ever now as a coach for one of my kids. Well, I'm not the head coach, I'm an assistant coach. Of course, I grew up playing baseball my whole life. Did I think that the first sport I would help coach is soccer? No, after my dad my whole life saying, no, you're not going to play soccer.