🗣️ Investor Talk #31: Ivana Delevska

Founder - SPEAR Invest

Welcome to Investor Talk — where we interview successful investors to uncover their journeys, strategies, and the lessons they've learned. Get inspired by real stories and gain valuable insights to sharpen your own investment approach.

Every interview follows the same set of sharp, insightful questions — such as “What is your investment strategy?”, “What are your highest conviction stocks?”, and “What’s the biggest investment mistake you’ve made?”

In this edition, we have the pleasure of interviewing:

Name: Ivana Delevska @IvanaSpear
Age: 41
Residence/Country: New York, USA
Invests since: 2008

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
After graduating from college, I joined the M&A group at JP Morgan. Banks provide unique opportunities to get hands-on exposure and solid training programs. Shortly after my analyst program, I joined a large hedge fund. I can't say that I knew a lot about investing and public markets at the time, but I built a strong foundation for valuing and assessing companies, public or private, in my banking program. While on the buy side, I worked for several top-tier hedge funds, such as Citadel, Millenium, and Tiger Cub, doing long/short fundamental equity investing. Each experience contributed differently to building out my investment style. For example, Tiger Cubs are known for high-conviction research and longer-term ideas; Citadel was a great place to learn about risk management and how to measure alpha. I started Spear 3 years ago with the idea that I could bring the same rigor that hedge funds use to the everyday investor. My investing style today builds on the years of prior experience and best practices from all the funds I previously worked for.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆?
My background is in fundamental research and investing. I cover a universe of about 120 companies that I speak to on an ongoing basis.