The Acquirers Podcast · Thursday, September 10, 2026
Investor Zeke Ashton emphasized the critical role of risk management in his investment philosophy, stating that it's a dual responsibility alongside risk-taking. He draws lessons from his early career in risk management consulting and his experiences navigating market crashes like the dot-com bubble and the 2008 financial crisis.
“And, uh, starting my professional career on the risk management side was, I think, a very fortunate way to enter the business because, um, what you learn is all the things that that blow up, all the things that break, uh, how all the capital markets can move together and, you know, some of the, some of the early lessons were very much so that in a crisis, correlations go to one, um, liquidity becomes incredibly valuable.”
“And, you know, I do think that, you know, one of the things that as I transition from that business to the business of taking risk, um, it it's never, you know, it's one of those things where I never forgot that half my job is being a risk manager and the other half is being a risk taker.”
“And, you know, when you look at case studies, that when really bad things happen and really bad things break, it was because somebody, uh, you know, did something really foolish that, you know, at the time was obvious.”