Scott Stevens, Founder of Grays Peak Capital

With a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Michigan, Scott Stevens of Grays Peak Capital began his career as an M&A investment banker, where he covered multiple industries including tech media, telecom, and consumer. Afterward, he became a senior analyst at a hedge fund called Coatue Capital, a firm that specializes in tech media and telecom consumer.

Next, Scott Stevens moved to California for eight years, where he worked at a couple of different companies and ran their tech portfolios.

Then in 2014, along with a partner, Scott Stevens decided to start a global international firm, Grays Peak Capital in New York City, where he brought together all of the knowledge and ideas he developed over the years to create a template for his firm.
Scott Stevens enjoys traveling the world and capturing his experiences with photography.

Tell us a bit about what you do.

Every day I’m trying to find either interesting trends, themes, or companies to invest in. That’s the core of what our process is. We find areas of interest that we think are doing something slightly different, or are changing or disrupting different industries.

What gave you the idea for starting Grays Peak Capital? How did it start?

The idea was effectively working in a lot of other companies and seeing how they start their business. Over time I felt that I could do something slightly different; a different way and a different approach to build my firm and company, and I saw there was an opportunity to do it. I was also excited to see if I could create a company around the kind of core themes and values of what I was looking to do. Along the way, I had been working for some great companies, but I felt that there were some ways to innovate and improve some of the processes that I had been doing at other firms.

What’s your favorite thing about your chosen profession?

One thing I enjoy about my job is that my day is always different. So each day I’m either looking at something new, or trying to understand something that I wasn’t thinking about the day before. Each and every day there is something that requires me to think. I’m always looking forward to going to work and seeing how the day will progress. Also, since we’re always looking at either new trends, new companies, and new people, it allows me on a social function to meet new people. So, it’s thought-provoking, exciting, and not monotonous at all. Every day is a new adventure.

What keys to being productive can you share with us?

Communication and time management are the two things I would say are keys to being productive. Communication with my team, making sure that we’re having productive conversations; could our two-hour conversation be done in 20 minutes? Time management is trying to make sure things are structured and making sure that we’re as productive as possible.

The second part is we’re always trying to figure out how can we incorporate technology into our day-to-day life and make us more productive. So that’s everything from how you think about sharing information, meetings, notes, and process. With that structure, it allows us to make quicker, faster, better decisions and makes sure that we’re leveraging our time. People, in general, have a finite amount of time and bandwidth, so you have to figure out leveraging either time, communication, people, or technology in order to be more productive.

Tell us one long-term goal in your career.

I think one of my long term goals has always been to have my own business, which obviously I’ve done, but I think as part of that, the goal is also to make sure that we build an organization with people that enjoy working for the company and with people who are there to learn. I think it was always clear that I was somewhat entrepreneurial, and I wanted to do things on my own under my own company and roof. My next part is to get more people to work at the company and train the next generation of people – of entrepreneurs and investors.

What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned over the course of your career?

The best people that I’ve worked with have always been people who are smart, motivated, and hardworking. I think to some extent, if you surround yourself with people who are intelligent and hardworking, usually it’ll be a good outcome. If you’re on a team with B players, you’re going to have a B outcome. If you surround yourself with good people who are smart and hardworking A players, usually you’ll have an A type outcome, and that’s the part where you have to be discerning. You have to make sure the people you work with and are friends with, that you hold them to a certain standard because that’s the only way to guarantee the best outcome possible.

What advice would you give to others aspiring to succeed in your field?

One thing in life that is important to me is reading and research. I think, to some extent, it’s very easy to look forward, but sometimes you have to look backward and see what’s occurred in both industries and history to make a better assessment. So, I always tell people to make sure they’re analyzing the company, the industry that they’re getting into, and understanding what the past was before they start worrying about the present and future. There’s a lot of keywords that you can get from history or even patterns, and that will often allow you to make a better decision.

What are your favorite things to do outside of work?

Travel and photography are two things I enjoy a lot. With travel, you get to see new places, new cultures, and that gives you different perspectives. I think it also allows you to take a step back and realize that the world is a fairly dynamic place with a lot of different types of people and cultures, and that perspective is essential.

If you’re a person who lives in a big city in the U.S., even going to a small town in the U.S. gives you a completely different perspective of how people do things and live their lives. Then when you start going to other countries where they speak different languages and different cultures, I think it helps you to respect that we are in a global world and it’s just about your town or even your country. I find that so interesting.

Also, going to these different places and being able to photograph my travels, it’s something that my creative side has always enjoyed. I find it somewhat relaxing.

Name a few influential books you’ve read and/or websites you keep up with that you’d recommend to readers.

Business Insider is one that I read fairly regularly. There are two versions, the free version, and the premium version. The free version I think is helpful for real-time news. The version I prefer is the premium version. I do a lot of stuff based on industries, industry analysis, ecosystems, and new and up and coming companies, so it’s a good area to kind of track. They have great writers that look at trends and themes in real-time, and they’re very good at the presentation of how they will disseminate information in what’s called short form. Before, you had to read an eight to 10 page article. Now they put together bullets and slides that sum up both the industries, trends, themes and sizing.

What advice would you give your younger self?

I would tell a younger Scott Stevens to make sure that he’s focused and to pick big opportunities. I think it’s very easy for people to try to do too much. One thing I always tell people is try to find three to five big things that you’re working on at any time and then execute. You only have a limited amount of time in the day, so make sure that if you’re spending your time in the right areas and make sure that it’s something that can lead to a big outcome.

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