Dan Sundheim - The Art of Public and Private Market Investing - Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy Recap

Podcast: Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Published: 2026-02-24

Duration: 1 hr 15 min

Summary

Dan Sundheim shares his unique approach to investing across both public and private markets, emphasizing the synergies between them, particularly in the current landscape dominated by AI innovation.

What Happened

In this episode, Patrick O'Shaughnessy sits down with Dan Sundheim, founder and CIO of D1 Capital Partners, to explore the dynamics of public and private market investing. Sundheim, who has significant stakes in major private companies like SpaceX and OpenAI, reflects on his career beginnings and how a short case he wrote on Orthodonic Centers of America helped him land his first job in investing. He contrasts the competitive nature of public markets with the relatively less competitive private sphere, where the focus is more on long-term intrinsic value rather than short-term gains.

Sundheim believes that right now, late-stage private markets hold fascinating opportunities, as many of the world's largest and most innovative companies are still private. He notes that the synergy between his public and private investments has increased significantly due to the surge of innovation in the private sector, particularly in AI. Sundheim discusses how his approach has evolved, suggesting that while private markets have fewer competitors, they tend to share a common goal of identifying excellent companies, making the landscape more collaborative compared to the public markets, where myriad differing strategies exist.

The conversation also delves into Sundheim's confidence in companies like Anthropic and OpenAI, which he backed at pivotal moments. He reflects on the broader implications of AI advancements and the potential mispricing that might exist in public markets due to a lack of exposure to groundbreaking private businesses. Sundheim's passion for his work is evident, and he leaves listeners with a deeper understanding of the nuances in investing across both realms.

Key Insights

• Private markets are currently less competitive and offer unique opportunities, particularly in late-stage investments.
• Sundheim emphasizes the importance of long-term intrinsic value over short-term gains in private market investing.
• The synergy between public and private investments has increased, especially in the context of AI innovation.
• Public markets can often misprice opportunities due to a lack of insight into transformative private companies.