When entering private markets, Capital Group partnered with KKR rather than building a team internally. They reasoned that building from scratch would mean "practicing on your client's money" and distracting their core team. This decision prioritized delivering a proven solution over capturing 100% of the economic upside.

Instead of demanding immediate portfolio construction, Capital Group gives new investment analysts a three-to-six-month non-producing onboarding period. This time is dedicated to deep industry research and internal knowledge absorption, fostering a long-term, thoughtful approach from day one.

The firm's "Capital System" combines top ideas from various analysts and portfolio managers into a single fund. This structure deliberately avoids exposure to any single manager's low-conviction holdings, creating what is effectively a "best ideas" portfolio.

By decoupling bonuses from AUM, the firm removes the incentive for managers to hoard assets for personal gain. This allows leadership to allocate capital optimally across managers based on style and portfolio needs, promoting a culture focused purely on performance.

Unlike traditional asset allocation where portfolio decisions are jointly owned, TPA clarifies governance. The board sets a risk appetite via a reference portfolio, but management is solely accountable for constructing and managing the actual investment portfolio, making their performance directly and transparently measurable.

To ensure accountability and combat hindsight bias, D1 Capital requires analysts to maintain a weekly "mock portfolio" of their best ideas, weighted as if managing real capital. This pre-registered record is used in compensation reviews, preventing analysts from only highlighting their successful calls at year-end.

Capital Group values managers who maintain a consistent investment style (e.g., value or growth) and avoid "style creep," especially during skewed markets. Since the firm manages risk by combining managers with different styles, an individual changing their approach midstream creates an unintended, problematic portfolio imbalance.

By removing the annual bonus cycle, Eagle Capital eliminates short-term performance pressure on analysts. This encourages them to focus on investment theses that play out over 3-7 years, aligning compensation with the firm's long-duration investment strategy.

The firm's stated competitive edge is "time." By tying quantitative bonuses predominantly to eight-year results rather than one-year performance, it structurally enables portfolio managers to build long-term conviction and avoid reactive, short-term decision-making.