“In the short run, the market is a voting machine; in the long run, it is a weighing
machine.” – Benjamin Graham
A student-run 501(c)(3) at UC Santa Cruz. Est. 2016.
What We Do
About Us
Slug Fund Investment Group was founded in 2016.
We embrace the value investment principles of Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett, Charles
Munger, and Phil Fisher, and today focus primarily on publicly traded companies in North America. We aim to
achieve superior returns by being long-term owners of high quality businesses with a
substantial economic moat, great growth potential, and trustworthy people running them.
Slug Fund Investment Group is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation, recognized
as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3). Everything our portfolio earns
funds scholarships and educational programming for students. No member profits from any of it.
Investment Philosophy
Our Approach
We are owners, not traders.
We take the view that a share is a claim on a business, not a ticker on a screen. That single
commitment does most of the work: it tells you what to research, how long to hold, and when
to say nothing at all.
So we teach members to read a business before they read a chart — the unit economics, the
competitive position, the people running it, and the price the market is asking. Every thesis
is written down before it is acted on, and every vote carries a documented written
justification.
The investor’s chief problem — and even his worst enemy — is likely to be himself.
Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor
Our Core Values
01.
Access
Membership is open to anyone with a genuine interest in finance, regardless of major, year, or experience. No individual is denied participation because they cannot pay.
02.
Transparency
We publish our programs, our scholarship allocations, our use of investment proceeds, and our governance — deliberately contrary to the opaque nature of traditional financial institutions.
03.
Rigor
Every position is researched, written up, and defended out loud before it is taken. Every vote carries a documented written justification. Conviction without evidence is not conviction.
04.
Stewardship
We manage what has been entrusted to us prudently and exclusively in service of our charitable purpose. No part of what we build benefits any private individual.
05.
Integrity
We hold to a written Code of Ethics and Conflict of Interest Policy. Nobody trades on information obtained through the organization, and anyone with a material interest recuses themselves.
06.
Continuity
Officers serve fixed terms and plan their succession. The Advisory Board mentors each incoming cohort. The organization is built to outlive every student in it.
Our Team
Slug Fund Investment Group is run entirely by undergraduates, supported by a non-voting
Advisory Board of professionals and alumni.
Co-President and CFO Sushane Atmakuri led the meeting and presented the pitch: fat pitch
or value trap? Members guessed a mystery company from four clues — an $11B, debt-free
retailer down 80% from its peak — before the reveal: Lululemon. Sushane walked through what
broke, how it stacks up against Alo, Vuori, and Deckers, its new CEO, and bear-to-bull
scenarios, then the club voted on how much of the fund to put behind it.
We traded DCF models for something just as valuable: decision-making under uncertainty.
Every hand was a lesson in risk assessment, reading signals, capital allocation, and
knowing when to walk away — a reminder that investing is judgment and discipline as much
as spreadsheets. We intend to make it a tradition.
Winners — Kannishk Naidu G and Chloe Kim.
Speaker Series
Ask Anything Night with UC Investments
Patricia Kelly, Byron Ong, CFA, and Jeff Youngman answered every question put to them —
breaking into the industry, navigating early career decisions, personal finance, and how
investment teams think about markets and long-term strategy.
With UC Investments.
Collaboration
Lihong Wang, Founder of Freeport Markets
A joint meeting with the UCSC Startup Club and the UCSC Investment Banking Academy.
Lihong Wang gave a clear account of where cryptocurrency is heading and how partnering
with Y Combinator helps founders bring ambitious ideas to life. Freeport Markets closed
the night with a crypto wallet giveaway.
With UCSC Startup Club and UCSC Investment Banking Academy.
Speaker Series
Michael Feng, Co-Founder of Hummingbot
The first guest of our new speaker series walked members through the future of
cryptocurrency markets — how decentralized finance is reshaping traditional market
structure, and how tools like Hummingbot let individual investors take part in liquidity
provision and algorithmic trading.
First in the SFIG speaker series.
Kickoff Meeting
To the Moon or To the Basement?
We opened the year by welcoming new members and introducing the club, then ran our first
activity. Teams analyzed mystery company profiles, argued Buy, Sell, or Hold, and
presented their cases before the reveal.
Winning teams — To the Moon Madrid: Nathan Margolis, Michael Yoho,
Lucia Hernandez Fuentes, Alejandro Soro Rodriguez. Angel Investors:
Oscar Gutierrez, Aradhya Kapoor, Mateo Velar, Hugo Lopez.
Partnerships
We work to secure the training, certifications, and industry contact that students at larger
finance programs take for granted — and to make all of it free at the point of use.
Approved Partner
CFA Society
Slug Fund Investment Group is an approved partner of the CFA Society — a route to
professional credentialing and the practitioner network around it, bringing charterholders,
exam resources, and industry programming directly to members.
Partnership
UC Investments
A UC-wide initiative helping students explore careers in asset management, with training
that mirrors the first year of an analyst’s career at an investment firm. Through
SFIG, students access the program entirely free of charge.