I'm tempted to not reply because I don't have the war stories or...

I'm tempted to not reply because I don't have the war stories or grey hairs that the original poster is seeking, but anyway...

I agree wholeheartedly regarding Samuel Axe: high leverage, high risk, potential high reward or loss of capital. Note that Stuart is keeping the initial size of that fund very small, he's not a madman. I'll be hoping I can get some as a small % of my portfolio.

For their trading strategies in general, they seem nimble enough to not be overly exposed in any one area. They scale up positions gradually while planning their exits and possible hedges. In a large scale crash I'd be most concerned that gapping might occur in some of the markets they trade in leaving them unable to get out without sustaining losses. But this applies to anyone. "Welcome to the share market" is right.

Also with HML they seem to be only actively trading a fairly small chunk and using that to generate profits that they pay out as dividends (prudent capital management, as Stuart puts it). A large chunk of the capital is in the other investments, JBFG and the like.

The key person risk is also there but that applies to most managers too, and in the latest video Stuart was mentioning the broader team a lot more, so he's clearly cognisant of that. Most managers suffer from this same thing because everyone is all about the personalities, regardless of how well knowledge is shared behind the scenes.

Another risk is that they may end up stretching themselves too thin, particularly with all the new funds including planned funds in NZ and a move to London. But if they're finding their strategies are scalable, that's great. Watch this space.

One thing I appreciate is that they're scaling up gradually and keeping the funds fairly small while they find their feet. They also listen to shareholders as we've seen in improved communications throughout last year. Good luck!