Hi Sooty, No problem, always happy to talk investing and speculation though need to remember these are my own personal strategies and I have a high risk tolerance i.e. I'm willing to lose it all for a chance at financial freedom. In regards to your questions;
1. I don't use a top down or bottom up approach per se but I'll factor in both, basically I'll look for a company that has strong fundamentals and potential in an established or growing/new market. A strong sector specific macro environment can cause low caps to move without too much business or project progress whereas a quality low cap stock should be able to grow even in a weak sector. I've previously taken long term major positions in companies operating in Water, Engineering, Construction, Tech, Bio, Minerals, Green Energy and now Fossil Fuels. Some of them didn't necessarily have a strong macro market but they all had major opportunities, catalysts or, for lack of a better term, an "X factor" going for them.
2. Anywhere between 2x - 5x if successful. This is always a fluid decision as things change in the world everyday. Always so many factors to consider so these can move up or down depending of developments or the company
3. These days, once I realise one of my targets I'll typically sell down to a free carried position.
A fun story from years ago, I was tracking government tenders for a major infrastructure project in WA, I knew that there were three public companies tendering so I consistently watched their share prices for any sign prior to tender announcement, I saw a spike on volume in NRW so jumped in with a big position that day, a week later they announced the winning bid. An easy $50k profit with days, If I had held on to that position for a couple more years it would have turned in to $1,000,000
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