Sam
The person who handed Glen the map.
Somewhere around 2008–2009, Sam mentioned a company to Glen: CNO Financial Group. It wasn’t a pitch. It wasn’t a formal recommendation. It was the kind of thing that happens in conversation when someone who understands value sees something worth looking at and says so.
Glen looked into it. He did the work. He wrote it up on SeekingAlpha. And that trade — the CNO trade — became the moment investing went from spreadsheet hobby to real conviction. The moment it stopped being theoretical and started being personal.
Some people hand you a map and you don’t realize it until years later. Sam is one of those people.
What It Led To
Without Sam, the hedge fund might never have happened. Without that first conviction trade, the confidence to launch Global Speculation LP might never have developed. Without the pattern recognition that came from studying CNO — finding deep value where others saw wreckage — the Fanniegate thesis might never have taken shape.
One conversation. One ticker. An entire trajectory.
Glen says:
“Sam gave me the CNO tip. That’s the whole story, and that’s enough. I did the research, I wrote it up, I made the trade — but Sam is the reason I was looking at CNO in the first place.
That trade taught me what conviction feels like. Not the spreadsheet kind. The kind where you’ve done the work and you know something the market hasn’t figured out yet. Every trade I’ve made since then traces back to that feeling, and that feeling traces back to Sam.
I don’t know if Sam knows how much it mattered. Most people who change your life don’t. But this page exists because credit belongs where credit is due, and the credit for the starting line belongs to Sam.”
Continue the Story
The Full Story
The complete arc — from Indiana to hedge fund to AI.
Read moreKey MomentThe CNO Trade
The trade that turned a tip into conviction. Deep value in the wreckage.
Read moreChapterAct I — The Investor
What happens when a systems engineer discovers the stock market.
Read moreIndexPeople
The people who shaped Glen's story. Every chapter has a cast.
Read more