The Focal Point Podcast is the official podcast of the LSESU Business and Investment Group.

In this epsiode, Co-Founder of Cohen Circle and Chairman of Cohen & Company Asset Management, Daniel Cohen, chats about the early opportunities he saw in SPACs and what they bring to financing that traditional IPOs do not. He also shares his outlook on the SPAC field for 2023 following a decline in transaction volume and investment performance in 2022, and how FinTech SPACs can fulfill investor demands.

Highlights from Daniel's conversation

On Being Opportunistic

You should be opportunistic about the things that you know about, and then when you develop expertise, you really use that in whatever way you can to maximize your opportunities to again develop more expertise.

On Building a Strong Team

The world is constantly changing. So you both have to add new talent in terms of investing and at the same time, keep a lot of the core expertise that you already have. Whatever success we may have achieved in management investing, it's really by being willing to trust people that we delegate to and allowing people to take on their own independent responsibilities.

On What it's Like Working with his Legendary Mother, Betsy Cohen

We're both very collaborative and creative and are willing to take measured risks. You also get to go to lunch with your mother much more often than you would, otherwise. That's a big plus.

On How he Got into SPACs

We had a lot of experience, Betsy and I, in running public companies. She had started off running a public company in in the 1980s. I had been involved in my first public company with Resource America in the 1990s. I had been the founder and CEO of a number of REITs and other vehicles as well as Cohen and Company. So we were comfortable with the public markets and we thought the opportunity was really there.

On His Advice for New Grads

LSE produces some of the leading financiers in the world and some of the leading bankers in the world. [New grads] have to think about whether this is really what they want to do. Because you're gonna be doing it for a long time, so you really should enjoy it. The second thing I'd say that I've learned from working with my mother for a long time, is you always constantly have to be learning at every stage of your career.