Ophir Founder, Andrew Mitchell, recently had the honour of kicking off Equity Mates Media's ‘Best of the Best’ podcast series, taking the opportunity to talk through what gives us an edge, the small cap landscape and some personal advice that doesn’t just extend to the investing world. Many of you know we’re not just sitting behind our desks. You don’t find the next A2 Milk or Afterpay waiting for the information to come to you. You go digging. Think about those Ivy League aces who could crunch numbers faster than you can say, “DCF!”. How do you compete with that?! But that’s just one piece of the puzzle. You get on that first flight. You hit the road early. And you talk. Talk to the people making the decisions. Talk to their biggest threats. You talk to their clients and you talk to their suppliers. BUT you need to synthesise the information. This is the part where creativity is rewarded. Andrew delves into some of the more creative ways we have found an edge in our companies and SPOILER! It didn’t just involve trudging through cashflow statements. Andrew’s advice to his 18 year-old self summarises this edge well, "Putting yourself out there, when odds are you will fail, is when great things happen." If we were to survey the most common trait in our investment team, it wouldn't be wizard-like intelligence. It’s being comfortable with the uncomfortable. Because that’s where the real magic happens. If you would like to hear the podcast, the link is in the comments (below). Feel free to also click through to Ophir Asset Management to follow Ophir’s LinkedIn corporate page and get up to date views on shares and markets.