'I couldn't get a job here today'

Website Disclaimer October 2024

Important Legal Information & Terms of Use

By using the Cape Capital website (“Website”), you declare that:

You are a qualified investor according to Art. 10 para.3 of the Swiss Collective Investment Scheme Act (CISA) and/or a professional or institutional investor according to Art. 4 of the Financial Services Act (FinSA).
You are domiciled in Switzerland
You have understood and agree to the following Important Legal Information and Terms of Use (together “Conditions”)

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About this Website

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The content of this Website (including microsites) has been prepared by Cape Capital AG, with its registered address at Utoquai 55, 8008 Zurich, Switzerland (“Cape Capital”), duly registered at the commercial register of the Canton of Zurich with number CHE-109.617.147. and contains the views and opinions of the particular individuals and is for general information and marketing purposes only. All copyrights and other rights, included but not limited to logos and registered trademarks relating to the entire content of the Website are reserved exclusively to Cape Capital or the specifically designated right holders. Any use, in particular the reproduction or publication in full or in part is permitted only with the prior written consent of Cape Capital. Cape Capital may from time to time suspend the operation of this Website for repair, maintenance or improvement work, or in order to update or upgrade its content or functionality. Cape Capital may also change the format, content and/or access of this Website at any time at its sole discretion without notice. Although Cape Capital believes that information provided on this Website is based on reliable sources, content on this Website is presented only as of the date published or indicated, and may be superseded by subsequent market events or for other reasons. Therefore Cape Capital cannot assume responsibility for the quality, correctness, timeliness or completeness of the information contained herein. Unless otherwise stated, the numbers/figures on the Website are unaudited.

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Regulatory Status & Ombudsman

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Cape Capital is a regulated asset manager of collective assets according to the Federal Act on Financial Institutions of 15 June 2018 (FinIA) and supervised by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA, Laupenstrasse 27, CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland (FINMA). The Website contains information about various collective investments (“Funds”) which may have been registered or otherwise notified for distribution and marketing in the jurisdiction you have selected. Please note, that such registration or notification does not mean that the Funds are suitable for all investors and their investment objectives, financial situation and risk profile. As an asset manager of collective assets, Cape Capital is, among others, subject to the rules under the Swiss Financial Services Act (FinSA), the Swiss Collective Investment Schemes Act (CISA) and the Swiss Financial Institutions Act (FinIA).Cape Capital is affiliated to the following Ombudsman according to FinSA: Finanzombudsstelle Schweiz (FINOS), Talstrasse 20, CH-8001 Zurich, Switzerland. For further information, please refer to the General Client Information Document available on the Website which forms an integral part of these Conditions.

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No Solicitation, Offer, Recommendation or Advice

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Nothing contained on this Website constitutes a solicitation, an offer or a recommendation to buy or sell any Cape Capital Funds or other financial instruments, nor does it constitute any form of personal investment advice which takes into account your personal circumstances. Cape Capital does not provide investment, legal, tax or other advice through this Website and nothing herein should be construed as such advice. Cape Capital does not represent that any Cape Capital collective assets or financial instruments mentioned on this Cape Capital website are suitable for any investor. Investment or other decisions should be made solely on the basis of the relevant product and/or service documents (prospectus/offering memorandum, fund contract/articles, key information documents, financial reports) of the respective collective investment. If not a Cape Capital client, it is strongly recommended to contact a professional financial advisor, tax consultant or other qualified expert in order to determine whether an investment in a Fund or other financial instrument corresponds to the specific requirements and preferred level of risk of the investor.

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US Persons

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Any collective investment schemes mentioned on this Website may, unless explicitly stated otherwise, not be offered, sold or delivered to United States (U.S.) citizens or persons resident or incorporated in the U.S. and/or other natural or legal persons whose income and/or returns, regardless of origin, are subject to U.S. income tax, as well as persons who are considered to be U.S. persons pursuant to Regulation S of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and/or the U.S. Commodity Exchange Act, in each case as amended from time to time.

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Risk Considerations

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The provision of financial services and investments in Funds and other financial instruments involve opportunities but also bear risks, including the risk that the value of investments and the income therefrom may fall or rise and investors may not get back the full amount invested or may even lose all of their investment. Investors should ensure to have fully understood such risks before taking any investment decisions. Cape Capital strongly advises to consult the brochure “Risks Involved in Trading Financial Instruments” of the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) as well as the relevant documents of the respective Fund or financial instrument and to seek professional investment advice before taking any decision to invest. Investors should note, that these Conditions do not represent a complete statement of risks associated to a Fund or a financial instrument. Past performance is no indication of current or future performance. Performance data do not include commissions and costs incurred by investors when subscribing or redeeming Fund shares.Investments, in particular collective investments in private equity, venture capital and other illiquid assets involve an above-average degree of risk, including the risk that losses may even exceed the original investment and should be seen as long-term in nature.

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No Warranties

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The use of this Website, including any information accessed, downloaded or otherwise obtained through the Website is at your own risk. This Website, together with all content, information and materials contained therein, is provided “as is” and “as available”, without any representations or warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, with respect to the Website, and all information and functionalities contained therein.

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Limitations of Liability

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IN NO EVENT SHALL CAPE CAPITAL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF DATA, BUSINESS OR PROFITS) ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THESE CONDITIONS, THIS WEBSITE, THE INABILITY TO USE THIS WEBSITE OR ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED OR STORED THERFROM. Cape Capital excludes any liability for any loss, damage or alteration of any kind including but not limited to transmission to losses, delays, misunderstandings, unauthorized interception by third parties, duplication or fraud, except in the event of gross negligence on the part of Cape Capital. Any transmission or download of information is entirely at your own risk.

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Data Protection and Privacy Settings

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Cape Capital has established a Cape Capital Privacy Notice, which forms an integral part of these Conditions. It explains how personal data is collected and processed at Cape Capital, including this Website. Cape Capital uses cookies to personalize and improve site experience. You can at any time change or withdraw your consent from the Cookie Declaration on the Website. Your consent applies to the following domains: capecapital.com. Your current state: Consent accepted or Consent rejected. Manage your consent.

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Applicable Law and Jurisdiction

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The access and use of this Website, and these present Conditions are governed by substantive Swiss law with the exclusion of the conflict of law principles. The place of jurisdiction is Zurich, Switzerland.

Last Update: October 2024

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Alex Vukajlovic & Johan Holgersson on remaining agile, measuring success and the benefits of hiring exceptional outliers

Doing well and doing good: that’s the defining ethos at Cape Capital. Not only is it key to the company’s unique working culture, built up over the last two decades by Founder & CEO Alex Vukajlovic and Partner Johan Holgersson, it’s also at the heart of their relationship.

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'Neither of us were born with a silver spoon'

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'The main cornerstone of our relationship is having shared values and trust,' confirms Alex. 'Johan knows what I’m capable of and how I think; we don’t feel the need to question each other.' Johan continues; ‘As personalities, we’re quite different—Alex is much more social—but we both come from similar, humble backgrounds. Neither of us were born with a silver spoon: I grew up in the north of Sweden and had no plan to end up co-running this kind of firm in Zurich and I think Alex in Belgrade did not have that ambition either.’ In fact, Alex’s career took him from Serbia to the US, London and Moscow—where he met Johan while working for a Swedish investment bank. Then, at the end of 1999, he swapped Russia for two and a half years at the newly formed PBS bank in Zurich and the idea for Cape Capital was born.

'I had always looked at Switzerland as this place of great private banking, history and tradition, and yet when I arrived, there was a lot of suboptimal advice, in transparency and conflicts of interest being given to clients’ recalls Alex. ‘There was a big demand for holistic advice and not enough supply, so you would get practically anybody who could eat with a knife and fork giving people guidance on their fortunes.’ He decided to set up a contemporary wealth management company that would provide transparent, institutional style advice to large private clients, not only avoiding conflicts of interest, but actively aligning investments with their interests—something that many other companies actively avoided. Johan came to visit, to reconnect with Alex, with the plan to stay in Zurich for a year. ‘It’s been a long year,’ he quips.

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'Each person is an ambassador for the company, even when they don’t realise it'

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Although the pair have clearly defined roles—Alex runs the company and focuses on business development, equities and private equity, and taking care of a few clients directly, while Johan concentrates on wealth management clients and their portfolio strategies—both have the same caring approach when it comes to looking after the now 35-strong team. The working culture can be summarised in their hiring attitude and training. As Johan says; ‘it’s not that we’ve deliberately sought out the outliers in this world but if you look at the backgrounds of people we’ve hired, it’s not a homogenous mass of private bankers who have all been to the same school and done the same thing. They come from different countries, they speak different languages and have diverse backgrounds. It has always been about hiring the person and asking ourselves; Can we work with them? What do they represent? Would we like to have dinner with them? Can we learn something from them?'

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Alex agrees; ‘Each person is an ambassador for the company, even when they don’t realise it. We look for those who are smart and driven, who go the extra mile. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule but where possible, we try to hire those who are over 50 and under 30. This structure has enabled us to root out office politics as much as we can. We would also never hire a team head from outside the organisation. Instead, we spend time bringing people up to speed and then promoting them based on merit.’

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'The last hire is always the benchmark'

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Speaking to them both, what’s clear is that rather than trying to shape all members of the team in the same way, they actively do the opposite: embrace diversity and individuality. 'The last hire is always the benchmark,' says Johan. 'The next person who comes in should be smarter, brighter, funnier, more creative. I couldn’t get a job here today. The interviewing process is terrifying; I wouldn’t pass.'

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There is also a real sense of mentorship; a willingness to grant responsibility to others and actively champion them to succeed. ‘We hire someone for a specific role or strategy but at the same time, if they feel they are doing the same thing after three years, and haven’t grown, they’ve failed and we’ve failed them. When they arrive, it’s just the point of departure. Ideally, we want that to morph into an ownership of something much more,’ says Johan. For Alex, as long as someone knows the limits of what they can do, he likes to give them a blank canvas so they can be an entrepreneur. 'Equally, once they come close to those limits, they needn’t feel shy about voicing any issues or saying that they don’t know what to do next.’

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'What’s also different here than elsewhere,’ continues Alex, 'is that we promote accountability and responsibility, and alignment of interests, towards our clients. They need to know who is in charge if there is a mistake or if a situation changes, but also who is responsible for success.’ This means leading by example, as he did himself, after a decade in business, when he informed clients that the company was evolving from its open architecture model to bring everything in-house. ‘We weren’t afraid to tell clients that we were changing the model—and not a single one left us. Nor do we regret it looking back over the performance from the last ten years. Being able to understand when we could be doing things better helps us to navigate the markets.’

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'We are both big believers in zooming out to see the forest rather than the trees'

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As well as nurturing client relationships and fostering a healthy team spirit, the pair also understand the importance of stepping away from the business every now and again. ‘Both of us care as much about our private lives and families, and looking after them, as we do about looking after Cape,’ says Alex. ‘We are both big believers in zooming out to see the forest rather than the trees. We do that in the day to day by not micromanaging and giving people space to run their own thing and also, in the occasional working sabbatical,’ continues Alex who has taken several two-month trips over the years to broaden the company’s networks but also take time away from the office; allowing the teams to make decisions without him.

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While the majority of companies benchmark themselves by how many assets they hope to manage in the future (‘I don’t even know how many we’re managing now,’ jokes Alex), how many people they’ll employ or where they’ll be placed in the ranking tables, this duo focuses on remaining agile. ‘The benefit to being smaller is that we can manoeuvre when times are tough for the industry,’ he concludes. ‘We have an established brand and incredible people on our team. We try to remain relevant and low key, to keep our culture going and make clients happy. Only by them being happy are we going to do well.’

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In this article

Alex Vukajlovic

Founder and CEO of Cape Capital

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Johan Holgersson

Partner at Cape Capital

Written by