At the other end of the spectrum are proponents of modern portfolio theory and efficient markets, academicians like Burton Malkiel of Princeton University and Eugene Fama of The University of Chicago.
One interesting focus for PivotNorth is his intention to hire a CTO, to use technology to make his firm and his portfolio companies more productive and efficient.
The model that Mr Smith cooked up at Yale, based on a hub-and-spoke system of overnight air delivery, has since expanded to encompass a broad portfolio of businesses contributing to efficient supply chains.
The hub is piloting a portfolio of advanced energy-efficient building technologies and designs using sophisticated sensors and modeling equipment with the goal of creating technologies capable of reducing energy use in existing buildings by 50% by 2015.