Inside the Mind of Christopher Zook: Alignment, Access, and Asymmetric Alpha
What private markets can learn from a guy who co-invests first, charges no fees, and writes billion-dollar checks
This week, I sat down with Christopher Zook, Founder and CIO of CAZ Investments, a Houston-based investment firm that quietly wrote the largest private equity check in the world last year—$1 billion. Our conversation stretched from his early entrepreneurial hustle to the macro themes driving CAZ’s portfolio today.
The episode is available on YouTube, Apple Podcast, and Spotify.
Here’s what stood out and actionable take-away’s for GP’s and LP’s.
🔍 Key Themes
1. Skin in the Game Is the New Standard
CAZ doesn’t just talk alignment. Zook insists:
“What I tell everybody is my dollar, Lisa and my first dollar will be the first into every single thing that we do. And collectively with our shareholders, our firm, our team, we will be the largest investor in everything we do, at least for the foreseeable future….”
They are always the largest investor in their own funds. No management fees—only carry. That alone makes CAZ an outlier in a world where alignment is often lip service.
2. Thematic Investing Over Style Boxes
CAZ invests around four big themes:
Growth of private assets as an asset class
Disruptive technology
Changing consumer behavior (think: sports + cord-cutting)
The energy evolution (fossil, renewable, and everything in between)
“Follow a theme, we find the best risk reward to take advantage of the theme, and then from there we're gonna find the right either vehicle, partner, or methodology to be able to maximize the opportunity from that risk reward…”
3. Transparency > Secrecy
In private markets, GPs often default to secrecy—worried someone will “steal” their strategy or copy their structure. Zook used to think that way too. But once CAZ Investments crossed a certain scale, his perspective shifted.
“If somebody hasn't figured out that healthcare for an aging demographic is a good idea to invest in healthcare, then I can't help them.”
The idea isn’t the edge. Execution is.
One thing that was clear during our discussion is that access and scale matters. As I have discussed before, the big will get better and they will benefit from the scale which includes access, terms and structure.
Even when it comes to disclosing their largest positions and strategies, Zook isn’t worried:
He’s learned that real edge comes from execution, not opacity.
4. Democratizing Access to Alternatives
CAZ recently launched a registered vehicle to give accredited investors access to the same deals Zook and Tony Robbins are in and is advocating for legislation that would allow individuals to qualify as accredited through a test, not just net worth.
But—and this is key—he’s not advocating for a free-for-all. There are some real risks to broaden access.
“Access is a big part of it, is being able to actually find what they're looking for. One of the fears that is out there that I also share is that every locker room deal that gets passed around, that people like me and our team have completely passed on 15 times, that they go, I can now, so I should do that. No, don't do that. Please don't make an investment because you can. Make an investment because it's the right thing for your portfolio.”
Zook's focus is on building intentional, scalable, and quality-controlled access to institutional-grade opportunities—like co-investments in GP stakes, real assets, and private tech—not random private placements or startup pitches.
He’s building with three key principles in mind:
Same seat at the table: His registered fund gives retail and smaller allocators access to the same deals Zook, Tony Robbins, and institutional investors are in.
Education first: The firm is investing in content, white papers, and real-world analogies that help newer investors understand what they’re getting into. (“If you can’t explain it on the back of a napkin, don’t do it.”)
Proper diversification: Zook leans into Ray Dalio and Markowitz’s principle: 8–12 uncorrelated asset classes, not just a couple of trendy alts, create the true "holy grail" of investing.
Access is only powerful if it’s paired with understanding.
💼 Takeaways for GPs
Charge less, own more. Want to prove alignment? Be the first and biggest check in your own deal.
Market like it matters. Learn how to tell your story about why you are different.
“For the first 12 years… we really never told anybody what we do.”
That changed after a locker room confrontation (you’ll want to hear that story).
Build relationships, not Rolodexes.
“The power of the network is the network…”
Focus on persistency.
“There's only one P that matters to me and that is persistency.”
💰 Takeaways for LPs
Ask better questions. Start with understanding what you can do with your check/scale advantage?
Understand the downside first.
CAZ’s internal motto: “If we can live with the worst-case scenario, the upside will take care of itself.”Secondaries are heating up. Zook claims they executed the largest LP-led secondary ever in the GP stakes space—over $500 million NAV.
Don’t just diversify, be deliberate.
“Don't invest in a black box because somebody says, I got this great track record. Look how good it is…as Mr. Buffett says, if you can't understand the back of a napkin, then you probably shouldn't make that investment.”
🧠 Memorable Quotes
“Hope is not a good investment strategy.”
“We all have the same 168 [hours in a week].”
“Hiring slowly and firing quickly—it's amazing how much better that is.”
If you want to read more about Christopher and CAZ Investments, my friends at Alliance Global Advisors recently hosted a Q&A with him with which can be found here.
The episode is available on YouTube, Apple Podcast, and Spotify.