Searching the globe for Customer Fanatics

Vanshap Capital, LLC, an investment adviser formed in partnership with the Markel Group (NYSE: MKL), manages a focused portfolio of global equities run by operators who are obsessed with delighting their customers.

What is a Customer Fanatic?

Most companies say the customer comes first, but few organize themselves as if it were true. We spend our time finding the exceptions: businesses where the founder controls or has significantly influenced the company, where the entire business culture was built around servicing the customer rather than maximizing short-term profits.

The Say / Do Gap

Genuine fanatics don’t just talk about customers — their actions match their words. They track customer-focused KPIs like Net Promoter Score and make decisions that protect the customer relationship.

Focused & Absolute

Customer Fanatics are less promotional, product-driven, and largely indifferent to competition. They play an absolute game — what does my customer need — rather than a relative one.

Culture Requires Control

Fanaticism erodes under institutional pressure. Founder-influenced structures act as culture insurance — preserving the customer-first orientation against the pull of short-term optimization. Structure is the mechanism; culture is the asset.

Long-Term by Design

Customer Fanatics are long-term oriented and steadfast — they invest even through short-term margin pressure or counter-cyclically, because their eye is on pleasing the customer, not Wall Street.

Focused portfolio

Targeting ten or fewer core investments, owned for the long-term, allowing inherent structural advantages to compound shareholder value.

Almaty, Kazakhstan

Team

A focused team with +50 years of combined investing experience and deep alignment of interests.

Evan Vanderveer

Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Evan co-founded Vanshap Capital in April 2012. Before Vanshap, he was an investment analyst at Aegis Financial Corporation, where he helped extend the firm’s idea generation beyond the United States. He holds a BBA in finance from The George Washington University. He leads the firm’s research travel, which has taken him to over 20 countries in search of the businesses the firm owns.

David Shapiro, CFA

Co-Founder & Managing Partner

David co-founded Vanshap Capital in April 2012. Before Vanshap, he spent nine years as senior investment analyst at Aegis Financial Corporation, working across both equities and high-yield bonds. He holds a BS in management from Tulane University, with a focus in accounting and finance.

Daniel Rustad, CFA

Senior Analyst

Daniel has worked with Vanshap since 2019. Before Vanshap, he was a research analyst at Greenwood Investors, covering long/short equity. He holds a BA in economics from the University of Southern California.

Latest Thoughts

Video · August 2026

Since 2012, Vanshap Capital has managed capital for a select group of families and institutions who share our long term approach.

If our approach resonates, write to us: partners@vanshapcapital.com. We read everything and respond to most of it.