Ludovico Cordara

Founder, Krypton AI, Chief Investment Officer, IDWR, AI Lead, Anthropic

About

Born in Milan, now in Los Angeles; Financial economics and philosophy at Claremont McKenna; Italian, English, Spanish, and some Latin and Greek

Work

Krypton AI, Founder: AI-native consulting and investor relations for micro-cap public companies, with 10+ companies worth $1B+ combined; Built LALC, our research arm: 70 analysts, 1,000+ management calls and 2,000+ expert calls; 30+ of the analysts were hired by the companies they covered; Research read by 10,000+ subscribers, including 100+ micro-cap CEOs and 250+ hedge fund managers
IDWR, Chief Investment Officer: Activist micro-cap fund for a $300M family office; joined as an analyst two days into freshman year, off a cold email, and became CIO in 15 months; Seven-figure positions across tech, financials, consumer and healthcare; Led our 13D in TransAct Technologies, a 5.1% stake disclosed in July 2026; Drove our AstroNova position through its sale to Arcline at $29.00 a share, a 209% premium and about $272M of enterprise value, closed August 2026
Anthropic, AI Lead: I wanted anyone at Claremont who wanted to learn AI to be able to, so I offered to fund it myself; Anthropic sponsored us instead, with $50,000+ in Claude credits; Everyone who wanted to join could, no caps and no barriers: 250+ students, taught as a class at the five Claremont Colleges, with the material on GitHub

When I Was Younger

nfludovico (Ages 12-14): An NFL site and podcast I started after moving from Italy, to learn English: interviews with players, coaches and analysts, 100,000+ views
The Political Economist (Ages 15-17): Controversial topics written honestly from both sides, so each side could understand the other; 10,000+ subscribers

Writing

Why Two Parties Fail: Washington warned against party, Madison designed around faction, and the country got two parties anyway
Italy's Revolving Door: A country that changes governments constantly, and what it can teach one that almost never changes parties
The Roman Republic and Us: From the Gracchi to the Rubicon: republics die through their norms first and their laws later
Lincoln and Compromise: When he bent, when he refused, and how he told the difference
Why Small Stocks Stay Cheap: Companies under $500M trade at a discount: why, and who gets paid for noticing
Is AI a Bubble?: Galbraith's Short History of Financial Euphoria, applied to now
Luck in a Great Year: How much of a great year was skill, with Taleb and Marks applied to my own book
Activist Investing: How a small shareholder gets a board to listen, and when it should
Leonidas Lost: The most famous defeat in history, and why it is remembered as a win
Machiavelli the Republican: Everyone reads The Prince, but the Discourses, his longer book, argues for republics
The Emperor's Notebook: Marcus Aurelius wrote Meditations for himself, and read that way it changes
The Melian Dialogue, Today: "The strong do what they can": Thucydides as a manual for negotiation
The Incredible Power of Asking: Most doors open if you knock: why so few people ask, and what happened when I did
Europe vs America: Growing up between Milan and Los Angeles, and what each gets right that the other forgets
Inter 2010: Mourinho, the treble, and the art of defending
Superman vs Batman: Settled, with reasons
The Inefficiencies of the Airline Industry: Boarding, pricing, connections: an industry that has optimised everything except the trip
Four-Way Stops: A personal gripe, and why a roundabout is better in almost every way
Daylight Saving Time: Twice a year we break every clock for a benefit nobody can measure
Public Bathroom Hand Dryers: Why they never work, and why paper towels keep winning