Quote:
Originally Posted by LozColbert
Who are you? I don't understand why you aren't revealing your identity if you're going to write a book anyway. It should be obvious when published. Moreover, you haven't revealed anything newsworthy, so I don't see downside unless you just have an uber-paranoid compliance department.
What size was the fund when you joined? Did you use any 3rd party marketers? How much trouble did you have with institutions saying "come back when you've got $XXmillion under management?" Do you have any criteria that you use for selecting young/small funds or is it just record/strategy/pedigree of the manager?
How good were/are you at poker?
What was your career track? top undergrad to bank to CFA to fund?
What can be done to make boards better? Limit the size? Mandate independent directors? More LBO funds? Does your fund do any activist investing?
If you have an opinion, do you think Taleb's basic strategy of being long downside vol is +EV?
Why do you think managed accounts have been relatively slow to catch on?
And to repeat Ahnuld's question: what's the investment process at your fund?
Ok...lot's of stuff here
Identity already discussed
was 1bb when I joined...no third party marketers (not violently opposed to them though). When I joined the firm was already over the institutional size threshhold.
Choosing young funds...pedigree yes (previous track record even in smaller size fund best evidence)...but more importantly coherence of the investment strategy and credibility that the manager has edge.
Was slight loser in online 25/50 NLHE a few years back. My skills have declined and the average skills (online and off) of competing players seems much higher now then the era I played in, so would likely be a fairly large loser at similar stakes today. My poker theory and game theory is at a high level, but my practical skills of analyzing and assessing hand ranges etc not good enough anymore!
career...top undergrad yes, but more eclectic after that--including some years of teaching and traveling. Not a straight line to this job.
boards...no staggered boards, no poison pills, outside directors who care, and more investor attention. Sunshine would be the best disinfectant.
We are not an activist fund per se, but we have discussions with managements at times on our views of what's best.
Taleb...I think even he would say it is hard to tell in any time frame less than a millennium whether that is EV+ or not because it is only a few events (or lack thereof) that determine who is right...I am sympathetic to his argument and his books are a part of my thinking.
Managed accounts have positives for investors for sure, but also impose significant admin costs on both the manager and the investor that weigh against them. Deep subject.
Not sure how to give a short answer to the investment process question and haven't had the energy (yet) to tackle a long answer. Not trying to dodge.