Guy launched his own fund after only ~3.5 years at Scopia out of Harvard undergrad. Of course he grew it considerably (seems like it was <100M AUM) at launch. Article I found says he put up 10M of his own money. Was he just wealthy and well connected to begin with? Was he a major risk taker at Scopia somehow?
| +28 | Advice ahead of a pair trade presentation - HF interview | 7 | 4d | |
| +27 | College search for getting into HF | 23 | 1d | |
| +26 | Why are so many people here interested in Biotech? | 32 | 1d | |
| +24 | Background check issues | 5 | 2d | |
| +23 | VP HF Lateral To PE | 1 | 3d | |
| +20 | % hit rate on quarters | 14 | 1m | |
| +19 | Drunk Thought: Shouldnt PM's at MM inverse their Portfolio's? | 6 | 4d | |
| +17 | Is fundamental L/S equity a dying strategy? | 15 | 3d | |
| +17 | How to learn more about Cyclicals? | 6 | 1d | |
| +15 | Are most people doing comp sheets wrong? | 3 | 6d |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
Entirely daddy's money from HBK, look him up
Ya came here to say his dad was president of HBK
Good track record in SMIDs. What's their current AUM?
Lot of rich kids in industry. Scaling to his aum impressive no matter what esp when other guys who are 50 and established fail when aum is over $1bn
^^ This. I’ve met Connor and he is smart, hardworking and has taken big risks to get to where he is (activism, etc.). No doubt having family in the industry helps with launch, but it buys you way less in the hedge fund space than in any other industry.
So are like 99% of the people in the is industry.. to say that having a dad that is running one of the largest funds in the world isn't a massive reason why anyone even knows his name is incredibly naive
What is actual AUM? Don’t quote 13f unless you know for sure 0 leverage.
As the above comments rightfully stated, daddy's money. Success in the SMID doesn't really mean much, because according to many long only investors that is the only place in the domestic market where any alpha is left. If you take someone exactly like Connor & with same experience and track record, that person would be laughed out of the room by LPs.
How many Senior Analysts & PMs exist in the current broad HF space (MM/SM/LO)? To achieve seniority within the industry itself means that you survived enough storms in the market and are in a league of your own. But why do they not go out and start their own funds even when they know their bosses would provide seed money? Surely, you might speculate they don't want the risk.. but they have been handling risk for years, raising capital is nowhere near as easy as we think, especially when we hear about MM cubs raising billions, there is a reason the initial Biz Dev folks in the fund get paid a shit ton.
Connor Haley is a prime example of how cruel this industry is, where to even succeed a little, no matter the skill, being in the right place at the right time matters, or the right circumstances like we see here.
Last I saw was his Q3 2023 letter with 33% net annualized performance vs SP at 11%. Isn’t that great? Why would LP’s laugh at him?
That performance was achieved on having basically 2 names in the book overall lol
not very “hedged”
An undergrad, with a 3.5 year experience at a firm like Scopia which at the time had annualized returns of ~11%, wants to raise a fund of his own. If I was an LP, I would have laughed him out of the room, you are a hatchling in the space. A 3.5 year experience in a fund like that while can set you up for the future, doesn't amount to much.
The performance is relevant after the firm is setup in the first place. Even then, this might sound crazy, but 33% annualized is nothing special with the concentrated number of SMID cap stocks the firm owns and the capital base, I mean, if you just go onto Seeking Alpha, there are literally writers/funds there who have posted similar numbers.
Every strategy in the history of investing has always worked.... until it didn't. Scopia itself is a good example of that, this is also the reason MMs survive and grow, they cut and expand into newer strategies.
The guy who MS'd both my comments is definitely from Alta Fox. An intern maybe, or Conny boy himself probably.
I gave you 2 of the MS (not on this comment)-- something I rarely feel the need to do-- and no, I've never met Connor personally. There is an abundance of clownery in this thread, but I'm not going to engage further as I don't desire to spend time at the circus. Two points: Alta Fox started in the same exact way 99% of other hedge funds start-- seeded by family, employer, etc. He put up returns, got funded, put up more returns, got more LP money, etc. That's the way the news goes. Why more 50-year-old senior analysts don't launch is completely irrelevant. Btw, he launched with more professional experience than Bill Ackman and maybe Einhorn had when they started. Second, saying "success in the SMID doesn't really mean much" is simply ludicrous. Scoffing at top-decile returns is either ignorance or bitterness. Bonus point: you said "every strategy in the history of investing has always worked... until it didn't"-- notwithstanding the fact that's not true and doesn't make sense, Alta Fox's mandate is not situated around a single strategy. They have such a broad mandate: public, private, equities, credit, etc. None of this means they won't blow up at some point, but also none of this is deserving of slander.
agreed. if anything SMID has been a disaster in the market so putting up those returns investing in SMID is even more impressive
The hate on this post is unbelievable. “Daddy’s” money lol. What he start with? 10m aum? lol. To all these “PMs” hating on Connor attributing his success to circumstance alone, where is your 400 page “makings of a multibagger research report”? To all the PMs hating on his performance as risky “unhedged” gambles, you’re just helping yourself sleep at night re you not having the conviction, ability/alpha, or guts to go Soros “pig” style when the stars align. It worked so he’s right and you’re wrong; to those degrading empirical performance/returns by suggesting he took inappropriate risk, what epistemic framework are you using to justify that claim, markowitz’s portfolio theory? If alpha is your mandate, why need more than one to four positions? Concentrated bets on winners is the name of the game. Instead of shitting on this guy out of jealousy, go find an mis priced equity or two with your own 10m and begin the journey connor did years ago.
This thread is disgusting. Classic cog in the machine guys who want to be top dog but don’t have anything special enough to justify raising money.
go to bed connor
that report on multibaggers was written by the summer interns lmfao
I read this makings of a multi-bagger just now and to be clear his unpaid interns did it and it certainly reads that way. It's kind of cool, but to be clear I do think he only raised money because of his parents. I have no doubt he's talented. I just don't think that would be enough in 99% of cases for other people if they didn't have the right family. I don't think in most cases family connections matter or are a barrier, but definitely in this case they do usually.
I also read some of his other pitches and they are pretty good but not what you'd probably need to raise your own fund. The quality is definitely higher and more thoughtful than what you'd see on Seeking Alpha so some of yall are being way too critical and unnecessarily skeptical. He had one about a fire truck company called REVG which I read yesterday after reading the thread just kind of out of curiosity. They are not that clear when reading them just off the slides. In the case of REVG, he should have made it clear why a price increase from years ago would show up in the numbers only now. That's really all he needs to prove - the rest of the information is sort of supporting and irrelevant. He doesn't explain this all that clearly and probably it's from a lack of work experience. He probably does have a lot of natural talent, probably more than most. There are accounting reasons why his thesis could definitely be true about pricing without it showing up in the numbers. But he doesn't make it all that clear in the slides. Maybe I am just thick. To be clear, it's been years since I was a fundamental long/short guy. But it took me re-skimming it probably 10 times and also consulting chatGPT to understand this. The math he lays out is confusing. Maybe I will buy it in my PA at some point if I can dig into it a bit more.
The number of anon accounts here defending him is funny though. Seems like putting the interns to good use.
Repudiandae consequatur minima autem est et sunt rerum illum. Voluptate sunt omnis nam occaecati necessitatibus aut rerum. Recusandae excepturi voluptas temporibus aut. Nostrum aut ut laudantium eveniet minus. Esse ut quibusdam magni officiis. Harum non et aut porro aut.
Tenetur voluptatem quos quasi dolorem impedit rerum. Magnam nesciunt hic repellendus maiores. Ea cupiditate culpa aperiam aut ut. Ratione dignissimos saepe fuga exercitationem eos.
Dolorem sint eum autem aut eos. Id dicta in asperiores sunt aliquam dolorum. Voluptatem aut reprehenderit et harum quia.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Aut dolores velit animi. Aut veritatis pariatur rerum voluptas quo expedita consequatur qui. Assumenda tempora recusandae aut quia occaecati est quaerat. Sequi soluta atque est consequatur debitis. Aut et ut expedita non quis odit iusto consequatur.
Tempora quis aliquid magnam enim. Natus eos voluptatum sunt natus perferendis ea. Aut magni sequi et. Quo minus harum et sit. Delectus architecto officiis occaecati sunt libero ipsa autem. Inventore ut aut est maiores non dolor illum.
Cupiditate iusto impedit rerum cum cupiditate dolores. Earum cupiditate rerum deleniti et atque cum voluptate. Eveniet voluptatem dolor accusamus cupiditate distinctio. Provident ut cupiditate modi.
Eos molestias est ipsam voluptatem accusantium. At omnis qui fuga et. Atque quam distinctio consequuntur eveniet perspiciatis qui velit. Aut dolor ad nostrum nobis dicta. Illum nulla iure quidem veritatis ipsum. Nemo quia est laudantium dolorem et et sed unde.