Best path to career longevity in HFs: sharing research ideas with other funds?
A lot of us want to work at $10bn+ single manager HFs with a strong track record and small team of investment analysts. Seats at these funds are, of course, limited and so many of us work at smaller and lesser-known funds.
The top funds do hire at times though, and we all know how important networking is to getting a good job in this small industry. Given this, for someone working at a smaller fund looking to switch to a bigger one, would the best strategy be to consistently share your research ideas with your contacts at the bigger funds? Smaller funds can have ideas that are just as if not better than that of the larger funds, and HF folks are often sharing ideas with each other.
So is consistently sharing your fund's best research ideas (completely re-written, of course) with contacts at other funds the best way to maximize your HF career?
I’m not understanding, you are talking about sharing the best ideas you have with your competitors? This does not seem like a good idea, and I’m sure your fund has restrictions on what you share with others. What is your end goal here? I’m struggling to understand any world where this isn’t an awful idea that potentially gets you fired.
As someone at a large fund I would not want to receive any information that could be remotely considered proprietary from anyone.
I misread. Never mind.
People talk on the phone all the time and discuss ideas, but if you consistently share detailed stuff in writing that you have researched while employed for a different firm, you are asking for big trouble.
People talk on the phone all the time and discuss ideas, but if you consistently share detailed stuff in writing that you have researched while employed for a different firm, you are asking for big trouble.
Yeah this sounds like a nightmare waiting to happen.
If I could throw my 2 cents in, I'd say learn the art of being known by others as valuable to their strategies or line of thinking, without saying much. Be in the mix and carry yourself well. Just be wise and forward thinking of professional relationships with others. It's a game.
This is a no no. I know a guy who was fired for doing this. He shared detailed work that he did on a name with another fund.
OP here. Kind of surprised by the responses here. I thought HF people discuss ideas with each other all the time. And your network is perhaps the most important thing to finding out about good openings at funds.
So is it best to share ideas orally only without anything written?
I’m not sure why you are surprised, does Nike share their latest thinking on shoe designs with Reebok? Coke on their new products with Pepsi? I’m not saying you need to be cutthroat and not talk to other people in the industry about anything, but you are different businesses, most likely competitors. I realize the examples aren’t exactly apples to apples but it is more true than not. As I said before (unsure why I got MS), I work at a large fund, I would not want trade ideas from others, the compliance nightmare alone is enough to stop this (how do I know you aren’t sharing non public info?)
Talking about markets, about your process, about how you think through things is all fine. I do not think your fund would be at all pleased if you shared their ideas with others. Again, I am sure this is against their policy and can get you fired.
This...HF folks are not morons we can discuss sectors/idea/catalysts without saying hey man send me your model and 5 page writeup.
If you have 1-2 trusted friends who help show you their ideas solely so you can get better idea of "what it takes" or "format" sure that is fine.
So what's going on when HF managers share their best ideas at conferences and get together for idea dinners?
And you're saying that even talking about an idea you like over drinks with a friend is banned at most funds? And the Tiger Cubs all (stupidly) got in many of the same names by coincidence?
Yes, this is great. Can you post your fund's models, current positions with sizing, and full writeups here and I will network with you. Send me your W2 and SSN as well.
I just need credit card number, your full name and address associated with the card thanks: wanting to buy that ultra-wide monitor for a long time but too cheap to pull the trigger. Thanks.
Probably a 50/50 (maybe higher?) chance the person you're sending your research to will flag it to compliance to cover their ass. Not good for your chances of working there. No way I'm going to take a risk of compliance or some regulator thinking I'm doing something questionable to read some random write up.
Got it. So sharing anything written = big no no. Talking ideas orally = not advisable but happens.
So all I can share is my personal experience. I have a couple close friends where we'll share a lot of our work (esp. since we all work at large 10B+ tech-focused crossovers) and are looking at the same stuff. But these are people I've known for a long time and am personal friends with.
I do try to network with similar analysts at other funds and we'll hop on calls together. But we'll usually talk about stuff like macro, sector positioning, alt data, signals, etc. - less so net new specific names. There is a lot of overlap in our names so we'll often do earnings debriefs / discussions.
I think you can sound smart and contribute value without having to share proprietary knowledge. I'm less impressive by deep specific work that is obviously done at the fund level vs. how people think creatively about some of the more tactical stuff. If you're exposed to anything in the privates world that is where you can add value though - giving me updates on status of rounds, valuations, etc. is always helpful in crossover land (which HFs are increasingly more exposed to).
Da fuck, did a certain french quant fund pay you to write this shit?
Tangential question: if discussing stock ideas you worked on at another fund is off-limits, what do you talk about when you interview with another fund? Just general market thoughts and investment process?
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