Pitching a short when they're long?

Ignore title. lateraling from my current fund (started out of undergrad), so haven't done a proper process since I was in school 2 years back. Know these guys are long this name (13f).

Any drawbacks? Assume the pitch is good (80% conviction on thesis, I'm just a shit writer)

43 Comments
 

assuming they sold bc R/R is 1-2x at curr levels for bull case; afaik their thesis is already priced. they chose the name. will dm

 

If you really gonna do it, that pitch can not just be GOOD, it must be THE BEST your interviewer has ever heard. And even that, you need to assume that person has a near-zero ego. 

Like come on, unless I am the fund founder/partner/some untouchable position, why recruit someone to replace me? 

 

Ignore title. Would be happy to provide some feedback if you want to PM.

 

This is what we in the gambling world call a negative freeroll. 

"If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" - Winston Churchill | "It's a testament to the sheer belligerence of the profession that people would rather argue about the 'risk-adjusted returns' of using inferior tooth cleaning methods." - kellycriterion
 

definitely a skewed to the downside situation, but no point in having balls if you don’t use them 

 

In theory it should be fine and even good if it’s a good pitch. In theory.

In 2015 I pitched GME short to a fund that was long, they didn’t even want to hear to the diligence/thesis and just had to sit through Analyst trying to defend his name to the PM.

Didn’t get job, fund is gone though

If it’s a pod or something I wouldn’t be worried, could be a short term position or the long side of a pair or belong to some random PM with no say in the process.

 
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I had a fund ask me do a case study on a name and I wrote it up short. Later interviewed with a different fund a month later that had the same name in its 13F and asked the PM about it. Pretty astute PM - asked me why I was interested in that particular position, and when I gave him the story, told me that he could either tell me his thoughts or have me just send in my already written up short case as my case study. Of course I went with the latter, and it turned out that the fund had already exited the position as they agreed with my concerns and rationale. 2 years later, that stock has been a mostly straight line down -98%. Unfortunately got dinged very far into the process for the dumbest of reasons, but that's life. 

Would only do this if you're experienced and confident though. Most times this is the fastest way to expose your flaws given they already know the name well. 

 

Personally I think a place that would have a problem with this is not a place I’d want to work

 

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