Plucked from Obscurity like Burry - a fantasy?
Title is clickbait but I’m in a dilemma. Started my career in IB then after my analyst stint got “off the path” and have been doing BizOps and Strategic Finance at high growth startups for the last 3 years (stale WSO title), but I miss the high finance pace of work, quality of coworkers talent and really pushing myself to learn much faster. I’ve learned a ton on the corporate side that I think would translate well to forensic accounting and diligence work, but I’ve no formal investing experience or interest in PE.
In almost all of my free time, i like to write up stock ideas and am starting to put money in the market — however I’m not a sophisticated quant trader by any means. Only long ideas in equities so which obviously take a long time to takeoff, but also extremely ridden with risk given the simplicity of my “strategy so far, i have a lot to learn and I’m intimately aware of that.
I’m thinking of sitting for the 65 simply so i can get a crash course to invest my own money, but I can’t help but wonder: is there any viable path to a public markets investing seat? Not smart enough to be a quant, would be a fundamental guy. If the answer is no I’d be perfectly content too just doing this for fun and my own personal gratification. The Burry comment is referring to sharing my investment breakdowns online should I prove to be successful independently as a way to build my case.
From a top target with a high gpa, worked at a highly regarded IB firm and about 6 years post grad if any if that matters. All thoughts welcome!
my opinion is that even in a good job market, the chances of you landing a good seat would be close to 0... so you can only imagine what it would be in this job market. Don't join a bad seat for the sake of joining a seat if for whatever reason you get an oppty... chances are your career will be over before you even get a chance to settle in.
best shot would be to go to an MBA and hope someone picks you off the recruiting pipeline... but even then it might be tough (most of the ppl who go to good seats incl. my shop have either 2+2 or pre MBA buyside/public mkts exp, rarely does someone outside of that path get in and then is good enough for a return)...
unless you're ok going back to IB then trying to land a seat, or IB then PE or a combination of those + MBA... it honestly is very unlikely in this market
great tips and agreed, I definitely didn’t think it would be a quick switch at all especially in this job market. MBA path is an option but I was more so interested in a really non-traditional pathway by just winning on my own, scaling and publicizing the success well enough to be noticed by a fund. It’s definitely the Hollywood version of the path and likely much more difficult than the traditional way, but I was curious if there are more than 1 of these stories that got put on like Burry! (nothing especially tying me to him as an investor he’s just the only one I know of who kinda fell into this work while being in Med school)
I think quite a few of the big investors today had a non linear path… another one that got poached because of writing ideas was dan sundheim. Problem is that they did it at a very different time when something like this fantasy had a much greater chance of working. Can it work now? Sure, I don’t think anything is impossible.. but this is a different time and evironment, so just temper your expectation to the downside.
Why don’t you look at the experienced academy / programs at the multi managers like some other commenter said?
That’s a good idea and I hadn’t looked too deeply in the experienced programs at all. This idea is still so green so I’ll do my hw on those options
Anything is possible. Life is entirely non-linear. In a market where everyone is fearful, you will be criticized for being greedy by those who publicly purport "be greedy when others are fearful".
In a similar boat. I spent a year in IB at a top group and then joined a small secondaries / co invest shop. Now want to go the HF route but unsure I would be able to get any looks.
Thinking the point72 experienced academy might be my best bet but I don’t think the lifestyle at a pod shop is for me.
Doloribus sint sapiente nisi autem sed eligendi. In consequuntur nihil quidem vel ad facere. Consequatur accusamus laborum id vitae.
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...