Ben Gifford ’10, the valedictorian of his class, left his job at Bridgewater Associates after a year and a half. The next day, he decided to open a San Francisco-based bakery called Double or Muffin, an idea he and his childhood friend and Double or Muffin co-founder Sean Pears conceived while they were at a coffee shop in their hometown of Newton, Mass., according to Gifford.
I'm not surprised in the slightest folks.
Adventurous entrepeneur? Another fool on the hill? Is some part of you jealous?
http://dealbreaker.com/2012/08/ray-dalio-loses-fellow-truth-seeker-to-b…
"But at the end of the day, I’m really just not that passionate about macroeconomics or financial markets."
Philosophy majors...
Haha, Philosophy majors are a strange bunch. I find it interesting that almos all at my previous school were stoners lol. Anyway, as an ethics, politics&econ major I probably shouldn't be talking. :p
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This is my favorite part of the article. Coming soon, muffins in parks nationwide!
Hey, don't be hating. The founder of Red Mango was an investment banker before he started the franchise, and now he's all but rolling in the benjamins.
There is a big difference between the business model of: - Selling frozen dairy and pieces of fruit at $5 a cup - Selling muffins in a public park (illegal) with a 50% chance of giving away inventory with each sale (25% expected discount per sale, or most of a food business's gross margins), and trying to get people to buy t-shirts
Simple solution: overcharge by 25%...
Whenever I bring up Bridgewater with my friends , the Jonestown and Waco jokes start to follow. That said , they're obviously doing something right. Is there anyone who's actually worked there as an Investment Associate , or has decent knowledge of what the role entails?
Check out glassdoor.com. Form those anonymous accounts apparently they got a 40% turnover rate, and their culture is a like a crazy cult.
That's fucking awesome.
And you guys should be masturbating on this article, it means a spot has opened up at Bridgewater. Unless, of course, none of you have a chance.
OMG SOMEONE STOPPED DRINKING THE KOOLADE
He needs to find the microchip inside his brain and DISABLE IT!
good for them
Ha, Dartmouth.
". After being rejected from several teaching programs in Asia, Gifford subsequently joined Bridgewater Associates in May 2010."
So for a Dartmouth valedictorian it is easier getting a job at a top HF than a ESL teacher in Asia?
I wanna taste doze muffins. I hope they so yummy
We live in a post-global world now. Everyone wants to feel the breeze and hear the trees. I just want to walk around my block and take in the smells...
does some lame hedge fund job for a while to earn enough money to live out his childhood dream of opening a bakery. how does this not make sense?
Like anything else, I think it comes down to risk-reward. Obviously if you take more risk you should expect more reward, ie if things work out he could be his own boss making money doing something fun, but if not he could be completely broke and maybe homeless.
I think the key is how his decision looks on a risk-adjusted basis, ie how much is his expected reward for how much risk he's taking, ie is there asymmetry to the upside vs downside...
sure. but we must factor in 1) how important it is for him to make a ton of $$$, and 2) how much this guy likes making and selling muffins, and 3) how much this guy liked working in finance to begin with. the rewards and opportunity costs of this decision are very different for him than it would have been for us, had we been in his position. i personally enjoy finance, and would be sad to leave a job at a hedge fund... not the case for this guy. i would personally dislike peddling baked goods (or trinkets, or anything else for that matter) for a living... again not true for this guy. finally, i'd be willing to make a ton of personal sacrafices if it meant making upwards of $300k a year... not sure if this guy feels the same.
to each their own.
I agree, but think you're misunderstanding me...by reward, I didn't just mean $$$, I meant any kind of reward, tangible or intangible.
Quote: "After being rejected from several teaching programs in Asia, Gifford subsequently joined Bridgewater Associates in May 2010"
Isn't it always the other way around?
Maybe he displayed the racial sensitivity and cultured approach that Dartmouth has become so known for.
they totally ripped off Top of the Muffin to You
I'm all for doing what makes you happy, but for fuck's sake, muffins?
Bridgewater is probably the single largest employer of Dartmouth seniors.
They got him to work there because: 1) They told him that the job wasn't really about finance, it was about "extreme honesty" and "truth" and "principles" 2) They pay first years a button of money
He quit because: 1) The company is a cult ponzi scheme 2) He now has a button of money
[quote=Sandhurst]Bridgewater is probably the single largest employer of Dartmouth seniors.
They got him to work there because: 1) They told him that the job wasn't really about finance, it was about "extreme honesty" and "truth" and "principles"/quote] truthiness?
Maybe it has happy ingredients in it. They are selling in a park in San Francisco.
Besides, you can take one look at their picture on the website and you'll know why Asia told them "no thanks". Complete hipster douchebags.
He must have had his heart set on a specific ESL job, that's the only thing that makes sense here. Getting a solid teaching job in Japan/China/Korea is fucking cake if you're a white guy from an Ivy League school.
To get in HBS, it wouldn't hurt to have something interesting on his resume, in addition to being a blue chip guy.
Anyone else see the irony in this story?
http://dealbreaker.com/2012/06/dartmouth-grads-still-into-wall-street-d…
Yes! Let's sell muffins and t-shirts instead!
One thing seems clear. He has a fetish for fat chicks.
Everything about this story is great except the name "double or muffin". I mean cmon. Also, Bridgewater is cult not a hedge fund, I also would rather work at a bakery.
What specifically about the day to day work at Bridgewater makes it weird? I know Ray Dalio says some very woo-woo things , but hedge funds have always been populated by uh.. colorful people!
I cannot speak for someone out of undergrad, but the people I know who have gone to work there as experienced hires all say it is a very tuff place...ie they are hyper critical of little shit like how you speak on the phone, they are crazy about monitoring you all the time, etc. I think anyone with a personality would have difficulty and feel very stifled. Also the idea that they have to memorize (or nearly memorize) a book of "principles" written by the founder is enough for me to pass with no further info.
Dudes going get into HBS.
Four people were valedictorians are Dartmouth?!?! Sounds like it's easymode.
Right. top 4 out of 1000 of some of the smartest college kids in America and around the world is "easy mode."
I go to an HYP Ivy (transferring from another Ivy, actually), and honestly, people here just aren't that interested in finance anymore. It seems people are applying to these firms simply because their seniors did it.
And, yes, often they'll only apply to mid/back-office or public finance-type roles because they're the do-good types who don't want to have any connection with finance but have no other choice but to take the job (despite 3.9+ GPAs and insane ECs) at that point in time. It's actually quite weird.
Honestly, I wish I could do the same thing as the guy in the article. Cooking's always been a hobby of mine and it would be awesome to take a couple years off and go to Le cordon bleu or something.
he still majored in philosophy
Cool story bro. I go to a top teens and our val didn't even have a 4.0. Our average GPA is also about .4 lower than Dartmouth. So, yes, Dartmouth does seem objectively easier.
C'mon bro: Cupcakes and t-shirts? I thought both of those fads were over. Please tell me they are using Square to process their transactions!
And decks of cards, frisbees, notebooks, pens, highlighters....
These guys have a very well-oiled recruiting machine. They were far more impressive than GS/MS on my campus. That said, well-informed students know they're full of BS.
Hey now, nice recruiting goodies is not necessarily a good sign. The coolest recruiting goodie I've seen is from Bear Stearns pre-collapse. They were giving out these figures that were made of some silly putty type material, where the arms and legs could stretch and bend in any direction and the head was a giant clock. So awesome.
Of course, one of the large defense companies that had happened to come to campus when I was there gave out USB hubs (which I managed to snag during my annual trick-or-treating)...I still use those today.
Owning your own business/company is really rewarding... although he didn't need to quit his current job for it. :S Still, being entrepreneurial > everything else imo.
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