Podcasts about sac capital

In this episode of the Wharton Fintech Podcast, Sabrina Fathi sits down with Tom DeBow, CTO of Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, to explore how AI and advanced technology are reshaping modern hedge funds. Tom shares insights from his journey through top-tier firms like SAC Capital and Alphadyne, and dives into Schonfeld's pragmatic yet forward-thinking approach to AI adoption. From developing the firm's in-house AI tool to enhancing talent workflows and unifying data systems, Tom discusses how AI is driving smarter, faster decision-making across the organization without replacing the human edge.

What are the strengths and weaknesses as of today, since the Catalist board was set up in 2007? Synopsis: Senior columnist Ven Sreenivasan offers you an extra edge in managing your hard-earned money. In this episode, Ven hosts Ong Hwee Li, the chief executive officer of SAC Capital. SAC specialises in areas like investment banking, corporate mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings and equities research. They look at the profile of a segment of the Singapore market, Catalist. Sometimes referred to as the “junior board”, the Catalist board was set up in 2007 to cater for companies which do not meet the full earnings track record or compliance requirement for mainboard listing. Today, there are about 207 Catalist companies listed on the Singapore Exchange, whose total market cap is about S$642 billion. Catalist companies account for S$8.5 billion of this. SAC Capital is particularly known as a sponsor of companies which come to market via Catalist listings. Does Mr Ong see non-sponsor activities being a conflict for such sponsors? How can such sponsors help Catalist companies to become better, improve their reputation and standing on the SGX?  Highlights (click/tap above): 1:40 Stagnant Singapore equities market? Delistings overtaking new listings, and is there a lack of communications between listed companies and the markets? 3:30 On 'hidden gem' Catalist stocks; what is the role of a Catalist sponsor? 5:16 How SAC Capital prevents breaches from happening; what happens if Catalist sponsors are removed?   7:13 Are non-sponsor activities a conflict for sponsors?  8:20 How can sponsors help Catalist companies to become better, and improve their reputation and standing on the SGX? Produced by: Ven Sreenivasan (ven@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis, and Teo Tong Kai Edited by: Teo Tong Kai Follow ST's Your Money & Career Podcast channel here: Channel: https://str.sg/wB2m Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/wuN3 Spotify: https://str.sg/wBr9 SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg/ Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Read Ven Sreenivasan's articles: https://str.sg/wuQe Get business/career tips in ST's HeadSTart newsletter: https://str.sg/headstart-nl --- Discover more ST podcast channels: All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7 The Usual Place: https://str.sg/wEr7u In Your Opinion: https://str.sg/w7Qt COE Watch: https://str.sg/iTtE Asian Insider: https://str.sg/JWa7 Health Check: https://str.sg/JWaN Green Pulse: https://str.sg/JWaf Your Money & Career: https://str.sg/wB2m Hard Tackle: https://str.sg/JWRE #PopVultures: https://str.sg/JWad Music Lab: https://str.sg/w9TX --- ST Podcast website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts ST Podcasts YouTube: https://str.sg/4Vwsa --- Special edition series: True Crimes Of Asia (6 eps): https://str.sg/i44T The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuZ2 Invisible Asia (9 eps): https://str.sg/wuZn Stop Scams (10 eps): https://str.sg/wuZB Singapore's War On Covid (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuJa --- Get The Straits Times' app, which has a dedicated podcast player section: The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX --- Do note: All analyses, opinions, recommendations and other information in this podcast are for your general information only. You should not rely on them in making any decision. Please consult a fully qualified financial adviser or professional expert for independent advice and verification. To the fullest extent permitted by law, SPH Media shall not be liable for any loss arising from the use of or reliance on any analyses, opinions, recommendations and other information in this podcast. SPH Media accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever that may result or arise from the products, services or information of any third parties. #moneycareerSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What are the strengths and weaknesses as of today, since the Catalist board was set up in 2007? Synopsis: Senior columnist Ven Sreenivasan offers you an extra edge in managing your hard-earned money. In this episode, Ven hosts Ong Hwee Li, the chief executive officer of SAC Capital. SAC specialises in areas like investment banking, corporate mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings and equities research. They look at the profile of a segment of the Singapore market, Catalist. Sometimes referred to as the “junior board”, the Catalist board was set up in 2007 to cater for companies which do not meet the full earnings track record or compliance requirement for mainboard listing. Today, there are about 207 Catalist companies listed on the Singapore Exchange, whose total market cap is about S$642 billion. Catalist companies account for S$8.5 billion of this. SAC Capital is particularly known as a sponsor of companies which come to market via Catalist listings. Does Mr Ong see non-sponsor activities being a conflict for such sponsors? How can such sponsors help Catalist companies to become better, improve their reputation and standing on the SGX?  Highlights (click/tap above): 1:40 Stagnant Singapore equities market? Delistings overtaking new listings, and is there a lack of communications between listed companies and the markets? 3:30 On 'hidden gem' Catalist stocks; what is the role of a Catalist sponsor? 5:16 How SAC Capital prevents breaches from happening; what happens if Catalist sponsors are removed?   7:13 Are non-sponsor activities a conflict for sponsors?  8:20 How can sponsors help Catalist companies to become better, and improve their reputation and standing on the SGX? Produced by: Ven Sreenivasan (ven@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis, and Teo Tong Kai Edited by: Teo Tong Kai Follow ST's Your Money & Career Podcast channel here: Channel: https://str.sg/wB2m Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/wuN3 Spotify: https://str.sg/wBr9 SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg/ Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Read Ven Sreenivasan's articles: https://str.sg/wuQe Get business/career tips in ST's HeadSTart newsletter: https://str.sg/headstart-nl --- Discover more ST podcast channels: All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7 The Usual Place: https://str.sg/wEr7u In Your Opinion: https://str.sg/w7Qt COE Watch: https://str.sg/iTtE Asian Insider: https://str.sg/JWa7 Health Check: https://str.sg/JWaN Green Pulse: https://str.sg/JWaf Your Money & Career: https://str.sg/wB2m Hard Tackle: https://str.sg/JWRE #PopVultures: https://str.sg/JWad Music Lab: https://str.sg/w9TX --- ST Podcast website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts ST Podcasts YouTube: https://str.sg/4Vwsa --- Special edition series: True Crimes Of Asia (6 eps): https://str.sg/i44T The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuZ2 Invisible Asia (9 eps): https://str.sg/wuZn Stop Scams (10 eps): https://str.sg/wuZB Singapore's War On Covid (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuJa --- Get The Straits Times' app, which has a dedicated podcast player section: The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX --- Do note: All analyses, opinions, recommendations and other information in this podcast are for your general information only. You should not rely on them in making any decision. Please consult a fully qualified financial adviser or professional expert for independent advice and verification. To the fullest extent permitted by law, SPH Media shall not be liable for any loss arising from the use of or reliance on any analyses, opinions, recommendations and other information in this podcast. SPH Media accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever that may result or arise from the products, services or information of any third parties. #moneycareerSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The combination of experience and conviction is typically a decent recipe for success and today's guest is a great example of having the courage to pivot professionally (Equity Sales Side Analyst to Portfolio Manager) for what you believe in. Arvind Sanger is the founder and managing partner of Geosphere Capital, a global long-short fund manager currently investing in natural resources, new energy, and Indian equities. Previously, he was a Portfolio Manager at SAC Capital (his portfolio grew very quickly), running one of the largest equity portfolios and managing a global team based in New York and Singapore. Prior to his tenure at SAC, Arvind had a 15-year career as a top-ranked sell-side oil services & equipment analyst at several firms, including Deutsche Bank, DLJ and Kidder Peabody, among others. Arvind graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and received his MBA from Tulane University. He is on the board of the Alexander Hamilton Society, Pratham USA and Pratham Educational Foundation in India. On our episode, Arvind shares his professional journey, why the focus on sustainable energy, time at SAC Capital, inspirations along the way, and proudest moments.  

Singapore shares advanced in early trade today, tracking overall gains in global markets. The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.1 per cent to 3,072.09 points then, after 26 million securities changed hands in the broader market. In terms of companies to watch today, we have Great Eastern, after the insurance arm of OCBC posted a 5 per cent increase in total weighted new sales to S$419.4 million for the third quarter ended September.  Elsewhere from WeWork reportedly filing for a Chapter 11 petition in New Jersey to more on media reports of China Evergrande's plans for offshore bondholders, more corporate headlines are in focus.  Also on the table today – more news on two automakers that both have their names start with the letter 'T' – Tesla and Toyota. On Market View, The Evening Runway's finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Matthias Chan, Head of Research at SAC Capital for more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Singapore shares inched lower today even as global markets rallied the day before. In early trade, the Straits Times Index dropped 0.2 per cent to 3,213.10 points after 19.2 million securities changed hands in the broader market. In terms of companies to watch for today, we have Olam Group. That's after the group denied allegations made in recent media reports about its Nigerian unit and its subsidiaries being involved in a multibillion-dollar fraud.  Elsewhere, Alibaba Group's focus on AI and user experience and the surprise move by former CEO Daniel Zhang to leave the company over the weekend remain in focus.  Not to mention, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna receiving the US FDA's authorisation for their updated Covid-19 vaccines. On Market View, Drive Time's finance presenter Chua Tian Tian unpacked these developments with Matthias Chan, Head of Research at SAC Capital.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Singapore stocks opened stronger today following overnight gains on the global market. In early trade, the Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.3 per cent to 3,162.71 points after 32.3 million securities changed hands in the broader market.  In terms of companies to watch for today, we have Dasin Retail Trust after the Singapore Exchange Regulation issued a “trade with caution” alert for the trust yesterday.  Meanwhile, from India's soaring food prices amid harsh weather conditions to computer chip company Arm filing for a NASDAQ listing, and S&P joining Moody's in dimming its outlook on US banks – more international headlines remain in focus.  On Market View, the Drive Time team unpacked these developments with Matthias Chan, Head of Research at SAC Capital.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Arvind Sanger stops by The Business Brew to discuss his views on the world's sustainable energy transition. Mr. Sanger has a ton of experience and is a wealth of knowledge. He is the founder of Geosphere Capital, a global long-short fund manager currently investing in natural resources, new energy and Indian equities. Prior to that, between 2002 and 2007, Mr. Sanger was a Portfolio Manager at SAC Capital (his portfolio grew very quickly), running one of the largest equity portfolios and managing a global team based in New York and Singapore. Prior to his tenure at SAC, Mr. Sanger had a 15-year career as a top-ranked sell-side oil services & equipment analyst at a number of firms, including Deutsche Bank, DLJ and Kidder Peabody among others. Mr. Sanger graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, with a B.Tech in 1984 and received his MBA from Tulane University in 1987. Mr. Sanger is on the board of the Alexander Hamilton Society, Pratham USA and Pratham Educational Foundation in India. Sponsor Info: ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to ake the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time. ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠scales the velocity of an investment team's idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations. Our data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. ⁠⁠Daloopa's ⁠⁠Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click. Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting Daloopa for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date. Visit ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa.com/BusinessBrew⁠⁠⁠ to create a free account and learn more about how ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠can help increase your team's speed to differentiated insight.   Detailed Show Notes forthcoming.

Singapore stocks opened weaker today, following cautious sentiments in the European market amid global economic uncertainties. In early trade, the Straits Times Index (STI) headed down 0.1 per cent to 3,199.39 points, after 79.5 million securities worth S$35.9 million changed hands. In terms of companies to watch for today, we have UOL Group, after the real estate group entered into an agreement with an entity of Worldwide Hotels, to sell Parkroyal on Kitchener Road for S$525 million.  From the Monetary Authority of Singapore posting a record S$30.8 billion loss following the tightening of the Sing dollar to China's internet and game provider NetEase's 85% stock comeback to expectations of the Fed's latest minutes out later in the trading day, we've got more news weighing on markets.  On Market View, the Drive Time team unpacked these developments with Matthias Chan, Head of Research at SAC Capital.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matthew Doull is based in New York City. He began his career as a financial journalist at The Daily Telegraph in London where he covered TMT. From 1998-2000, Matthew served as Chairman of http://Trip.com , a pioneering online travel business which he sold to Galileo. Subsequently he was a Senior Analyst at SAC Capital where he was responsible for global TMT investing for the $12B hedge fund, and was a Portfolio Manager at Pequot Capital Management. In 2009, Matthew and his partners created Prometheus Global Media to acquire The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek, Backstage, The Clio Awards and Billboard from Nielsen. He served as an owner/operator at Prometheus before selling the assets to Guggenheim Partners in 2013. Most recently prior to joining Wedbush he was co-Head of Technology Investment Banking at BDA Partners based in Hong Kong, and advised on cross-border M&A and capital raising for corporate, private equity, family office and VC clients. On this episode, Matthew speaks with Kristy Hurt about the internet's unassailable and continuing influence on the media industry, including his own professional career, which he began as a financial journalist in the early 1990s.

The investing landscape has changed dramatically over the past year with the removal of record monetary and fiscal stimulus and the subsequent surge in inflation and interest rates. How are the expert investors navigating this new environment? As the expected returns for many asset classes suddenly look quite different from what they've been over the previous decade, where are the pitfalls to be aware of? And where are the new opportunities emerging? To discuss, we're fortunate to be joined today by, Dan Tapiero, CEO, CIO and Managing Partner of 1Roundtable Partners & 10T Holdings. Dan has 30 years of experience in macro and commodities investing, working for firms like Tiger Management and SAC Capital, and co-founding AGCoA, of the largest farmland REITs in America. ************************************************* At Wealthion, we show you how to protect and build your wealth by learning from the world's top experts on finance and money. Each week we add new videos that provide you with access to the foremost specialists in investing, economics, the stock market, real estate and personal finance. We offer exceptional interviews and explainer videos that dive deep into the trends driving today's markets, the economy, and your own net worth. We give you strategies for financial security, practical answers to questions like “how to grow my investments?”, and effective solutions for wealth building tailored to 'regular' investors just like you. There's no doubt that it's a very challenging time right now for the average investor. Above and beyond the recent economic impacts of COVID, the new era of record low interest rates, runaway US debt and US deficits, and trillions of dollars in monetary and fiscal stimulus stimulus has changed the rules of investing by dangerously distorting the Dow index, the S&P 500, and nearly all other asset prices. Can prices keep rising, or is there a painful reckoning ahead? Let us help you prepare your portfolio just in case the future brings one or more of the following: inflation, deflation, a bull market, a bear market, a market correction, a stock market crash, a real estate bubble, a real estate crash, an economic boom, a recession, a depression, or another global financial crisis. Put the wisdom from the money & markets experts we feature on Wealthion into action by scheduling a free consultation with Wealthion's endorsed financial advisors, who will work with you to determine the right next steps for you to take in building your wealth. SCHEDULE YOUR FREE WEALTH CONSULTATION with Wealthion's endorsed financial advisors here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.wealthion.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKMeK-HGHfUFFArZ91rzv5A?sub_confirmation=1⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Adam on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/menlobear⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/Wealthion-109680281218040⁠⁠⁠⁠ #investingforinflation #hardassets #digitalassets ************************************************* IMPORTANT NOTE: The information and opinions offered in this video by Wealthion or its interview guests are for educational purposes ONLY and should NOT be construed as personal financial advice. We strongly recommend that any potential decisions and actions you may take in your investment portfolio be conducted under the guidance and supervision of a quality professional financial advisor in good standing with the securities industry. When it comes to investing, past performance is no guarantee of future results. Any historical returns, expected returns, or probability projections may not reflect actual future performance. All investments involve risk and may result in partial or total loss.

Singapore shares rose this morning after the Labour Day holiday, mirroring gains in Europe. In early trade, the Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.5 per cent to 3,287.75 points after 56.2 million securities changed hands in the broader market.  In terms of companies to watch today, DBS, after the lender posted a 43 per cent gain in net profit to S$2.6 billion for the quarter ended March, on higher interest rates, sustained business momentum and resilient asset quality.  Elsewhere, investors continue to digest the takeover of First Republic Bank by JP Morgan Chase as they remain laser focused on the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision due mid-week.  On Market View, the Drive Time team sat down with Matthias Chan, Head of Research at SAC Capital for more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nadia Odunayo is the Founder and CEO of The StoryGraph, a new website and app for avid book readers because life's too short for a book you're not in the mood for. The StoryGraph helps you track your reading and choose your next book based on your mood, favorite topics, and themes. Victoria talks to Nadia about coming up with a product based on the concept of mood, what you're in the mood for to read, i.e., this book made me feel this way. How do I find a book that makes me feel similar? They also talk about keeping yourself open to feedback, the ability to flow and change direction, and developing a reviewing system that keeps biases in check. StoryGraph (https://thestorygraph.com/) Follow StoryGraph on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-storygraph-limited/), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/the.storygraph/), or Twitter (https://twitter.com/thestorygraph). Follow Nadia Odunayo on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nodunayo/) or Twitter (https://twitter.com/nodunayo). Follow thoughtbot on Twitter (https://twitter.com/thoughtbot) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/). Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Giant Robots! Transcript: VICTORIA: This is The Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast, where we explore the design, development, and business of great products. I'm your host, Victoria Guido. And with me today is Nadia Odunayo, Founder and CEO of StoryGraph, a new website and app for avid book readers because life's too short for a book you're not in the mood for. StoryGraph helps you track your reading and choose your next book based on your mood and your favorite topics and themes. Nadia, thank you for joining me. NADIA: Thank you for having me. VICTORIA: And you are a repeat guest at Giant Robots. But for those who missed that episode, tell me a little bit about your journey. And how did this all get started? NADIA: Okay. Yeah, so that first time was in 2015, and that was not too long after I had just got into tech. I did a bootcamp in London in 2014, Makers Academy, and that's where I learned to code. My degree was in philosophy, politics, and economics, so rather different. I worked at Pivotal for about a year and a half after I graduated from Makers Academy. And during my time at Pivotal, I got into conference speaking, and my first talk was around game theory. So I took my favorite topic in economics, game theory, and I combined that with distributed systems because that's what I was working on at the time in Pivotal on their Cloud Foundry PaaS. I think I gave it at RailsConf, and I think someone there recommended me to Giant Robots. And so Ben Orenstein interviewed me, and it was all about different types of conference talks and that kind of thing. So after Pivotal, I left and started a hybrid kind of consultancy/product company with a colleague, did that for about a year, left that, worked for about a year with my friend, Saron Yitbarek, on her company CodeNewbie. And then, when that partnership ended, I essentially had five years of runway from money that I got from the company that I started after Pivotal because we did some consulting with a bank. I'd always been entrepreneurial. I'd been doing various entrepreneurial things since secondary school, actually, high school. It was time for me to just have time on my side projects. And so I started hacking away on one of my side projects at the beginning of 2019 in January, and I haven't stopped since. That's what the StoryGraph has developed into. VICTORIA: Wonderful. And yes, I saw that the very early stages of StoryGraph started as a creative writing e-publication. Is that right? NADIA: So what happened was when I was at university, I started a creative writing e-publication, came up with the name The StoryGraph. Because we had won or we were going for some grant funding or something like that, I set up a corporate entity. And when I stopped working on that e-publication, I remember my mom saying to me, "Don't shut down the entity. I really like the name. I feel like you'll use it for something," that was in 2012. And so fast forward to 2019, and the side project that I was working on was called Read Lists. And it was very specifically focused on tracking and sharing progress through reading lists on a dashboard. But when I was doing customer research, and the scope of the project grew, Read Lists didn't fit anymore. And that's when I realized, oh, I can use The StoryGraph thing again. And so it's basically had two different lives or two different forms, the StoryGraph company. VICTORIA: That's wonderful. And I'm reading about StoryGraph and how it's an Amazon-free alternative to Goodreads. Can you talk a little bit more about the product and why people would want to use it? NADIA: So, as I said, it started life as a very specific focused side project. And I just had so much fun working on it and working in the book space. I'd always been a reader since I was a kid such that I said to myself, I need to find a way to make me building a books product a full-time thing. And so that's when customer research came in because the only way that you're going to make sure that you don't build something that people don't want is by talking to people. As I was doing customer research and figuring out, are there pain points amongst readers, people who track their reading? What would happen was the pain points that came up drove me towards building a more fully fledged reading, tracking, and recommendations product. It actually started as a very focused recommendations product. And then, we got to the point where we needed to build more around it for it to be a compelling product. And as it was growing, we never advertised ourselves as a Goodreads alternative or as an Amazon-free alternative to what was out there. But that was clearly a pain point in the market. There were tweets about us saying, "Finally a Goodreads alternative. It's small; it's independent; it's Amazon-free. And so thousands and thousands, hundreds of thousands of people have come to us because of that. VICTORIA: Wow. NADIA: And so it got to the point...mainly when we launched our payment plan, and we were trying to figure out the reasons why people were pre-ordering the plan, it was at that point where we decided to lean into the Amazon-free Goodreads alternative because that was what the market wanted. VICTORIA: Was that surprising for you? Or were there other things that came out of your research on your marketplace that kind of were different than what you thought it would be going in? NADIA: I think the most interesting thing about the product development journey was that I at least originally felt like I was building a product that wasn't for me. So what I mean by that is in my earliest rounds of research, what I was finding was that people still didn't think that they had one place to get consistently good book recommendations. And so then I started to explore, well, how do you even give somebody consistently good book recommendations? And one of the factors that kept on coming up was this concept of mood, what you're in the mood for. This book made me feel this way. How do I find a book that makes me feel similar? And so it got to the point where I said to myself, oh wow, I'm building a product for mood readers right now; that seems to be the gap, that seems to be the thing that nothing out there yet had properly attacked. And I had never considered myself a mood reader. I just thought I'm a planner. I'm an organized person. I typically decide what book I want to read, and then I read it. And so there was a point where I was concerned, and I thought, wait, am I now building something that is not for me? But then, as I started to work and do more research and talk to more and more people and thinking about my reading experiences, I developed the hypothesis or the viewpoint rather that I think everybody's a mood reader; it's just the scale. Because there are probably some books that I may have rated lowly in the past that if I had read it in a different frame of mind, or at a different time in my life, different circumstance, it probably would have resonated with me a lot more. Now, that's not to say that's true for every single book. There are some books that are just not going to work for you, no matter what. But I do think we're all on the scale of mood reading. And sometimes we say a book is a bad book, but we just read it at not the right time. And so I think the most surprising thing for me is going on that journey of realizing that, oh, I am a mood reader too. VICTORIA: [laughs] NADIA: And I ended up building an app that's a lot less focused on just the pure ratings. I was someone who, on Goodreads, if it had less than four stars, I'm not interested. And the ethos of the product is more about, well, hang on; these ratings are very subjective. And someone else's two, three-star could be your next five-star. What are the factors that really matter? Do you want something dark, adventurous? Are you looking for something funny, light? And then what kind of topics do you want to discover? And then it doesn't matter if the five people before you thought it was average; you might think it's excellent. VICTORIA: Yeah, it reminds me thinking about how bias can come in with authors and writing as well. So a simple five-star system might be more susceptible to bias against different genders or different types of names. Whereas if you have more complex numbers or complex rating systems, it might be easier to have different types of authors stand out in a different way. NADIA: That actually relates to what was going through my mind when I was developing the reviewing system on StoryGraph. You can just, if you want, leave your star rating and say no more, but the star rating is lower down on the page. And up front, we say this book would be great for someone who's in the mood for something...and then you've got checkboxes. And how would you rate the pace of the book? And if it's a fiction book, we ask you, "Are the characters lovable?" Is there a flawed narrator? Is it plot-driven or character-driven?" Questions like that because the thinking is it doesn't matter whether you are going to give the book two stars in your own personal star rating. You can still help someone else find a book that's good for them because they will be looking at the summary on the StoryGraph book page, and they'll go, "Oh wow, 80% of people said it's lovable. There's a diverse range of characters, and it's funny. So the topics fit things I'm interested in, so I care less about the average rating being like 3.5 because everything else seems perfect. Let me see for myself." And actually, we've also had a lot of feedback from people saying that "Oh, normally, I never know how to review a book or what to say. And this system has really helped me, almost give me prompts to get started about explaining the book, reviewing it for other people to help them decide if it's for them. So that's great." VICTORIA: That makes sense to me because I read a lot of books, maybe not as much as I would like to recently. But not all books that I love I can easily recommend to friends, but it's hard for me to say why. [laughs] You know, like, "This is a very complicated book." So I love it. I'll have to check it out later. It's been four years since you've been full-time or since 2019, almost five then. NADIA: Yes. VICTORIA: If you could travel back in time to when you first started to make this a full-time role, what advice would you give yourself now, having all of this foresight? NADIA: Have patience, trust the process because I can sometimes be impatient with, ah, I want this to happen now. I want this to pick up now. I want these features done now. I'm a solo dev on the project. I started it solo. I have a co-founder now, but I'm still the solo dev. And there were so many things, especially now that we've got a much larger user base, that people complained about or say is not quite right. And that can be really tough to just have to keep hearing when you're like, I know, but I don't have the resource to fix it right now or to improve it. But I think one of the things is, yeah, having faith in the process. Keep going through the cycles of listening to the customers, prioritizing the work, getting the work done, getting the feedback, and just keep going through that loop. And the product will keep getting better. Because sometimes it can feel, particularly in the first year when I was so low, you sometimes have moments of doubt. Or if a customer research round doesn't go super well, you start to wonder, is this only a nice-to-have? And is this going to go anywhere? And so that's one piece of advice. And I think the other one is knowing that there are several right paths because I think sometimes I would agonize over I want to do the right thing. I want to make sure I make the right choice right now. And, I mean, there are some things that are not good to do. You want to make sure that you're setting up your customer interviews in a non-leading way. You want to make sure that there are certain standards in the product in terms of the technical side and all that kind of stuff, so there's that. But I think it's understanding that you kind of just have to make a decision. And if you set yourself up to be able to be adaptive and responsive to change, then you'll be fine. Because you can always change course if the response you're getting back or the data you're getting back is going in the wrong direction. VICTORIA: I love that. And I want to pull on that thread about being open to changing your mind. I think that many founders start the company because they're so excited about this idea and this problem that they found. But how do you keep yourself open to feedback and keeping that ability to flow and to change direction? NADIA: I mean, I didn't set out to build a Goodreads alternative, and here I am. VICTORIA: [laughs] NADIA: I just wanted to build this specific side project or this specific...it was a companion app, in fact. Like, the first version of the thing I built, the first thing you had to do was sign in and connect your Goodreads account so that we could pull in your shelves and start creating the dashboards. So as a solo bootstrapping founder, building a Goodreads alternative was not something that I thought was going to lead to success. But through years of experience, and just hearing other people's stories, and research, I just learned that it's such a hard space just running a startup in general, and 90% of startups fail. And I just said to myself that, okay, the only way I can kind of survive for longer is if I am open to feedback, I'm open to change course, I'm patient, and I trust the process. These are the things I can do to just increase my chances of success. And so that's why I kind of feel it's imperative if you want to go down this route and you want to be successful, it's vital that you're open to completely changing the product, completely changing your direction, completely going back on a decision. You'll either lose customers or you'll run out of money, whatever it is. And so yeah, you've got to just basically be quite ruthless in the things that are just going to minimize your chances of failing. VICTORIA: That makes sense. And now, I have a two-part question for you. What's the wind in your sails? Like, the thing that keeps you going and keeps you motivated to keep working on this? And then, conversely, what's kind of holding you back? What are the obstacles and challenges that you're facing? NADIA: I think this kind of role...so I'm like founder, CEO, and developer. In general, I think I thrive under pressure and pushing myself, and trying to always be better and improve. So I'm always trying to be like, how can I improve my productivity? Or how can I run the company better? All these kinds of things. So I feel like I'm getting to explore maximizing my full potential as someone in the world of work through doing this. So that just intrinsically is motivating to me. I love books, and I love reading. I think it's such an amazing hobby. And the fact that I get to make other readers happy is awesome. So even just as the product has grown, the messages that we get about if someone got a perfect recommendation from StoryGraph, or they hadn't read for years, and now an easy form of, you know, what are you in the mood for? Check a few boxes, and we'll show you some books that fit, whatever it is. That's just so...it's so awesome just to be able to enhance readers' lives that way in terms of the things they're reading and getting them excited about reading again or keeping them excited. So those are the things that keep me going, both the personal nature of enjoying my work and enjoying trying to be the best founder and CEO that I can and building a great product. It's always great when you build something, and people just enjoy using it and like using it. So I'm always incentivized to keep making the product better, the experience better. I'm currently mid a redesign. And I'm just so excited to get it out because it's going to touch on a lot of repeated pain points that we've been having for years. And I just can't wait for everyone to see it and see that we've listened to them. And we're making progress still like three and a bit years on since we launched out of beta. What's tough? Previously, what's been tough is navigating, remaining independent, and bootstrapped with just personally trying to make money to just live my life. So I had five years of runway. And it was this tricky situation about when I had a couple of years left, I'm thinking, wow, I really like doing this, but I'm going to need to start earning money soon. But I also don't want to get investment. I don't want to stop doing this. I can't stop doing this. We've got hundreds of thousands of customers. And so kind of trying to balance my personal needs and life situations with the work I've been doing because I've been working so hard on it for so long that in the last couple of years, it's gotten to a point where it's like, how do I craft the life I want out of a product that is very not set up to be an indie bootstrapped product? [laughs] Typically, you want to do a B2B. You want to start earning money from your product as early as possible. And I feel like I've landed in a product that's typically funded, VC-backed, that kind of thing. So kind of navigating that has been a fun challenge. There's not been anything that's kind of demoralized me or held me back, or made me think I shouldn't do it. And it's just kind of been a fun challenge trying to...yeah, just navigate that. And we've been doing things like we're currently in the process of transitioning our...we have a Plus Plan. And when we launched it, it was essentially a grab bag of features. We're completely changing the feature set. And we right now have six and a half thousand people who are on that plan. But we don't have product market fit on that plan, and I can tell from when I do certain surveys the responses I get back. And so we're completely transitioning that to focus in on our most popular feature, which is the stats that we offer. And so that's kind of scary, but it's part of making that Plus Plan more sticky and easier to sell because it's going to be for your power users who love data. So they want all the data when they are reading. And then the other thing is, okay, what kind of business avenue can we start which fits in with the ethos of the product but brings in more revenue for StoryGraph? And so, we launched a giveaway segment in our app where publishers and authors can pay to list competitions for users to win copies of their books. And it's essentially a win-win-win because publishers and authors get another channel to market their books. Users get to win free books, and readers love winning free books. And StoryGraph has another revenue source that helps us stay independent and profitable, and sustainable in the long run. VICTORIA: That's wonderful. And there are two tracks I want to follow up on there; one is your decision not to seek funding; if you could just tell me a little more about the reasoning and your thought process behind that. And you've already touched on a little bit of the other ways you're looking at monetizing the app. NADIA: Since I was a teenager, I've always been interested in business, economics, entrepreneurship. I've always felt very entrepreneurial. I've read so many founder stories and startup stories over the years. And you hear about venture capitalists who come in, and even if it's fine for the first year or two, ultimately, they want a return. And at some point, that could come at odds with your mission or your goals for your company. And when I think about two things, the kind of life I want and also the nature of the product I'm building as well, VC just doesn't fit. And I know there are so many different funding programs and styles right now, a lot more friendlier [laughs] than VC. But I'm just focusing on VC because when I was younger, I used to think that was a marker of success. VC funding that was the track I thought I was going to go down, and that was what I kind of idolized as, oh my gosh, yes, getting a funding round of millions and millions and then building this huge company. That was how I used to be, so it's so interesting how I've completely gone to the other side. That idea that you could have mismatched goals and how it's ruined companies, once you take the first round of funding and you grow and expand, then you've got to keep taking more to just stay alive until some liquidation event. That just doesn't appeal to me. And I just think there's something ultimately very powerful and valuable about building a product without giving up any ownership to anybody else and being able to make it into something that people love, and that's profitable, and can give the people who run it great lifestyles. I just think that's a mark of an excellent product, and I just want to build one of those. And then I think also the nature of the product itself being a book tracking app. I think the product has done well because it is run and built so closely by myself and Rob. And so it's like, people talk about how, oh, you can tell it's built for readers by readers by people who care. And I run the company's Instagram, and it's not just me talking about the product. I'm talking with a bunch of our users about books and what we're reading. And it really feels like it's just got such a great community feel. And I worry that that can get lost with certain types of investment that I've previously thought that I wanted in my life. And so, yeah, that's the reason why I've kind of strayed away from the investment world. And then it's gotten to the point, like, now we're at the point where we don't need funding because we've been able to get to profitability by ourselves. So we don't need any type of funding. And we're just going to try and keep doing things to keep making the product better, to convert more people to the Plus Plan. And, hopefully, our giveaways platform grows in the way we want such that our goal is to just stay profitable and independent forever for as long as possible. And we think that way, we're going to have the most fun running the company, and the product is going to be the best it can be because there's not going to be competing incentives or goals for the product. VICTORIA: That makes sense. And it sounds like, in reality, in the real case, you had a team, and you had the skills yourself to be able to move the product forward without having to take on funding or take on additional support, which is awesome. And I actually really like your background. I also have a degree in economics. So I'm curious if the economics and philosophy, all of that, really lends itself to your skills as a founder. Is that accurate? NADIA: I don't think so. VICTORIA: [laughs] NADIA: I love my degree. I get sad when I meet econ grads or econ majors, and they're like, "Oh, I hated it. Oh, it was so boring," or whatever. I'm like, "No, it was so great." I'm a big microeconomics fan, so I was all about...I didn't like macro that much. I was all about the game theory and the microeconomic theory, that kind of stuff. I don't think there's anything that really ties into my skills as a founder. I feel like that's more to do with my upbringing and personality than what I studied. But, I mean, one of the reasons I did love my degree is because there are elements that do crop up. It's such a widely applicable...the subjects I did are so widely applicable, philosophy, different ways of seeing the world and thinking and approaching different people. And then, obviously, economics that's essentially behavior, and how markets work, and incentives, and all that kind of stuff. And when you get to pricing and all those sorts of things, and business, and then politics as well, I mean, everything is politics, right? People interacting. So there are definitely things and conversations I had at university, which I see things crop up day to day that I can tie back to it. But yeah, I think it doesn't really...my specific degree, I don't think it's made me a better founder than I would have been if I'd studied, I don't know, English or Math or something. VICTORIA: Right, yeah. I think economics is one of those where it's kind of so broadly applicable. You're kind of using it, but you don't even realize it sometimes. [laughs] NADIA: Yeah. MID-ROLL AD: thoughtbot is thrilled to announce our own incubator launching this year. If you are a non-technical founding team with a business idea that involves a web or mobile app, we encourage you to apply for our eight-week program. We'll help you move forward with confidence in your team, your product vision, and a roadmap for getting you there. Learn more and apply at tbot.io/incubator. VICTORIA: So what made you decide to go to a bootcamp right after finishing school? NADIA: So I'd always been entrepreneurial. I remember...I don't know where exactly it started from, whether I got it from my mom. I know she's always been very entrepreneurial and into business. The earliest memory I have of doing something that was very specifically business-oriented was in what we call sixth form in the UK, which is essentially the last two years of high school before you go to university or college; we had this scheme called Young Enterprise. And essentially, you got into teams of people, small teams, or they could be quite big, actually. It could be up to 20 people. And you started a business, and there were trade shows, and pitch meetings, and all that kind of stuff, so I remember getting involved in all that sort of stuff at school. But I'd always been on the investment banking track because when I was young...so my parents...we come from a poor background. And so my parents were very much like, you know, try and find high-paying careers to go into so that you can pay for whatever you want and you have a much better lifestyle. So I had gotten onto the investment banking track from the age of 14 when I went with a friend...at the school, I went to, there was a Take Your Daughter to Work Day. My dad said, "Oh, you want to go to try and find someone whose parent works in an investment bank or something like that. That's like a great career to go into." And so I went with a friend's dad to UBS. And I remember being blown away, like, wow, this is so fascinating. Because I think everything seems so impressive when you're 14, and you're walking into a space like that, and everything seems very lively. And everyone's walking around dressed sharp. They've got their BlackBerries. So from the age of 14 until 20, it would have been, I was very much I am going to work in an investment bank. And I did all the things that you would do, like all the schemes, the spring programs. And it got to my final internship. And I just remember at the internship being rather disillusioned and disappointed by the experience. I remember thinking, is this it? I was studying at Oxford, and I put so much into my studies. And I remember thinking; I'm working so hard. And this is what I come to? Is this it? And so around the time as well, I was also meeting a lot of people in the entrepreneurship space, social enterprises, people doing their own ventures. And I just remember thinking, oh, I feel like I've got to go down that track. And I ended up winning a place on a coding course. It was set up specifically to help more women get into tech. And it was called Code First Girls. I won a place that started...it was just part-time. What I did was I actually...I got the banking job from Deutsche Bank, it was, but I decided to turn it down. It was a very risky decision. I turned it down, and I stayed in Oxford after graduating and worked in the academic office for a while. And then, twice a week, I would go to London and do this coding course. And during it, on Twitter, I remember seeing a competition for a full-paid place at this bootcamp called Makers Academy. And I just thought to myself, having tech skills, I'd heard the feedback that it's a very powerful thing to have. And I remember thinking I should go for this competition. And I went for the competition, and I won a free place at the bootcamp. If I didn't win a free place at the bootcamp, I'm not sure what would have happened because I'm not sure whether at that point I would have thought, oh, paying £8,000 to go to a software bootcamp is what I should do. I'm not sure I would have got there. So that's how I got there, essentially. I won a competition for a bootcamp after having a taste of what coding was like and seeing how freeing it was to just be able to have a computer and an internet connection and build something. VICTORIA: Oh, that's wonderful. I love that story. And I've spent a lot of time with Women Who Code and trying to get women excited about coding. And that's exactly the story is that once you have it, it's a tool in your toolset. And if you want to build something, you can make it happen. And that's why it's important to continue the education and get access for people who might not normally have it. And you continue to do some of that work as well, right? You're involved in organizations like this? NADIA: Like Code First Girls? No. I did some years ago. I would go and attend Rails Girls workshops and be a mentor at them, at those. And while I was at Pivotal, I helped with events like codebar, which were essentially evenings where people who were learning to code or more junior could come and pair with someone more senior on whatever project they wanted to. So I did a bunch of that stuff in the years after leaving Makers Academy. And I was even a TA for a short time for a couple of weeks at Makers Academy as well after I graduated. But in more recent years, I haven't done much in that space, but I would love to do more at some point. I don't have the bandwidth to right now. [laughs] VICTORIA: And you're still a major speaker going and keynoting events all around the world. Have you done any recently, or have any coming up that you're excited about? NADIA: So before the pandemic, my last talk, I keynoted RubyWorld in Japan. That was in November 2019. And then the pandemic hit, and 2020 June, July was when StoryGraph had some viral tweets, and so we kicked off. And amongst all of that, I was being invited to speak at remote events, but it just didn't make sense for me. Not only was I so busy with work, but I put a lot of hours into my talks. And part of the fun is being there, hallway track, meeting people, being on stage. And so it just didn't appeal to me to spend so much time developing the talk to just deliver it at home. And so, I just spent all the time on StoryGraph. And I remember when events started happening again; I wondered whether I would even be invited to speak because I felt more detached from the Ruby community. Most of the conferences that I did were in the Ruby community. StoryGraph is built on Rails. Yeah, I just thought maybe I'll get back to that later. But all of a sudden, I had a series of amazing invitations. Andrew Culver started up The Rails SaaS Conference in LA in October, and I was invited to speak at that. And then, I was invited to keynote RubyConf, that was recently held in Houston, Texas, and also invited to keynote the satellite conference, RubyConf Mini in Providence, that happened a couple of weeks earlier. And so I had a very busy October and November, a lot of travel. I developed two new talks, a Ruby talk and a StoryGraph talk. It was my first ever time giving a talk on StoryGraph. It was a lot of work and amongst a lot of StoryGraph work that I needed to do. All of the talks went well, and it was so much fun to be back on the circuit again. And I'm looking forward to whatever speaking things crop up this year. VICTORIA: That's wonderful. I'm excited. I'll have to see if I can find a recording and get caught up myself. Going back to an earlier question, you mentioned quite a few times about market research and talking to the customers. And I'm just curious if you have a method or a set of tools that you use to run those experiments and collect that feedback and information. NADIA: Yes. So I remember one of the first things I did years ago was I read "The Mom Test" by Rob Fitzpatrick. And that's great for just getting the foundation of when you talk to customers; you don't want to lead them on in any shape or form. You just want to get the raw truth and go from there. So that's the underpinning of everything I do. And then, I learned from friends I made through Pivotal about how you put together a script for a customer research. You can't just have bullet points or whatever. You should have a script. And the foundation of that script is a hypothesis about what you're trying to find out in that round of research. And once you figure out your hypothesis, then you can put together the questions you want to ask and understand how you're going to measure the output. So the first ever thing I was trying to find out when I first started interviewing people was just very general. It was just like, are there any pain points? I was just trying to figure out are there any pain points among the avid reader group of people? And then I remember the results from that were, "No place for consistent, high-quality recommendations." And so then I said, okay, how are people finding recommendations now, or what are the factors that lead to people thinking a book was great for them? And that's how I ended up getting to the moods and pace. But when I do my interviews, I record them all. I watch them back. And I condense everything on sticky notes. And I use a virtual tool. And I try to take word for word. When I summarize, I still just try and use their specific words as much as possible. So I'm not adding my own editing over what they say. Every single interviewee has a different color. And I essentially group them into themes, and that's how I unlock whatever the answers are for that round. And then I use that...I might have been trying to find out what to build next or whether we should go down a certain product direction or not. And so, depending on the outcome, that helps me make up my mind about what to do. So that's the high-level process that I follow. VICTORIA: Well, that sounds very methodical, and interesting for me to hear your perspective on that. And you mentioned that you do have a redesign coming out soon for StoryGraph. Are there any other particular products or features that you're really excited to talk about coming up soon? NADIA: Yeah, I'm so excited about the redesign because we're bringing out...it's not just a UI improvement; it's a user experience improvement as well. So there are a lot of little features that have been asked for over the years. And actually, it was trying to deliver one of them that sparked the whole redesign. So people really want a marked as finished button. There's no way to mark as finished. You just toggle a book back to read. And some people find this quite counterintuitive, or it doesn't quite explain what they're doing. And so when I came to deliver the mark as finished button, this was months and months ago now, I realized that the book pane was just becoming so cluttered, and I was trying to fight with it to squeeze in this link. And I remember thinking; this is not the only thing people want to see on the book pane. They also want to see when they read the book without having to go into the book page. They also want to be able to add it to their next queue. And I just said, you know what? I need to redesign this whole thing. And so I was able to luckily work with Saron Yitbarek, who is married to my co-founder, Rob. There's a funny story about all of that. And she helped me do this redesign based on all my customer research. And so I'm just so excited to get it out because the other thing that we're bringing with it is dark mode, which is our most requested feature in history. And it's funny because I've always felt like, ah, that's a nice-to-have. But obviously, for some people, it's not a nice-to-have; it's an accessibility issue. And even me, I'm quite strict with my bedtime. I try and be offline an hour before bed. In bed by 11, up at 6, and even me if I want to track my pages, I'm like, ooh, this is a bit bright. And my phone itself is set on adaptive, so it's light mode during the day and dark mode during the night. And even me, I can see why people really want this and why it would just improve their experience, especially if everything else on your phone is dark. So I'm really excited to get that out, mainly for the UX improvements. And the other thing I'm really excited to do is transition the Plus Plan to being the advanced stats package rather than the random selection of features right now. Because not only will the people who pay us get more complex stats functionalities such that they feel like, wow, the subscription fee that I pay not only does it still make me feel like I'm supporting an alternative to Goodreads, an independent alternative to Goodreads I also get such value from these extra features. But the other thing is what I found from my customer research is that if you're a Plus customer, there's often one or two of the Plus features that you love and that you don't really use the others. But they're all really great features. And so what I'm really excited about is that we're going to make all the non-stats features free for everybody. And so I'm so excited for, like, we have a feature where if you put in a group of usernames, we look at all of your to-read lists and suggest great books for you to buddy-read together. Now, there's a bunch of Plus users who aren't social and don't care about it. But there's going to be a bunch of our free users who are so excited about that feature, probably will use it with their book clubs, things like that. We have up-next suggestions where we suggest what you should pick up next from your to-read pile based on a range of factors. It could be, oh, you're behind on your reading goal; here's a fast-paced book. Or this book is very similar to the one that you just finished, so if you want something the same, pick up this one. And, again, that's behind a paywall right now, and I'm just so excited for everybody to be able to use that. When I remember starting out with StoryGraph, I remember thinking, wow, the way this is going, wouldn't it be so cool if we could just suggest books that would be the next perfect read for you? Because a lot of people have a pile of books by their bedside table or on their shelves, and they're just like, well, which one should I start with? And this tool literally helps you to do that. And so I can't wait for everyone to be able to try it. And so that's why I'm excited about that transition because the Plus Plan will be better, and the free product will be better. VICTORIA: That sounds amazing. And I'm thinking in my head like, oh, I should start a book club with thoughtbot. Because there are some engineering management and other types of books we want to read, so maybe we could use StoryGraph to manage that and keep ourselves motivated to actually finish them. [laughs] NADIA: Cool. VICTORIA: No, this is wonderful. And what books are on your reading list coming up? NADIA: Yes. I am excited to read...I'm not sure...I'm blanking on the series' name. But the first book is called "The Poppy War." I don't know whether it's called "The Burning God" or if that's the third book in the series. But it's this very popular trilogy, and I'm excited to read that soon. I'm doing a slow chronological read of Toni Morrison's fiction. I recently read "Song of Solomon," which was great, really, really good. And so I'm excited to read more of her novels this year. I'm also on a kind of narrative nonfiction kick right now. I love narrative nonfiction. So I just finished reading "American Kingpin," which is about Silk Road. And I've picked up "Black Edge," which is about SAC Capital and Steve Cohen and that whole hedge fund insider trading situation. So I'm probably going to look for more of the same afterwards. VICTORIA: Well, that's very exciting. And it's inspiring that as a founder, you also still have time to read [laughs] and probably because StoryGraph makes it easy and motivating for you to do so. NADIA: Yeah, everyone thought that my reading would tank once I started the company, but, in fact, it's multiplied severalfold. And a couple of reasons; one is it's very important in general for me to make time for me because I'm in a situation that could easily become very stressful and could lead to burnout. So I make sure that I make time for me to read and to go to dance class regularly, which is my other main hobby. But then, secondly, I feel like I can justify it as work. Because I say, wow, me being a reader and being able to communicate with people on Instagram and on Twitter about books, not just the product, adds legitimacy to me as the founder and developer of this product. And so it's important that I keep reading. And it also helps the product be better because I understand what features are needed. So, for example, I never used to listen to audiobooks. I'm a big podcast person; I love music. So between those two, when does audio fit in? And also, I didn't like the idea that I could just be absent-minded sometimes with some podcasts, but with a book, you don't want spoilers. It could get confusing. But I started listening to audiobooks because we had a large audiobook user base. And they would ask for certain features, and it was really hard for me to relate and to understand their needs. And now that I have started listening to audiobooks as well, we made some great audiobook listeners-focused additions to the app last year, including you can track your minutes. So you can literally get you read this many pages in a day, but you also listened to this many minutes. You can set an hours goal for the year, so not just a reading goal or a pages goal. You can set an hours goal. Or maybe you're someone like me, where audiobooks are the smaller proportion of your reading, and you just want it all calculated as pages. And so I've got it on the setting where it's like, even when I track an audiobook in StoryGraph, convert it to pages for me, and I just have my nice, all-round page number at the end of the year. VICTORIA: That's so cool. Really interesting. And I've had such a nice time chatting with you today. Is there anything else that you'd like to share as a final takeaway for our listeners? NADIA: If you are someone who wants to start a company, maybe you want to bootstrap, you've got a product idea, I think it's honestly just trust the process. It will take time. But if you trust the process, you listen to customers and really listen to them...research ways to talk to customers, and don't cut corners with the process. There have been so many times when I've done a whole round of research, and then I say, oh, do I have to go through all these now and actually do a synthesis? I think anecdotally; I can figure out what the gist was; no, do the research. You don't know what insights you're going to find. And I think if you just trust that process...and I think the other thing is before you get to that stage, start building up a runway. Having a runway is so powerful. And so whether it's saving a bit more or diverting funds from something else if you have a runway and you can give yourself a couple of years, a few years without worrying about your next paycheck, that is incredibly valuable to getting started on your bootstrapping journey. VICTORIA: Thank you. That's so wonderful. And I appreciate you coming on today to be with us. You can subscribe to the show and find notes along with a complete transcript for this episode at giantrobots.fm. If you have questions or comments, email us at hosts@giantrobots.fm. And you can find me on Mastodon at Victoria Guido. This podcast is brought to by thoughtbot and produced and edited by Mandy Moore. Thank you for listening. See you next time. ANNOUNCER: This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot, your expert strategy, design, development, and product management partner. We bring digital products from idea to success and teach you how because we care. Learn more at thoughtbot.com. Special Guest: Nadia Odunayo.

Singapore shares slid in early trade today following gains in US and Europe markets.   The Straits Times Index fell 0.1 per cent to 3,376.24 points in early trade after 47.7 million securities changed hands.  Some notable names seeing developments today included inflight caterer and ground handler Sats (S58).  The company reported a net profit of S$500,000 for the third quarter to December, reversing two consecutive quarters of losses, as aviation recovery continues. How significant is it for the company to swing into the black after earlier losses? Aside from that, Singaporeans are also keeping a close eye on the announcements made during Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong's Budget 2023 speech., as well as their effect on households and businesses. But to what extent have these influenced the STI's performance today?  On Market View, the Drive Time team posed these questions to Matthias Chan, Head of Research at SAC Capital. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, I'm excited to talk with impact investor and investment industry veteran H. Perry Boyle. Perry's had a long and storied career in the financial world, but the first thing I wanted to know about was his hiring of Prometheus Founder and CEO Michael Wang as a Senior Analyst at the legendary hedge fund SAC Capital. Between 2004 and 2020, Perry held several positions at SAC and Point72. As SAC's Director of Research, Perry's job was to change the culture, which he did—in part—by creating a curriculum for analysts and making portfolio managers stakeholders in their future success. Steve Cohen's SAC Capital is the inspiration for the Showtime series “Billions." So I asked Perry to describe the evolution of the firm's culture and the impact of having a psychologist on staff to optimize traders' performance. A little later, Perry tells me the "secret” of running a long/short portfolio and lays out his thoughts on the increasing scarcity of alpha. Lastly, Perry talks about the journey that took him from Point72 to climbing his “second mountain” —becoming chairman of the BOMA Project, a poverty graduation program for women, youth, and displaced persons in East Africa.Links MentionedThe BOMA ProjectH. Perry Boyle | LinkedInFollow UsLearn about PrometheusSubscribe to Prometheus Decoded on Apple Podcasts or SpotifyInstagramTwitterFacebook

Singapore shares slid in early trade today following gains in US and Europe markets.   The Straits Times Index fell 0.1 per cent to 3,376.24 points in early trade after 47.7 million securities changed hands.  Some notable names seeing developments today included telco operator StarHub, which posted a 98.4 per cent decline in net profit to S$1.3 million for the second half of the year ended Dec 31, 2022, but how far of a concern is this?  Meanwhile, mainboard-listed drinks maker Fraser and Neave posted a 28.8 per cent year-on-year drop in net profit to S$28.6 million for its first quarter, despite higher revenue. Question is - how are the company's financials looking with the firm noting that it has”generous debt headroom for acquisitions”? On Market View, the Drive Time team posed these questions to Matthias Chan, Head of Research at SAC Capital.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today Ryan Pallotta is talking with a very special guest, Prometheus Founder and CEO Michael Wang. Mike's an award-winning hedge fund veteran. An alum of Steve Cohen's legendary SAC Capital, Wang contributed to Tourbillon Capital Partners' early success before winning accolades as Cypress Funds' portfolio manager and co-managing partner. Mike created Prometheus around his strong belief that everyone should have access to information and investment opportunities that, historically, have only been accessible to a select few.  This amazing podcast covers a lot of ground. Mike begins by describing the nascent trend of fund managers creating content to grow their audience and raise capital at scale and how he created Prometheus to develop this phenomenon.    He talks about the limited credibility and utility of information shared on the subreddit WallStBets, and why people are waking up to the fact that investing success isn't nearly as easy as they may have initially thought. Mike later explains why the financial conditions we've enjoyed in recent times won't be returning for some time and why exposure to alternatives will be the key to investors protecting and growing their wealth in the months and years ahead.

Michael Wang is an award-winning hedge fund veteran. An alum of Steve Cohen's legendary SAC Capital, Wang contributed to Tourbillon Capital Partners' early success before winning accolades as Cypress Funds' portfolio manager and co-managing partner. He created Prometheus around his strong belief that everyone should have access to information and investment opportunities that, historically, have only been accessible to a select few. Laurel Mintz, founder and CEO of award-winning marketing agency Elevate My Brand, explores some of the most exciting new and growing brands in Los Angeles and the US at large. Each week, the Elevate Your Brand podcast features an entrepreneurial special guest to discuss the past, present and future of their brand.

There's some real truth to the maxim "Mo' money, mo' problems," and perhaps no former couple knows that better than hedge fund giant Steve A. Cohen and his first wife, Patricia. She was skeptical of his financial disclosures when they divorced at the end of the 1980s, but it was her 2009 lawsuit alleging racketeering and insider trading at his SAC Capital that seemed to kick federal regulators into high gear. Join us Thursday, November 3, for Trashcandy Confidential: A Trashy Divorces Studio Experience! Get your tickets at moment.co/trashydivorces. Sponsors Dipsea. Get 30 days of full access to steamy stories for free when you go to dipseastories.com/trashy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dave is President and CIO of KC3 Capital Management. Before that, he was Head of Macro Trading NY at Moore Capital and Managing Director in FX and Macro Trading at SAC Capital. Prior to his buy-side roles, Dave had various senior head of sales roles at Credit Suisse and JP Morgan. In this podcast we discuss: 1) Living through an investment bank merger. 2) The challenges of retaining talent at banks. 3) Moving from the sell-side to the buy-side (hedge funds). 4) What makes Louis Bacon and Moore Capital so successful. 5) The alpha of discretionary trading over quants. 6) The discipline of writing every day when trading markets. 7) How to manage your personal portfolio. 8) The value of allocating to external managers rather than just trading yourself. 8) Favourite sectors. 9) Private equity vs venture capital. 10) How to manage drawdowns. 11) Books mentioned: The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest (Chancellor), 21st Century Monetary Policy (Bernanke), The Panic of 1907 (Bruner), We Were Soldiers Once...And Young (Galloway), The Man Who Solved the Market (Zuckerman), Efficiently Inefficient (Pedersen), The Lords of Easy Money (Leonard).

 Emilio Masci is the founder of collectibles trading platform MySlabs.com. In our chat, Emilio gives us an overview of his long tenure at legendary hedge-fund SAC Capital and shares its impact on him. He describes his love of collecting baseball cards and comic books and how he combined that passion with his experience in the investing world. The result was MySlabs—a collectibles marketplace on which $35 million was transacted in only its second year of existence. Lastly, we talk about the power of nostalgia and how collectibles are becoming an alternative asset class that more and more people want access to.  

Jason Karp discovered that running an investment fund was no longer his calling at the very peak of his success. His mistake, he tells us, was not retiring from the industry at that exact moment. But by the time Jason shut Tourbillon Capital down in 2018, his calling was becoming clear—he wanted to help people live healthier lives. In the years before joining SAC Capital, managing the legendary firm's largest portfolio, Jason had been diagnosed with several autoimmune diseases. Rather than take medications to mitigate his symptoms, Jason rigorously investigated the effects of the food and products he consumed, gradually regaining his health. While achieving incredible success at Carlson Capital and later Tourbillon, Jason was growing Hu, a company he co-founded with his wife Jessica and brother-in-law Jordan. The award-winning chocolate they created is vegan, paleo, soy-free, refined sugar-free, and laid the groundwork for the HumanCo—the health-focused entity Jason founded in 2019.Jason shares his origin story as an entrepreneurial kid and under-aged card counter in our inspiring sit-down. He also tells us how his investment background and authentic personal health journey give him a massive edge in his mission to make healthier living more accessible for more people.

FBI Agent BJ Kang gets a promising tip from an informant. Mathew Martoma, a trader at SAC Capital, goes on a hunt for inside information.Listen to new episodes 1 week early and to all episodes ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App https://wondery.app.link/americanscandal.Support us by supporting our sponsors!Jordan Harbinger Show - Find the Jordan Harbinger Show wherever you listen to podcast!Burrow - American Scandal listeners can get $75 off their first order at burrow.com/asPeloton - Visit OnePeloton.com to learn more about the Peloton app. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Will Shu is the Founder & CEO @ Deliveroo, the company that provides your favorite restaurants and takeaways, delivered to your door. Prior to their IPO earlier this year, Will raised over $1.7BN for the company from some of the best including Accel, Index, General Catalyst, Greenoaks, and more. Before Deliveroo, Will worked in finance as an analyst with SAC Capital, ESO Capital, and Morgan Stanley in New York and London. Fun fact, Will still enjoys regularly delivering food orders on his bike. In Today's Episode with Will Shu You Will Learn: 1.) How Will made his way from hedge funds and Morgan Stanley to changing the world of food and delivery with Deliveroo? Why did Deliveroo not work the first time Will started it? 2.) Restaurant + Customer Acquisition: How did Will acquire the first restaurants to the platform? What did that education process look like for them? What do the restaurants care about? How did Will acquire the first customers? How has that changed over time? What matters to customers; speed, selection or price? How does this change by geography and country? 3.) New Markets: How do Deliveroo select new markets to enter? What makes one more attractive than another? From a resource perspective, what does it take to open a new market? What have been some of the biggest lessons on zone maturity and time to breakeven? Why does Deliveroo not track driver efficiency on a number of drops basis? What is the right mechanism to measure driver efficiency? 4.) Competition: How did Deliveroo come late to markets like France and end up winning them? What was it like competing against Uber with Eats? How important is restaurant exclusivity to Deliveroo retaining its position? What would Will have done differently with regards to competition, with the benefit of hindsight? 5.) Quick commerce: What does Will make of the unprecedented rise of quick commerce? Will we see many winners on a per market basis or will this be a consolidatory environment? What do many of the new entrants mistake or not understand? Why is the vertical ownership of the supply chain such a superior model to working with grocery partners? Item's Mentioned In Today's Episode with Will Shu Will's Favourite Book: From Third World to First: Singapore and the Asian Economic Boom

In this episode of On the Margin Mike is joined by Dan Tapiero. We invited Dan back to the podcast to discuss his recent $750 million capital raise for the 10T digital asset fund. With over 20 years in the hedge fund business working at firms such as Tiger Management, Steinhardt Partners & SAC Capital, Dan shares his thoughts on the current macro environment, how 10T approaches investing in crypto companies, the exponential growth of the digital asset ecosystem & the road to a $300,000 Bitcoin. --- Matrixport: On the Margin is brought to you by Matrixport, Asia's fastest growing digital asset platform. With $10 billion in assets under management and custody, it provides one-stop crypto financial services with over $5 billion in average monthly trading volumes. The offerings include Cactus Custody™, spot OTC, fixed income, structured products, lending as well as asset management. Download the Matrixport App now to earn 30% APY on USDC.  Learn more at https://onthemargin.link/matrixport Coinbase Prime: On The Margin is supported by Coinbase Prime, an integrated solution that provides advanced multi-venue trading, custody, and prime services for institutions.  For more information go to https://onthemargin.link/coinbase  --- On the Margin is brought to you by Blockworks, a financial media brand delivering breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. For more content like Empire, subscribe to Blockworks' free daily newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

In this episode, Hall welcomes Gayatri Sarkar, Founder of She-VC and General Partner at Advaita Capital. She-VC is a media platform that featured $100B+ combined capital of institutional investors championing the diversity, equity, and inclusion for VCs/PE investors. Advaita Capital is a growth activist tech fund focussed on DEI-ESG metrics in venture asset class.  Gayatri was awarded the Global Leader Under 40 Award for championing diversity and equity inclusion among institutional investors through She-VC, featuring a combined capital of $100B+. She is the GP of a growth activist tech fund focussed on diversity, equity, and broader environmental social governance mandate, a team of experienced partners from top-tier funds from Blackrock's former CIO, Oppenheimer, and the former COO of the second-largest division of SAC Capital. She serves on the advisory board of large asset management firms and VC fund of funds.  Gayatri was also the former Managing Partner at a sports platform - the extended family office of an Israeli billionaire family - a former GP of a digital assets fund (acquired), a former Federal Reserve Bank Manager managing US Treasury's assets for the US Military, Navy and big banks. She started her career as an enterprise tech architect at HP and IBM, managing billion-dollar accounts. Gayatri is a serial entrepreneur who founded a consulting company and a tech startup with AUM $50M. She graduated in Physics, Math, and Economics/Finance and serves on the alumni non-profit board of Harvard Kennedy School NEA.  Gayatri shares her investment thesis and what excites her now. She also advises investors and entrepreneurs and discusses some of the challenges they face. You can visit She-VC at , and via LinkedIn at .  You can visit Advaita Capital at . Gayatri can be contacted via email at , via LinkedIn at , and via Twitter at .  Music courtesy of .

My guest today is Jay D. Hatfield, CEO, Instructure Capital, and Portfolio Manager of PFFR with approximately $1 billion in assets under management. This is Jay's second time on the show and he shares his current market outlook, how to properly diversify a portfolio, and how to find undervalued preferred stocks. Jay's Bio: Mr. Hatfield has almost three decades of experience in the securities and investment industries. At ICA, he is the portfolio manager of InfraCap MLP ETF (NYSE: AMZA), Virtus InfraCap U.S. Preferred Stock ETF (NYSE: PFFA), InfraCap REIT Preferred ETF (NYSE: PFFR) and a series of hedge funds. He leads the investment team and directs the company's business development. During his career, Mr. Hatfield has gained a broad perspective on the U.S. financial markets with years as an investment banker, a research director and portfolio manager, and as a co-founder of a NYSE-listed company. Prior to forming ICA, he partnered with senior energy industry executives to acquire several midstream MLPs. These companies were merged to form a company now known as NGL Energy Partners, LP (NYSE: NGL). NGL went public in May 2011 and Mr. Hatfield is currently a general partner. In the years prior to forming NGL, Mr. Hatfield was a portfolio manager at SAC Capital (now Point72 Asset Management), running a portfolio focused on income securities. He joined SAC from Zimmer Lucas Partners, a hedge fund focused on energy and utility sectors, where he was head of research. Earlier in his career, he was head of an investment banking unit at CIBC/Oppenheimer and a Principal in an investment banking unit at Morgan Stanley & Co. He began his career as a CPA at Ernst & Young. He holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BS from the University of California at Davis. Frequently appears on or is quoted in Barron's, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo Finance, TD Ameritrade Network, and Bloomberg Radio and TV and numerous other media outlets. In additional to asset management, Mr. Hatfield founded Tutoring America, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing low-income students with supplemental tutoring services so that they can catch up to grade level in both math and English language arts. Learn more: https://www.infracapfunds.com/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/smartmoneycircle/support

Just recently, Ryde, a Singapore-based mobility app, formally announced its plans for a S$200 million Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and has appointed SAC Capital as its financial adviser. Terence Zou, CEO, and Founder, Ryde shares their decision to go for a traditional IPO listing and not a SPAC listing, and the importance of giving back to their drivers.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's show, Trey Lockerbie is joined by Jason Karp. Jason has had an incredible career, starting as a quant at major hedge funds like SAC Capital, under billionaire Steve Cohen, as well as Carlson Capital, where he became the Co-Chief Investment Officer. He then moved on to start his own fund, Tourbillon Capital, which at its peak managed over $4 Billion in AUM.Along the way, he helped his family start a successful company called Hu, most known for its chocolate bars, which was recently sold to Mondelez. For his next act, he has now founded HumanCo, which focuses on providing permanent capital to health and wellness brands, as well the launch of a recent SPAC or Special Purpose Acquisition Company.IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN:The view from the mountain topOpportunities in health and wellnessWhat is a SPAC and why they are so popular at the momentBOOKS AND RESOURCESHumanCO's WebsiteHumanCO/CAVU SPAC's WebsiteSunOpta's WebsitePreston, Trey & Stig’s tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: TIP Finance ToolGet a FREE book on how to systematically identify and follow market trends with Top Traders Unplugged. Elevate your writing with 20% off Grammarly Premium.Take your business to the next level by hiring the right people with ZipRecruiter.Automate your money with M1 Finance. Get $30 when you sign up for free today. Push your team to do their best work with Monday.com Work OS. Start your free two-week trial today.Take your business to the next level by hiring the right people with ZipRecruiter.join OurCrowd’s Investment in ByondXR—a platform that’s enabling the world's leading brands to attract customers with the future of virtual shopping journeys. Open your account today.Invest in high-yield, professionally managed real estate, starting with as little as $10K with EquityMultiple.Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsorsGET IN TOUCH WITH TREY AND STIGTrey: Twitter | LinkedInStig: Twitter | LinkedIn

This episode features Oscar nominated and Emmy winning producer, Nick Verbitsky. Nick has been producing for FRONTLINE PBS since 2013, when he directed To Catch a Trader, an investigative look at Wall Street insider trading. Nick also produced Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature, and has produced/co-produced films like Weinstein and Documenting Hate, as well as Opioids, Inc with the FT.

This podcast has ads, thanks to our new partnership with Merk Research and their generous offer for our listeners. To listen without ads, sign up to become a premium subscriber. Brody Howatt of Bellator Asset Management joins the podcast to discuss his view that the market is getting closer to a "blow off top." The guest also talks about what it was like working for Steven Cohen at SAC Capital and Point72 before starting his own firm. Content Segments (Spotify users can link to the section directly by clicking on the timestamp) "A lot of it has to do with positioning" -- the major difference from before the election versus now (3:23); There could be another 5% upside to the S&P, which should be seen as an opportunity to bring down exposure (4:59); The run-off in Georgia is worth watching (7:17); Look at illiquid names and potentially "take advantage of the up move to get out" (9:59); The rotation out of big tech and into small caps has mostly played out already (12:51); Background on the guest: son of a professional hockey player, Choate, West Point, Iraq, SAC Capital (17:51); Bellator Asset Management, a veterans-owned business (22:43); What it was like working for the legendary Steve Cohen, cold trading floor and all (25:15); More about the Bellator strategy (29:51); "The syndicate market never sleeps" (34:55). More Information on the Guest: Website: BellatorFunds.com

On the podcast today, we have Richard Lee. Richard is best known for having been a trader at Steve Cohen’s hedge fund, SAC Capital, and for having insider trading charges against him dismissed after a 7 year fight to clear his name. Richard initially pleaded guilty to insider trading charges in 2013, and upon discovery of new evidence in 2017, he moved to withdraw his original plea. On June 21, 2019, a federal court judge for the Southern District of New York granted Richard’s motion to vacate his guilty plea, and then on Nov 27, 2019, federal prosecutors dismissed all charges against him. I first met Richard in 2013, soon after he first pleaded guilty. We’ve been friends and have worked together closely ever since. On the podcast today, Richard and I discuss the entire story that led to his incredible outcome. So coming up, Richard Lee. Insider trading charges dismissed, on white collar week. I hope you’ll join us. - Jeff______________________Welcome to White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, a podcast serving the white collar justice community. It’s the isolation that destroys us. The solution is in community.If you are interested in this podcast, then you are probably already a member of the white collar justice community – even if you don’t quite know it yet. Our community is certainly made up of people being prosecuted, or who have already been prosecuted, for white collar crimes. But it is also made up of the spouses, children and families of those prosecuted for white collar crimes – these are the first victims of white collar crime. And the community also consists of the other victims, both direct and indirect, and those in the wider white collar ecosystem like friends, colleagues, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, law enforcement, academics, researchers. Investigators, mitigation experts, corrections officers, reentry professionals, mental health care professionals, drug and alcohol counselors, – and ministers, chaplains and advocates for criminal and social justice reform. The list goes on and on…Our mission is to introduce you to other members of the white collar justice community, to hear their very personal stories, and hopefully gain a broader perspective of what this is really all about. Maybe this will inspire some deeper thoughts and introspection? Maybe it will inspire some empathy and compassion for people you might otherwise resent or dismiss? And maybe it will help lift us all out of our own isolation and into community, so we can learn to live again in the sunshine of the spirit.Blessings, לשלוםJeffRev. Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div. (he, him, his)Co-founder, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., Greenwich CT & NationwideCo-host, The Criminal Justice Insider PodcastHost, White Collar WeekMailing: P.O. Box 1, Woodbury, CT 06798Website: prisonist.orgEmail: jgrant@prisonist.orgOffice: 203-405-6249Donations (501c3): bit.ly/donate35T9kMZNot a prison coach, not a prison consultant.

On the latest episode of the Marketplace Roundtable Podcast, long-time contributor to Seeking Alpha, Chaim Siegel, aka Elazar Advisors, takes listeners through his unique bottom-up approach of stock picking in the tech space. Before setting out on his own and launching his Nail Tech Earnings investing service, Chaim spent years honing his craft, working directly with Steve Cohen as an analyst at SAC Capital as well as serving as a portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley and JLF Asset Management. His proprietary tech sector earnings estimates - available to subscribers of Nail Tech Earnings - are included in consensus Thomson Reuters and FactSet earnings estimates. Chaim believes that based on his current growth projections for his favorite tech names, investors should continue overweighting the sector despite what appear to be frothy valuations on a historical basis. Show notes: 3:00 - Chaim's unique investing backstory 9:15 - Chaim's proprietary earnings models: How does he arrive at his projections 15:00 - 2 top tech sector ETFs go head to head: The Invesco QQQ ETF (QQQ) vs. The Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) 21:15 - Hedging tech sector downside via ETFs: Shorting outright vs. inverse leveraged ETFs vs. ETF options 25:45 - Using momentum/trend following as a secondary decision-making factor 32:00 - Bottom-up analysis of top picks: Why Tesla (TSLA) and Zoom's (ZM) current valuations are besides the point 45:30 - Are we in a tech bubble? Why the current period is not a late 90's redux Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the latest episode of Let's Talk ETFs, long-time contributor to Seekingalpha.com, Chaim Siegel, aka Elazar Advisors, takes listeners through his unique bottom-up approach of stock picking in the tech space. Before setting out on his own and launching his Nail Tech Earnings investing service, Chaim spent years honing his craft, working directly with Steve Cohen as an analyst at SAC Capital as well as serving as a portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley and JLF Asset Management. His proprietary tech sector earnings estimates - available to subscribers of Nail Tech Earnings - are included in consensus Thomson Reuters and FactSet earnings estimates. Chaim believes that based on his current growth projections for his favorite tech names, investors should continue overweighting the sector despite what appear to be frothy valuations on a historical basis. Show notes: 4:30 - Chaim's unique investing backstory 10:45 - Chaim's proprietary earnings models: How does he arrive at his projections 16:30 - 2 top tech sector ETFs go head to head: The Invesco QQQ ETF (QQQ) vs. The Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) 22:30 - Hedging tech sector downside via ETFs: Shorting outright vs. inverse leveraged ETFs vs. ETF options 27:10 - Using momentum/trend following as a secondary decision-making factor 33:15 - Bottom-up analysis of top picks: Why Tesla (TSLA) and Zoom's (ZM) current valuations are besides the point 47:00 - Are we in a tech bubble? Why the current period is not a late 90's redux Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest today is Jay D. Hatfield, CEO, Instructure Capital, with approximately $400M in assets under management. Jay is a deep value investor and shares some timeless advice on how to invest your portfolio for healthy appreciation and enjoy income along the way. JAY's Bio: Mr. Hatfield has almost three decades of experience in the securities and investment industries. At ICA, he is the portfolio manager of InfraCap MLP ETF (NYSE: AMZA), Virtus InfraCap U.S. Preferred Stock ETF (NYSE: PFFA), InfraCap REIT Preferred ETF (NYSE: PFFR) and a series of hedge funds. He leads the investment team and directs the company’s business development. During his career, Mr. Hatfield has gained a broad perspective on the U.S. financial markets with years as an investment banker, a research director and portfolio manager, and as a co-founder of a NYSE-listed company. Prior to forming ICA, he partnered with senior energy industry executives to acquire several midstream MLPs. These companies were merged to form a company now known as NGL Energy Partners, LP (NYSE: NGL). NGL went public in May 2011 and Mr. Hatfield is currently a general partner. In the years prior to forming NGL, Mr. Hatfield was a portfolio manager at SAC Capital (now Point72 Asset Management), running a portfolio focused on income securities. He joined SAC from Zimmer Lucas Partners, a hedge fund focused on energy and utility sectors, where he was head of research. Earlier in his career, he was head of an investment banking unit at CIBC/Oppenheimer and a Principal in an investment banking unit at Morgan Stanley & Co. He began his career as a CPA at Ernst & Young. He holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BS from the University of California at Davis. Frequently appears on or is quoted in Barron's, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo Finance, TD Ameritrade Network, and Bloomberg Radio and TV and numerous other media outlets. In additional to asset management, Mr. Hatfield founded Tutoring America, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing low-income students with supplemental tutoring services so that they can catch up to grade level in both math and English language arts. Learn more: https://www.infracapfunds.com/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/smartmoneycircle/support

Join my conversation with crisis management and earned media guru, Mark Herr. For the last 20 years, Mark Herr has led or helped lead the communications efforts of three iconic financial services companies, Merrill Lynch, AIG, and SAC Capital/Point72 Asset Management. He shaped their responses to some of the highest-profile crises in the financial world, helped rebuild their reputations, and built the brands of several other properties. At Merrill Lynch, Mark created and executed the communications strategies as the company dealt with the turn of the century Tech-Wreck, Enron, and Auction Rate Securities litigations, as well as the other legal, regulatory, and public policy problems the company faced. Joining AIG in the heart of the 2008 financial crisis, Mark led AIG's Media Relations team as the company navigated being the poster child for the crisis. Working closely with CEO Bob Benmosche and other C Suite management, Mark devised the responses to the company's fall from grace and was a key architect of its reputational comeback. Hired by Steve Cohen and SAC Capital to create and build the firm's global communications function, Mark served as Managing Director and Head of Global Communications. He used his expertise in crisis communications and media relations to design the strategy that took SAC from being viewed by many as a pariah to a firm that enjoys 60 percent approval. He rebranded SAC as Point72 and built the brands for Mr. Cohen's VC firm, Point72 Ventures, his industry-unique analyst training vehicle, Point72 Academy, and his philanthropic veterans mental health treatment program, Cohen Veterans Network. Mark also created Point72's internal communications program and launched its digital and social media properties and strategy, while establishing its talent recruitment messages. A former reporter, political operative, litigator, regulator, and government official, Mark brings a unique 360-degree understanding to what it means to be in the blinding spotlight of public opinion and how to turn around the narrative from bad (or worse) to better. As a builder of brands, he also knows how to establish the right public presence for new firms. Mark has now founded his own communications boutique and among his projects, Mark is consulting with Mr. Cohen on Mr. Cohen's purchase of the New York Mets and advises other companies in the pharmaceutical and financial services industries. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/paulwoodshow/message

Sol Kumin has spent his career in the financial services industry, and is a thoroughbred racehorse owner and philanthropist. A graduate of Johns Hopkins, he began his career in finance at Lazard Asset Management and then Sanford C. Bernstein. In 2005, he joined SAC Capital as managing director and was later chief operating officer. At the end of 2014, he founded hedge fund Folger Hill Asset Management with more than $1 billion from investors, serving as CEO until 2018 when the firm was merged with Schonfeld Strategic Investors. He added the role of chief strategy officer for Leucadia Asset Management LLC and is currently the firm’s co-president. Sol bought his first filly in 2014 and has rapidly become one of the most successful racehorse owners in the US, including Preakness winner Exaggerator, Triple Crown winner Justify, Travers winner Catholic Boy and champion fillies Lady Eli, Monomoy Girl, Midnight Bisou, Uni and British Idiom. In this in-depth interview, he talks about the lasting influence of his first job out of college, describes his experience running Folger Hill Asset Management and explains the business focus and practicality he has brought to owning a high-performing stable of prize-winning horses.

Terence Chua, Senior Research Analyst, SAC Capital shares more about how investors are flocking to the safety of US government bonds, tensions between South Korea and Japan, as well as current market uncertainties in Hong Kong.

A recent spate of corporate actions in the healthcare sector has sparked investor interest in healthcare stocks. Terence Chua, Senior Research Analyst, SAC Capital shares more about the long term fundamentals and current valuations.

This week we're discussing billionaire hedge fund trader Steven A. Cohen in particular and the hedge fund industry in general. There are two types of hedge funds: those that fail to beat the market and those that trade on illegal inside information. Steve Cohen's hedge fund SAC Capital managed to produce 30% average returns per year over 20 years after fees. Guess which category he fell in to. Hear about his life, his legal tribulations, his day time talk show appearances, and about whether US financial markets even come close to the standards of being a place for free and fair exchange.

Philippe Bekhazi is the CEO of XBTO Group. In this conversation, Philippe and Anthony Pompliano discuss the yellow vest protest in Paris, his days working at SAC Capital, how the global financial crisis impacted many people in crypto today, why the interest in crypto is like a wave, and the importance of Tether, stable coins, and derivatives in cryptocurrency. ----- BlockFi allows you to keep your crypto, put it up as collateral, and receive a USD loan funded directly to your bank account. They do loans ranging from $2,000 to $10,000,000, and they're perfect for helping you reach your financial goals of all sizes. Visit BlockFi.com/Pomp to learn more about putting your crypto to work without having to sell it. ----- If you enjoyed this conversation, share it with your colleagues & friends, rate, review, and subscribe. This podcast is presented by BlockWorks Group. For exclusive content and events that provide insights into the crypto and blockchain space, visit them at: https://www.blockworksgroup.io

Hedge funds have had a terrible year and a mediocre decade, yet they keep creating billionaires. Today we look at some of the most egregious examples of greed run amok. A question that may make you feel wholly inadequate as a saver and investor. Finally, what was a hedge fund and what are they now.

In this episode, I give "My 3 Thoughts" of the book "Black Edge" by Sheelah Kolhatkar, which are: 1. A brief history of Hedge Funds 2. Everyone was doing it 3. Having good lawyers -My 2017 stats: http://bit.ly/2r3WTOp -2018 Reading Challange: http://bit.ly/2DdJDeZ -Want To Read List: http://bit.ly/2EJ27RD -Instagram: bit.ly/2rglmg9 -Twitter: http://bit.ly/2joINAC -Facebook: http://bit.ly/2DfYDZH --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/anotherweekinthebooks/support

Chris Tobe's journey as the author of "Kentucky Fried Pensions" is the first public SEC whistleblower which attempted to use the new Dodd-Frank law to clean up the culture of cover-up and corruption in Kentucky Pensions. It explores the national links between corruption in investments via placement agents and corruption in underfunding that plague states like Illinois and Kentucky. Kentucky Fried Pensions explores the Kentucky Employee Retirement System (KERS) for State Workers as the worst funded state plan in the country (worse than any single IL plan) and how others can learn from its current death spiral. The book looks into the lack of transparency as evidenced by no disclosure of holdings in SAC Capital buried in a Blackstone fund for nearly a year after the scandal broke. It connects a placement agent network to New Mexico, California (CALPERS) Illinois, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The book has received glowing reviews in Forbes and Public Sector Inc. and has made the non-fiction bestseller list in Kentucky This new and expanded 2nd Edition provides updated coverage of Kentucky's ongoing pension funding crises and provides comparison with those of Detroit and Rhode Island. Be sure to watch the PBS Special "The Pension Gamble" which aired in October 2018, where Tobe and other experts reveal the massive eventual meltdown in public pensions in places like Kentucky, Illinois, New Jersey, Conneticut and more. You may connect with Chris on Facebook, Kentucky Fried Pensions Originally broadcast 10/31/18

Terence Chua,Investment Analyst, SAC Capital shares what opportunities there are for investors in the water sector. 

I’ve often heard that good investors are a bit like journalists: doggedly collecting evidence and building an understanding of how all the pieces of a company or investment fit together. My guest this week is one of my favorite writers and journalists, Bethany McLean. Across her career, Bethany has covered many of the most interesting stories in business and investing, including Enron (which became the famous book and documentary, the Smartest Guys in the Room), Valeant, Wells Fargo, SAC Capital, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the great financial crisis, and most recently, fracking and the energy revolution. Given how deeply she has investigated all of these topics-- and thought about the common threads across them all--this was an amazing conversation. When talking to her, you can feel how much she cares and how diligent and fair she is when analyzing a topic. In addition to all of the great stories already listed, we discuss the art of persistence and other lessons she has learned about businesses and people gone bad. I especially loved her evolving take on housing in America. Please enjoy my conversation with Bethany McLean   For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag   Links Referenced Mindsets: Optimism vs. Complacency vs. Pessimism Disgraced ex-BofA exec raises uncomfortable questions about #MeToo The Hunt for Steve Cohen   Books Referenced The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron” Free Radicals: The Secret Anarchy of Science Shaky Ground: The Strange Saga of the U.S. Mortgage Giants Saudi America: The Truth About Fracking and How It's Changing the World Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis   Show Notes 2:22 - (First Question) – Differences and similarities between investors and journalists 3:19 – What has more of an impact on business practices, exposing negatives or reporting positive 4:57 – first story that got Bethany intrigued with finding bad behaviors 6:19 – The process of getting to know the people who know more than the market             7:43 – Mindsets: Optimism vs. Complacency vs. Pessimism 8:18 – First short seller that garnered her interest 8:57 – The process that led to The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron 10:36 – How to ask questions 12:18 – Importance of preparation 12:49 – Commonalities among the motivations for people who do bad things 14:20 – Difference between a visionary and a fraud             15:42 – Free Radicals: The Secret Anarchy of Science 16:23 – Any standout frauds that told a really compelling story 17:33 – Looking into Valient 19:32 –Writing about the #MeToo movement             19:34 - Disgraced ex-BofA exec raises uncomfortable questions about #MeToo 21:49 – Thoughts on the spectrum of chasing this story 23:26 – Ways journalist can fairly impact this movement 24:14 – The romance of owning a home in America and what it has meant for the market             24:34 – Shaky Ground: The Strange Saga of the U.S. Mortgage Giants 28:27 – What has changed on her thinking about housing 30:24 – What role does Fannie and Freddie have in the market today 31:13 – Her desire to look into energy             32:26 – Saudi America: The Truth About Fracking and How It's Changing the World 35:05 – What have been the changes in energy market in the US             34:40 – Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy 37:01 – Where are we in the life cycle of energy production 38:27 – The more boring things that are actually the drivers of our economy             38:29 – Technologies that shaped industrial revolution in America 39:42 – Where can people learn more about how our energy independence will impact other markets 41:10 – Why is Peter Elkin the best investigative journalist 42:24 – Most relentless she has ever been 43:58 – Who is doing it right             44:38 – All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis 45:36 – Her take on reporting the The Hunt for Steve Cohen story 49:01 – How her views have evolved over her career and lessons learned 50:40 – Are there ways to prevent success from leading people down a bad path 53:48 – The role of empathy in her career 55:13 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Bethany’s career   Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.  Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag

Thomas Kutzman- Thomas Kutzman is a real estate tech entrepreneur and co-founder of Prevu, the startup on a mission to save people money when they buy or sell a home. Prevu's industry-leading Smart Buyer™ rebate makes it possible for homebuyers in New York City to receive a cash-back, commission rebate of up to 2% of their purchase price with a seamless, end-to-end buying experience and the expert advice of a dedicated, salaried agent. Sellers see significant savings as well with Prevu’s Smart Seller™ fair, full-service listing commission.   In order to elevate discussion around the important technological innovations taking place in the real estate industry, Thomas lead the effort to develop a podcast entitled “Real Estate Is Your Business” in partnership with MouthMedia Network™and serves as one of the podcast's co-hosts. During weekly conversations, Thomas and his co-host discuss transformative topics with the innovators, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders at the forefront of the modernization of the real estate industry. Episodes of “Real Estate Is Your Business” are available on Apple iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher.   Prior to his roles as an entrepreneur and thought leader in the real estate technology industry, Thomas spent over a decade in financial markets and has broad experience investing in public technology companies at asset management firms and top-tier investment banks. This experience was global including opportunities at elite firms such as SAC Capital, JPMorgan, and Citigroup in the United States, as well as Jabre Capital Partners in Switzerland. Thomas holds a BS in Finance & Accounting from New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business.   Outside of the professional arena, Thomas has been dedicated to charitable giving in areas of education, ending child poverty, and pancreatic cancer research. Combining an interest in supporting education and encouragement of careers in technology, he is a supporter of a new, Austin-based charity named Code2College that is focused on dramatically increasing the number of girls, under-represented students of color, and low-income students who enter STEM undergraduate programs and careers. In addition to this, Thomas has been a regular donor for more than ten years to Children International and The Lustgarten Foundation.   Links to learn more about Prevu & “Real Estate Is Your Business" Prevu Smart Buyer™ Rebates: http://www.prevuapp.com/buyer   “Real Estate Is Your Business” podcast website: http://www.realestateisyourbusiness.com   “Real Estate Is Your Business” episodes on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/real-estate-is-your-business-real-estate-technology/id1318995625 Listen to another #12minconvo

Ever wonder how Wall Street works? I mean, really? We see how Wall Street is portrayed in dramatic movies, like Wolf of Wall Street and The Big Short, and of course the iconic movie Wall Street with Michael Douglas. Personally, I’m obsessed with the show time show Billions. So, how accurate are these portrayals really? Today we go behind the scenes thanks to our guest and her groundbreaking reporting. Sheelah Kolhatkar is a staff writer for The New Yorker, and has published her first book called Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street. We’re not talking about Bernie Madoff. This book details the story of a billionaire trader Steven A. Cohen, and the rise and fall of his hedge fund SAC Capital. It is the largest inside our trading investigation in history. This is the kicker, Cohen was never charged. We will dive into all of this with Sheelah, as well as her background as a former hedge fund analyst herself. How did that experience bring her to her role today as an investigative business reporter? As I mentioned, she is currently a staff writer for The New Yorker, where she covers Wall Street and Silicon Valley, the economy and national politics. She also writes the magazine’s financial page and is a regular contributor to NPR’s marketplace. To learn more visit www.somoneypodcast.com.

(Bloomberg) -- Robert C Hockett, Professor at Cornell University, and John C Coffee,u0010Professor of Securities Law at Columbia University, will discuss denied appeal for ex-SAC Capital manager. They speak with June Grasso on "Bloomberg Law." Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

(Bloomberg) -- Robert C Hockett, Professor at Cornell University, and John C Coffee,u0010Professor of Securities Law at Columbia University, will discuss denied appeal for ex-SAC Capital manager. They speak with June Grasso on "Bloomberg Law."

Jamie Buckner is a NY based filmmaker and production coordinator. His current film, 'Split', is now available for streaming everywhere.Pre Episode Notes- Like the episode? Like the podcast in general? Please leave me a review on iTunes!- DSLR Camera package I've been looking atEpisode Notes- Seriously what ever happened to ringback tones?- Wilhelm Scream- The Wilhelm Scream Compilation- Billions (TV Show) - The series is loosely based on the activities of crusading federal prosecutor of financial crimes Preet Bharara, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York,[1][2] and his legal battles with hedge fund manager Steve Cohen of SAC Capital.[3]- Being a PA for Spielberg Saved My First Feature Film an article by Jamie Buckner- Split by M Night Shamlayan - The newest movie from M Night. Writer/director/producer M. Night Shyamalan returns with an original thriller that delves into the mysterious recesses of one man's fractured, gifted mind. Though Kevin (James McAvoy) has revealed 23 personalities to his psychiatrist, there remains one still submerged who is set to materialize and dominate all the others. Compelled to abduct three teenage girls, Kevin reaches a war for survival among all of those contained within him – as well as everyone around him – as the walls between his compartments shatter apart.- Elon Musk wants to turn us all into cyborgs by 2021  ContactJamie Buckner-- Official-- Twitter-- Youtube-- IMDB Dave Bullis— Official Site— Youtube— Twitter— Instagram— Facebook Support the Podcast1. Sign Up for Dave's email list2. Rate the Podcast on iTunes3. Buy on Amazon.com using my affiliate link Subscribe to the Podcast— Podbean — iTunes — Stitcher— Google Play Podcasts

Sheelah Kolhatkar is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street. “Suddenly the financial crisis happened and all this stuff that had been hidden from view came out into the open. It was like, ‘Oh, this was actually all kind of a big façade.’ And there was all this fraud and stealing and manipulation and corruption, and all these other things going on underneath the whole shiny rock star surface. And that really also demonstrated to people how connected business stories, or anything to do with money, are to everything else going on. I mean, really almost everything that happens in our world, if you trace it back to its source, it’s money at the root of it.” Thanks to MailChimp, Blue Apron, and Stamps.com for sponsoring this week's episode. @sheelahk sheelahkolhatkar.com Kolhatkar on Longform [00:15] SAIC Application [00:30] Pregnant Pause [01:15] Missing Richard Simmons [04:00] Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street (Random House • 2017) [07:30] Kolhatkar’s Observer archive [09:15] "Suzy Wetlaufer Preparing To Be 'Neutron Jackie'" (Observer • Apr 2004) [15:00] "Hedge Funds Are for Suckers" (Bloomberg • Jul 2013) [17:45] Kolhatkar’s Time archive [18:00] "Poor Ruth" (New York • Jul 2009) [26:30] "When the Feds Went After the Hedge-Fund Legend Steven A. Cohen" (New Yorker • Jan 2017) [27:00] "Cheating, Incorporated" (Bloomberg • Feb 2011) [29:15] "The $40-Million Elbow" (Nick Paumgarten • New Yorker • Oct 2006) [35:15] "On the Trail of SAC Capital’s Steven Cohen" (Bloomberg • Jan 2013) [53:45] To Catch a Trader [58:15] "Trump’s Wolves of Wall Street" (New Yorker • Dec 2016) [59:45] "Juno Takes on Uber" (New Yorker • Oct 2016) [59:45] "Financiers Fight Over the American Dream" (New Yorker • Mar 2017)

Mike, Nathan and Mahler discuss greenhouse gases, jellyfish, Arafat, degenerate art, the West Bank, Pussy Riot, M23, election day, the TSA, SmartLight, SAC Capital, Rand Paul and smoking Cialis.

2 undervalued stocks in this “eerily high” market and we dig into the mailbag! Join Motley Fool analysts Matt Koppenheffer and David Hanson as they discuss the latest on SAC Capital, Bank of Internet, and Mark Zuckerberg.

SAC Capital and Johnson & Johnson pay billion-dollar fines, and we break down a merger in the housing industry.

Ed Butowsky, wealth manager, financial advisor, and managing partner of Chapwood Investment Management, joins Money with Melissa Francis on Fox Business to examine what may be forcing an investor to pull their clients money out of SAC Capital.

Ed Butowsky, wealth manager, financial advisor, and managing partner of Chapwood Investment Management, joins Fox Business to examine if investors are being forced out of their investments with SAC Capital.

Ed Butowsky, wealth manager, financial advisor, and managing partner of Chapwood Investment Management, joins Fox Business to discuss why he remains invested in SAC Capital despite the charges and allegations.

[audio http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/ofb.s3.amazonaws.com/OFB56_SayThankyouToCustomers.mp3] OFB 56 | Saying thank you should not be reserved just for Thanksgiving, HP has no thanks for Autonomy, WalMart survived “no thanks” from workers, SAC Capital are just thankless bastards. On this edition of OFB Tom, Ken and Brian get in the spirit of the season and discuss saying thanks. First, some Hot Potato News items …. HP took another black eye in their strategy with a writeoff of $8B of the $11B acquisition of Autonomy, alleging accounting irregularities and fraud. Can you find a more dysfunctional Board and Management team in what was a great technology success? http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomgroenfeldt/2012/11/20/hp-and-autonomy-buyers-remorse-or-worse/ OUR WalMart (Organization United for Respect at WalMart) staged demonstrations at WalMarts throughout the country. The impact -- not that much. Maybe WalMart needs to learn more about saying thank you. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/22/walmart-strike-dallas_n_2175697.html SAC Capital is in hot water again with the SEC, this time for a $276M insider trading windfall. Mathew Martoma is the trader who was arrested. Steven Cohen is the owner of the fund and is under SEC investigation for the umpteenth time. Maybe this time it will stick? http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-11-21/business/sns-rt-us-sac-insidertrading-falloutbre8ak1h6-20121121_1_cohen-and-sac-insider-illicit-trades Discussion Item -- Saying Thank You The Thanksgiving season is a time when we all pause, take a breath, and reflect. We give thanks for all of the good things in our lives. Focusing solely on business (we are OFB after all), we should all take time to say thanks. Say thanks to family and friends. They support you so you can continue on. Say thanks to your employees. Without them you cease to exist. Say thanks to customers. Without them you cease to exist. And most importantly, don’t have the business say thank you. Get personal. You say thank you. Tell us what you think. How do you make 30 seconds work for you? Email Tommy or Ken at OpenForBusiness@OnTheHORN.com. Open for Business – Seven days of Fun in Less than an Hour. Click Here to Subscribe in iTunes: Open for Business http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/open-for-business/id533309378?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4