3 ms·
Last month an amazing biographical podcast came out describing his personal journey to starting rentech, and the factors that make the business so competitive.
by mushufasa 2y ago
Last month an amazing biographical podcast came out describing his personal journey to starting rentech, and the factors that make the business so competitive.
Certainly worth a listen https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/renaissance-technologies https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/renaissance-technologies
- Schiendelman 2y agoThis is by far my favorite podcast series, I’d recommend the ones on Costco, Amazon, and Nvidia as well.
- arcanemachiner 2y agoAcquired is amazing. They recently did one on Microsoft which is great too.
- crakenzak 2y agoTheir Novo Nordisk one is really great too!
- keiferski 2y agoCame here to recommend this. This podcast is a good overview for RenTech and their other episodes are good for other companies. Especially the Nintendo series. They also did an interview with Charlie Munger right before he died. They have good...timing, for sure.
- javiramos 2y agoThe podcast seems like a death sentence. They did one on Charlie Munger and he died a few weeks after. Jim Simons also died a few weeks after his episode aired.
- bcherny 2y agoI listen to Acquired religiously, but felt this particular episode was pretty weak. They went through Zuckerman's The Man Who Solved the Market [0] chapter by chapter, butchering a few parts because the hosts don't know quant finance well (though they seem to know VC and product very well). I'd recommend just reading the book instead. I'd also recommend Derman's My Life as a Quant [1] for a broader take at other firms around the same time that Renaissance was taking off. [0] https://a.co/d/6x7ALkr https://a.co/d/6x7ALkr [1] https://a.co/d/5vWBOce https://a.co/d/5vWBOce
- mgfist 2y agoIt's tough because of how little material is out there. I will say, I thought their hypothesis on why the fees are so high was very astute. Can't know if it's true or not, but it feels very compelling.
- bcherny 2y agoThe wealth transfer hypothesis I didn’t really get, but their other hypothesis that it’s a way to nudge non-employees out of the fund is probably right.
- mgfist 2y agoI think "wealth transfer" is a poor description. Really it's just a way to ensure they have enough money to compensate (very highly) less tenured employees, and to align incentives better (i.e. not just being paid because you're already rich and tenured).
- bcherny 2y agoYes, I agree. That's a less loaded way of explaining it.