What’s it really like working as a quant in fundamental research at Two Sigma—and how will AI, LLMs, and agentic workflows change quantitative trading strategies? Bill Mann, former Two Sigma fundamental researcher and founder of Harmonic Insights, joins Ethan Kho to break down how hedge funds build edge from widely available data and why “hacker” creativity still matters in systematic investing.Bill shares insights from AQR and Two Sigma, including how proprietary data pipelines become alpha gen...
Aug 19, 2025•39 min
Can you analyze social media for investment decisions? How do hedge funds use Reddit posts, earnings calls, and SEC filings to find alpha? What’s the role of LLMs for financial analysis in 2025? Chris Kantos, Head of Quantitative Research at Alexandria Technology, joins us to explain how the buy side uses natural language processing (NLP), AI for investing, and text-based sentiment data to generate AI alpha signals across all asset classes—from equities to commodities.We dive deep into how Alexa...
Aug 12, 2025•52 min
Financial markets are a game, says Grant Stenger. So how do you win in the financial markets? Grant, a former Jane Street intern and current crypto founder, believes markets are the most competitive game on earth—and he's been training to beat them since high school.From card counting in middle school to landing a hedge fund internship at QuantRes before university, Grant shares how a lifelong obsession with games, poker, and mathematical edge led him to build Kinetic—a decentralized crypto exch...
Aug 05, 2025•50 min
How do you become a solo quant trader and build your own systematic trading business? Robert Carver, ex-head of fixed income at Man AHL—a $63 billion systematic trading hedge fund—shares how he went from managing institutional capital to becoming an independent, full-time quant trader.He reveals the key skills, mindset, and tools needed to succeed in quant trading without working at a big firm, how to create your own quant trading strategies, and why a PhD isn't required to break into systematic...
Jul 29, 2025•44 min
What is edge in trading—and how do hedge funds and quant traders find edge in 2025? According to Agustin Lebron, former quant trader at Jane Street and author of The Laws of Trading, edge is what separates average traders from those who thrive at a top hedge fund. But today, finding edge requires more than just a good model—it demands judgment, adaptability, and a deep understanding of how quant trading firms actually operate.In this episode, Agustin breaks down exactly how quant trading works, ...
Jul 15, 2025•45 min
If venture capital underperforms the public markets, is it still worth the investment? For Avik Ashar, the answer is yes—but not for the reasons you think. Avik, a Principal at Riverwalk Holdings, an India-focused VC firm, argues that most people misunderstand how venture capital works and how to fairly evaluate VC fund performance.Venture capital, he explains, isn’t just about chasing unicorns or short-term IRRs. It’s a strategic investment tool, especially in Asia, used by family offices and c...
Jul 08, 2025•42 min
Is venture capital dead? Not for Guy Horowitz, who boasts 20+ years in the VC ecosystem, holding the title of partner at firms like DTCP, 33N, and ESH.vc. In this episode of Build to Last, we unpack the changing face of early-stage investing and startup funding—from the 2000s hardware boom to the rise of software unicorns, and now the new frontier: AI-first companies. Guy shares battle-tested insights on identifying founder-market fit, navigating VC cycles, and why understanding capital formatio...
Jun 10, 2025•53 min
How will AI affect education? Minh Tran has a lot to say about the future of learning in the age of large language models (LLMs) and generative AI. As the COO of GoodNotes—one of the world’s leading AI-powered note-taking apps—he’s at the forefront of how AI is changing the education system. For Minh, the future of learning is already here: “We need to rethink WHAT we teach, not just HOW we teach,” he says.Before working in edtech, Minh was the Executive Director at Education First, the global l...
May 20, 2025•37 min
Is a finance degree still worth it if you want to become a quant? In this week’s Build to Last episode, quant researcher and YouTuber Dmitri Bianco explains why he calls his own finance undergrad “a big mistake” — and why most quant roles today demand far more math, statistics, and programming than students realize. (The short answer to that first question is: no.)Dmitri shares how he went from a misguided finance major to Head of Quantitative Research at Agora Data, a fintech company — after be...
May 13, 2025•55 min
A second passport isn’t just for shady billionaires or globalist elites — it’s actually a legal, fast-growing strategy used by thousands of wealthy families to unlock global freedom. It’s also the core of a booming global industry that Krista Victorio, Partner at Orience, knows inside and out.On this episode of Build to Last, Krista explains how citizenship-by-investment works — and why families from China, Russia, the Philippines, and (most surprisingly!) the United States are buying their way ...
May 06, 2025•39 min
At no other point in history the #corporate and #academic worlds been so deeply at odds. The former sees the latter as useless bureaucrat over-thinkers, while the latter sees the former as money-driven opportunists placing profit over principle. But Dr. Davide Sola is rallying against this. His experience spans both the #boardroom and the #classroom. Early into his #career, he worked at #McKinsey while simultaneously enrolled as a #Enterprise #Economics PhD student at the University of Torino. "...
Apr 29, 2025•44 min
The startup world is dog eat dog. “Move fast and break things,” so goes the Silicon Valley adage. For Illai Gescheit, this does not have to be the case: “You can still move fast and break things and be a kind person as well,” he says. The unconventional mantra is plastered on his LinkedIn headline. “Kindness is my strategy,” it reads. Indeed, it’s a practice that Illai must commit to in his day-to-day work as a startup advisor. He’s one of the founders of Gescheit & Partners — a global multi...
Apr 24, 2025•54 min
We live in a world of noise. Signals are in abundance. There is too much data, too much fuzz and fluff that makes decision-making a real challenge. It’s issues like these that founder Ryan Manuel is trying to solve. As the founder and CEO of Bilby, his main goal is to use AI and machine learning to automate regulatory and government analysis, turning fuzzy policy signals into real, actionable insight for traders and investors. Ryan’s regulatory analysis software covers the regions where governme...
Apr 15, 2025•46 min
Every week, it seems that there’s always a new set of questions we’re pondering when it comes to AI: How will AI reshape the job market? How close are we to Artificial General Intelligence? Dr. Seth Dobrin, a General Partner at One Infinity Ventures and the founder of Silicon Sands, is here to give some clarity on these issues. What sets Seth apart in the world of AI investing is his commitment to building tech responsibly. Through Silicon Sands (which is a venture studio under One Infinity), Se...
Apr 01, 2025•53 min
Growing up, Dhira Vidhea loved to read and write. She’d devour John Green’s books as a teenager, and eventually wrote her own book titled “The Boy Who Broke In My Window” at age 13. “I always wanted to be an author,” she says. “That was my dream.” But publishing manuscript wasn’t as easy as she first anticipated: None of the literary agents she sent her book to wanted to work with her. From one challenge, a business opportunity arose. Dhira went on to start TinLit, which first started as Indones...
Mar 25, 2025•30 min
One of Europe’s notable private equity success stories started in New York. Meet Keith Breslauer: native to Washington Heights, NYC and now the managing director of Patron Capital, a London-based private equity firm specializing in real estate and property that he founded in 1999. Patron represents leading U.S. and European institutions, endowments, pension funds and family offices, with approximately €5 billion in assets under management.Today's conventional wisdom views America as the Holy Lan...
Mar 18, 2025•44 min
For founder and technologist Daniel Mika, the idea of building the future is as ordinary as the everyday. No surprise, then, that his first foray into the world of artificial intelligence started long before GPT and Grok were en vogue: In 2018, Daniel became co-founded GetDressed, an computer vision-powered fashion stylist, (at the time of launch, he was only 17). Daniel’s work in the startup world continues today, though his exact role has pivoted slightly. Rather than building startups of his ...
Mar 11, 2025•40 min
While many bright minds have their sights set on Silicon Valley, founder Earl Valencia’s vision is set elsewhere: emerging markets, regions like Southeast Asia or Africa where the population is young, where standard national GDP growth is between 5-10%, and where there’s “ so much opportunity still to make change,” he says. Plentina, Earl’s last venture, did exactly that. He raised $5 million for the buy-now-pay later startup servicing emerging markets, and exited successfully in 2024. Before hi...
Feb 25, 2025•45 min
For Kirk McKinney, the idea for starting a business “was an accident.” One a bicycle trip to the dump in his hometown of Westwood, MA led to the business concept for Junk Teens, a youth-led junk removal business he founded at age 15. Five years after their launch, Junk Teens is now making over $1.3 million in annual revenue, and Kirk has been featured in places like the Boston Globe , CBS News , and Entrepreneur Magazine . On the Build to Last podcast, Kirk shares his junk-to-riches story. He al...
Feb 18, 2025•43 min
