Join Abraham Thomas, co-founder of Quandl and a pioneer in alternative data, as he shares his incredible journey from experiencing war in Kuwait to thriving in the hedge fund world in Japan. He discusses the resilience gained from overcoming adversity and its impact on hiring practices. Discover how Quandl was born from the frustration over data accessibility, leading to innovative models that transformed financial data provisioning. Abraham also reflects on the future of alternative data and its growing significance in modern investing.
Abraham Thomas's early experiences during the Gulf War profoundly shaped his risk tolerance and perspective on life's priorities.
His transition from India to Japan and work at a hedge fund significantly developed his analytical finance skills and risk management understanding.
The founding of Quandl aimed to simplify data access in finance, ultimately evolving alternative data from a niche advantage to a standard expectation.
Deep dives
Impact of Early Experiences
Having grown up during the first Gulf War in Kuwait, the speaker reflects on how this tumultuous experience shaped his perspective on life and decision-making. At just 12 years old, he witnessed the drastic shift from normalcy to living in a war zone, providing him with a profound understanding of the fragility of existence. This formative period instilled a sense of risk tolerance and an awareness of what truly matters in life, making issues such as financial markets seem less significant in comparison. He suggests that such challenging experiences enhance resilience, particularly for those who face adversity, indicating that a diverse background can offer unique advantages in professional settings.
Transition to Hedge Fund Life
The speaker's move from India to Japan marked a significant change in his career, as he found himself working at a hedge fund shortly after the Asian financial crisis. He describes his role, which entailed various tasks from data management to building quantitative models, as fundamental in developing his skills in analytical finance. This position allowed him to observe the cultural nuances of the Japanese market while gaining hands-on experience in the emerging field of quantitative trading. The speaker emphasizes that this time was not just instructive technically, but also cultivated his understanding of risk management within the dynamic environment.
Founding Quandl
The idea for Quandl emerged from the founders' desire to overcome the difficulties of acquiring and analyzing financial data. Both founders had experienced firsthand the inefficiencies in the financial data market, realizing that data acquisition often consumed more time than actual analysis and decision-making. They aimed to create a platform where users could easily access needed datasets without the complexities tied to traditional terminals. Their innovative approach differentiated Quandl from established competitors, focusing on providing data in a user-friendly manner while allowing users to work with the tools they preferred.
Market Evolution in Alternative Data
The conversation shifts to the evolution of alternative data over recent years, emphasizing its growing importance in financial decision-making. As alternative data sources have proliferated, the speaker discusses how Quandl positioned itself not just as a data provider but as a marketplace for discovering and evaluating these data sets. They recognized early on that establishing a marketing-driven approach was pivotal to attract both data suppliers and consumers. By hosting conferences and educational initiatives, Quandl actively contributed to shaping the market and broadening the understanding of alternative data among various stakeholders.
Future of Alternative Data
Looking ahead, the speaker posits that alternative data will transform from an innovative advantage into a standard expectation in investment decision-making. He notes that as more investors recognize the potential of alternative data, it is increasingly being integrated into traditional financial analysis. The landscape is expected to witness consolidation, wherein a few dominant players will emerge in the marketplace as the data becomes less exclusive and more standardized. The speaker believes that alternative data's integration will reflect a broader trend where historical data sets, once seen as novel, become vital for informed and competitive investment strategies.
In this episode I speak to Abraham Thomas, co-founder of Quandl.
In our conversation Abraham and I discuss his fascinating life, from being caught in the first Gulf War, to joining a hedge fund in Japan, to founding and building up Quandl, one of the key players in the alternative data space, to selling it to Nasdaq in 2018.
In other news, I have written a blogpost around the past, present and future of alternative data, a link to which can be found in the Episode Web Page section or here: https://www.exabel.com/blog/alternative-data-the-past-present-and-future
