The Hedgineer Podcast

In this insightful discussion, Jonathan Regenstein, the AI leader at Snowflake with expertise in data science and financial services, dives into the powerful influence of data sharing in finance. He highlights Snowflake Marketplace's role in simplifying the consumption of alternative data. The conversation shifts to the debate over the AI runtime location—should it be within Snowflake or orchestrated externally? Jonathan also emphasizes the importance of robust evaluation frameworks to ensure AI projects are driven by commercial outcomes rather than just technical wins.

Lucas Rooney, an investor and technologist, shares insights on building a hedge fund from the ground up. He discusses the vital '0 to 1' journey, emphasizing strategic tech decisions and recruiting top talent with clear vision. AI's impact on fund management is a hot topic, as Lucas explains how it reshapes data handling and the capture of intellectual property. The implications of AI on compensation structures are also explored, particularly how firms must adapt when knowledge can be instantly codified.

Beyond the AI Hype with Jason StrimpelIn this episode of The Hedgineer Podcast, host Michael Watson sits down with Jason Strimpel, founder of PyQuant News, long-time Pythonista, and AI enthusiast.They dive deep into the practical and philosophical implications of artificial intelligence in both asset management and daily life. They break down how the agentic loop works with the Anthropic Agent SDK, the components of good evaluation frameworks, and even how to talk to your kids about AI Key topics covered in this episode:Drugs, Sex, and AI: Jason shares his thoughts for new parents: the three things you now need to talk to your kids about are drugs, sex, and AI. Michael and Jason then discuss the difficulty of explaining the difference between humans and AI-powered avatars or toys to children.The "Agentic Loop": The discussion breaks down the simplicity and power of the agentic loop, identifying it as the "core substrate" of modern agentic frameworks. This framework allows a language model to loop, use tools, and determine when to exit to solve complex problems."Evals are the Product": Michael and Jason iterate on the concept that a robust set of evaluations is the real product. If you can use evals to demonstrate that an agent has harnessed intelligence to solve a specific problem space, you "own that problem".AI vs. Python's Rise: They draw parallels between the current AI boom and the rise of Python in the early 2010s. Both technologies were initially met with skepticism for being "black box" interpreted systems, yet they unlocked massive productivity boosts.Capital Allocation and Moats: The conversation tackles the modern challenge of allocating capital and defending a "software moat" when new AI tools and infrastructure are being commoditized by hyperscalers at an incredible speed.The PyQuant News Story: Jason shares the origin story of his popular PyQuant newsletter, which started as a personal WordPress site for bookmarking research papers and grew into a major resource for the quantitative finance community.Hosted by Michael Watson, The Hedgineer Podcast dives into AI technology and data in the hedge fund, asset management, and prop trading space.Follow The Hedgineer Podcast:YouTube: (https://www.youtube.com/@hedgineer)LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/company/90976838)Twitter: (https://x.com/hedgineering)Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/hedgineer/)Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to stay updated on our latest episodes!Hedgineer.io Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this conversation, Prashanth Rao, an AI engineer at Kuzu with a wealth of knowledge in graph databases, reveals the groundbreaking features of Kuzu. He explains how its columnar, strictly-typed architecture enhances query speed and scalability. Delving into knowledge graphs, Prashanth discusses how large language models (LLMs) streamline graph construction from unstructured data and enable seamless querying via natural language. Insights into integrating Kuzu with existing databases and the future roadmap of the technology make this a must-listen for AI and data enthusiasts!

Rusty Conover, a data engineering ace and prolific DuckDB extension creator, delves into the transformative power of DuckDB, emphasizing its speed and simplicity. He explains how the in-process architecture challenges traditional big data systems and explores the synergy with Apache Arrow. Rusty also shares insights on his 15 extensions, including Airport for data integration, and discusses the future of open table formats like Iceberg and Delta Lake. The conversation reveals DuckDB's potential to revolutionize analytics and replace complex ETL processes.

From Viral Reddit Tool to Enterprise AI: The OpenBB Story | S2E2Welcome back to Season 2 of The Hedgineer Podcast, where host Michael Watson talks data, AI, and technology in the hedge fund and asset management space.In this episode, Michael sits down with Didier Lopes, the founder of OpenBB, for a conversation that started five years ago during the meme stock boom. Michael reached out to Didier in 2021 after he shared his "Gamestonk Terminal" on r/wallstreetbets. Michael reached out to Didier if he was interested in a job on his team at Citadel but Didier had other ideas. That initial LinkedIn message from Michael ended up in the pitch deck that helped Didier raise nearly $9 million for his company and the rest is history.Didier recounts his journey from being a software engineer who automated his personal investment research to becoming the creator of a massively popular open-source project. The Gamestonk Terminal went viral on WallStreetBets and Hacker News, gaining 4,000 GitHub stars in less than 24 hours by cleverly aggregating the free API tiers from hundreds of different data vendor and has evolved into what OpenBB is today.Join us as we dive into the evolution of a viral tool into a sophisticated enterprise platform and explore the disruptive forces reshaping the financial data landscape.In this episode, you will learn about:The Origin Story: How a canceled flight during the COVID-19 pandemic led to the creation of the Gamestonk Terminal.From CLI to Enterprise: The strategic pivot from a command-line tool for retail investors to a customizable, SDK-first workspace for financial firms (and then possibly back to CLI with agents).The Data Vendor's Dilemma: A fascinating discussion on the conflict facing companies like FactSet and Capital IQ, whose UI and terminal businesses are threatened by the rise of AI and direct data access through protocols like MCP (Model Context Protocol).The Future of Workflows: Michael explains how he uses AI agents like Claude Code combined with CLI tools to build powerful, autonomous systems for everything from risk management to analyzing entire enterprise data warehouses.The Autonomous Firm: A look into a future where AI enables multi-billion dollar asset managers to operate with fewer than ten people.The Rise of "Acqui-hires": Why the next wave of M&A might value a team's ability to leverage AI far more than the IP they've built.This is episode is for anyone at the intersection of finance, data science, and artificial intelligence.Hedgineer.ioFollow The Hedgineer Podcast:YouTube: (https://www.youtube.com/@hedgineer)LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/company/90976838)Twitter: (https://x.com/hedgineering)Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/hedgineer/) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to the Hedgineer Podcast!We're kicking off Season 2 with one of our favorite guests, Thomas Li, Co-founder and CEO of Daloopa (https://hubs.ly/Q03C7TSR0).In this episode, we delve into the significant advancements Daloopa has made, including its groundbreaking announcement with Anthropic FIS and its integration into OpenAI. Thomas shares how Daloopa's high-quality, error-free financial data is the key to unlocking the true power of AI for financial analysts. By plugging its verified database into Large Language Models (LLMs), Daloopa is eliminating the critical problem of "hallucination," where AI generates incorrect numbers. This opens up analytical workflows that were previously impossible.In This Episode, We Discuss:Daloopa's core mission: A relentless focus on accuracy (over 99.9%), comprehensiveness, and speed in financial data.The "Hallucination Problem": Why LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude often fail at financial analysis by generating wrong numbers from the internet.Unlocking New Workflows: How AI with reliable data enables analysts to create deep research reports, summarize 150 earnings calls before the market opens, or run LBO analyses on entire portfolios instantly.A Real-World Example: How a PM used the technology to generate a comprehensive report on the impact of tariffs across all reporting companies before the market opened—a task previously considered impossible.The Future of Pod Shops: How AI impacts hedge fund strategy by increasing a portfolio manager's "at-bats" and "slugging".Behind the Scenes: The story of the Daloopa and Anthropic FIS partnership, rooted in a mutual focus on data quality and solving real customer problems.The "Conference Problem": A look into Daloopa's research on creating a true AI agent inside Excel to assist analysts in real-time during management meetings.About Our Guest: Thomas Li is the Co-founder and CEO of Daloopa. This company has cemented itself as the highest quality data source for company-specific financials and KPIs. Daloopa is trusted by analysts at the world's leading long-short pod shops and multi-manager funds.Hosted by Michael Watson, The Hedgineer Podcast dives into AI technology and data in the hedge fund, asset management, and prop trading space.Follow The Hedgineer Podcast:YouTube: (https://www.youtube.com/@hedgineer)LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/company/90976838)Twitter: (https://x.com/hedgineering)Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/hedgineer/)Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to stay updated on our latest episodes!Hedgineer.io Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Special Announcement: Kicking Off Season 2!In this season 2 kickoff episode, host Michael Watson welcomes listeners back for the second season of The Hedgineer Podcast, the go-to source for discussions on AI, data, and technology within asset management, hedge fund, and prop trading space.Get ready for an exciting new season featuring a lineup of entrepreneurs and thought leaders. The season kicks off with a return guest, Thomas Li, the CEO of Daloopa, to discuss the significant changes in the AI and data landscape since his last appearance.Michael also shares the evolution of Hedgineer from a passion project podcast into a thriving company that builds data platforms for a growing list of clients. He details how Hedgineer is leveraging AI tools, such as Claude Code, to accelerate client onboarding and software development, emphasizing the increasing importance of expertise in the age of AI.On a personal note, Michael shares the joys of becoming a father, life in New York City with his daughter, and highlights from a recent family trip to Spain's Basque Country and Bordeaux, France. Join us for a season of insightful conversations, technological deep dives, and personal growth.We are incredibly excited for the new topics, guests, and conversations we have lined up.Listen to the full special announcement now and get ready for an awesome new season! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Christina Qi, founder of Databento and former hedge fund manager, discusses her journey from finance to data innovation. She highlights the critical need for high-quality, real-time market data tailored for machine learning applications. The conversation explores the challenges posed by traditional data vendors and the rise of prosumer-type data consumers. They also delve into the influence of platforms like Reddit versus Twitter, emphasizing the importance of genuine content in building finance communities and addressing the evolving landscape of retail investors.

Data is maturing at an incredible rate. In turn, the value of data is increasing as new strategies and productization continues to evolve. In episode 15, Eagle Alpha CEO Niall Hurley, discusses the changes and developments in the alternative data space.Niall highlights emergence of corporates, often times b2b SASS companies, realizing new high margin revenue opportunities by monetizing their data by working with companies like Eagle Alpha to deliver unique insights to their clients. By allowing EA to take on the compliance and economic feasibility testing of bringing new data sets to market, Niall is at the tip of the spear for bringing new insights into the market place faster and helping make better capital allocation decisions.Historically new data sets are brought to market by an entire entity whose business model is to resell data (Think 1010, Yodlee, etc, or to create new data sets as an aggregator, think Yipit, MScience, etc). It is rare for a corporate to sell direct in a b2c model. It's growing increasingly more challenging to figure out compliance, difficult to find distribution unions, and is not always a significant enough revenue opportunity to justify the resources required to execute.However, Niall believe change is among us his company is positioned well to act as a market place for the high managing, orthogonal revenue opportunities for corporates to monetize their data.Additional topics include:The exploration of new data categories and the continued support for data delivery and go-to-market strategies.Advancements made by quantitative and multi-strategy funds in utilizing alternative data, and the challenges faced by smaller funds in adopting these data sourcesThe need for a robust data infrastructure and platform to effectively integrate and analyze alternative dataIs there a need for open-source solutions in risk modeling?.It’s all here in this incredible episode of the Hedgineer Podcast. Listen here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.