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We are launching Friday Only Club!

Oscar de la Renta chose not to show at New York Fashion Week and instead streamed on Amazon. Is Amazon a suitable forum for a luxury brand? CEO Alex Bolen said, "I'm not sure. But we have to experiment with new ways to get our story out." https://lnkd.in/g4rZMxyb We launched our funds when Covid started and with the halt in travel and tough fund raising environment for emerging managers, we focused on performance and experimented with new ways to reach out to allocators, namely Linkedin posts and YouTube videos which can now be binge-watched on  www.quantflix.com . True, some people say that with the positive fund returns last year for both our long-only equity and multi-strategy funds, and the China fund outperforming its benchmark by its annualized double-digit aim, it was expected that we would pass the $100m mark. But when times are bad, most new investment monies went to well-known funds that are much bigger with a marketing budget that we cannot afford. So every lit...
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Significance of an Ecosystem

I might have to get a new phone. Not because it's not working - I use it to film my QuantflixTV videos and the combination of Leica lenses and AI technology make me look better than I actually am - but because I can't get a new phone cover to replace my chipped and cracked one. RIP God of Fortune, you've done a great job for GAO Capital.


In short, there is no supporting ecosystem in Singapore if you don't have an iPhone or Samsung.

The importance of the ecosystem is often overlooked until people are stuck in the system. There has been a wave of family offices and asset management firms setting up in Singapore and they have found it difficult to hire Singaporeans or Permanent Residents for key roles. Some expats who have Employment Passes don't want to stay because their spouses no longer can work with their Dependent Passes. How many Singaporeans are there with more than 10 years relevant investment experience preferably global, worked in a bulge bracket investment bank or one of the top hedge funds, can speak (fluently) more than one language, and willing to help set up a new office with no existing infrastructure?

I'm fortunate that I am Singaporean, somehow made a bunch of extremely qualified Singaporeans believe it's great to work with me ('Join the Chau Way!'), and convinced the non-locals that Singapore is not too hot to live in (and played the friendship card excessively - "Remember I bought roast duck from Chinatown when you botched that turkey during Thanksgiving? Now you have to move your whole family from New York.")

One of our clients said he was confused why he could get thousands of applicants from the top universities for his family office in his home country, yet couldn't find anyone suitable within the half dozen resumes he received here. Same reason why Huawei is the top seller of cellphones in China, and I can't find a phone cover here in Singapore.

#hedgefund #localtalent #singapore #ecosystem #cellphonecase



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We are launching Friday Only Club!

Oscar de la Renta chose not to show at New York Fashion Week and instead streamed on Amazon. Is Amazon a suitable forum for a luxury brand? CEO Alex Bolen said, "I'm not sure. But we have to experiment with new ways to get our story out." https://lnkd.in/g4rZMxyb We launched our funds when Covid started and with the halt in travel and tough fund raising environment for emerging managers, we focused on performance and experimented with new ways to reach out to allocators, namely Linkedin posts and YouTube videos which can now be binge-watched on  www.quantflix.com . True, some people say that with the positive fund returns last year for both our long-only equity and multi-strategy funds, and the China fund outperforming its benchmark by its annualized double-digit aim, it was expected that we would pass the $100m mark. But when times are bad, most new investment monies went to well-known funds that are much bigger with a marketing budget that we cannot afford. So every lit...
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Influx of family offices from China

I was talking with friends about the extremely impressive resumes - did these kids start as child-labor when they were 12?! - I get from students these days and remarked, "I'm glad I was First Gen". Many US colleges have priority admissions set aside for those whose parents did not have a college education. One friend who also went to an Ivy-League said, "I'm sure you were just good, because many applicants from Singapore were also First Gen twenty, thirty years ago." Even if I was in fact admitted because I was a First Gen, should I feel that I might not have been as good as my peers? Should any advantage in the system make achievements less worthy? I'd say to take every advantage there is as long as it has not been obtained unfairly (or illegally - like photoshopping your face on a crew athlete). After getting in the school, you still have to study hard to get that summa cum laude. Feeling bad about getting that promotion because you think the firm nee...
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The First Edition of Friday Only Club!

  I got a latte art portrait of me today. It's not a "big deal" but shows the barista cares (at 9am in the morning). (No comments on how I look, especially my Bombastic Hair*, unless you look better with no Photoshop in your mid-40s with no makeup). Maybe some would say this is just business, the cafe is trying to get you to buy more coffee. But this is what differentiates a human barista from the Nespresso machine. Recently with year-end celebrations, New Year and Chinese New Year parties, I have been going to fancy wine dinners. I do appreciate the effort, and savings, but after talking to fellow investor friends I realized that sometimes we just need a cool place to chillax and share ideas (aka complain about investments that didn't work out). We can even bring our own wine. This coming Friday Only Club at Gao Cap Bar we'll have an expert talk (while drinking) about how to start an art collection, because a client asked me about displaying art in humid Singapor...
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