WEBVTT - Building the Ultimate Finance Community

0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:03.600
<v Speaker 1>You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and

0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:07.160
<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovich. Well. Maritas is a company

0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:09.560
<v Speaker 1>and app founded by two Wall Street veterans. The aimed

0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:12.879
<v Speaker 1>to a democratize Wall Street recruiting and more. The platform

0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:15.960
<v Speaker 1>simulates the experience of working at a fast paced hedge

0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:18.159
<v Speaker 1>fund on your mobile device. At least that's what the

0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:20.759
<v Speaker 1>company's website says. So we want to find out more.

0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:24.520
<v Speaker 1>We welcome Neil Dotta, chief executive officer at Maritas, joining

0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:27.400
<v Speaker 1>us via zoom in New York City. Neil, um, good

0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:29.040
<v Speaker 1>to have you here. Tell us a bit about your

0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:32.720
<v Speaker 1>company and what you guys do. Hi, Carole, Mike, thank

0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:35.599
<v Speaker 1>you for having me so. My my background is I've

0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:40.320
<v Speaker 1>been an institutional allocator to hedge funds for last fifteen years. Um,

0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:42.760
<v Speaker 1>really having exposure to some of the most well known,

0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:46.800
<v Speaker 1>best performing hedge fund managers in the space, and uh,

0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:49.000
<v Speaker 1>over the course of that time, you know, it became

0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:52.720
<v Speaker 1>abundantly obvious that the folks that are in the position

0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:57.080
<v Speaker 1>of making investment decisions and managing money for folks that

0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:00.160
<v Speaker 1>are you know, whether they're they're firemen or police officers

0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:04.160
<v Speaker 1>or institutional investors like myself. It's not necessarily the people

0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:06.720
<v Speaker 1>that have the most talent, but a lot of times

0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:09.200
<v Speaker 1>it's the folks that had the best resumes and found

0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:13.840
<v Speaker 1>themselves in the position to uh manage that capital. And

0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:15.840
<v Speaker 1>really what we wanted to do with Maritas was to

0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:19.400
<v Speaker 1>kind of create a platform that democratizes this access that

0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:23.080
<v Speaker 1>forever has been limited to folks who have specific resumes,

0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:26.080
<v Speaker 1>came to specific schools, um So that's the platform in

0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:28.520
<v Speaker 1>a nutshell, and really what we do is we extend

0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:34.119
<v Speaker 1>this access to folks regardless of their ability to financier

0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:37.760
<v Speaker 1>trading or their actual education. So it's a free app

0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:41.280
<v Speaker 1>that you download that allows you to simulate working at

0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:44.120
<v Speaker 1>a at a hedge fund and trading equities and crypto,

0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:48.120
<v Speaker 1>and your experience generates an alpha score and we take

0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:50.280
<v Speaker 1>that alpha score and we allow you to apply for

0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:53.640
<v Speaker 1>jobs on Wall Street with that score. So it's really

0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:56.680
<v Speaker 1>bringing that experience to to everyone through their mobile devices.

0:01:56.760 --> 0:01:58.400
<v Speaker 1>It amost like the journalism tests we have to take

0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:01.200
<v Speaker 1>to get into the part you do it for hedge funds,

0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:02.760
<v Speaker 1>like it gives you a chance to kind of play

0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:06.040
<v Speaker 1>a little bit right and get a score. So people

0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:10.359
<v Speaker 1>can evaluate you. Yeah, exactly. And one thing that was

0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:12.760
<v Speaker 1>kind of you really obvious to me was that you know,

0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:15.799
<v Speaker 1>for I've been managing large pools of capital and my

0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:18.720
<v Speaker 1>my co founder Gabel as well, and we realize that

0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:23.000
<v Speaker 1>even at the scale and scope that we invest, even ourselves,

0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:25.600
<v Speaker 1>we don't actually own our own track record. And it's

0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:28.040
<v Speaker 1>a rare thing to be able to own your own alpha,

0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:31.440
<v Speaker 1>to own your your investment experience. And this is what

0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:34.359
<v Speaker 1>we think we should do to everyone and give everyone

0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:37.639
<v Speaker 1>the opportunity to. You know, whether you're you're a junior

0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:40.799
<v Speaker 1>analyst at a bank and you want to leverage your experience,

0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:44.600
<v Speaker 1>most of the time, your employer owns your actual ideas,

0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:48.160
<v Speaker 1>and we give folks like that and the ability to say, hey,

0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:50.400
<v Speaker 1>this is why I'm talented, and this is why you

0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:52.920
<v Speaker 1>should hire me based upon my talent, not what based

0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:55.960
<v Speaker 1>on my resume says. It's pretty fascinating stuff, Neil, So

0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:58.280
<v Speaker 1>let me let me make sure I'm picturing this right.

0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:01.560
<v Speaker 1>So I log in and I basically can start doing

0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:05.000
<v Speaker 1>some paper trading, and you'll be able to track my

0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:08.040
<v Speaker 1>p and l UH and sort of rank me among

0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:11.920
<v Speaker 1>other traders. Um, what happens if say, my strategy is

0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:15.960
<v Speaker 1>some algorithm, you know, fast twitch type of thing. Uh

0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:19.120
<v Speaker 1>am I able to sort of input input a automated

0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:22.120
<v Speaker 1>strategy into this thing as well. That's a great question,

0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:24.679
<v Speaker 1>and the answers, no, actually, and we we take the

0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:28.160
<v Speaker 1>view that you know, being allocators into these strategies, so

0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:30.920
<v Speaker 1>I know, the folks that you can think of that

0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:33.560
<v Speaker 1>are kind of at the forefront of high frequency and

0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:37.040
<v Speaker 1>systematic trading. We take the view that it's very difficult

0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:40.440
<v Speaker 1>for a typical person to compete against a big ten

0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:44.160
<v Speaker 1>billion dollar hedge fund. So really we're meant for fundamental investing.

0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:47.360
<v Speaker 1>We're meant for people that do you know, research and

0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:51.120
<v Speaker 1>individual companies and take views on things like market share

0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:54.920
<v Speaker 1>and earnings and growth potential. We're not focused on kind

0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:58.440
<v Speaker 1>of day trading or systematic trading because the thinking is

0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:00.800
<v Speaker 1>that that's not a game that at the person can

0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:04.600
<v Speaker 1>succeed that. You know. It's interesting we just talked um Neil,

0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:07.400
<v Speaker 1>Mike and myself about how hedgephones are pushing the sec

0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:12.120
<v Speaker 1>um are are the sec excuse me, is pushing hedge

0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:14.680
<v Speaker 1>funds to share more of their strategies essentially make them

0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:19.240
<v Speaker 1>more transparent. In general, just creating more transparency within the

0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:21.440
<v Speaker 1>hedge fund industry. That would be a good thing in

0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:24.680
<v Speaker 1>terms of individual performances those who work there, and just

0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:26.800
<v Speaker 1>kind of understanding a little bit more of what goes

0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:30.320
<v Speaker 1>on behind the scenes. Sure, it's it's a great point.

0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:33.440
<v Speaker 1>You know, transparency is almost always a good thing. The

0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:35.440
<v Speaker 1>only way I would caveat that is if you go

0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:37.839
<v Speaker 1>back a year and a half to you know, the

0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:41.280
<v Speaker 1>meme stock rally and game stuff. Um, you know something

0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:44.320
<v Speaker 1>that was kind of the byproduct with that was folks

0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:47.640
<v Speaker 1>that were involved in those trades they just made a

0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:50.400
<v Speaker 1>decision that they're not going to do those trades publicly anymore.

0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:54.560
<v Speaker 1>So there's ways to express shorts on companies that you

0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:57.400
<v Speaker 1>expect to fall, but you do it synthetically. So it's

0:04:57.480 --> 0:04:59.719
<v Speaker 1>what's called staying off the tape, so it's not hitting

0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:03.919
<v Speaker 1>thirteen filings thirteen thirteen G filings. And this was actually

0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:06.880
<v Speaker 1>the source of the information that the folks on read

0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:10.200
<v Speaker 1>and used to you know, at tax or and hedge funds.

0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:12.599
<v Speaker 1>So really, I think what what it did was it

0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:17.599
<v Speaker 1>forced these managers to kind of circumvent the public reporting

0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:21.520
<v Speaker 1>that you know, theoretically is and everyone's best interest. YEA

0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:25.599
<v Speaker 1>So now I'm wondering how Maritas makes money off of this.

0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:28.880
<v Speaker 1>It is a free app. I'm guessing the the users,

0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:31.240
<v Speaker 1>the traders get to use it for free and then

0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:33.760
<v Speaker 1>maybe the hedge funds pay for access to to see

0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:38.200
<v Speaker 1>who's doing what. Yeah, exactly, So we're effectively a recruiting platform.

0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:39.920
<v Speaker 1>So the way I like to think of us is

0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:42.279
<v Speaker 1>we're kind of like the n C double A for

0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:46.200
<v Speaker 1>Wall Street, where you you join our platform, you showcase

0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:49.600
<v Speaker 1>your skills, and if your skills happen to match UH

0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:53.280
<v Speaker 1>an employer who finds that valuable, then they'll reach out

0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:55.760
<v Speaker 1>to you directly, and then we'll get paid on the

0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:58.400
<v Speaker 1>recruiting fee that the employer will pay us. Hey, new,

0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:02.279
<v Speaker 1>how does this maybe help create more diversity when it

0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:05.520
<v Speaker 1>comes to financial firms hedge funds specifically, because that is

0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:07.479
<v Speaker 1>certainly something we've talked about a lot over the last

0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:11.800
<v Speaker 1>couple of years, and well, there's progress being made, there's

0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:13.640
<v Speaker 1>a lot a long way to go. So how might

0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:16.479
<v Speaker 1>what you guys are doing help with that? Can you

0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:20.120
<v Speaker 1>make it kind of color blind, um, sex blind? Like

0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:23.160
<v Speaker 1>can you or gender blind? Can you do that so

0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:27.600
<v Speaker 1>that we may be up the up the diversity anti sure,

0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:30.800
<v Speaker 1>great question. And if you think of the way recruiting

0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:33.720
<v Speaker 1>is done at hedge funds and big banks, it really

0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:37.080
<v Speaker 1>hasn't changed in the last hundred years. Um. It's effectively

0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:41.039
<v Speaker 1>a network of who you know and how well you're connected,

0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:45.320
<v Speaker 1>and those are the metrics that typically place people, particularly

0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:49.239
<v Speaker 1>in most highest income roles like portfolio manager and analysts.

0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:51.479
<v Speaker 1>So we take the view that it should be a

0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:54.440
<v Speaker 1>democratized system that should be based solely on your talent.

0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:57.440
<v Speaker 1>So through us, we don't care what you look like,

0:06:57.520 --> 0:06:59.400
<v Speaker 1>We don't care what your resume says, we don't even

0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:02.719
<v Speaker 1>care where you to school. We only care about your ideas,

0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:05.640
<v Speaker 1>and those ideas can can potentially get you paid or

0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:09.520
<v Speaker 1>get you recruited. So it actually does level the playing field.

0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:12.000
<v Speaker 1>And what I think about is, you know, whether you're

0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:15.800
<v Speaker 1>you know, as we've heard many times, you know, certain

0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:19.720
<v Speaker 1>folks are steered towards sales and marketing roles, and certain

0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:23.400
<v Speaker 1>folks are steered towards for fullio management roles. If you're

0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:27.000
<v Speaker 1>if you're you know, a marketing associate and you happen

0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:29.880
<v Speaker 1>to have great trading ideas, you can prove you have

0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:32.360
<v Speaker 1>ideas and then leverage that into your next role. All right,

0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:33.720
<v Speaker 1>next time you come on there, we're going to find

0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:35.800
<v Speaker 1>out about the custom score that you got generated. I'm

0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:38.560
<v Speaker 1>assuming you did a test and we'd love to hear um.

0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:41.240
<v Speaker 1>Keep us, uh, stay in touch, let us know how

0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:44.160
<v Speaker 1>this is going. Kneel Data the chief executive officer Maritas,

0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:46.800
<v Speaker 1>joining us via Zoom in New York City