Looking for Pro firm
- Thread starter Chuck Krug
- Start date
Securities Laws Compliance
With limited exception, placement agents must be registered as broker-dealers with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It is also important for placement agents to be registered or licensed, as applicable, with all relevant state and local authorities (although many of such requirements are preempted by registration at the federal level). Finally, the professionals
within a placement agent must have appropriate licenses, as required or issued by the SEC, FINRA, states, or local authorities. As such, fund managers should seek appropriate representations in the Placement Agreement to ensure that the placement agent and its professionals are registered and licensed.
http://www.morganlewis.com/documents/VCPEFdeskbook/VCPEFdeskbook_WorkingWithPlacementAgents.pdf
With limited exception, placement agents must be registered as broker-dealers with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It is also important for placement agents to be registered or licensed, as applicable, with all relevant state and local authorities (although many of such requirements are preempted by registration at the federal level). Finally, the professionals
within a placement agent must have appropriate licenses, as required or issued by the SEC, FINRA, states, or local authorities. As such, fund managers should seek appropriate representations in the Placement Agreement to ensure that the placement agent and its professionals are registered and licensed.
http://www.morganlewis.com/documents/VCPEFdeskbook/VCPEFdeskbook_WorkingWithPlacementAgents.pdf
Are you suggesting Jack Sparrow is not registered or licensed? LOL.
It's not easy being a pirate, or a fund allocator.
Quote from Maverick74:
Are you suggesting Jack Sparrow is not registered or licensed? LOL.
It's not easy being a pirate, or a fund allocator.
It's been said early on and repeatedly that it's an introduction we make, via mutual trusted relationship developed over the years. We are traders, not in the allocation line of biz ourselves. None of this is hidden, in fact it's pretty much plain as day via the language used and / or poking around for two minutes. Same thing with various other areas that potentially create useful trader connections: prime brokerage, hedge fund legal counsel, etcetera. It has all grown organically, as has the site itself.
As for the pen names, the whole thing started out as a side experiment w/ posting market observations and grew from there. Handles were natural and helped provide a level of discretion, certainly not a foreign concept to ET or to financial blogging in general. Haven't gotten around to flipping the switch on real name reveal yet. Haven't felt the need. We'll do it when we feel inclined.
Actually it is pretty easy. The 'oops' part was, after being away for so long, forgetting how ET threads can feel like wandering into a dwarf mosh pit.
Hey, I'm just shooting the shit with you. That's what message boards are for. If you didn't want dialogue I guess you didn't have to post here. So obviously you guys are being compensated for this. I'm curious where that is coming from. I probably know the allocator you are working with. Let me ask you something, if someone contacts you looking to do this kind of business, are you going to give them your real names are pretend you're still Jack Sparrow. All kidding aside, most people want to know who they are working with.
I know, it's cool. Last comment in jest. Of course dialogue is fine. Just one of those things where it's like "Oh man, yeah, this is what ET was like." Memories of forgotten years past.
Yes, of course. Our names aren't really a secret, and anyone who wants / needs to know can know. The handles just became comfortable, and kind of took on a life of their own.
Re, compensation, we have people we know and like who do good things for traders, and don't have much of a presence in the broader financial world as they are discreet, and we discovered (again, organically, pretty much by accident) that there was a demand from traders unaware of this stuff, that we could step into via an expanding role as research hub, resource center and traders-helping-traders type platform in general that naturally fit with what we are already doing.
It's our long run ambition to build a world class multi-strategy macro and equity shop w/ potential 10 figures in AUM, maybe even our own funds of funds too, with some high end software development tools thrown in the mix (which we are extremely excited about funding and developing, ball already rolling there); via the process of amassing resources and figuring out steps along the way, leveraging contacts etc, it was an easy decision to say "Hey, since so many traders and managers we met are like us and asking for many of the things we've figured out or the resources we've drummed up, why not help the good peeps we work with and put this stuff out there for them too." The net result involves soft dollar compensation for us but also plenty of other aspects of it too, including the simple benefit of expanding Mercenary as a unique platform for pro to semipro traders with all kinds of long-run benefits and expansion possibilities. We think big and this is just another step along the way.
OK so compensation? Look, the reason I ask is, nobody needs an intro to talk to these capital allocators. I know tons of them offering the deal you are and I'm not shy about giving that info out. You obviously are getting paid somewhere. My guess is it has to be coming from the trader. These intro deals are not like getting an "in" at Goldman. It would be like me starting a service on ET doing an intro service for Bright Trading. Nobody needs an intro to talk to Don Bright. LOL. This is the part I'm still having trouble with.
Just responded as you were writing this reply (or rather was editing the post for expansion as you replied)... we don't take anything from traders on the allocation deal. We get sponsorship dollars from the allocator, but that is really less about trying to make a lot of money off this aspect of things and more about them compensating us for the effort of putting materials out there and facilitating the introductions (which, really, isn't a lot of effort at the end of the day).
Think of Mercenary as a sort of future Facebook of trading for semi-professional to professional traders. The best research, the best tools, all kinds of killer shit that we are basically developing for ourselves and putting out for the trading community at large because why not, it's a cool thing to do and because it facilitates the process of growth as revenue streams allow for more R&D while keeping our trading capital streams stable and separate. In some ways the allocator intro stuff is more of a friendly networking and relationship building exercise than anything -- it really takes up a very tiny pie slice relative to our time and revenues -- but in the grander vision scheme of things it's part of building something massive. That's the conceptual picture of it.
OK, I get all that. Seems a little all over the place. But who knows. Could be interesting. The whole allocator thing is just strange to me because these allocators are the easiest people in the business to talk to and hook up. I can get one now on the phone faster then I can get Don Bright on the phone.
I'm just having a hard time seeing the value you provide there. For example if you told me you were a recruiter in Chicago or NY and could get me one on one interviews at the top prop firms, now that would be something. Those are hard tickets to get. And that would be a value added service. But an allocator? LOL.
Well it's the same with all kinds of things. You can open up the phone book and find a lawyer in 30 seconds. You can go to Morning Star or wherever and find a mutual fund manager to handle your 401K with zero effort. You can throw a rock in Hollywood and hit a screenwriter who will do your movie idea, etc and so on.
But how many of these guys are great at what they do, or even good at what they do, versus somewhere between mediocre and shitty? How do you know if who you've found is truly high quality, or heck, even legit?
This is partly why this thread caught me by surprise. What we're doing didn't seem the natural subject of a grand inquisition (but then again, as I said, I'd forgotten what ET is like). We have some good relationships with some very sharp people, at the top of their field in terms of what they do for traders. As said, there was an organic demand, verified long before we decided to come to ET. (Mercenary has been around for over two years). So when we decided to sponsor an ET forum, we said hey, why not put this out there too. It's just part of traders helping traders.
If no one gave a shit - if everybody was of the "hey I could pick up a phone myself" mindset - then no interest would be generated. But what you do know, interest is being generated. We get a regular flow of inquiries and facilitated some very cool developments thus far. Why the interest? Who knows why. Maybe because guys haven't thought about it. Maybe because there are a lot of "Better Call Saul" shady providers out there and people like the idea of a source they know is quality, having already trusted our judgment and rep for quality in other ways. Who knows. It's just something we put out there because it seemed a cool thing to do and empirical observation supported the idea.