🔴Leveraging His Network Toward Success (w/Chris Alexander)

Chris Alexander, founder of Macro Link Agency, joins Roger Hirst to discuss how he developed a powerful network of financial industry professionals. Alexander talks about how he got his break in the finance world, how he eventually monetized that network, and the unique perspective he has as the “Jerry Maguire of the hedge fund industry.” This video is excerpted from a piece published on Real Vision on February 12, 2019 entitled, “The Future of Macro Hedge Funds.” Watch more Real Vision™ videos: http://po.st/RealVisionVideos Subscribe to Real Vision™ on YouTube: http://po.st/RealVisionSubscribe Watch more by starting your 14-day free trial here: https://rvtv.io/2J3Jz24 About How I Got My Start in Finance: In this series, legends of the financial industry tell the stories of how they got their starts. About Real Vision™: Real Vision™ is the destination for the world’s most successful investors to share their thoughts about what’s happening in today's markets. Think: TED Talks for Finance. On Real Vision™ you get exclusive access to watch the most successful investors, hedge fund managers and traders who share their frank and in-depth investment insights with no agenda, hype or bias. Make smart investment decisions and grow your portfolio with original content brought to you by the biggest names in finance, who get to say what they really think on Real Vision™. Connect with Real Vision™ Online: Twitter: https://rvtv.io/2p5PrhJ Instagram: https://rvtv.io/2J7Ddlw Facebook: https://rvtv.io/2NNOlmu Linkedin: https://rvtv.io/2xbskqx Leveraging His Network Toward Success (w/Chris Alexander)    / realvisiontelevision   Transcript: For the full transcript visit: https://rvtv.io/2J3Jz24 CHRIS ALEXANDER: Came to New York, I was here on a business trip. And I saw the city, and it seemed as dissimilar to home as anything I'd ever seen. And I thought to myself, money comes and goes. I may make it or lose it. But if I moved there, I would always have these stories and the adventures of that whole bright lights, big city, the thing that's as opposite to my hometown in California as possible. And my ambition at that point was to come here, make some money, and return home. So I came here just to see the world really, and I guess that was in '98. And I got a call from a headhunter at the time who explained to me that I was at the point where if I was interviewing at a place that I didn't want to go or even at Goldman, if somebody asked me, hey, what are the questions that you wanted to ask, I could say, look, these are the questions I wanted you to ask and here's my answers. Which, in the end, after the usual full physical exam at Goldman, I ended up getting the job there to cover all of the places in the US, or all the places in the Northeast that nobody wanted. So Pittsburgh, Hershey, Toronto, Cleveland, Columbus, Valley Forge. I'm missing a few, but it was all the places that you have to get up at 6:00 AM, go to the airport and fly to some place, eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and then get home at about 11:00. So in '03, I took a business trip to Asia, and I had the same impulse that I had when I came to see New York, which was, hey, I'm not sure how that's going to work out, but I want to move there. And if the reentry isn't graceful, who cares? I'll still have the experience. And so I asked for that assignment and was granted it in '04 to cover macro funds. And as you may know, if you live in Asia and you cover macro funds and work at Goldman, you have a very good chance of getting to know a couple of hedge fund founders because they're going to talk to somebody at Goldman, somebody at Morgan Stanley, and somebody who knows what they're doing between dinner time and the Nikkei open. So that decision put me in the frame of getting to know the guys that have their name on the front door of hedge funds. And so I wasn't really able to build out a bigger network than what I had at Goldman. And when they booted me out, when I got to JP, I thought, what I'll do is what I had always aspired to do at Goldman, but the path there was definitely not without obstacles. And at JP, it felt pretty open, at least in equities. That didn't last very long because I wasn't super well appreciated there, and my next move was to SocGen, where it was very clear that the most valuable compensation they had was unfettered access to important people. So that was the first step towards doing something entrepreneurial because it was pretty obvious to me that I may not find another form of employment that's enjoyable. And further, even if I did, those relationships I had would be torn apart at the seams by all the other people that claim to know them. And so I made the decision to set out and do something on my own.