Flash Boys Final Thoughts - Did Anything Actually Change on Wall Street?
So we made it. Thirteen posts covering every chapter of Flash Boys by Michael Lewis. And now the big question: did any of it matter?
Finance
Flash Boys Epilogue - Riding the Wall Street Trail Through Pennsylvania
The book ends the way it started. With a cable buried under American soil and the people who live above it having no clue what it does.
Flash Boys Chapter 8 - The Real Trial of Sergey Aleynikov
This chapter hit me different than the rest of the book. Maybe because Sergey Aleynikov is from the former USSR, same as me. Maybe because I spent 20 years in IT and know what it feels like when non-technical people judge your work. Probably both.
Flash Boys Chapter 7 Part 2 - IEX Goes Live and Goldman Makes a Surprising Move
In Part 1 we talked about the misfits Brad recruited to build IEX. Now we get to the good stuff. They launched it. And then Goldman Sachs did something nobody expected.
Flash Boys Chapter 7 Part 1 - The Misfits Who Built a Fair Stock Exchange
Chapter 7 is called “An Army of One.” And it starts not with trading algorithms or secret cables. It starts with a guy on the subway on September 11, 2001.
Flash Boys Chapter 6 - Building IEX and the 350 Microsecond Speed Bump
Chapter 6 is where everything gets real. Brad and his team stop talking about the problem and start building the solution. They quit their jobs, raise money, hire puzzle solvers, and design a stock exchange from scratch. And the centerpiece of the whole thing is a coil of fiber optic cable stuffed inside a box the size of a shoe.
Flash Boys Chapter 5 - Sergey Aleynikov and Goldman Sachs' Secret Code
This chapter hit me personally. I’m from the former USSR myself. I know people exactly like Sergey Aleynikov. Brilliant programmers who left because the system wouldn’t let them be what they were meant to be. Reading this felt less like a book and more like a story someone told me over tea.
Flash Boys Chapter 4 - How Brad's Team Tracked Wall Street's Hidden Predators
By the end of 2010, Brad’s team had built a weapon. Thor worked. It protected investors from getting front-run by high-frequency traders. But here’s the problem. They had built a defense against an enemy they barely understood.
Flash Boys Chapter 3 - Ronan Ryan and the Telecom Secret Behind HFT
Every person I know who works in IT started from the bottom. Fixing cables, carrying equipment, dealing with angry users. Nobody hands you a corner office in tech. You earn it by touching the actual hardware. And that’s exactly why Ronan Ryan understood something that every Wall Street trader missed.
Flash Boys Chapter 2 - Brad Katsuyama and the Phantom Stock Market Problem
Chapter 2 of Flash Boys is where we meet Brad Katsuyama. And honestly, this is where the book really starts cooking. Because Brad is not some Wall Street hotshot from Goldman Sachs. He’s a Canadian guy from Toronto who ended up in New York almost by accident.
Flash Boys Chapter 1 - The Secret Fiber Optic Cable That Changed Wall Street
Chapter 1 of Flash Boys opens like a heist movie. Two thousand workers are digging across America. They don’t know why. They don’t know what they are building. And they are told to keep their mouths shut.
Flash Boys Introduction - Windows on the World and How Wall Street Changed Forever
Michael Lewis starts “Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt” with one of the best ironies I’ve seen in a finance book. After the 2008 financial crisis, after everything Goldman Sachs did, the only Goldman employee who got arrested was a guy who took something FROM Goldman. Not someone who helped crash the economy. A Russian programmer named Sergey Aleynikov who copied some code.
Flash Boys by Michael Lewis - A Wall Street Revolt Retelling
So I just finished re-reading Flash Boys by Michael Lewis, and honestly, it hits different every time. This book came out in 2014 and people are still arguing about it. That tells you something.
Introduction to PE Part 5: Why We Get Private Equity Wrong
Because it’s so hard to get good data on private equity, people start taking shortcuts. And those shortcuts lead to some big mistakes.
Introduction to PE Part 4: The Business of Data in Private Markets
I already talked about why private companies are so secretive. But there’s a whole industry built on trying to find their secrets anyway.
Introduction to PE Part 3: The Secret World of Private Markets
One of the biggest problems with private companies is that they don’t have to tell you anything. In the stock market, companies have to share their financial reports all the time. But in the private world, there’s no law saying they have to.
Introduction to PE Part 2: The Confusion Between PE and LBO
The words “private equity” get thrown around a lot. But people use them in different ways, and it gets really confusing.
Introduction to PE Part 1: More Than Just Equations
Cyril Demaria started this book because he couldn’t find anything good to read about private equity. Most of what was out there just didn’t make sense. It didn’t match what actually happens in the real world.
Let's Talk About Private Equity: Starting a New Book Series
I’ve been reading a lot of books on finance lately. Most of them are either too simple or way too complicated for anyone who doesn’t have a PhD in math. But I found one that actually makes sense. It’s called “Introduction to Private Equity, Debt and Real Assets” by Cyril Demaria.
Hedge Fund Compliance - Final Thoughts on Jason Scharfman's Guide
We made it. Fifteen posts, twelve chapters, and one very thorough book about hedge fund compliance. If you stuck with this series from beginning to end, thank you. That was a long ride.
Hedge Fund Compliance Chapter 12: Where Compliance Is Headed Next
This is the last real chapter. Scharfman wraps up the book by looking ahead. What trends are shaping hedge fund compliance going forward? What should people in the industry worry about?
Hedge Fund Compliance Chapter 11 Part 2: Cybersecurity and Compliance Technology
This is Part 2 of Chapter 11. If you missed Part 1 about compliance consulting, start there. This half covers the interview with Vinod Paul from Eze Castle Integration. The focus here is cybersecurity, cloud computing, data protection, and disaster recovery for hedge funds.
Hedge Fund Compliance Chapter 11 Part 1: Inside a Compliance Consulting Firm
Chapter 11 is different from everything before it. Instead of explaining rules and frameworks, Scharfman sits down with real people who do compliance work every day. He interviews two compliance service providers and lets them talk about what they actually see in the field.
Hedge Fund Compliance Chapter 10: Six Common Compliance Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Chapter 10 of Scharfman’s book is one of the most practical chapters so far. Instead of explaining rules or regulations, it focuses on six real mistakes hedge funds make with their compliance programs. Let me walk you through all six.
Hedge Fund Compliance Chapter 9: Real Compliance Scenarios and Case Studies
Chapter 9 is where Scharfman stops talking theory and starts showing what compliance looks like in practice. He gives us two hypothetical scenarios (basically role-play conversations) and two real SEC enforcement cases. Each one teaches a lesson about what can go wrong when compliance is treated as an afterthought.
Hedge Fund Compliance Chapter 8: How Investors Check if a Fund Is Compliant
Up until now in this series, we talked about compliance from the hedge fund’s point of view. How they build programs, hire people, write policies. Chapter 8 flips the script. Now we look at it from the investor side. How do investors figure out if a fund’s compliance is actually good?
Hedge Fund Compliance Chapter 7: The Documents Every Hedge Fund Needs
Previous chapters talked about the people and systems behind hedge fund compliance. Chapter 7 shifts focus to paperwork. And yes, I know paperwork sounds boring. But here’s the thing: without proper documentation, a hedge fund’s compliance program basically does not exist. At least not in the eyes of regulators.
Hedge Fund Compliance Chapter 6: When You Need Outside Help - Compliance Consultants
So far in this series we talked about in-house compliance. The people inside a hedge fund who make sure rules are followed. But here’s the thing. Sometimes that’s not enough. Sometimes you need to call in outside help.
Hedge Fund Compliance Chapter 5: How Technology Helps With Compliance
Technology runs everything these days. Hedge funds are no different. Chapter 5 of Scharfman’s book looks at how hedge funds use technology specifically for compliance. Not for trading. Not for making money. For following the rules and keeping records.
Hedge Fund Compliance Chapter 4: Building an In-House Compliance Team
In the last chapter we talked about the Chief Compliance Officer. The person in charge. But here’s the thing. One person can’t do everything. Even the best CCO needs a team. Chapter 4 is about how that team gets built and how the whole thing works together.
Hedge Fund Compliance Chapter 3: The Chief Compliance Officer and What They Actually Do
Every hedge fund needs someone who keeps things legal. That person is the Chief Compliance Officer, or CCO. Chapter 3 of Jason Scharfman’s book breaks down what a CCO actually does, what qualifications they need, and how the whole regulatory reporting process works.
Hedge Fund Compliance Chapter 2: How Hedge Fund Regulation Actually Works
Chapter 2 of Scharfman’s book is all about regulation. Who makes the rules for hedge funds? Who enforces them? And what happens when the regulators actually show up at your door? Let’s break it down.
Hedge Fund Compliance Chapter 1: What Is Hedge Fund Compliance and Why Does It Matter?
Let’s start with the basics. What does “compliance” even mean? In simple words, compliance is how an organization follows the rules. Every industry has rules. Healthcare, construction, science, finance. The government usually writes these rules, but sometimes they come from other places too.
Hedge Fund Compliance - A Book Retelling Series
So I just finished reading “Hedge Fund Compliance: Risks, Regulation, and Management” by Jason A. Scharfman, and I wanted to share what I learned. This book is dense. Like, really dense. But the stuff inside is important if you want to understand how hedge funds actually follow the rules (or don’t).
The Hedge Fund Book - Final Thoughts and Key Takeaways
So I just finished walking through all nine chapters of Richard Wilson’s “The Hedge Fund Book.” And here’s what I think after going through the whole thing.
Hedge Fund FAQ Part 2 - Marketing, Sales and Career Questions Answered
In Part 1 we covered the basics and operations side of hedge fund FAQs. Now we get to the stuff that actually makes or breaks a fund in the real world: finding money and building a career. Richard Wilson collects the most common questions he gets about marketing, sales, and working in the industry. Let me walk you through what he says.
Hedge Fund FAQ Part 1 - Basics and Operations Explained Simply
Chapter 9 of “The Hedge Fund Book” by Richard C. Wilson is basically one giant FAQ section. Wilson says his company gets over 150,000 emails a year, and a huge chunk of them ask the same questions over and over. So he put together the most common ones with answers. Smart move.
Final Thoughts on Introduction to Private Equity, Debt, and Real Assets
So we made it through the whole book. Seventeen posts later, here’s where I stand on “Introduction to Private Equity, Debt, and Real Assets” by Cyril Demaria (3rd edition, Wiley, ISBN 978-1-119-53737-3).
Hedge Fund Governance - Why Oversight and Rules Actually Matter
Chapter 8 of “The Hedge Fund Book” by Richard C. Wilson is about governance. If that word already made your eyes glaze over, stick with me. This is actually one of the more important chapters, because it explains why hedge funds blow up and how simple oversight structures can prevent it.
Business Case: How Advent International Made a Fortune in Brazilian Education
After eight chapters of theory, Demaria drops a real case study on us. Not a made-up example. An actual deal. Advent International investing in Kroton Educacional SA, a Brazilian education company. This is where all the concepts from the book come alive.
Giant Hedge Funds - Best Practices From Billion Dollar Funds
Chapter 7 of “The Hedge Fund Book” by Richard C. Wilson gets into the big leagues. We’re talking about hedge funds managing $1 billion or more. What do they do differently? Why do they keep getting bigger while most small funds stay small? Wilson lays out ten best practices from giant funds and brings in two interviews to back it up.
Chapter 8: Where Private Equity Is Headed - The Conclusion
This is the final chapter. Demaria wraps up the whole book by looking forward. Where is private equity going? What are the big risks ahead? And could the industry actually destroy itself by being too successful? Let’s go through it.
Hedge Fund Due Diligence - How to Check Before You Invest
Chapter 6 of The Hedge Fund Book is all about due diligence. Basically, it is the homework you do before handing someone your money. And after Madoff, after LTCM, after Bayou, everyone agrees on one thing. That homework was not being done properly. This chapter shows what good due diligence looks like and what happens when people skip it.
Chapter 7: The Dark Side of PE - Greed, Destruction and the Push for Transparency
Every industry has a chapter it would rather skip. For private equity, this is that chapter. Demaria titles it “Private Equity and Ethics: A Culture Clash,” and he does not hold back. Fraud, job destruction, fake philanthropy, and the long fight for transparency. Let’s go through it.
How to Start a Hedge Fund - Top Tips From Industry Veterans
Chapter 5 of “The Hedge Fund Book” opens with a Muhammad Ali quote about suffering through training to become a champion. That sets the tone perfectly. Starting a hedge fund is not glamorous. It’s years of grinding before anything clicks.
Chapter 6: Is Private Equity Going Mainstream? Trends, Bubbles and Dry Powder
Private equity used to be the quiet kid in the back of the finance classroom. Small groups of rich people pooling money together to buy companies, fix them up, sell them. Nobody outside the industry really cared. That changed. PE firms got huge, went public, and started buying companies the size of small countries. Chapter 6 of Demaria’s book asks the obvious question: is private equity going mainstream? And if so, what does that mean for everyone involved?
Shooting Star Hedge Funds - 18 Lessons From Funds That Burned Out
Chapter 4 of The Hedge Fund Book is called “The Shooting Star.” And the title tells you everything. Some hedge funds grow super fast, look amazing for a while, and then crash. Like a shooting star. Bright, quick, gone.
Chapter 5: The 7 Steps of a Private Equity Deal
You want to buy a company. Or at least a piece of one. How does that actually work? Chapter 5 of Demaria’s book lays it out in 7 steps. The whole thing takes 3 to 18 months depending on the deal. And really, the entire process boils down to one word: trust. Buyer and seller have to trust each other enough to make a deal happen. Let’s walk through it.
Hedge Fund Marketing - How Funds Actually Raise Capital
Chapter 3 of “The Hedge Fund Book” by Richard C. Wilson is called “Hedge Fund Marketing Pro.” It opens with a quote that basically says there are three ways to raise capital: have rich friends, land early institutional allocations, or do hard work. That sets the tone for the whole chapter. No shortcuts. Just grind.
Chapter 4 Part 3: Private Debt, Real Estate and Other Alternative Assets
This is the final piece of Chapter 4. We covered venture capital, growth capital, LBOs and special situations before. Now Demaria walks us through the rest of the private markets universe: private debt, real assets, and a handful of other instruments that sit at the edges of the asset class.
Hedge Fund Operations and Institutionalization - Getting Your House in Order
Here’s a stat that surprised me. A 2006 study by Capco found that more than half of hedge fund failures happen because of operational problems, not bad investment picks. Think about that. Most funds don’t blow up because the portfolio manager made a bad bet. They blow up because the back office was a mess.
Chapter 4 Part 2: Leveraged Buyouts and Special Situations - When PE Gets Serious
If venture capital is the glamorous part of private equity, LBOs are where the real money lives. According to Demaria, leveraged buyouts represent roughly 69% of all PE fund investments. This is the heavy machinery of finance, and Chapter 4 spends serious time explaining how it works.
Hedge Fund Fundamentals - What Are Hedge Funds and How Do They Work
Chapter 1 of “The Hedge Fund Book” by Richard C. Wilson kicks things off with the basics. And honestly, if you’ve ever wondered what a hedge fund actually is without getting a headache from finance jargon, this chapter does a solid job explaining it.
Chapter 4 Part 1: Venture Capital and Growth Capital - Funding the Next Big Thing
Chapter 4 is where Demaria gets into the actual strategies private equity funds use to make money. He starts with the one everyone has heard of: venture capital. The stuff that turns garage projects into billion-dollar companies. Or, more often, burns through cash and produces nothing.
The Hedge Fund Book Introduction - What You Need to Know First
The introduction of The Hedge Fund Book starts with a pretty bold question. What if you could sit down with 30 hedge fund veterans and just ask them everything? What if someone spent over $80,000 hiring professionals with 7 to 30 years of experience to share their best advice?
Chapter 3 Part 3: Measuring PE Performance - IRR, Multiples and Why Benchmarks Are Tricky
So you want to know if a private equity fund is actually good? Turns out, that’s way harder than it sounds. There is no stock ticker refreshing every second. No public quarterly earnings call. You are stuck with imperfect tools and incomplete data. Welcome to Section 3.3 through 3.5 of Demaria’s book.
The Hedge Fund Book Preface - How Richard Wilson Got Into Hedge Funds
The preface of “The Hedge Fund Book” starts with Richard Wilson explaining why he wrote this thing in the first place. And honestly, his reason is pretty relatable. He read most hedge fund books out there over seven years and couldn’t find one that gave you straight, unfiltered advice from actual hedge fund managers.
Chapter 3 Part 2: How PE Funds Actually Work - Fees, Incentives and Power
So you have a bunch of big investors who want to put money into private equity but don’t want to pick companies themselves. What do they do? They hand their money to a fund manager and say “go make us rich.” Sounds simple. But the details of how that relationship works, how the fund manager gets paid, and what stops them from just enriching themselves at your expense? That is where it gets interesting.
The Hedge Fund Book by Richard C. Wilson - A Book Retelling Series
I just finished reading “The Hedge Fund Book: A Training Manual for Professionals and Capital-Raising Executives” by Richard C. Wilson. And I wanted to share what I learned from it in a way that actually makes sense to normal people.
Chapter 3 Part 1: You're Already Investing in Private Equity (You Just Don't Know It)
Here’s something most people don’t realize. If you have a pension, pay insurance premiums, or even have a retirement savings account, there’s a good chance some of your money is sitting in private equity right now. You didn’t choose it. Nobody asked you. But that’s how the system works.
Chapter 2 Part 2: Private Equity in Europe and Emerging Markets
In part 1 we talked about how the US basically invented private equity. Now the question is: can everyone else just copy the homework? Demaria’s answer is basically “it’s complicated.” Europe tried to adapt the American model. Emerging markets are still figuring things out. And the results are… mixed.
Chapter 2 Part 1: How the USA Built the Private Equity Machine
Chapter 2 of Demaria’s book opens with a fun question: is modern private equity a French invention? The word “entrepreneur” is French. The guy who basically created modern venture capital, Georges Doriot, was French. But he did it in America. At Harvard, not in Paris. That tells you something about where the conditions were right.
Chapter 1: The Wild Origins of Private Equity - From Columbus to Modern Finance
Chapter 1 of Cyril Demaria’s book opens with a story you probably did not expect in a finance textbook. Christopher Columbus. Yep, the guy with the ships.
What Is Private Equity Anyway? the Book's Introduction Explained
You would think that a thing called “private equity” would be easy to define. It has two words. One means private. The other means equity. Should be simple, right?
Retelling: Introduction to Private Equity, Debt, and Real Assets by Cyril Demaria
I just finished reading “Introduction to Private Equity, Debt, and Real Assets” by Cyril Demaria (3rd edition, Wiley, ISBN 978-1-119-53737-3) and I wanted to share what I learned.