Inside the $6B quant fund that turned down a shot at $20B to keep control — early investors who stayed in day one are up almost 40x. Suhaimi Zainul-Abidin — CEO @ Quantedge, Asia's top quant hedge fund, CEO since 2018 "We're trying to beat the markets. 20% annualized... returns — if you can do it for 10 years, well done. If you can do it for 20, that's what we've done. But we're going to do it for 50." We cover: - Why Quantedge turned down a straight shot at $20B AUM — and the redemption structure they built instead - The real edge left in investing isn't information, it's running 300+ markets to drive idiosyncratic risk near zero - Their hard rule: if you can't explain a strategy in plain English, it doesn't belong in the model - Why they refuse to launch a "lower-vol" product for allocators, even though it's the easiest AUM they'd ever raise - The behavioral-bias thesis behind two decades of 20% annualized returns - "Class Q" — the internal share class that's turned early investors' money into almost 40x, with one brutal catch: it's permanent capital - Why Quantedge hires almost exclusively straight out of school and turns away experienced PMs - His path from law partner to hedge fund CEO — and the one skill that made the jump possible - The real reason funds die (hint: it's rarely the returns) Thanks to Suhaimi Zainul-Abidin for coming on Odds on Open! Highlights: 00:00 Intro 01:08 Founding Quantedge: two guys, $3M, and a Bloomberg machine 03:07 What makes an investment strategy robust across regimes 06:31 The real edge: it's not information, it's diversification across 300 markets 10:59 Scaling from $3M to $6B without chasing allocator money 15:00 Why they turned down the "dial down the risk" pitch from allocators 18:00 Running 25% vol with conviction — and why it's not a black box 20:33 How the research process evolved over 20 years 24:00 Trading on narratives vs. noise — why they stay distanced from the news 27:47 Is generative AI signal or noise for a quant shop? 31:09 Why Quantedge hires only fresh grads — never mid-career PMs 35:47 The two-pronged mission: compound for 50 years, then do good 38:28 From law partner to hedge fund CEO 49:32 Capital consolidation — why the big funds keep winning 55:04 The #1 mistake that kills emerging managers 59:03 Why fixed-term lockups saved the fund — even though it cost them a shot at $20B AUM 1:05:00 Class Q: the almost-40x share class only insiders get 1:07:26 Why 200 CVs come in for every open seat 1:14:44 Balancing meritocracy with actually caring about people 1:19:17 Final advice: patience, conviction, and playing the long gameshow more

Ethan Kho

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