Inside Two Sigma & AQR with Bill Mann: How Early Quants Built Edge Before the Modern Tools Existed Bill Mann spent nearly 11 years across two of the world's most elite quant funds — AQR & Two Sigma — rising to Senior Vice President while building alpha models, establishing... quantamental research teams, & designing the ML/AI systems that powered their forecasts. "A real edge you used to have 15 years ago was creating your own version of someone else's data." We cover: - How Two Sigma's fundamentals team built proprietary data pipelines before vendors existed - Why point-in-time databases were a secret weapon — & how look-ahead bias destroyed competitors - The crowding problem hiding inside everyone's favorite value factor - LLMs in quant research: what agents can already replace & what still requires human intuition - Why junior quants are at risk — & the one mindset that keeps senior researchers irreplaceable - How HarmoniQ Insights pivoted from advising buy-side firms to backing fintech startups with sweat equity - The New Barbarians thesis: crypto natives meeting old Wall Street, & why both sides need each other - Bill's one piece of advice for aspiring quants: build your own model, put real money behind it, learn from the losses Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 00:57 Life as a Quant at Two Sigma 02:36 Finding Edge in Fundamental Data 07:04 Creating a Creative Quant Research Culture 11:19 How LLMs Change Quantitative Trading 15:52 AI’s Impact on Junior Quant Careers 22:56 Using AI Tools for Learning 23:57 HarmoniQ Insights: Advising Fintech Startups 30:47 The New Barbarians Podcast Explained 33:26 Crypto and Market Makers vs TradFi 34:54 Career Advice for Aspiring Quants 38:46 Final Takeawaysshow more

Ethan Kho

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