One Day, One Job » investor relations

AlphaMetrix

Willy Franzen — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 16:19:02 +0000

Sometimes you have to feel bad for ridiculously rich people. They’re investing millions of dollars with hedge funds, and they don’t have access to the kind of tools that I have access to in my Scottrade account. Ok, you don’t have to feel bad for them, but you have to agree that it’s weird that individuals who have the most invested have the least transparency into what they’ve invested in and how its doing on a day to day basis. AlphaMetrix is a Chicago, IL based company that aims to solve this problem by “connecting highly qualified investors with fund managers.” They do this through a software platform that enables investors to look at detailed information on a hedge fund’s holdings. This allows investors to make more informed decisions, and it allows hedge fund managers to better communicate what they’re doing with the money that they manage to investors.

An Alpha Opportunity

I found out about AlphaMetrix from Crain’s Fast Fifty for 2011. It’s an annual feature that covers the 50 fastest growing companies in the Chicago area. AlphaMetrix came in at #1 on the list with 8,030.4% five-year growth to $41.7 million in revenue. They have “more than 21,000 institutional and high-net-worth investors as clients” and they service more than $6.3 billion in assets. You can read the full writeup from Crain’s here. It seems like a really interesting business, which is why you’ll want to check out AlphaMetrix’s Jobs page. They don’t list specific opportunities, but they encourage interested applicants to contact them. You can use LinkedIn to get a feel for what type of positions they might have available–my guess is that they’ll be Research/Analyst type positions, at least at the entry level. They have additional offices in New York, NY; Columbus, OH and the Cayman Islands, so there could be options there too.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about AlphaMetrix?

Root Capital

Willy Franzen — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 17:46:08 +0000

Are you a current college senior who loves animals? Check out entry level opportunities with Nestle Purina for an awesome way to spend your time after graduation.

Up to this point I’ve been able to build my business with only my own investment and a little from my family. I don’t know if I’ll ever take outside capital, but I do know that most businesses require some form of investment to get off the ground. In the United States getting capital is pretty easy—there are both equity and debt options to fund your business. In developing nations, capital isn’t nearly as free flowing—mostly because the investments are far too risky. The microfinance movement has helped, but many upstarts are too big for the kind of capital that they offer. Root Capital is a Boston, MA based non-profit that has created “a new class of capital sitting between microcredit and commercial lending, enabling rural communities to unlock wealth and build sustainable livelihoods.” They seem to be modeled after for-profit investment firms, but there investments are obviously done with a very different focus.

The Root of Your Job Search

Since it was founded, Root Capital has “provided more than $200 million in credit to 282 small and growing businesses in 30 countries in Latin America and Africa with a 99% repayment rate from [their] borrowers and a 100% repayment rate to [their] investors.” Those are some amazing results from an investment standpoint, and they look even better when you consider how the investments have helped push forward the development of rural communities. If you look at where Root Capital works, you’ll see that they’re financing ecotourism businesses in Belize, coffee businesses in El Salvador, apparel businesses in Liberia, mango businesses in Burkina Fasao, and lots more. If you’re excited about international development, but also like the free market approach to investment, then you should check out Root Capital’s Jobs page. Right now they have a few opportunities that seem like good fits for new grads including Investor Relations Associate, Finance and Operations Assistant, Financial Analysis Fellow, and a couple of positions that are posted in Spanish that I can’t understand. The deadlines have passed for a few of these positions, but they were accepting applications on a rolling basis and haven’t taken the job postings down yet, so it’s worth a shot anyway.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Root Capital?

Travers Collins & Company

Willy Franzen — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:46:00 +0000

“Go Local” is a pretty common buzz phrase these days. You’re supposed to eat local, shop local, and even study local. To some people this is a new idea, but businesses like Travers Collins & Company have been focusing on working locally for a long time (in their case since 1995). They saw a void in the Buffalo, NY area when it came to advertising, public relations, interactive and investor relations, so they filled it. Judging from the number of times “Buffalo” shows up on their client list, that seems to have been a smart move. They’re now “one of Buffalo-Niagara’s largest locally owned and operated integrated marketing communications firms,” as they have more than 40 employees.

Buffalocal

It’s always hard to differentiate between marketing communications firms, as they all kind of look alike. The easiest way to get a quick read on whether one of these companies is right for you is to take a look at their portfolio. It also can’t hurt that the “Buffalo-based agency won 24 of 63 Excalibur awards, which were presented by the Buffalo/Niagara chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.” If you like what you see, you’ll want to check out Travers Collins’ Jobs page. They don’t have specific listings, but they do have an open call for applicants as well as internship listings with points of contact in Public Relations, Advertising Account Management, Investor Relations, and Creative (there’s also a contact for Interactive on their Contact page). I’d imagine that those might be the same people that you want to talk to about entry level jobs; however, they list employment@traverscollins.com as the best way to apply for a job.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you know anything about Travers Collins & Company?