Steve Cohen on How to Build Your Investing Career: Part Two

I just think we're attracting the best and brightest. And that's really exciting because that's the future generation of Point72 investors. And I know that our PMs really enjoy hiring these people out of the academy. They're getting people who are well-trained, who see the world in unique ways.

Welcome back to the final segment of our two-part episode with Point72 founder and CEO Steven A. Cohen, hosted by Harry Schweffel, Point72 co-chief investment officer. I'm Jamie Goodfriend, director of the Point72 Academy. In the first half of our conversation with Steve, he talked a lot about the mindset of successful investors, the importance of discipline and continuous learning, and how those principles have shaped our culture and development programs. Now, you'll hear Steve share why we started the Point72 Academy and Point72 LaunchPoint, how candidates set themselves apart, and how we empower talents to achieve the next milestone of their investing career.

The comments, views, and opinions expressed in the podcast are those of the speakers and do not necessarily represent the views of Point72 Academy. All information provided herein is for informational purposes only, is not investment advice, and should not be deemed as a recommendation to buy or sell securities. All investments involve risk, including the loss of principal. This podcast does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase any security or investment product. Any such offer or solicitation may only be made by means of delivery of an approved confidential offering memorandum. This podcast may not be copied, and it may not be distributed or furnished to or used by anyone other than the intended recipient without the express written consent of Point72.

Welcome back to part two of our interview with Steven A. Cohen. Thanks for joining us again today and look forward to finishing the conversation. You talked earlier about how competitive this has gotten and how smart people are. And every industry is like that at this point. You know, what you just said you need to develop with pattern recognition pairs really nicely with having a partner that will teach you with data and with resources and with statistics. And that's something we're very focused on, just like a ballplayer getting a full rundown of what they're good at and what they should do more or what they should do less at. Same is true for analysts and portfolio managers these days.

Yeah, listen, you want to know that the decisions that you've made are actually backed up by the data that supports okay yeah you actually do this well so you know otherwise you have selective memory you remember what went well and forgot about the things that didn't go well so it's always good to have data to support and obviously that's what we do we collect a lot of data at 0.72 to support our people and how they think about things and so that you know hey this is what you do well this is what you don't do as well need to work on. You can certainly improve in all that stuff. It's good to know that it's good to know that, you know, an accurate reflection of how you're doing.

And to that point about the data, we saw early on, not just with analysts, but also with portfolio managers, how important preparation and laying the foundation for future success is. And you started Point72 LaunchPoint with that in mind. And today, we've got over two-thirds of our investment professionals in the PM seat having developed internally. What's your philosophy there, and why did you start that?

Yeah, listen, I've always believed that we want our people within the firm to, if they want to progress to the next level in their career, we want to help them get there. And that's my commitment to them, okay? And that's why we developed this program. And our next great PMs have come out of this program. And so our goal is to teach them the things they need to know. There's a lot of things about risk and portfolio construction and all sorts of data that we're always providing to help them think about coming at you that you're an analyst. If you're an analyst, you want to stay an analyst. We love that. If you're an analyst and want to be a PM at some point, we want to support that. Now, you know, we're going to be honest with you.

If we don't think you're ready, we'll tell you, you know, we're not going to put people into programs and that we don't want them to hurt their career by, you know, moving too fast, you know? And so we're going to be brutally honest with people. The other thing is that, you know, if people are ready, we want to support them in that. And, and, and, you know, we want, we want to be there to help people accomplish their goals. And if you want to be a PM, and maybe one day you're a PM, and then one day you want to start your own firm. Well, that's great. We want to celebrate that too. And we want you to accomplish what you set the goals and we'll help you get there.

Just the other day, you were talking about how we're going to have this offsite with our analysts and that you wanted to dedicate a portion of it, a segment to just talking about mistakes and just trying to air mistakes so people can learn from them without having to make them.

When I was 25, 28, listen, you're young, right? So there are things you know and things you don't know. And, you know, over time you learn those things, whether at the firm, whether in life, you know, that's part of the maturation process. And we understand that, right? And, um, you know, we have a pretty good track record of, I think, helping people improve their processes, improve how they think, support them in their goals that they want to accomplish. I mean, you know, I feel really strongly this is a culture, you know, of entrepreneurialism, of actualizing who they are, who our people are, where they want to go. Um, you know, I, I think it's a special place. We're always learning, you know, we're always, um, humble, right?

I mean, you're, you know, I'm always, I was brought up to be humble. I come from eight kids, you know, and, and my family and, and, you know, my, my dad didn't like a braggart, you know? So, you know, I, so I, I always approach the world and, and sort of, you know, being grateful for, you know, being for the life I live and, and the opportunities I've been presented and hopefully impart that on, on other people. And I think, I think it's, I think it's a nice way to be.

That's awesome. Um, talking a little bit more just about you and your day-to-day, you've added the Mets to everything else that you have going on in your professional and personal life. Can you just talk a little bit about what a typical day looks like? I think people would find that really interesting.

Yeah. Well, I mean, I've got a lot going on. Okay. And so, I mean, typically, I mean, I'm at the desk, usually show up around eight o'clock and doing research. You know, obviously I'm looking at ideas, talking to my colleagues. My PMs and analysts trying to figure out what's moving the markets today, where I think the market's going to go, and what names I think are going to matter, what stocks are going to matter. But, you know, so that's, that's sort of the investing side. I mean, I take the, the most pride, I think, out of running the business, and, and, uh, and, and the things I've learned in running Point72, I now can apply to the Mets, apply to other ventures that I'm involved in. And, and, um, you know, I mean, over time, I, I feel I've, I've broadened my skill sets. And so, and, and what I do, how I define myself, um, you know, how I relate to my kids, right, how I is, is how I relate to the people in this firm actually carries over to my relationships outside the firm, you know, whether my family or friends or whatever it is, and it just all kind of feeds on itself and builds on itself.

And which I, you know, over a moment, then as I look at everything, oh, wow, this is—I get a great deal of satisfaction out of all of it.

What's really cool about that is, you know, we just were coming off of spending about six hours last week with our analysts, and just in how you were talking to them and pushing them and probing them on opportunity and goals, a lot of what you've been doing and just talked about where you were pushing yourself outside your comfort zone was coming up in those conversations with new, fresh examples of how you're doing it, which I think you could see in the rooms just provoking that drive and that risk appetite with the analysts at the firm. So it's pretty cool.

Everyone needs a little push. I always say everyone needs a coach. I mean, the best golfers in the world have a coach. You can't possibly know. Or sometimes you need someone to observe and say, you know, you need to do that better. Have you thought of this? So it'll be a little bit provocative. Just open their eyes, open to what's possible. And they maybe haven't thought about it, you know, and maybe they start to think about it. And from that comes a change or an improvement that enhances, you know, what they do and who they are.

Yeah. Yeah. These are really intimate provocations that push the bounds of what people can achieve. So it's awesome. I thought that we would close out by coming back around to just specifically Point72 Academy, starting with just, how's it going? You know, your take on how it is a decade into this.

I mean, I just think we're attracting the best and brightest, you know, around the world. And that's really exciting because that's the future next great generation of 0.72 investors that we're trying to develop. And I know that our PMs really enjoy hiring these people out of the academy. They're getting people well-trained who see the world in unique ways, who can really add value to their teams. And so I'm very proud of what we've developed there. I think it's something that you know, I think, I mean, it's incredible competition to get into this academy. I mean, we get tens of thousands of applications for, you know, relatively small amount of, amount of jobs. And so for the people to get in, I think it's a unique opportunity to, uh, you know, be, be involved in, in, in a business that they think they want to be in and have passion for.

And then we're there all, all the way along the way to help them, uh, develop their skills, uh, you know, to become the next great investor on Wall Street.

Yeah. It's awesome. Uh, we probably have a lot of people tuned in who are just starting their careers. They may be staring down their first-round interviews. Um, you know, you've interviewed every PM that works at Point72, even interviewed every senior, you know, every, every member of management, senior management, um, what are the kinds of things that you might give as advice to a candidate that would help them stand out when they're going down this, this first-round interview for this big job for their, their, their, their opening start to their career? Yeah.

I mean, listen, everyone that we're—by the time you get to that point, they're all smart. Okay. So then, you know, what differentiates you? How can you, can you actually talk about the things that make you unique and interesting, right? Like, I like unique thinkers. Right. I mean, I like people who can think on their feet, think in ways that are provocative, who can distill complex issues down to its essence. That's a marker of intelligence for me—people can speak clearly about complex situations. And so, you know, you got to differentiate yourself in some way, and people you want to—that people interview and walk out of that interview going, 'I remember that person. That person, you know, he made an impact on me.'

And so, you know, you got to bring out who you are, what makes you unique.

That's exciting. It's also exciting just to hear how consistently you're referring to the collaboration and sort of the collegiality that exists between the investment professionals, whether they are Academy interns or they're seasoned PMs, because it comes up a lot in just the way you're describing learning opportunity.

Yeah, listen, I mean, you know, I mean, this is a platform. And so what are the benefits of the platform? Well, one of them is the people. Right? And so I want them collaborating. I want them interacting. I want them out with, you know, if I—like I said, if I were a young person coming into this firm, I'd be trying to get, have coffee with some of the most successful people in this firm and learn from them and put myself in a position, you know, where I can observe what success looks like, you know, what greatness looks like. Um, it's hard to know what it is until you've seen it, right? Until you've experienced it or experienced your own greatness. And then, you know, so you know what that feels like, you know what it takes.

And so, yeah, I mean, I think it's an important part of the culture. And if we weren't collaborating, supporting each other, that would bother me.

Yeah, and I think that consistent message from you and the fact that so many of our PMs have grown up through this system and have a sort of a generosity of spirit to give back, it just creates this echo chamber of learning.

Oh, that's what I love. I love the fact that, you know, when I'm having these conversations with our PMs and analysts, you get a sense of how, you know, that generosity of spirit, you know, their willingness to impart what they know, what they're willing to share with people. You know, they're not territorial and just trying to, you know, shield what they know. And, you know, they're not interested in—I mean, they're willing to share their knowledge, you know, and share their learnings. And in our offsites and, you know, other opportunities where we get the firm together in our town halls, people are very open and willing to, you know, share their knowledge with the rest of the group and share their learnings.

And I love that, you know, and I love the spirit. I love, you know, I think that's what makes for a great culture.

That's awesome. Well, thank you very much for the time today. I know that this podcast series is serving as a great way for people to get to know Point72 and learn about the industry. So thank you for the time.

Yeah, listen, I'm happy to do it. And, you know, hopefully, you know, if you pick up one thing from this podcast, I will consider it a success.

Thanks for tuning in. Listen to our entire series to hear from portfolio managers, analysts, and others on the ins and outs of this industry and learn how you can become a part of it. Visit our website at Point72.com forward slash Academy to learn more about how we are training the next generation of investors.