Ken Griffin's $60 Billion Problem
Making friends with the Harvard maintenance team
Good morning, everyone.
This week’s newsletter includes: A Harvard freshman who did something radical in order to recieve live stock trading quotes in his dorm room.
How To Be A High Agency Individual
Aged 19, Ken Griffin faced an impossible problem at Harvard - but created a radical solution that started a $60 billion empire…
As a freshman at Harvard University, Ken Griffin was obsessed with financial markets.
He had made a few thousand dollars on a convertible bond trade, and by his sophomore year he was ready to dive into global markets.
However, there was a problem…
Back in 1987, real-time stock data was nearly impossible to access. The technology didn’t exist for most traders, let alone a 19-year-old student.
Ken said: “I was armed with all the modern technology of the day - a fax, a phone, and an IBM PS2 computer. But none of this let me access live stock quotes.”
He knew he needed to think bigger.
To trade global markets from his dorm room, Ken approached Harvard with a radical idea...
Install a satellite dish on Cabot House.
The problem?
It was unheard of, and dorm room businesses were prohibited at the time.
Despite initial reservations, Harvard granted his request.
A building supervisor named Gene helped Ken rig a dish on the roof, but it wasn’t easy. A huge cable had to run down the side of the building and through an old unused elevator shaft to finally reach his second-floor dorm room.
“I subscribed to a service called ComStock, they send you a satellite dish and – voila! I had real time prices. Gene really did me a favour!” Ken recalled.
Armed with a technological edge, Ken and two friends raised $265,000 from family and friends to start trading.
Against the chaos of Black Monday, Ken’s trades performed so well that word quickly spread.
By graduation, the 21-year-old was managing over $1 million in assets - an unheard-of achievement at the time.
These early successes laid the foundation for Citadel, now one of the world’s leading hedge funds managing over $60 billion in assets.
When asked to explain the reason behind his success, Ken recalled the famous Abraham Lincoln quote:
“Good things come to those who wait. But only those things left by those who hustle.”
Recommendation’s
I’ve watched every single public interview or speech of Ken Griffin on the internet, here are the best...
#1 Ken’s speech in 2013, crazy stories, great delivery and a Q&A
#2 Ken’s interview at Yale, navigating difficult times and how to be decisive
#3 Ken on David Rubenstein, good if you’re new to Ken to hear his backstory
Jamie Dimon’s Career Shortcut
Jamie Dimon became CFO aged 30. What he learnt next changed his life and career forever...
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Joseph Cass