Every story and comment from the Hacker News API, in a layout borrowed from 2001.
A comment on Understanding Jane Street. Parent comment
That happens, with mixed levels of success. But these firms are more than just IP. Their moat is:
- Lower fees, negotiated based on their volume and relationships. Crucial given margins of 0.02%.
- A well-oiled machine that makes the machine. This includes culture, branding into recruitment pipeline, and so on.
- IP has a short half-life. The machine that makes the machine is more important.
- Scale advantages -- code sharing between teams and asset classes, which is hard to replicate in a small group.
- You need to have perfect execution on every vertical to have a good shot. Devs, researchers, operators, relationships.
It's also common for that IP to not all be known by a single person. Division of labor can be used to protect IP.
There are no comments on this comment yet.
That happens, with mixed levels of success. But these firms are more than just IP. Their moat is:
- Lower fees, negotiated based on their volume and relationships. Crucial given margins of 0.02%.
- A well-oiled machine that makes the machine. This includes culture, branding into recruitment pipeline, and so on.
- IP has a short half-life. The machine that makes the machine is more important.
- Scale advantages -- code sharing between teams and asset classes, which is hard to replicate in a small group.
- You need to have perfect execution on every vertical to have a good shot. Devs, researchers, operators, relationships.
It's also common for that IP to not all be known by a single person. Division of labor can be used to protect IP.