Investment Management Committee Meeting Book: Fill & Download for Free

3- 10 Years is a Huge rangeStock picker? $0 if it’s an algorithm. If fundamentalist shop, it depends on the size, if it’s a quant shop it depends on the size.Usually the “stock picker” is either a) the head of the fund, b) a portfolio manager that is running a specific part of their book and/or c) an investment analyst promoted idea at the daily/ weekly investment committee meetings. Or d) a string of computer code.

I went to the wrong Meetup event. Meetup, the online gathering app, suggested a local event that I might like. I assumed it was for scientists, like me. I was not only the only scientist in the room, but the only scientist most of the attendees had ever met. The event was full of software people and folks who started companies.There were literally 3 women in the room, including me. There were close to 100 attendees.When I left, I'd made a few new friends. One invited me to breakfast later that week. I went to the breakfast - I was looking for a job.He later (a year later) admitted that this breakfast was supposed to be a date. He didn't invite me to anything romantic after I made mention of my husband. Instead he invited me to volunteer for a conference, The Angel Capital Summit. I vaguely knew an angel was another word for an investor.In the first conference committee meeting I was nervously sitting among real business people. I had never taken a business class.By the second meeting I realized that my hard science PhD skills were transferable. I knew peer review. I managed the 300+ applications from entrepreneurs who wanted to pitch to angel investors. I got local reviewers to read the applications and we found the top 40 companies.Together with the head of the org running the show, I helped coach those 40 companies so that they would pitch competently. By the end of the event, I was up to speed on business plans, funding strategy, and how angel investing works.This led to a job with Rockies Venture Club, a book deal to write Venture Capital for Dummies, and a consulting career in early stage finance. I learned how business works. Started and sold my own distribution company. And now I'm uncovering new models of managing talent in corporations.All because I went to the wrong Meetup.****Update****I'd like to add some details to this story that help distinguish serendipity from effort. Yes, I went to the wrong Meetup, and then everything after that was a purposeful decision. You can put yourself into a mindset where serendipity happens, then you drive those opportunities by choice.When I discovered I was at a meetup of software folks and entrepreneurs, I was uneasy. I could have gone home. I didn't know how to behave in that crowd. I was there, and I was unemployed so I figured I'd make the best of it. Decision 1 - participate in the wrong Meetup.I met folks and exchanged cards. I set up meetings for later in the week. I think I set up five different meetings from that event that led to some small project work. I also met with David Talon who introduced me to angel investing. Decision 2 - follow up with people from the event.When I had breakfast with David, he invited me to volunteer for the Angel Capital Summit conference. I had already decided that I wanted to learn more about funding since it seemed like an important part of starting companies. I had already determined that I would be open to working for a startup. Decision 3 - volunteer for finance conference.At the conference planning meetings, I was intimidated. I didn't know anything about business and many of the folks there had volunteered for this conference last year. I could have hung back and let them tell me what to do. Instead, I saw an opportunity to help and I grabbed it with both hands. I volunteered to run the review committee which was a very big job. Decision 4 - stick my neck out.I found that the business plan review job was challenging because committee members didn't show up for meetings. I had to work with what I had, which was minimal. Also, the way they'd done this in the past was not going to work. We had a very short time frame to accomplish a lot. I forced three people that I didn't know very well to sit with me on a Saturday for 6 hours until we'd reviewed each business plan by at least three people. Decision 5 - make it work.When I was hired at Rockies Venture Club there was no job opening. Peter Adams had revived the 24 year old non-profit from near death a month before the conference. He was trying to run the whole thing with volunteer effort and no employees because the organization simply didn't make much money and didn't have grant funding. He was overwhelmed. I asked him if I could look at the organization's income and expenses to see if there was any way I could help improve revenue to pay for myself. Decision 6 - offer to solve someone's problem.I could go on.There have been countless decisions that I made since then. All of them either open doors for me, close doors, or push me further along. When I have a great opportunity, I do my best to put my head down and work hard to get the job done.The biggest lesson from going to the wrong Meetup is that when I'm doing something (job, project, etc) that is no longer benefiting me, I wrap it up. Then I create randomization to introduce serendipity. The trick is to pick the best opportunity for me at that time and run with it.

Why is ComfortDelGro losing to Grab? Well, by looking at the profile of their management, you can draw your own conclusion.ComfortDelgro is a Singapore Govt-linked company. Presently, its Chairman is Lim Jit Poh and its CEO is Yang Ban Seng. Who are they?Lim Jit PohLim Jit Poh has been the Chairman and Director of ComfortDelGro since 2003. In addition, he is also the Chairman of other Singapore Govt-linked companies like SBS Transit Ltd, VICOM Ltd and Chairman of several non-listed companies owned by the Singapore Labour Foundation (SLF), NTUC and CapitaLand Limited Group. SLF comes under NTUC and is presently headed by Cabinet Minister Chan Chun Sing while CapitaLand is owned by Temasek Holdings, a Singapore's Sovereign Wealth Fund.Lim was a former top civil servant and a Fulbright Scholar. He was awarded the Public Administration Medal by Singapore Govt in 1972 and the Public Service Star (BBM) in 2015 by the President of Singapore, Tony Tan.NTUC also gave him 4 awards throughout his career:* Friend of Labour Award in 1986* Meritorious Service Award in 1990* Distinguished Service Award in 2000* Distinguished Service (Star) Award in 2014.Other involvements include being a Council Member of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the National University of Singapore, a Member of the Singapore British Business Council and Trustee of the Singapore National Employers Federation.Lim was also very active in community work being Chairman of a community centre management committee, a grassroots organization under People's Association, which is known to be closely linked to Singapore's ruling party, the PAP.Yang Ban SengYang Ban Seng is the Managing Director and Group CEO of ComfortDelGro. He is also the Deputy Chairman of Singapore Govt-linked SBS Transit Ltd and VICOM Ltd. Prior to his current appointment, Yang was the CEO of Taxi Business in Singapore where he oversaw the operations of Comfort Transportation and CityCab, both Singapore-Govt linked.Prior to joining ComfortDelGro in 1989, Yang was a high-ranking civil servant. He served as Assistant Director of the Ministry of Education, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Home Affairs as well as the NTUC's Secretary for Co-operatives.ComfortDelGro Corporation LimitedOn the other hand, Grab was founded by Harvard graduate Anthony Tan.Anthony TanWhen Anthony graduated from Harvard Business School in 2011, he was expected to rejoin his two older brothers at the family's car distribution business, Tan Chong Motors. But during his school days in Harvard, he was already thinking of striking out on his own.The idea for Grab came when a classmate pulled him aside to gripe about how hard it was to hail a cab in Malaysia. Intrigued, Anthony drew up a business plan for an Uber-like service, which is a mobile application that assigns available cabs nearby to commuters using mapping and location-sharing technology. He pitched the idea to the panel of the 2011 Harvard Business Plan Competition and actually won second place. He then took the business plan to pitch it to angel investors. Eventually, he won enough backing to start Grab in 2012.In an interview, Anthony said he was inspired by his entrepreneurial grandfather, the son of Kuala Lumpur taxi driver that went on to build Tan Chong Motors. "Autos are in my blood," he said. The initial period was tough for him. He went door-to-door to literally beg taxi companies to try his app. Only the fifth taxi company he approached, operating a small fleet of 30, gave him a chance. The company gradually progressed and raised US$90 million in 12 months from various VCs.In May 2014, Grab had 1.2 million downloads. At around June 2013, it was doing one booking every eight seconds, or 10,000 a day, a sixteen-fold growth within a year. By December 2014, it managed to raise US$250 million series D round, fully invested in by SoftBank Corp which is the largest investment ever made in a Southeast Asian internet company.On the back of the company’s rapid growth, Grab opened a US$100 million Research & Development facility in the Central Business District of Singapore. The new facility houses 200 engineers and data scientists over the next few years. Recently joining their team includes Chief Technology Officer Wei Zhu, ex-Facebook Engineer and creator of Facebook Connect who left the company in Aug 2015. The emphasis on hiring of software engineers and data scientists shows that Grab understands the importance of information analytic in this business. In 2016, the company opened a new engineering office center in Seattle that will serve as a tech hub to attract high-tech talents in the US. One of the important hires is a former Microsoft Distinguished Engineer.Besides Singapore, Grab now operates in more than 50 cities across 6 other nations (Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar) in Southeast Asia.Grab (application) - WikipediaMeet the Leader of Southeast Asia's Most Popular Ride-Hailing ServiceMalaysia's Anthony Tan Leads GrabTaxi In Regional App RaceGrabTaxi opens first U.S. office in Seattle, hires former Microsoft Distinguished EngineerConclusionSo far, there is no news that the Singapore Govt-linked ComfortDelGro will go head-on with Grab to develop core competence in information analytic by hiring software engineers and data scientists.So, who do you think will sink eventually? A company run by ex-civil servants and bureaucrats with many medals awarded by the Singapore Govt or by a risk-taker with hot entrepreneurial blood running in his veins?