Late last week, Prometheus presented a virtual live event that perfectly embodied what I envisioned when I decided to step away from a successful career as a hedge fund manager and create a platform that would transform the way that wealth advisors, family offices, and eligible individuals connect and transact in an ecosystem of institutional-grade alternative funds.  

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In a webinar moderated by industry expert and author of the Rosen Report, Eric Rosen, an audience of eligible investors was treated to a lively and wide-ranging discussion between three highly-accomplished investment legends: Jordi Visser, President and CIO of Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisers; Robert Mullin, General Partner and Portfolio Manager of Marathon Resource Advisors; and Kyle Bass who is both the Co-Founder and CEO of Conservation Equity Management and the Founder and CIO of Hayman Capital Management. 

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(After reading this article, you can head  over to YouTube, where the entire event is available to stream.) 

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As Jordi, Kyle, and Robert gave their clear-eyed answers to Eric’s probing questions, I felt quite a bit of satisfaction with regard to how this meeting of minds bore out my own thesis.

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See, while the Prometheus platform offers a suite of ground-breaking tools that make discovering and transacting in alternatives easier than ever before, the foundation of what we offer is direct and unprecedented access to a remarkable roster of highly-skilled managers. People like these guys.

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I wanted to give investors unfettered access to their insights and ideas, their analyses and philosophies, and the processes that underpin what they strive to achieve on behalf of their clients.

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When someone joins Prometheus, they are immediately party to information that was once only shared behind closed doors with a tiny number of industry insiders. This invaluable intel comes at them in a number of forms: pithy tweet-length opinions, adroitly interpreted graphs, charts, and data; macroeconomic predictions; firey polemics on fiscal policy; wicked critiques of the way public and private companies are being run—or run into the ground.

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Of course, if over a decade and a half of social media has taught us anything, it's that anyone can have an opinion on anything, irrespective of their level of experience and expertise. 

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So in an effort to boost signal and reduce noise, we judiciously bestow “pro” status upon verified investment professionals with a track record of virtuosity in their field. No rocket ship emojis, no memes, just some of the industry’s brightest minds sharing intel underwritten by their accomplishments. 

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I was already certain that offering investors direct access to some of the brightest minds in our industry would be a turning point in the story of alternative investments. But as I listened to Kyle, Robert, and Jordi put forth their theses—and defend them against numerous challenges—I was doubly sure of how meaningful our innovations will be for so many people. 

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But look—instead of continuing to crow about the change my team, and I are bringing to our industry, let me instead get into just some of the ways the content posted by experts like Jordi, Kyle, and Robert is helping investors make important decisions.

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Getting to grips with an asset manager’s philosophy and strategy

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The event got underway with Eric asking Jordi, Kyle, and Robert to give attendees a sense of their fund’s philosophy and strategy. This probably goes without saying, but a portfolio manager’s philosophy and strategy play a crucial role in determining the success of an investment.  

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It's essential, therefore, for investors, wealth advisors, and family offices to understand these key factors when making decisions about allocating capital. By gaining an in-depth understanding of a fund manager's approach to investing—either through the content they create or share, direct conversation via direct message, or a mix of both, Prometheus users can determine whether their philosophy aligns with their own investment goals, interests, and risk tolerance. 

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Additionally, understanding a fund manager's strategy can help investors assess the fund's performance in different market conditions and make adjustments to their portfolio as needed.

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Understanding a fund manager’s views on macroeconomic factors

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China’s invasion of Taiwan is inevitable. 

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That’s the strident view of Kyle Bass, which probably won’t surprise you if you’ve seen any of his appearances on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, “Fast Money,” or “Bloomberg Markets” on Bloomberg Television. During our webinar, we got to see how his take on China affects how he places his bets. 

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Not for nothing, this is the guy who correctly predicted that the housing market bubble would burst, and he made substantial profits by short-selling subprime mortgage-backed securities and investing in credit default swaps in 2007.

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Similarly, Jordi and Robert had plenty to say about how macroeconomic events such as changes in interest rates, government policies, and geopolitical developments (Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China’s potential invasion of Taiwan) will impact how they navigate the year ahead, during this electrifying discussion.  

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A manager’s take on these sorts of big-picture movements can help you assess their investment strategy and make an informed decision about whether to invest in their products. Furthermore, a fund manager's macroeconomic perspective can provide a unique analysis of the market and offer valuable insights into potential opportunities and risks.

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Evaluating a fund’s performance. 

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Is past performance a guarantee of future success? No. Can it be a reliable indicator that a fund manager knows how to protect and grow clients’ wealth? More often than not, yes. That's why understanding a fund manager's past performance is crucial for people putting money to work.

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 In truth, we didn’t get into the finer points of how Jordi, Robert, or Kyle’s products performed during the webinar itself. In fact, the absence of performance metrics is what enabled us to legally throw this thing up on YouTube to be enjoyed by a wide audience.  

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On the Prometheus marketplace, however, we’ve made it possible for eligible investors to evaluate funds’ performance at a glance. In addition to providing potential investors with all the data points they need to gauge whether a fund matches their investment goals and interests, we also offer our own in-depth analysis: the Prometheus Perspective. While the products on our platform are judiciously selected, we take great care to give investors a 360-degree view of a fund, its strengths, and its weaknesses. 

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Expert insight and analysis have been key drivers of the human story. Those who seek it and are able to put it to use are in the driver’s seat of their own destiny. In the investing world, however, such knowledge and guidance have been excruciatingly hard to come by for all but a small number of industry insiders. 

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I imagined Prometheus as a tool that could harness that wisdom and expertise and share it with an ever-expanding swathe of people. That’s what we strive to do every day here. Enlightening and entertaining in equal measure, last week’s event encapsulated what Prometheus users have come to expect from an investment platform like no other. 

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