ABOUT US
OUR MISSION
We equip high achieving buy-side professionals with the frameworks and tools they need to accelerate their performance and navigate the intense demands of a career on the buy-side. We do this by building the programs we wish we had as young, inexperienced buy-side analysts..
We help world class buy-side firms improve and optimize the performance of their most important asset: their people.
Our flagship Academy provides students the opportunity to condense years of “learning through osmosis” into a laser focused masterclass.
OUR TEAM
Brett Caughran
Founder & Lead Trainer
Brett brings 13 years of buy-side experience at Maverick, D.E. Shaw, Citadel, Bell Rock (fund launch), Two Sigma and Schonfeld along with experience teaching FIN 494 “the hedge fund analyst process” at Arizona State University.
Andrew Carr
Analyst Trainer
Andrew has nearly seven years of buy-side experience (Balyasny ExodusPoint, Blackstone / Stryck View) and years of independent analyst coaching experience.
Joe McCallum
Operations/Strategy
Joe spent ten years on buy-side covering public equities (Keeley Asset Management and Steel Canyon Capital).
Jessica Corbin
Operations/Marketing
Jessica brings over six years in operations and four years in marketing, collaborating with diverse stakeholders such as The Arizona Department of Revenue, Facebook, Arizona Corporation Commission, and more.
FROM OUR FOUNDER
Brett Caughran
Founder and Lead Trainer
Fifteen years ago, the trajectory of my life changed with one phone call. I was offered, and gratefully accepted, a position at one of the most highly-respected hedge funds in the industry. I had big dreams when I joined the buy-side. I wanted to start my own successful fund and become known as one of the best investors of my era. I didn’t achieve any of that and my career on the buy-side might be deemed as “mediocre.”
When I reflect back on that time, it became abundantly clear how much I achieved in ways that really mattered to me. I mastered the “buy-side mentality” and was constantly pushed to my intellectual limits. I learned from many wickedly smart colleagues. I had an adventure of a lifetime and became proficient at picking stocks!
An intense career managing money has its downsides, however. “The grind” started to grind me down physically, emotionally and spiritually. The adrenaline rush of the markets kept me in a constant “fight or flight” mode, sucking oxygen from other aspects of my life. When I landed on the buy-side, I had all the motivation in the world. Soon it became obvious that I was woefully unprepared for the demands of the job, both analytically and emotionally. Eventually, I lost my edge and my passion for practicing the craft of investing professionally. I retired from managing money in 2021.
After stepping away from the daily grind of managing a portfolio, I became very relaxed for a period of time. Then I got incredibly bored. I had been teaching the craft of investing since 2019 and found that lit me up more than the practice of investing. I had observed throughout my career that buy-side investment processes had begun to converge in many ways. Furthermore, I concluded that a loose characterization of “best practices” was now possible despite key variations fund to fund. Yet no one was teaching those processes in a structured way. As an industry, we were still asking analysts to learn those best practices “by osmosis.” That made no sense to me.
Clearly, the industry had a definite void needing attention.
Enter Fundamental Edge. My firm is dedicated to teaching the frameworks and processes that prepare buy-side professionals fully for the intense demands of the seat. I am determined to change the way we train the next generation of investment professionals.
As a result of my career journey, I am now incredibly driven to build programs that I wish existed when I was a young, unprepared 23-year-old rookie buy-side analyst.
We hope you will join us on this adventure of a lifetime.