Good Guys Sometimes DO Finish First

The other day I learned a long-time colleague, Paul Aaronson, and friend landed at Guggenheim. For those who don't know Paul, he's one of the very good guys in the hedge fund space. He ran S&P's hedge fund business more than a decade ago, and was hand-picked to lead their hedge fund investment business. Paul went on to help start some smaller financial tech ventures, and recently was hired by Guggenheim as a Managing Director. I remember meeting Paul shortly after I started SkyRank, before I did the Morningstar deal, and while most wouldn't give me the time of day and dismissed SkyRank as a dumb idea, Paul was always gracious with his time. He was always forthcoming with ideas, open, and truly wanted to team with SkyRank before he ended up moving on from the S&P investment business. Even after leaving that business, Paul always impressed me with his professionalism and ethics. Truth be told, the 80-20 rule really does hold in the hedge fund industry, with the 20% of the highest quality managers typically demonstrating the highest calibre of quality as human beings; the other 80%, well, let's just say, not. Paul always was and will continue to be a huge value, not just for his knowledge of the hedge fund and traditional investment landscape, but also for his ethics and sincerity and openness. Such a great feeling to see one of the good guys end up on top.