BattleFin Discovery Day, held on June 19th to the 20th in New York hosted top Alternative Data Providers to showcase the latest in new data being used to create alpha. John Wiora, Chief Operating Officer, and Meg Rourke, Data Operations Manager, attended the event.
Day one started bright and early as BattleFin opened its doors at 7:30 am. Upon arrival, John and I grabbed our swag bags (seen below), drank some coffee, and took our seats for the kickoff to the panel portion of the event.
After the first session was over, John readied for his panel discussion on Internet and Technology Sector Data, discussing Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple. The timing of the panel could not have been better as he spoke to a packed house in the grand ballroom. We both thought the panel discussion went well, as John was able to present the ways IP data can significantly impact a company’s business strategy. After the panel we had a couple of people approach us expressing an interest and excitement around the discussion of where IP can be useful for investment strategies.
The 1×1 meetings were quite the experience — there were 147 tables of data providers positioned in the grand ballroom and a single timer. Our spot on day one was in the back of the main grand ballroom, making it a little difficult for everyone to make it to us, but we had a packed schedule, which was great!
Throughout these meetings, John and I listened for key factors to create a discussion around.
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Are they a quantitative or fundamental firm?
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Do they have a specific geographic area?
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Do they focus on equities, bonds, funds or REITs?
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What is their trading strategy? Long 3+, Short (1 year), extremely short (max 1 month)?
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Do they have an industry focus?
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How do they ingest data?
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Have they looked into this data (IP Data) in the past?
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Why did they want to speak with us?
While answering questions and discussing our platform we gathered that a number of things were resonating with the individuals we spoke with, such as:
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We offer a new way of looking at corporate peers from a technological perspective
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We offer the data in API, Bulk format, or custom data files to meet specific needs
In 15 minutes, we needed to get through a number of pieces related to our product as well as identify next steps. Luckily our discussions lead to some great questions surrounding our platform such as data structure, history, data collection, update timing, corporate mapping, coverage, and current customer use cases.
These meetings were quite exhilarating for a number of reasons. Our biggest hurdle was trying to educate attendees on IP within a 15-minute timeframe. Luckily, I had been working with our trial and current customers and was able to convert some skeptics into believers.
After the panel discussion and a long day on Wednesday, we regrouped for dinner and drinks to celebrate a great day at Au Cheval.
On the last day of the conference, we had some time in the morning so we walked through Central Park to the John Lennon Memorial.
Overall, BattleFin was a really great event where we got to speak with a large number of people within the alternative data community. We can agree that the BattleFin Discovery Day event was a success for ktMINE and look forward to applying what we learned to help better serve our current clients.
