In starting any business, you run into unexpected roadblocks and challenges, and you learn something from each mistake. Our next guest is the founder of a trading firm who has grown his business twice and learned how to overcome the barriers in his way. We can learn a lot from someone who is ready for the unexpected whether it is good or bad.

Thanks for listening and welcome our guest Rob Hartman.

Subscribe on:

  

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• About his childhood in Upstate New York and Pennsylvania.
• Rob’s interest in music and sports.
  

  “I was an OK student – but the things I was interested in I was fanatical about.” – Rob Hartman (Tweet)

• How his early Rock and Roll career faired and how he went into the financial industry.
• How he got hired at IBM.
• His years at IBM and the lessons it taught him.
• How his fascination for trading started after he began a consulting business.
  

  “It was the dot-com boom – this place was just going crazy here in the Bay Area.” – Rob Hartman (Tweet)

• The tipping point: when he went full-in to the trading business.
• How he learned about different strategies and tested them.
• When he came upon trend following and what made him stick with it.
  

  “The trend following approach seemed to be reasonably profitable and I could just rationalize it pretty well on a go-forward basis.” – Rob Hartman (Tweet)

• What kind of trend following he started with.
• How a drawdown taught him he needed to differentiate himself from other managers.
• The lessons that his first expansion stage taught him.
• The big event that happened after 2010 that changed everything.
  

  “MF Global happens, and essentially overnight I’m out of business.” – Rob Hartman (Tweet)

• About MF Global and the meltdown of that firm.
• An overview of the programs that his firm runs.
• How he manages investor expectations with a small team.
  

  “What’s the single point of failure? Well clearly it’s me.” – Rob Hartman (Tweet)

• How he outsources operational roles in order to cut costs and remain a one-man shop.

Resources & Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Learn about IBM.

Find out more about MF Global and events surrounding that company’s bankruptcy.

*This was originally published in Top Traders Unplugged.