Miami- First conference of the year

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The first trip and first conference of the year is next week in Miami. I will be speaking on Wednesday night at Battlefin. I haven’t been to the Battlefin conference in many years, but I still remember the first Battlefin when Tim Harrington rented out a nightclub during the day and hosted Battlefin along with the first and only Big Data Combine. The Big DataCombine was an idea, similar to the NFL Combine, but for up-and-coming data scientists from around the world. I recently found the old recap video from 2013, and Wow!

Those were the early days of alternative data. Ravenpack was still a small company from Spain and is now a powerhouse in the alternative data and analytics space. You can see the founder Armando presenting in the video. The quants were always big fans of everything Ravenpack created going back to their early partnerships with Dow Jones for their news feed. Now Ravenpack has a large and impressive team partnering and creating data/analytics for firms across the financial industry.

As I head to Miami next week, I look forward to meeting new companies & founders. Sharing some of our recent investments at Social Leverage in companies such as Finchat.io and meeting with our network and investors.

Miami this time of year is always a great break for everyone on the East Coast who wants to get away from the cold and enjoy the sunshine. As I come from San Diego this year which is now home, I am less excited for the weather, but eager to see old friends who will be in town or have moved to Miami over the years.

If you are in town next week and want to meet up, give me a shout.