Failure is a part of success. People learn from mistakes. Even some of the most successful on wall street have failed at one time or another, usually early in their careers.

What is worse, failing when you are young and attempting to run a fund with little experience, infrastructure, capital introductions, and contacts? Or failing when you are 45 or 50, blowing up funds in the 6 billion dollar range, or even managing sub-prime loan company that loses 10′s of billions of dollars in shareholder equity.

I don’t think you should dare say that Tim has no talent. He is quite talented in terms of trading volatility in securities that have limited liquidity for short term gains. His ability to compound small gains and the pure instinct that he has about price movement is crucial even for some of the biggest fund managers or bond traders. He may not approach the market in terms of someone with a CFA, an analyst, or someone of the likes of Jim Cramer who claims to have omnipotent knowledge of a certain stock or company– he simply never claims to.

I think Tim, as well as other young fund managers that do not build empires from the get go, could very well perform nicely within a larger organization. A prop desk or working with a group of traders at a larger fund would have been a different path into the hedgefund world.

Anyway, nice interview… I enjoyed it and am about to browse through the rest of your podcast episodes.

WOW!
Ego? How about Confidence.
Sad or Amusing? How about Bold?
Neither skill not talent? How about determination?

I (and I think he) would agree that toward the end of his hedge fund manager career he got sidetracked and did not remain true to the disciplines that made him successful. It happens to the best of the bunch when fame and fortune come so fast. (bad example coming; how about Britney? – remember I sad bad example…)

Tell us, who is your inspiration? Perhaps his story can help some understand what to watch out for.

One more thing… Is the shoe shine comment really necessary? Takes a bit of wind out of the well written paragraphs it followed.

Is it more sad or amusing when someone’s young ego spurs them to write a book when they possess neither literary skill nor talent? Sykes has commented elsewhere that his goal to become “a great teacher, not a great investor” but in this sad excuse for a tutorial he proves to be neither as his amateurish errors practically drive him from the market, credibility (what little he had) completely shredded. Perhaps, however, it’s not truly his fault: let’s face it, when it comes to imparting wisdom from Wall Street it is simply not possible that a raw twenty-something simply has much to say.

Not that Sykes doesn’t try however. In perusing the “comments” portion of Amazon book reviews, he’s certainly not reluctant to chime in and offer a defense at nearly every turn. Find me ONE other author at Amazon that feels so compelled to argue his own incompetence.

Tim Sykes should end his determined quest to become a media personality as his grating manner and decidedly non-telegenic looks suit him far better to shine shoes.