Weinstein: Standing tall and seeing all of the strategic possibilities in a highly competitive industry.

I grew up in New York City and worked in every store along our 10-block radius. I learned how to sell and negotiate at a young age. There’s a scrappiness and entrepreneurialism that comes with making something happen for yourself. Stuyvesant High School was a big influence because it was such a meritocracy.

In college I double majored in English literature and psychology. How people are wired was inherently interesting to me.

It is important to identify the things that energize you. At Goldman it was being part of an elite group of smart, dynamic people. At BCG, it was the power that came with studying a market.

At IDW we don’t help people find jobs. We use 20 years of knowledge to zero in on who is best in class. We are like a special-ops unit—the guys in the helicopter with the ladder hovering from above.

People meet with us to understand their trajectory and whether their fund can give them what they want. How do we know? Because we have met the best people from every fund over the years and know the reality.

I was drawn to search because people are the most important asset. I worked at a large search firm where I focused on the proprietary trading groups who were the cowboys of Wall Street, the precursors to hedge funds. I left because I wanted to build something of my own.

I used to play chess. There is a likeness to chess in what we do. We need to be both micro and macro: figure out the next best move while seeing all the possibilities. Sometimes the move forward is not obvious.

The hedge-fund industry was $500 billion when we started in 2003. Today it is $4 trillion. This industry is a meritocracy: mark-to-market, lean investment teams, clear performance. The average hedge fund lives three years and only a small percent of funds control the industry’s assets under management.

The differentiator is people. So many people get into this industry because they have dollar signs in their eyes. We are looking for insatiable curiosity, self-awareness, a growth mindset, low ego, and empathy.

The things that help me decompress are activities that put me in another zone where I cannot use my phone: cycling, swimming, and boxing. I am working on my right hook.

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