Who is John Galt?

I mentioned the other day that there are two other architects in this effort to build a world-class investment institution. One of them is a fellow I've known for nearly ten years. In fact, this is our third time working together. He is a Renaissance man in nearly every sense of the word, although I'm not sure he knows how to paint. He has his fingers in many different business ventures, some of which he has stakes in, others in which he merely maintains a high level of interest. Yet he prefers to remain anonymous. His name is nowhere to be found on our marketing material, nor in our organizing documents, yet he played a major part in creating each. Like Ayn Rand's hero, he works his magic behind the scenes. So we will call him John Galt for the purposes of this blog.

In many ways, he is a pure intellectual fellow, with his mind always revving at 8000 RPMs or higher. I worked with him at Goldman Sachs during my time there, and in subsequent places since then. Galt has an Ivy League education with advanced degrees and has shown remarkable proficiency in three very different industries so far. He has sold a company he started within the last year or so and has had a great impact in moving this hedge fund from the conceptual stage to the trading stage.

Galt is the kind of guy you should go to lunch with if he calls you. Because at some point, he will call you. He has an amazingly deep contact list, and leverages his existing contacts to make new ones every day. He will have read everything you have read before you read it. Plus he will have read everything you haven't read. Galt is the first to know everything, both truth and rumors. His ear is permanently scarred from having been affixed to the ground his whole life.

So while I may get a great deal of the credit for the extraordinary success (or abysmal failure) of this investment vehicle, realize that John Galt had a momentous impact on that success (but not any impact on a failure). I will refer to him frequently as this blog progresses.