Michael Reich, a Harvard MBA student, has come up with a way of tapping into investment talent to run a fund. Reich has set up a website, www.theupdown.com, where keen investors, either students or professionals, can run virtual portfolios, and submit investment research in a competitive environment.
The goal, says Reich, is to analyse the performance of individuals and the quality of the research, and use the most talented ideas to build either a hedge fund or mutual fund. At present, the site has 500 members, and the top performers and best-rated research providers win a weekly or monthly monetary prize. Reich hopes that eventually the site will have hundreds of thousands of members and that those whose talents are incorporated into the fund will receive a share of the profits. The fund will be seeded by Joachim Schoss, a European internet investor and entrepreneur who is becoming more involved in alternative investments.