eating their own dog food
Back when Microsoft was considered a very smart company, they inspired the phrase “eating one’s own dog food“. This meant that they used their own products and was understood to be a superlative practice.
As a small algorithmic trading shop, we certainly eat our own dog food. As we develop StratBox, we continuously trade on it. If we introduce bugs, we pay for them – quite literally and immediately. Believe me, we are highly motivated to ensure that it’s a bug-free environment. Likewise with our models. If we think a model is worthwhile, we trade it. If we’re not sure, we trade it in small size to see. We eat our own dog food – trading and software models alike.
One of the great attractions of wall st has always been its “eat what you kill” mentality which suggests potential for both great reward and, well, hunger. Motivation is clear. Interests are properly aligned.
Thus, the news we’ve been bombarded with out of wall st has been depressing indeed for finance professionals. The culture we admire about our industry has been perverted. After months of solidly horrible and generally worsening news, Credit Suisse’s bold move yesterday was a real ray of light. Their move to “feed” their top management the slop they’ve been creating is a sadly unique example of a finance firm ensuring that interests are ethically aligned.
And it’s the first genuinely good piece of news out of wall st that I can remember in a very long time. Happy Holidays, Credit Suisse!
