这一期的Acquired节目深入探讨了文艺复兴科技公司（RENTECH）的故事，这家有史以来最成功的投资公司，在扣除费用前实现了惊人的66%年回报率。主持人Ben Gilbert和David Rosenthal追溯了该公司的起源、成功以及不寻常的结构，并将其追溯到吉姆·西蒙斯（Jim Simon）——一位数学教授和冷战时期的密码破译员。 西蒙斯在马萨诸塞州牛顿的早期生活，以及他在麻省理工学院的时光，展现了他卓越的才智，以及他不畏惧偏离传统道路的勇气。他曾在波哥大短暂地涉足一家地砖公司，之后成为美国政府国防分析研究所（IDA）的密码破译员。在IDA，西蒙斯和他的同事们首次探索了使用数学模型和统计分析——基本上是早期的机器学习——来预测股票市场行为，并因此发表了1964年的一篇研究论文。他们使用马尔可夫模型（一种用于模拟混沌情况的统计概念），根据过去状态的观察模式来预测未来状态。 他们最初尝试基于这个概念推出基金失败了，但西蒙斯坚持了下来，并在石溪大学担任数学系主任。在那里，他招募了顶级的数学家，最终于1978年离开学术界，专注于交易，并在1982年创立了Monometrics，后来更名为文艺复兴科技公司。最初，RENTECH涉及风险投资以及货币交易，后来吉姆·西蒙斯与霍华德·摩根（Howard Morgan）共同创立了文艺复兴科技公司。之后，RENTECH剥离了风险投资业务，霍华德继续联合创立了First Round Capital。 该公司迎来转折点，是因为创建了Medallion基金，这是一个与Axecom的合资企业，它汇集了更好的数据、更好的下注规模以及持续创新的文化。Elwin Burlakamp与团队合作，系统性地确定了基于模型生成的交易的下注规模。然后，凭借Strauss改进的tick数据和Burlakamp对凯利判据下注规模的贡献，模型真正开始发挥作用。Medallion基金带来了惊人的回报，促使西蒙斯收购了Axe和Berlekamp的股份，将运营迁回长岛。 西蒙斯将RENTECH打造成一个学术天堂。从IBM语音识别团队聘请的Peter Brown和Bob Mercer带来了大规模系统的专业知识，并带头开发了一个适用于所有资产的统一模型。 Medallion基金取得了无与伦比的成功，总回报率始终高于30%，夏普比率超过6.0。值得注意的是，Medallion在2000年科技泡沫破裂和2008年金融危机等动荡时期表现出色，凸显了其非相关的回报。由于受到基金规模的限制，他们启动了文艺复兴机构股票基金（RIEF），以募集外部资本，并提供类似于标准普尔500指数的产品，但具有更高的夏普比率和更低的波动性。 2009年，吉姆退休，将领导权移交给联合首席执行官Peter Brown和Bob Mercer。该公司继续产生卓越的回报，总内部收益率始终优于标准普尔500指数基准。然而，RENTECH的成功也与争议交织在一起，特别是关于Bob Mercer的政治立场以及他对Breitbart和剑桥分析公司的资助。 其成功归功于三个方面，（1）一个所有人都共同协作的模型，（2）一个我们彼此都非常了解的超小型团队，以及（3）这种具有高绩效费用的LPGP（有限合伙人/普通合伙人）模式，它创造了一套正确的激励机制。主持人剖析了该公司独特的文化、数据驱动的决策以及组织结构，以理解其持续的成功。竞业禁止协议、对员工的财务影响以及独特的地理位置都有助于留住人才。他们辩论了这种能力背后的驱动因素，倾向于流程权力，即卓越数据的稀缺资源，以及与激励模式的反向定位，激励最高的绩效和最小的基金规模。最后，该团队提到，RENTECH总是会赢，因为他们从1964年就开始学习了。

This episode of Acquired dives deep into the story of Renaissance Technologies (RENTECH), the most successful investment firm in history, achieving a staggering 66% annual return before fees. Hosts Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal unravel the firm's origins, success, and unusual structure, as they trace back to Jim Simon, a math professor and cold war codebreaker. Simon's early life in Newton, Massachusetts, and his time at MIT reveal a brilliant mind not afraid to diverge from traditional paths. He briefly dabbles in a flooring tile company in Bogota before becoming a codebreaker for the US government's Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA). At the IDA, Simon, along with his colleagues, first explored using mathematical models and statistical analysis – basically, early machine learning – to predict stock market behavior, resulting in a 1964 research paper. They used markov models, a statistical concept used to model chaotic situations, to predict future states based on observed patterns of past states. Their initial attempt to launch a fund based on this concept failed, but Simon persisted, taking a position as chair of the math department at Stony Brook University. There, he recruits superstar mathematicians and eventually leaves academia in 1978 to focus on trading, starting Monometrics, later Renaissance Technologies, in 1982. RENTECH initially involves venture capital investments alongside currency trading, before Jim Simon, along with Howard Morgan, found Renaissance Technologies. Later, RENTECH spun out venture capital and Howard went on to co-found First Round Capital. The firm's turning point comes with the creation of the Medallion Fund, a joint venture with Axecom, which brought together better data, better bet sizing, and a culture of continuous innovation. Elwin Burlakamp worked with the team to get systematic about sizing bets on trades coming out of the models. Then with Strauss' improved tick data and Burlakamp's contributions on Kelly criterion bet sizing, the models really started to work. Medallion delivered astounding returns, prompting Simon to buy out Axe and Berlekamp, moving the operation back to Long Island. Simon establishes RENTECH as an academic paradise. Peter Brown and Bob Mercer, hired from IBM's speech recognition group, bring expertise in large-scale systems and spearhead the development of a unified model for all assets. The Medallion Fund achieves unparalleled success, with gross returns consistently above 30% and sharp ratios exceeding 6.0. Notably, medallion shines during volatile periods like the 2000 tech bubble burst and the 2008 financial crisis, highlighting its uncorrelated returns. As they are limited by fund size, they start the Renaissance Institutional Equities Fund (RIEF) to raise outside capital and provide a product similar to the S&P 500 with higher sharp ratios and lower volatilities. In 2009, Jim retires, handing over the reins to co-CEOs Peter Brown and Bob Mercer. The firm continues to generate exceptional returns, with aggregate IRRs consistently outperforming the S&P 500 benchmark. However, RENTECH's success is also intertwined with controversy, particularly regarding Bob Mercer's political affiliations and funding of Breitbart and Cambridge Analytica. The success is attributed to three aspects, (1) one model that everybody collaborates on together, (2) a super small team where we all know each other, and (3) this LPGP model with high performance fees that creates the right set of incentives. The hosts dissect the firm's unique culture, data-driven decision-making, and structure to understand its sustained success. The non-compete agreements, financial impact on employees, and unique location all contributes to the success of retention. They debate the power enabling this, leaning towards process power, a cornered resource of superior data, and counter positioning with the incentivized model, incentivizing the greatest performance and smallest fund. Finally, the team touches on the fact that the RENTECH is just always going to win because they’ve been learning since 1964.