Day: October 2, 2025

• September is a month full of hedge-fund conferences in New York, Connecticut, London, and more.
• People on the ground at these events told Business Insider what the chatter was about.
• Goldman Sachs and Kepler hosted events at sports stadiums, while Morgan Stanley and Citi opted for smaller venues.

September brings cooler weather, weekends filled with football, and plenty of hedge fund conferences.

Last month, managers and allocators in the $4.7 trillion industry had many opportunities to compare notes and share gossip.

Events hosted by Goldman Sachs and industry consultant Kepler at Citi Field and Wembley Stadium, respectively, brought hedge fund managers and those who invest in them to sports venues. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley and Citi held more low-key affairs in venues based in Greenwich and Manhattan.

Business Insider spoke with attendees of these industry events last month to get a sense of the on-the-ground sentiment. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because the conferences were closed to the press. Here’s what they said.

Allocators are worried about a shaky market

One manager who attended Morgan Stanley’s three-day event at the Greenwich Hyatt Regency in the middle of the month said allocators are concerned about a market pullback — but aren’t yet ready to ditch US stocks.

There’s a fear the party’s ending, “but no one wants to make the first move,” this person said. Over the conference, they met with dozens of allocators, including many institutional investors such as pensions and endowments.

“People are uncomfortably comfortable,” they said. This sentiment has been lingering for months now as US equities continue to tick up despite worries about President Donald Trump’s tariff policies slowing global trade. A survey released at the end of July found that nearly half of the dozens of institutional investors questioned believed markets were too complacent about tariffs.

What this means in practice is a search for managers that can perform in market downturns. Those with proven track records shorting stocks are in demand, two fund founders who attended the September conferences said.

One person who attended Goldman Sachs’ event at Citi Field, the home of Major League Baseball’s New York Mets in Queens, said managers trading international stocks were of interest to big American allocators.

“There’s a continued interest to get away from the States, even though the market keeps chugging along,” this person said, of their takeaways from meeting with dozens of potential LPs.

A recent report from law firm Seward & Kissel found that more funds were including Trump’s trade deals and tariffs as potential risk factors in their regulatory filings.

The “highly uncertain global macro and regulatory environment” is having “a significant impact on the disclosures” funds are sharing with investors, the report reads.

A new fund from Bridgewater caught some eyes

At Kepler’s Wembley Stadium event, there were plenty of big-name managers speaking and meeting with allocators. Leda Braga, the founder of Systematica and a former BlueCrest executive, gave a fireside chat to start the event, and other quants, such as AQR and Paris-based Capital Fund Management, met with institutional investors.

A new offering from $98 billion Bridgewater Associates — a fixed-income fund for non-US investors meant to take advantage of “global divergences,” according to the fund’s fact sheet — is hoping to meet the uncertain moment for antsy allocators.

The fact sheet for the Absolute Return Fixed Income strategy said it trades bonds and currencies, and is attractive now because “higher interest rates on both the long and short end of the curve, positive real yields and term premiums, and market volatility have all returned.”

One Europe-based allocator who met with Bridgewater in a group setting with other institutions at the Kepler event told BI that it’s the type of product firms roll out when stock markets seem at their peak.

The factsheet said the strategy is up 6.8% since it started trading in March of this year through August. The manager simulated performance for the past two decades and states that the fund — which wants to have 65% of its assets in interest rates trades, 20% in credit bets, and the rest in currency plays — would have returned 9.4% in 2008 and 21.7% in 2022.

“AFRI is a fully liquid, fully alpha strategy targeting a net excess return of 5%+ a year at 10% volatility that is designed to have no structural exposure or correlation to markets or other managers over time,” the factsheet reads.

Multistrategy exhaustion, but still a demand for multistrategy-like returns

Multistrategy firms like Millennium, Citadel, and Point72 have come to dominate industry talk in recent years thanks to their unprecedented size and the unrelenting talent war that has allowed portfolio managers to sell their services to the highest bidder.

The increasing cost of these platforms — and the fact that the most coveted firms are closed to new investors — has soured the sector in the eyes of some allocators. The recent closure of Eisler Capital, due to high costs and low returns, may be an inflection point.

There is, however, still a demand for the market-neutral returns they provide.

It’s why new launches that spin out of these firms — from portfolio managers who have traded in the multistrategy style for years — have become some of the most sought-after funds, two different managers said.

“Allocators seem to crave low-net strategies,” said one manager who attended an emerging manager conference in New York put on by Citi. This individual, who met with different potential backers at the conference along with roughly a dozen other stockpicking funds, said interest was higher in investors with a multistrategy background than those with a more growth equity mindset, such as spin-offs from Tiger Cubs.

Allocators investing in these spin-outs often require managers to accept capital via a separately managed account, which allows allocators more transparency into the returns and strategy.

Younger managers refusing to take SMAs found their dance cards empty at these conferences, two people who attended the Citi and Morgan Stanley conferences said.

“You can’t raise money from institutions anymore without saying yes to SMAs,” one fund manager said.

In the early ’90s, Bill Nye combined his background in science and stand-up comedy to create “Bill Nye the Science Guy.” The show ran from 1993 to 1999 and became a smash hit, spawning later spinoffs such as “The Eyes of Nye” (2005) and “Bill Nye Saves the World” (2017-2018).

On September 25, Nye, 69, launched another spinoff, albeit one a bit more personal to him. In “The Science Guy: Back to the Lab for FA,” Nye breaks down the science behind Friedreich’s ataxia (FA), a rare neuromuscular disease affecting roughly 5,000 Americans. Nye’s father, siblings, and several cousins had spinocerebellar ataxia, another form of ataxia. Though the symptoms vary, both diseases are progressive over time and greatly impact coordination and speech. Nye partnered with the National Ataxia Foundation and Biogen for the series.

Outside his work to raise awareness around ataxia, Nye spends time with his wife, journalist and author Liza Mundy. He’s also an outspoken critic of the White House’s proposed budget cuts to NASA, which would cut NASA’s Science Mission Directorate by 47% in 2026. (The White House has said the budget cuts will refocus NASA to its core mission and cut ineffective bloat.)

Here’s how Nye spends his day. This as-told-to essay has been edited for length and clarity.

I start the morning by bringing my wife coffee and newspapers

The night before, we get the coffee ready. That’s very important. There’s something psychological about having to measure the coffee and the water in the morning — you don’t want to deal with that.

First thing, I get up, turn the coffee on, and feed the kitty cats. I take a meeting with them about what flavor cat food they like: tuna or ocean fish?

Then I bring my wife coffee and newspapers. I recommend doing that to anybody. She wrote for The Washington Post for a long time. We get both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal as paper-papers and read The Washington Post and the LA Times online.

Then I generally have either granola and fruit or oatmeal and fruit. I’m a big fan of Trader Joe’s Ancient Grains. Their oatmeal is pretty rocking, I’ve got to say. Then, we talk about what’s in the paper. Then I take a shower, get dressed, and start screwing around with email. If the email’s about ataxia, all the better.

I work before I work out

I work out almost every day, either late morning or early afternoon. You just want business to get taken care of so you can enjoy going to the gym.

I have a guy I lift weights with who comes by my house. In Los Angeles, you can do this: We have a carport where you can lift weights and use resistance bands.

‘Bill Nye the Science Guy’ isn’t a character

Kids, let me just remind you all: Part of the success of the “Science Guy” show is that what you see is what you get. I didn’t have to get in character. I’m not doing acting exercises and reciting limericks with tongue twisters. That’s the guy. I am the guy.

The only preparation I did for “The Science Guy: Back to the Lab for FA” was stretching. I’m not joking. It’s important to stretch. Walking that slowly across the screen is not natural, so you have to practice walking. You also want your voice warmed up. That’s why I go on and on about having something warm to drink: tea, coffee, or just warm water.

The surprising thing to me is how short the days were. It’s very common, in movies and television, to work for 12 to 14 hours. But these were just eight-hour days, nothing to it. We had an excellent crew.

It was fun to be back on the set on a recreated set with all the same shelves and cranes and this and that. I tell people I’d wear a lab coat all day if people didn’t make fun of me. The lab coat’s a very comfortable garment.

I’m working to save America’s best brand, NASA

My other work is with the Planetary Society. Right now, we’re working hard to get Congress to restore funding for NASA.

There’s a plan by the administration to cut NASA funding by about 20%, but to cut NASA science by almost 50%. It would end missions that you and I, as taxpayers, have already paid for.

I’ve been spending a lot of energy on that lately, meeting with people, crafting policy documents. At the Planetary Society, we are going to have a day of action because NASA is so influential internationally. It’s the best brand the United States has.

I make my own pizza dough

For lunch, I recommend — if you’re not vegan or what have you — having a rotisserie chicken around. You can make yourself a chicken sandwich very easily.

Nowadays, I make bread all the time. We also make pizza dough from scratch. There are a couple of pizza toppings that are really good for lunch. So you make the pizza, even a couple of days before, and put the slices in the refrigerator and reheat them in a skillet with a little bit of olive oil. Then you get the crispiness of the crust.

Making bread or pizza dough is not that hard. You just have to do it beforehand and come back and roll it out. My life’s pretty exciting.

I ride my bike until it’s time to make dinner

I will often be riding my bike outside until dinner time. I’m not an indoor cyclist; that’s just not my thing.

Preparing dinner with my wife is a great joy. I’m not a bad cook, but Liza is excellent. So we cook dinner, and we sit and talk. Then we often go off to do more email and computer things.

Re-engaging in late-night TV

I watch cable news — I flip back and forth. I hope to get back in the habit of watching a late-night monologue. I haven’t been doing that much lately, but now with all the recent controversy, I am re-engaged.

I used to work on a comedy show before “Bill Nye the Science Guy.” I used to try to write monologue jokes. So I have great interest in that.

I also finally got around to reading the famous book “Bowling Alone.” I like to read a little before I fall asleep.

• Vertical software firms are seen as resilient amid AI disruption, according to RBC Capital Markets.
• These firms benefit from deep expertise and regulatory knowledge, making them more resilient.
• RBC recommends companies, including Autodesk and Clearwater Analytics. See the full list below.

As hype around generative AI continues to rattle the software sector, more specialized software companies may be among the most resilient players and the most underappreciated.

RBC Capital Markets wrote on Wednesday that vertical software — tools specifically designed for industries such as healthcare, insurance, and industrial design — could weather AI disruption in the near term and benefit from it in the long run.

These software vendors benefit from deep domain expertise, regulatory knowledge, and workflows that are difficult to replicate, the analysts wrote in a note to investors.

“Vertical software is one pocket of software that is likely to be viewed as ‘AI-proof’ (for now),” the RBC analysts, led by Rishi Jaluria, wrote.

‘Need-to-have’ software

Vertical software often supports critical functions and is typically seen as “need-to-have,” not just “nice-to-have,” the report explained.

With high customer retention, it could take years for these companies to be threatened by AI startups, even in a best-case scenario, the analysts argued.

One such company, Clearwater Analytics, boasts gross revenue retention (GRR) rates of 98% to 99%, demonstrating the loyalty of its customers to the product. Gross revenue retention is a common metric for subscription-based businesses and software companies, measuring how effectively they maintain their existing revenue base.

Additionally, many of the industries these companies serve are still in the early stages of modernizing their technology. That makes customers less likely to adopt AI-driven replacements in the near future.

Over the longer term, RBC sees vertical software vendors playing a key role in shaping the next phase of AI adoption. Rather than merely supplying data, they can provide context to train and fine-tune AI models, leading to industry-specific AI tools that drive real productivity gains.

Goldman Sachs’ view

At a recent Goldman Sachs tech conference last month, I asked Kash Rangan, the firm’s software analyst, about which companies could survive the AI challenge.

He highlighted ServiceNow, praising CEO Bill McDermott’s battle-tested leadership. He also pointed to Intuit for creating value for its existing products by subtly adding AI into them.

Salesforce got a more reserved assessment. Rangan said while CEO Marc Benioff is “in the fight,” the company still needs to prove that its new Agentforce AI product is gaining traction with customers and that they’re willing to pay for it.

In an industry dominated by flashy AI bets, RBC highlights a quieter reality: while vertical software may not be immune to threats by AI companies, its combination of industry entrenchment and domain-specific potential makes it a rare, AI-proof niche. For now, anyway.

RBC’s AI software survivors

Here are the vertical software companies that RBC recommended on Wednesday. RBC rates these all “Outperform,” citing their defensibility and their ability to innovate around AI:

• Autodesk: A design software company best known for AutoCAD and other tools used in architecture, engineering, and manufacturing.
• Bentley Systems: Provides infrastructure engineering software for the design, construction, and operation of roads, bridges, utilities, and other large-scale projects.
• Clearwater Analytics: Offers cloud-based investment accounting and reporting software for asset managers, insurers, and corporations.
• Guidewire: Develops cloud and software products for property and casualty insurers to manage underwriting, claims, and billing.
• Hinge Health: A digital health company specializing in musculoskeletal care, offering virtual physical therapy and pain-management programs.
• Samsara: Provides Internet of Things (IoT) platforms that help businesses manage physical operations, including fleet management, logistics, and industrial monitoring.
• PTC: Delivers software for product management, industrial IoT, and augmented reality to support manufacturers in designing and servicing products.
• Veeva Systems: Supplies cloud-based software tailored for the life sciences industry, including solutions for clinical trials, regulatory compliance, and customer engagement.

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