Here are some key quotes from my latest podcast featuring interviews with HFM Editors Jennifer Banzaca, Michael Paterakis and Thomas Duffell who share their perspectives on the alternative fund industry:

Jennifer Banzaca, the Compliance Editor

“Inspiration comes from a lot of different places. Sometimes my good sources will just give me tips on trends and things that they’re seeing their clients or their firms focusing on. And that’ll give me a little bit of insight on things to ask other people in the industry about and see what’s going on. Sometimes it’s as simple as getting a press release.”

“In terms of how long it takes to actually write up an article. It really depends on whether it’s a simple news piece, or more in-depth analysis piece.”

“I really prefer that [people who reach out to me to pitch a story] at least understand somewhat of what I cover. I get a lot of calls from people that just have absolutely nothing to do with anything that I write about. And so, you know, I feel bad that I have to decline them on different pitches or different areas.”

Michael Paterakis, the Investment Editor

“My day starts with our daily editorial call. That means the entire US-based team at HFM, we all gather together and we discuss our stories to make sure we all know what story each person is working on in terms of can we collaborate or to just make sure that two different people don’t report on the same story.”

“While writing for HFM, I enjoyed a series of stories I did on artificial intelligence and how this is informing investing, particularly the quants and how they’re using machine learning strategies. And now they’re newer tools that are . . . totally changing the hedge fund world and investing overall.”

“My advice [to managers dealing with the media:] . . . be as transparent as possible, even if they cannot say something, even if they cannot disclose a certain thing. They should better say so instead of trying to come up with excuses or being antagonistic or anything.”

Thomas Duffell, the U.S. News Editor

“Over the past few years HFM has expanded both organically and with the acquisition of a number of complementary hedge fund publications. Right now we’re in the sort of the process of making everything a little bit more usable for all our readers and creating a single platform, HFM Global.”

“Ah, I mean, the old adage is that you’re only as good as your next story.”

“In terms of getting stories, the best way really is just to be connected to the market that you’re covering. You know, there’s almost no lead to small really.”

“The best things to do [when moderating a virtual event] are just be even more direct with your questioning to panelists, encourage greater audience participation through online chat channels on the platform and other such tools that you have available to make sure that people are engaged in a way that they would be if we were all in the same room.”