# AI and the Future of Fundamental Investing Jack Woodruff, Vinoo Ganesh · AI Engineer NYC 2026 · October 13 [Watch recording](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19744s) [05:29:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19745s) Hi, I'm Jack Woodruff. [05:29:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19747s) I am the founder and former CIO of Candlestick Capital Management, a long short equity hedge [05:29:13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19753s) fund based in Greenwich, Connecticut. Before founding Candlestick, I was a partner and [05:29:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19760s) portfolio manager at Surveyor Capital, which is a division of Citadel. [05:29:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19766s) Very cool. Thanks, Jack. So the reason we did this this way is we've had this conversation [05:29:32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19772s) before, and I think this is one of the most enlightening folks to chat with, given that [05:29:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19776s) Jack has spent his career picking stocks in an environment that's changing more than it [05:29:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19781s) ever was before. So we'll treat this really as a fireside shot. So Jack, paint the picture for us. [05:29:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19788s) What does fundamental investing look like in the age of AI, say five years from now? [05:29:53](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19793s) Well, it's hard to say. Like long-term stock picking, I don't believe is really going to [05:30:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19800s) change much at all. There's always been a mosaic and there's always been alpha creation by finding [05:30:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19807s) a divergent view. So that isn't going to change at all. I think that that still will stay the same. [05:30:13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19813s) Now, how people synthesize all of the information and where table stakes go to in terms of what [05:30:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19822s) everybody has and then how you synthesize that data is going to change completely. [05:30:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19828s) The traditional roles of, say, a portfolio manager or an analyst are going to be completely thrown [05:30:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19834s) upon their heads. And I still think it's too early to say what that's all going to look like [05:30:42](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19842s) as these tools are just so new, especially to the users. You've got a lot of people doing [05:30:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19847s) a few things, but it's just not clear to me that it's like we're there and oh my gosh, [05:30:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19855s) it's going to be these new things. We have a bunch of other things to kind of talk about, but [05:30:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19859s) But I think it's going to be super fascinating to watch how it all plays out. [05:31:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19865s) Very cool. [05:31:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19866s) So at Citadel, you had 18 people covering 400 stocks. [05:31:09](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19869s) And at Candlestick, you had 30 stock pickers. [05:31:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19872s) Could one great analyst cover all 400 by 2030? [05:31:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19876s) So the biggest issue is humans are still the [05:31:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19881s) I mean, like at the end of the day, you have to get the information into your head. [05:31:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19888s) So it's really all about sort of how man and machine can work together. [05:31:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19896s) Investment management is a time management exercise. [05:31:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19900s) What I mean by that, if I spent all of my time working on one stock, that'd be great. [05:31:46](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19906s) I'd probably know it better than anyone else in the world. [05:31:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19909s) But if there wasn't anything to do in that stock, there isn't much to do. [05:31:54](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19914s) Well, if I do two, well, then I have half as much time and so forth until I go. [05:31:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19919s) So you start getting diminishing returns on how much time you could spend on any particular stock. [05:32:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19927s) So, you know, what can AI do? [05:32:11](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19931s) Can AI help me cover more names? [05:32:14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19934s) Perhaps. [05:32:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19935s) Maybe it allows me to raise the table stakes on what I just kind of like have as a general knowledge [05:32:23](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19943s) because that work used to take me hours to prepare, [05:32:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19946s) to get me ready for what it was. [05:32:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19948s) And now maybe an AI program can help me prepare a lot of that work [05:32:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19953s) in five minutes, which used to take me six to eight hours. [05:32:38](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19958s) So that allows me to do other things. [05:32:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19960s) Again, it's a very competitive industry. [05:32:43](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19963s) So it's not like if I get rid of all these people [05:32:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19965s) or if I have five analysts, whereas before I had 30, [05:32:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19969s) yeah, maybe those people can do more. [05:32:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19971s) but now all of a sudden this opens up time [05:32:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19976s) that I could spend doing either more proprietary research, [05:32:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19979s) channel checks, more sort of like industry backdrop work [05:33:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19984s) because again, like you're going to need to find these divergent views. [05:33:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19988s) So it's like if I do the exact same thing I was doing before [05:33:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19992s) and it's like, hey, wow, I can get my work done in two hours, [05:33:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19995s) well, someone else is going to be still working 16 hours a day [05:33:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=19998s) trying to find that extra thing [05:33:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20001s) that's going to [05:33:23](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20003s) make you money. [05:33:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20006s) Because just doing this stuff is obviously like what we used to pay an analyst to do a year or two ago is not what we're going to be paying an analyst to be doing in a year. [05:33:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20020s) Very cool. And on that, what is something today that a junior analyst does that you think will be absurd if they're still doing in five years? [05:33:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20028s) Well, it's funny. [05:33:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20030s) It's like, oh, you're not going to be reading 10Ks. [05:33:53](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20033s) You're not going to be reading transcripts. [05:33:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20035s) I actually don't believe that to be true. [05:33:57](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20037s) If you're truly close to a name, [05:34:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20042s) you're going to still need to process a lot of that information. [05:34:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20045s) Now, you might be able to get summarized versions [05:34:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20048s) that can cut down the time it takes you to do those things, [05:34:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20050s) but you still need to get that information sort of into your head. [05:34:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20056s) we used to have a lot of analysts [05:34:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20058s) that would be going through a lot of big data [05:34:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20060s) and things like that [05:34:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20061s) I definitely think that can be outsourced [05:34:24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20064s) and that will be super easy [05:34:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20066s) I would be surprised if a lot of these guys [05:34:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20068s) aren't necessarily doing that stuff [05:34:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20070s) but [05:34:32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20072s) what I believe [05:34:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20074s) the AI is going to do [05:34:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20076s) or the agent or whoever it is [05:34:38](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20078s) is going to be [05:34:42](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20082s) pushing you in the right direction [05:34:43](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20083s) to work on the right names. [05:34:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20085s) Like I said, this is time management. [05:34:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20087s) It's all about how do I know to work on the right things, [05:34:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20090s) and that's where the winners are going to be, [05:34:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20092s) is the people who can figure out how to use these tools [05:34:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20095s) to get you to spend the right amount of time [05:34:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20098s) working on potentially finding a divergent view. [05:35:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=20103s) Very cool.