Aradhna Dayal: Let’s talk about the role of the new-age COO and how that has changed post-Madoff. What are the qualities of a successful COO today?
Colin Lunn: Five years ago, this was pretty much a non-existent role in Asia. A positive development since then has been an increasing number of professional and qualified COOs. Managers are realising that you can’t just sit there with one man and a dog and your kitchen sink to run a fund – they now have to build out the people and infrastructure.
When the hedge fund boom started, every single start-up would have one, maybe two, people. Now you go in and see at least 10 people at the start-up stage; and very quickly it’s up to 15 or more. This will probably continue to evolve.
François Hora: The experience level of a COO is very important. Having run a...