Speaker: 

Tucker Balch

Title:

What It’s Like to Launch a FinTech Startup

Abstract:

Creating a startup is an exiting way to apply university research to real world problems. In 2011 my cofounders and I launched Lucena Research, LLC, a financial software company that provides decision support to wealth managers and hedge funds.  We were part of the first cohort to graduate from FlashPoint — Georgia Tech’s startup accelerator. Spinning a company out of a university is a bit different from the typical startup experience: There are advantages, challenges and limitations ranging from IP ownership to conflicts of interest.  In my talk I’ll tell you how we successfully navigated these issues.  I’ll also demonstrate Lucena’s products and tell you about some of the interesting intellectual problems we solve.

Bio:

Tucker Balch is an associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing.  Most of his work at Georgia Tech has centered on multirobot systems and the application of Machine Learning to the understanding of social animal behavior. In the last few years, he has begun to explore the challenges of applying Machine Learning to Finance, including the creation of a research group, a new course, a small company and a large MOOC.  He earned a B.S. and Ph.D. at Georgia Tech.  Honors include the NSF CAREER Award and the Georgia Tech Outstanding Service Award. His work has been reported in Institutional Investor, the New York Times and the New Scientist. Before academia, Balch served in the USAF where he was a Distinguished Graduate from Undergraduate Pilot Training and flew F-15s. In addition to his academic role at GT, Tucker is the CTO and co-founder of Lucena Research, a startup that applies Machine Learning to investing.