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Quantitative Finance, Government Policy and Venture Capital

Quantitative analysis of capital markets, strategy and policy decisions.

We navigate our clients from a challenging problem to a defensible solution along the shortest rigorous path.

Let us connect →Explore our practices
Risk & portfolio modelingSystematic strategiesPolicy analysisEconomic modelingProgram evaluationTechnical due diligenceMarket sizingPortfolio strategyRisk & portfolio modelingSystematic strategiesPolicy analysisEconomic modelingProgram evaluationTechnical due diligenceMarket sizingPortfolio strategy
Where we focus

Three practices, one discipline.

Whether the challenge pertains to a portfolio, policy, or startup evaluation, we apply the same rigorous optimization and quantitative focused mindset to every engagement.

Quantitative Finance

For hedge funds, family offices, banks and asset managers

Trading strategy optimization and hedging overlays for family offices; alternative data signals for long/short equity hedge funds, built on deterministic ETL pipelines and machine learning; valuation, risk, and codebase profiling and refactoring for banks and asset managers; and hands on training in Python, machine learning and generative AI for quant teams.

  • Alpha & factor research
  • Market & credit risk
  • Portfolio construction
  • ML on alternative data

Government Policy

For agencies and representatives at all U.S. government levels

We listen to elected officials, ranging from members of the U.S. Congress to New Jersey State and local governments, then apply the same data gathering, modeling and testing rigor we use in quantitative finance to reach evidence based policy recommendations. We focus on identifying and remediating waste, fraud and abuse, and also advise on fintech, generative AI and national security policy.

  • Policy analysis
  • Economic & fiscal modeling
  • Program evaluation
  • Strategic planning

Venture Capital

For investors and the startups and companies they back

We perform technical due diligence for venture capital firms on seed to Series A investments and acquisitions, and help these firms and private equity investors find candidate investments by screening PitchBook and Crunchbase with our own generative AI tools. We also advise dozens of startups, mostly in fintech, on fundraising, technical modeling and development strategy, scaling and customer acquisition.

  • Technical due diligence
  • Market sizing
  • Portfolio analytics
  • Founder advisory
Scholars Network

America's strongest students, applying rigorous analysis to public problems.

We collaborate with a network of 30+ current and former students from leading universities to solve problems in local, state and federal government. We empower and partner with these students so they can finance their university tuition by solving America’s problems. Each team learns and applies our rigorous quantitative problem solving process to address public interest challenges for the betterment of society.

How we work for clients

Following the shortest critical path from idea to deliverable

Discover

We start with the decision, not the data: what needs to be known, by whom, and by when. We then identify, gather and parse the information necessary to inform this decision process. Discovery informs the project roadmap.

Model

We prototype quickly and document every choice to provide full transparency. We utilize statistical and optimization based mathematical models when appropriate. We simulate scenarios to provide clients with the broadest perspective.

Deliver

We deliver models, briefs, whitepapers, spreadsheets, and dashboards that your team can own, with a clear structured handoff and knowledge transfer, and provide an option for ongoing support.

About

Practitioner led. Academically grounded.

Geodesic Solutions was founded in 2016. Since then, we have worked with over three dozen clients in the financial services, family office, technology, venture capital, and startup industries. We draw on a bench of approximately fifty people, ranging from students to domain experts with decades of experience in quantitative finance, machine learning, banking, and consulting.

We apply the same discipline across finance, public policy and venture investing: practical about what decision makers need, and uncompromising about getting the analysis right.

More about us →
Insights

Case Studies, Talks/Podcasts, and Publications

All publications on Google Scholar →
TalkBloomberg · 2024

Bloomberg Quant (BBQ) Seminar Series

Presentation of ideas on how to modernize university education at a Bloomberg BBQ Quant seminar.

Watch the talk →PodcastVideo podcast

Steve Taylor on fintech and quantitative finance

A conversation on how fintech is changing finance, and the quantitative skills it now demands.

Watch on YouTube →PodcastVideo podcast

Steve Taylor podcast conversation

A video podcast conversation with Steve Taylor on quantitative finance and his work.

Watch on YouTube →PublicationThe European Journal of Finance · 2024

Portfolio optimization beyond utility maximization: the case of driftless markets

With Jan Vecer and Mark Richard. How investors should allocate when markets offer no expected drift to exploit.

Read the paper →PublicationAnnals of Operations Research · 2022

Peer-to-peer risk sharing with an application to flood risk pooling

With Runhuan Feng and Chongda Liu. A framework for pooling catastrophe risk, applied to flood insurance.

Read the paper →TalkCMStatistics

CMStatistics conference talk

A framework for deciding the optimal time to start taking Social Security payments, presented at the International Conference on Computational and Methodological Statistics.

Read more →PublicationInternational Review of Financial Analysis · 2021

On equity market inefficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic

With Robert Navratil and Jan Vecer. Measuring how far equity markets drifted from efficiency during the pandemic.

Read the paper →Thought leadershipEssay

Why geodesics?

A geodesic is the shortest path on a curved surface. It is also how we approach problems in markets, policy and venture.

Read more →PublicationQuantitative Finance · 2019

Detecting and identifying arbitrage in the spot foreign exchange market

With Zhenyu Cui, Wenhan Qian and Lingjiong Zhu. Graph methods that find and pinpoint arbitrage across currency pairs.

Read the paper →PublicationRisks · 2019

Social Security benefit valuation, risk, and optimal retirement

With Yassmin Ali, Ming Fang, Pablo Arrutia Sota and Xun Wang. Valuing benefits and choosing when to retire under risk.

Read the paper →Thought leadershipTeaching

Fintech and financial data analytics courses

University courses bridging financial theory, statistics, programming and modern machine learning.

Read more →Case studyLocal government

Forecasting a city budget

How a student team built a transparent revenue and spending forecast for a municipal budget office.

Read more →Case studyState government

Evaluating a state workforce program

Measuring what a training program actually delivered, using data the agency already collects.

Read more →Policy briefFederal

A data-driven look at a national policy question

A concise brief that turns a complex federal question into clear options, with the model behind each one.

Read the brief →Scholar spotlightScholars Network

Student spotlight: from classroom to public impact

One student's project, the rigorous method behind it, and the difference it made for a government partner.

Read more →Research briefScholars Network

Research co-authored with network students

Findings from a joint study by Steve and students across the network on a pressing public question.

Read the brief →TalkUniversity policy lab

Workshop: rigorous analysis for public problems

A hands on session teaching students to apply quantitative methods to real government challenges.

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Have a hard problem worth solving?

We solve problems.

Tell us about it, and we will get back to you with options.

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