Featured Founder: Hawkai

At Founder’s CPA, we are privileged to work with a wide spectrum of highly impressive clients. Welcome to our first generation of Featured Founder, where we are highlighting a diverse set of “Founders” who may not fit the stereotypical “Founder” mold set by Silicon Valley, but they all bring a unique solution to their respective markets.

In this week’s Featured Founder, we will be showcasing Hawkai, a software company which specializes in macroeconomic research and strategy.

If you are interested in having your company featured, please reach out to mariam@founderscpa.com to get started.

Q) What does your company do?

Hawkai is a software company which specializes in macroeconomic research and strategy. Our product is a real-time data and analytics platform which helps institutional investors make sense of monetary policy communications.

Q) What is your mission?

Miscommunications between policy-makers and investors can have huge consequences for financial markets and the real economy. During the 2013 “taper tantrum,” the yield on five-year US Treasuries nearly tripled in four months. Our mission is to facilitate smoother transmission of monetary policy by bridging the communication gap between central bankers and market participants.

Q) What inspired you to start the company? What is your “why”?

Before I started Hawkai, I was a currency options trader at Citi. I have vivid memories of the moments immediately following interest rate decisions. One screen is flooded with red newswire headlines that you try to read as quickly as possible. Another is a browser stuck on 404 Page Not Found as you mash the refresh button. Meanwhile, ten customers are asking for prices, and your P&L is swinging around by $500k with every tick of the market. I felt there had to be a better way.

Q) What differentiates your company from your competitors?

Most of the market volatility around a central bank announcement occurs within the first few minutes. Hawkai fills the gap between ultra low latency numeric data providers and ultra high latency written research and market commentary. Our philosophy is not to tell clients how to trade, but rather to provide all the information they need to make that assessment for themselves.

Q) What are some challenges your consumers are facing right now and how does your company help?

Central banks publish speeches, statements, and interviews twenty-four hours a day in hundreds of different formats. At the same time, investors constantly need to be aware of policy risks across every major economy in the world. By organizing this fragmented information, Hawkai enables macro analysts to scale their expertise globally.

Q) What’s your favorite part about being an entrepreneur?

The thing I love most about being an entrepreneur is that you can have an impact on the largest, most sophisticated institutions in the world writing software out of your bedroom.