{"id":44904,"date":"2026-02-09T12:07:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T17:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/company\/press\/flirting-with-models-podcast-data-as-the-true-competitive-moat\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T12:07:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T17:07:00","slug":"flirting-with-models-podcast-data-as-the-true-competitive-moat","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/company\/press\/flirting-with-models-podcast-data-as-the-true-competitive-moat\/","title":{"rendered":"Flirting with Models Podcast | Data as the True Competitive Moat"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In this episode of Flirting with Models<\/a>, host Corey Hoffstein speaks with Angana Jacob, Global Head of Research Data, Bloomberg Enterprise Data.<\/p>\n

They talk about Angana\u2019s career path through quantitative research and data platforms, and how the industry has evolved from a world dominated by bespoke models and backtests to one where many models have become increasingly commoditized. A central theme of their conversation is the idea that while models are easier than ever to replicate, data \u2014 how it\u2019s sourced, cleaned, standardized, linked, and delivered \u2014 has become the true competitive moat.<\/p>\n

They discuss what it means to \u201cdo data correctly,\u201d how Bloomberg decides which datasets to build or sunset, how modern quants think about their data pipelines and tech stacks, and why aligning research data with production and back-office systems matters more than most people realize. Throughout the episode, they focus on Bloomberg\u2019s goal of shortening a client\u2019s time to alpha, and what that looks like in practice.<\/p>\n

At its core, this episode is about a simple but powerful idea: when everyone has access to similar models, durable edge increasingly comes from the data beneath them.<\/p>\n

>> Listen to the full interview on: Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a> or YouTube<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Episode Chapters<\/strong><\/h2>\n

0:53<\/span> – Guest introduction and career journey <\/span><\/p>\n

5:13<\/span> – Evolution of quant research and the importance of data <\/span><\/p>\n

12:28<\/span> – Bloomberg’s approach to data and shortening time to alpha <\/span><\/p>\n

16:17<\/span> – Building vs. buying data sets and their life cycle at Bloomberg <\/span><\/p>\n

20:37<\/span> – Building a company geographic exposure data set <\/span><\/p>\n

23:21<\/span> – Evolution of quant data pipelines and alignment across offices <\/span><\/p>\n

29:13<\/span> – Modern tech stack and challenges in data platform development <\/span><\/p>\n

38:15<\/span> – Balancing raw data with value-added modeling <\/span><\/p>\n

42:02<\/span> – Surprising trends in data usage and strategy convergence <\/span><\/p>\n

46:28<\/span> – Future trends in data needs and the next frontier <\/span><\/p>\n

49:03<\/span> – Common mistakes and lessons in data wrangling <\/span><\/p>\n

51:25<\/span> – Advice for quants on leveraging data <\/span><\/p>\n

54:08<\/span> – Guest’s current obsessions outside of work<\/span><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In this episode of Flirting with Models, host Corey Hoffstein speaks with Angana Jacob, Global Head of Research Data, Bloomberg Enterprise Data. They talk about Angana\u2019s career path through quantitative research and data platforms, and how the industry has evolved from a world dominated by bespoke models and backtests to one where many models have [...]","protected":false},"featured_media":44918,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[1469,86,84],"press_tag":[2395,2138,2404,97,1347,1331,2392,2189,1364],"class_list":["post-44904","press","type-press","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-announcements","category-bloomberg-professional-services","category-data","press_tag-alpha-generation","press_tag-angana-jacob","press_tag-corey-hoffstein","press_tag-data","press_tag-enterprise-data","press_tag-media-mentions","press_tag-quant","press_tag-research-data","press_tag-technology"],"yoast_head":"\nFlirting with Models Podcast | Data as the True Competitive Moat | Press | Bloomberg LP<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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