This Hedge Fund Superstar Has a Singer-Songwriter Side Gig
Pete Muller, founder of the quant firm PDT, takes his musical act on the road.
Peter Muller performing onstage this year.
Photographer: Cassidy Kristiansen
Joe’s Pub in New York’s East Village might not register as a usual hangout for the Wall Street crowd, but on one night in May, you’d have thought it advertised “Quants drink free” on the CNBC crawler an hour before the close. They came to hear singer-songwriter Pete Muller, who was playing at Joe’s to support Dissolve, his fourth studio album. Muller also happens to be a founding father of the modern quantitative hedge fund.
The audience isn’t always this warmed up. Muller, who sings and plays piano, had just returned from a cross-country tour opening for singer-songwriter Stephen Kellogg in places including Charleston, W.Va., and Spokane, Wash. “My wife said, ‘If you want real feedback, you’ve got to get out and play for strangers,’ ” Muller says.