A common trend is for books to change all the names of real people but make it so bloody obvious that the change of names is pointless and looks silly….

She worked for one of New York’s most successful hedge fund managers who was focused on a concentrated portfolio of technology investments in both publicly listed stocks and venture capital. The young manager had a mentor who was in his eighties in the book and one of the father figures of the hedge fund industry. Who could it be?

To be fair it could have been Philippe Laffont but Carrie Sun if you google her worked for Chase Coleman III. A lot is written about Tiger Global in the press about their investing style. Quick as a tiger at leading large fund-raising rounds for tech startups in a way that only SoftBank could do. Focused on themes in tech and consumer apps across the world and allocating capital without asking for a seat at the table in the form of Board seats. Big concentrated bets on large-cap publicly listed tech names.

But very little is known about Chase Coleman III. What makes the great man tick?

That is why Carrie Sun’s book hit my reading list. So, what do we learn from Carrie’s experience:

1. There is good Coleman: always polite, encouraging, and thankful to his assistant Carrie, showering her with gifts including thousand-dollar spa treatments and handbags regularly. Even Mrs. Coleman does the same.

2. There is focused Coleman: a razor-sharp focus on return on effort and efficiency. He is obsessive about taking away the noise from everyday life. He is a family man like his mentor Julian Robertson and is not interested in socializing or idle gossip.

3. There is greedy Coleman: Not quite Gordon Gekko but Coleman tells his assistant money can solve most things.

4. There is one dimension Coleman: He tells his assistant that returns are the only thing that makes a difference for a hedge fund in the long run. Coleman isn’t interested in building a firm with upward mobility, transparency, and work-life balance, especially for the assistants.

5. There is posh Coleman: He would make time for Ken Griffin, Henry Kravis, and Julian Robertson in his diary but only people like that. Coleman never invited Carrie to any parties he held with the rich and famous.

6. There is demanding Coleman: He works 24/7 and expects Carrie to do the same including responding to every single one of his emails.

7. There is gracious Coleman: He writes a fantastic recommendation to Carrie’s next employer.

As Carrie Sun’s book Private Equity (interesting name because this isn’t Tiger’s business model) goes on I wondered when bad Coleman or dark Coleman will appear but alas, I am disappointed. I wasn’t quite expecting a Crispin Odey or Leon Black, but rich people have stories. Perhaps it was the threat of libel, but most likely Chase Coleman is just a straight-forward family man who has a passion and focus for his investing, and this isn’t the Stevie Cohen type day trading.

So, what do we learn about Coleman the legendary investor?

He is deeply process-orientated in his investing; he believes in always being invested and compounding. Sun had a ring-side seat to one of the most incredible money managers of this generation. She may have been a personal assistant managing calendars, but she also wrote speeches and created presentations for Coleman including on his investing and fund-raising efforts. But all she tells us is that it is easy to make that kind of money if you are focused enough and hungry enough. Feels like a bit of a cop-out. Read Ron Chernow’s historical biographies or other academics like David Nasaw who did a great book on Andrew Carnegie, and you get so much more depth on the main character.

To be fair to Sun this is partly about her life journey - Chinese American, romantic relationships, and her trying to find her way in life.

But what surprises me about Carrie Sun’s book is that she takes a job as the assistant and circa chief of staff for a young multi-billionaire hedge fund manager thinking it will be a warm and caring workplace, with work-life balance to pursue her outside interests and a broader mission statement beyond making money like they want to cure cancer or allocate their investing capital to social good.

Of course, Chase sells Carrie the dream when she joins but do you expect a big dog Wall Street hedge fund manager to spell it out?

It reminds me of the famous scene in Mad Men, (Episode: the Suitcase) when the junior Peggy Olson is complaining to the boss Don Draper about breaking up with her boyfriend and having to spend the evening with Draper working without enough credit.

Don says “it’s your job, I give you money, you give me ideas”

Peggy says “you never say thank you”

Don replies “that’s what the money’s for, your young - you will get your recognition and honestly its absolutely ridiculous to be two years into your career and counting your ideas, everything to you is an opportunity”

Don goes on to say Peggy should be thankful and that he is sorry about her boyfriend!

Chase Coleman III is no Don Draper but when Carrie is leaving Tiger Global, he says that he thinks she doesn’t have enough life experiences and too much of a maths brain to be a writer. Makes you wonder how a firm like Tiger Global didn’t have ironclad NDAs in place for roles like the assistant to Chase Coleman - this sort of thing would never happen to Ken Griffin. Makes you also wonder if Sun who always dreamt of being a writer took the job with Coleman - which for an MIT graduate with experience in the front office at Fidelity was unusual - knowing very well that Coleman and Tiger Global would provide her with great content for a future book?

Just like Gary Stevenson in “The Trading Game” had slick marketing and writing but little new about how trading works, I am still waiting to learn what makes Chase Coleman III tick!