In His Own Words: Q&A with Bloomberg Cofounder Thomas Secunda
Editor's Note: It's not often that a cofounder of such as successful company stays with it for so many years. Many cash out and go on to start other businesses, or simply retire. Although Secunda certainly could retire if he wished, he genuinely seems to enjoy the challenge of meeting client's demands and the creativity that is needed to innovate after three decades at the company. And he is very aware of how Bloomberg has changed the industry since its beginnings 30 years ago.
Where do you see Bloomberg LP in a few years?
Secunda: I'm immensely proud of the culture, the people and the company. The product is wonderful and I'm very proud of that as well. But the future isn't with the product, it is with the people. I'm really proud and excited that what Mike (Bloomberg) started, which I participated in, has survived his moving on and continued to grow. It's an incredible tribute to him because it's as much his design as anybody's. But it's still vibrant and it's still real. The role that Bloomberg has played in bringing transparency and clarity to the market is something I'm very proud of. It's helped the market because there are many instruments that you couldn't trade until there were analyses, descriptions or news on them. And I'm really proud of the role that we played in modernizing the world marketplace. We have more customers outside of the Americas now, than in. I've been doing this now since '82 and in 29 years for me, personally, the thing that's amazing is the amount of challenges and new ideas and things that we can do with technology in finance are more now than ever. There is just so much opportunity here and so many smart people to work with. But what's exciting about it is that there is so much more to learn, and every year I become better because I've learned so much from just being in this environment and listening to ideas and seeing what people do.
Riding the Technology Boom
I never anticipated the level of success we have had. I never would have anticipated the market being the size that it is. I would never have anticipated the technological boom that we've had that has made us capable of doing what we do. We've always been a believer that working with the customer and setting up the kinds of applications they want is a very powerful thing. We have to constantly build more products and improve so that we can maintain our value to our customers. There is a need to stay competitive technologically in this business, as well as a need for more interesting and diverse products, and yet still be able to analyze. Bloomberg is a company of many leaders and many, many people. And although I'm really proud of my contribution and what I did, I'm just a member of this wonderful team. It's been a great adventure. After 29 years the adventure has just begun. It's amazing. Greg MacSweeney is editorial director of InformationWeek Financial Services, whose brands include Wall Street & Technology, Bank Systems & Technology, Advanced Trading, and Insurance & Technology. View Full Bio
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