Jason Trost

Current

CEO and co-founder at Smarkets

Past

Analyst at UBS
Founder at Descipher
Equities Trader at Great Point Capital

Research Programmer at Northwestern University
Exchange Student at Youth For Understanding

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Education

Northwestern University

Connections

194 connections

Industry

Gambling & Casinos

Websites

Jason Trost’s Summary

Jason is CEO and co-founder of Smarkets.

Prior to founding Smarkets, Jason was an application developer at UBS’s Global Asset Management (New York) where he focused on innovative web technologies. Previously, Jason founded internet startup Descipher, a consumer medical website. Jason had previously been an equities trader at Great Point Capital (Chicago). He holds a degree in Computing and Information Systems.

Jason Trost’s Specialties:

Internet startups, trading, prediction markets, social networking, social media

Jason Trost’s Experience

CEO and co-founder

Smarkets

(Privately Held; Gambling & Casinos industry)

July 2007 — Present (2 years 5 months)

Smarkets is a sports betting website that makes punting on your favourite events simple and social. Instead of betting against a bookie, with Smarkets you bet against other members.
Analyst

UBS

(Public Company; UBS; Financial Services industry)

March 2005 — June 2007 (2 years 4 months)

○ Financial software developer for UBS Fund of Funds ($37 bil assets under management).
○ Designed software platform that processed hundreds of emails a day, one of the FoF's two main software packages. Allowed different business units quick access to pertinent documents. Responsible for project management, marketing, infrastructure monitoring. Created a proprietary Sybase database schema to persist document data.
○ Ran statistical analysis of fund performance. Developed reports to monitor AUM, strategy allocation, benchmark correlation and fund capacity.
○ Engaged and traveled to Zurich office for discussions to expand financial document software to their office.
Founder

Descipher

(Health, Wellness and Fitness industry)

December 2001 — March 2005 (3 years 4 months)

○ Internet startup founded during university that allowed consumers to self-diagnose lab test results.
○ Created mathematical algorithm to aggregate medical information into a formula that can diagnose lab tests: disease prevalence, population densities, geographic distribution, race and sex of patient.
○ Generated revenue streams from online advertising and pay-per-use diagnostic software.
○ Cultivated high traffic with search engine optimization and repeat visitors.
Equities Trader

Great Point Capital

(Financial Services industry)

July 2003 — May 2004 (11 months)

○ Proprietary equities trader responsible for my own book; traded on NYSE, NASDAQ and AMEX exchanges.
○ Employed fade, swing, and momentum strategies. Responsible for trading decisions, equity research, risk management, trade execution. Utilized statistical regressions and Excel / VBA to model data.
○ Created volume and price volatility strategy to fade stock moves.
○ Demonstrated strong performance track record: Grossed $86k Q1 2004 with a book of $500k. Grossed $146k with a book of $100k - $500k over nine months (Q3 2003 Q1 2004). Top trader in peer group of twenty.
Research Programmer

Northwestern University

(Computer & Network Security industry)

September 2001 — October 2002 (1 year 2 months)

○ Research assistant to a Computer Science professor Ken Forbus.
○ Developed software to aid computers to understand simple physical processes. Used natural language parsers as the main tool to extract information.
○ Implemented natural language algorithm to extract qualitative process information from middle school science texts.
Exchange Student

Youth For Understanding

(Non-Profit; 51-200 employees; Non-Profit Organization Management industry)

August 1998 — May 1999 (10 months)

Exchange student with a host family in Aschau am Inn, Germany.

Jason Trost’s Education

Northwestern University

BA , Computer Science , 1999 — 2003

Activities and Societies:

WNUR dj

Additional Information

Jason Trost’s Websites:

Jason Trost’s Groups:

Northwestern University Alumni
GHIP- GAMING & HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS GROUP (CASINOS-HOTELS-RESTAURANTS)
BLN
UBS Alumni
Prediction Markets
Digital Mission New York 2008
Friends of DrinkTank
UK Technology Global Markets