Nick Kokonas

Entrepreneur and former derivatives trader; co-founded Chicago’s Alinea Group and founded Tock, a restaurant reservations and technology company. He is also associated with the immersive-experience project Strange House.

A 20-Second Trading Delay Became a $100 Million Arbitrage

Nick Kokonas argues that the opportunities he has pursued in trading, restaurants and software share a common source: delays that leave value on the table. In his account, an arbitrage is a mismatch in time—whether it takes too long for trading information to reach the person who can act on it, or reservation systems fail to reflect changing demand. Kokonas says finding the mismatch is only the start: turning it into a durable business requires navigating institutions, earning customers’ trust and building the capacity to operate.

My First MillionOct 26, 202627 min read