Field Notes is where finance practitioners share what they learn in the field, under pen names. Not opinion pieces or tool reviews: the moment a decision had to be made, and what it took.
The places
Notes. Short thoughts from the field, the way you would post them in a channel. Community shows everyone’s notes; Following, the notes of the people you follow. Notes are in English. Contributors publish at once.
Questions. Ask about a situation you face; practitioners answer. A good question goes to the root, is short, and comes with its context. Answers by members are read by the editor before they appear.
Cases. Full pieces with a title and a synopsis, worked through with the editor before they are published.
Private notes. A thought to discuss with a few people you choose: those you follow who follow you back. Only they see it, and it may be in any language.
Messages. Contributors write to each other privately.
The way to the field. Field Notes is where Liquid Deployed finds its people. Its strongest authors and contributors, known here only by their pen names, get priority in the incubator towards FDFE status (Forward-Deployed Finance Engineer) and onto Liquid Deployed’s international missions.
Who reads what
Anyone can join and ask. Notes open once the editor has seen who you are, or at once if someone in Field Notes invited you. Whoever reads Notes can invite others, up to five a week.
What we publish as cases
Case breakdown. A real situation, anonymised: what was broken, what you did, what it cost, what you would do differently.
Open problem. A question you have not solved, set out well enough that others can work on it.
Point / Counterpoint. A position on a contested question in corporate finance, argued properly.
The path of a case
Write the case and send it to the editor.
An editor replies within 5 working days.
You work on the text together. Most pieces take two or three rounds.
We publish under a pen name we agree with you.
Why pen names
A pen name protects the source, not the argument. It lets you describe a real case without exposing your company, your bank or your colleagues. The editor knows who every contributor is, and everything published under a pen name is held to the same standard as a signed piece.
When you need us
Write to Field Notes, in your settings: a question about the service, your access or the rules. The answer comes to your Messages.
Private Desk, in your profile: for what cannot be discussed even among members. It goes by e-mail to Liquid Deployed only, is never published, and Field Notes keeps no copy.
What we guarantee
Clients, counterparties and figures are anonymised before anything is published. You approve the final text of a case, and you can edit or delete your notes, comments and messages. The editor may remove what does not meet the standard.