JOSEPH PLAZO OUTSMARTED WALL STREET—AND HANDED THE PLAYBOOK TO STUDENTS

By Forbes ContributorWall Street never saw him coming—because Joseph Plazo never played by its rules.Quezon City, Philippines — A decade ago, Joseph Plazo coded algorithms during brownouts, lit by candles and ambition.A secondhand laptop. A wobbly table. But the simulations ran.He was coding a tool the world hadn’t asked for—an algorithm th

By Forbes ContributorWall Street never saw him coming—because Joseph Plazo never played by its rules.In a hot Quezon City apartment, with fans off and lights out, Joseph Plazo kept coding—driven by vision alone.A secondhand laptop. A wobbly table. But the simulations ran.He was coding a tool the world hadn’t asked for—an algorithm that coul