Griffin started at Harvard College in the fall of 1986. That year, Griffin first began investing after finding what he believed were inefficiencies in the convertible bonds market, which allows company bonds to be converted into stock. He convinced school administrators to allow him to install a satellite dish on the roof of Cabot House for receiving stock quotes. He also asked Terrence J. O’Connor, the manager of convertible bonds at Merrill Lynch in Boston, to open a brokerage account for him with $100,000 that Griffin had gotten from his grandmother, his dentist, and others. His first fund launched in 1987 with $265,000, days after his nineteenth birthday. The fund launched in time to profit from his short positions at the time of the stock market crash of October 19, 1987. Griffin graduated in 1989 with a degree in economics.