Have you thought about doing some freelance work with other start ups? Maybe get a feel for different industries to see which one peaks your interest? Could be a great way to network and learn other industries!
Great point. 40% drop in oil prices vs. a 22% drop in gas prices. Bottom line is that gas distributors don't have to precisely reflect the drop in oil prices at the pump because they can make more money that way.
There's also the fact that the oil prices generally reflect future prices. Gas stations need the physically delivered commodity. There's some small fluctuations there.
I don't have a deep understanding of how gas stations work, if anyone else has insights would love to hear them.
There's ongoing debate as to whether a highly successful investor will surface and be able to beat the market (i.e. the next warren buffett). We don't take a position for or against that. To those that are up for the challenge, great, but we don't at all count on it. In fact, we debate it internally, but it's not as important bc our purpose right now is to provide this platform.
We believe there is value in the transparency of the platform to foster better discussions. Most people make decisions alone. And current platforms like Stocktwits are interesting for sentiment but are filled with banter and are unreliable for real discussions.
In terms of reporting / tools, we're focused on investor self-awareness. Most people have more than 1 account and have a hard time even finding out the annual return on their portfolio. We'd like to start alerting people of things like strategy drift, as well.
Slightly more advanced topic: There's also something to be said of the data itself once people start sharing. The idea is that if you can get a cross-section of sentiment / social data backed by real portfolio data, it adds an element that wasn't previously available and should technically result in a more efficient market, resulting in an opportunity for new value creation. Brainstorming with few Anderson / GSB / Cornell finance professors on this.
Thanks for the input! We're integrating more brokerages as we go. We've been swamped with requests, so any indications on your favorite brokerages would help us choose. Right now we've queued up Interactive Brokers, OptionsHouse, TradeKing and Wealthfront. Also have requests for Betterment, Loyal3 and Motif. If there are any more we should add to the list we'd love to hear it.
Yes we'd love to get there. Our CEO left the investment management industry precisely for that reason. Said his boss, who managed $6 billion, still typed with 2 fingers. No offense, but probably time to start embracing technology.
Thanks for the feedback. We wanted to keep it simple for the general audience and we dig in just a little bit more in FAQ. We're in the process of creating a dedicated "security" page. As this is probably the smartest community we can find on the subject, would love any specific input on security.
TBH, we leveraged some of the same technology and thus wording that SigFig, Personal Capital, Mint and other pioneers in the space use.