The post was originally published in Russian on Startup of the Day. Alexander kindly agreed to republish what we think is of great value to our readers.
Everybody is welcome to discuss investments on platforms like Smart-lab or on a Subreddit.
– Meta is going to rocket! I know what I’m saying!
– The support level is at the rate of 45, there is an apparent descending triangle.
– Musk is the man, I wouldn’t mess with Musk.
Anonymity presents a gigantic disadvantage of such discussions. A champion trader can be mistaken for a teenager and a teenager for a champion trader. We can never know whether the person to whom we are talking is just blabbering or earns millions on their analytical techniques. Getting into the trading bubble will bring about different outcomes for everyone who wants to take that leap, that is why they will use a website like https://investorjunkie.com/stock-brokers/best-online-brokerage/ to support them on this journey as they trade.
eToro, as well as other services with public portfolio dynamic, presents an alternative. Everything is open there, anybody can measure and assess all the data and understand whether this person should be listened to. Or, perhaps, their ideas can be used in the opposite manner. The drawback of such an approach is the limited audience. If someone chooses Robinhood as their broker, what should they do on eToro? Transfer part of their portfolio with this purpose? What for?
Commonstock, the American startup of the day, unites the best of both worlds. It provides a platform for discussing shares, where users add their portfolios from any popular broker to their profiles. Naturally, the startup doesn’t grant information to absolute numbers, but one can take a look at the relative weight of the shares and the overall dynamic of someone’s portfolio. Ideally, this should make the discussions more responsible, the conclusions they draw become more accurately correct, and all the participants earn more. In practice, of course, no stats on the users’ success rate is disclosed, and the platform doesn’t plan to add such a feature.
Meanwhile, Commonstock itself enjoys quite understandable success – it brought in USD 25M this October, the company’s first large round of investment.
#communication #fintech #investments #roundb #usa
Translation: Kostiantyn Tupikov
Alexander made his career in Russian internet companies including Mail.Ru, Rambler, RBC. From 2016 to 2018 he was Chief Strategy and Analytics officer in Mail.Ru Group. In this position, he worked on M&A, investments, and new project launches. In 2018 he became Deputy CEO in Citymobil, a Russian Uber-like company that was invested by Mail.Ru Group and Sberbank (the biggest Russian bank), then he left the company to launch his own projects. Now Alexander is a co-founder of United Investors – the platform for co-investments in Russian early-stage startups. His blog #startupoftheday (#стартапдня) is one of the most popular blogs about startups in Russia.
