1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,600 Tell me about your vision. 2 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:04,680 Yeah, so for context, I'll keep it really quick 3 00:00:04,680 --> 00:00:05,520 on what Ticker is. 4 00:00:05,520 --> 00:00:08,220 Ticker is a platform, a subscription platform 5 00:00:08,220 --> 00:00:11,880 that helps people confidently buy and sell stocks. 6 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:15,420 And there are about 400 million retail investors 7 00:00:15,420 --> 00:00:17,920 in about 16 countries. 8 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:21,040 Right now we have about 9,000 customers 9 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:24,120 in about 50 countries around the world. 10 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:27,320 And we want to help more people 11 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:30,240 that are entering the market invest with confidence. 12 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:34,220 So for example, Nvidia is all the rage as we speak. 13 00:00:34,220 --> 00:00:36,920 Is Nvidia actually a good or bad investment? 14 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:39,080 Same thing with Tesla, same thing with Apple, 15 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:40,560 same thing with Microsoft. 16 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:43,240 But we do that with a lot of stocks 17 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:45,320 around the world and our platform. 18 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:49,560 And not only that, people know what decisions to make, 19 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:51,840 like when to buy, when to sell, how to reduce the risk. 20 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:55,080 So really we're focused on getting to a million subscribers 21 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:56,800 over the coming years. 22 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:58,240 And based on the size of the market, 23 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:00,120 we know we can get there. 24 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:03,120 Okay, so starting from the beginning, 25 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:04,640 where did your vision come from? 26 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:06,520 What sparked this in you? 27 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:09,380 Yeah, so I'll keep this high level. 28 00:01:09,380 --> 00:01:11,160 I've got about 20 years in business, 29 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:13,320 about 15 years in investing. 30 00:01:13,320 --> 00:01:15,640 And I started the hard way with investing. 31 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:18,880 I went through a merger of a business in the 2000s. 32 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:20,800 It was just an agency, a service business. 33 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:22,560 So there wasn't like a multiple. 34 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:24,460 It was like, hey, all debts and liabilities, 35 00:01:24,460 --> 00:01:26,000 wipe clean and you get a fresh start. 36 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,520 So I knew at that point in 2010, 37 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:31,760 I wanted to create some kind of SaaS business. 38 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:33,840 And in the same time, get into investing. 39 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:35,360 Instead of me, long story short, 40 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:36,640 instead of me working for money, 41 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:40,200 how do I flip that equation to get money working for me? 42 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:43,640 So investing, Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, 43 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:45,540 they're really the guys a lot of people look up to. 44 00:01:45,540 --> 00:01:47,920 So I started Angel Investing. 45 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:50,600 We're investing in private companies. 46 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:53,960 And that's a losing game for most people. 47 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:55,200 I made some money, lost some money, 48 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:57,200 did that for five years. 49 00:01:57,200 --> 00:01:59,880 And in 2015 or 16, I'm like, 50 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:02,600 I have to do this the right way. 51 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:04,960 I have to follow Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger. 52 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:06,520 So I went down the YouTube rabbit hole. 53 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:09,680 I read as many books on investing as I could. 54 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:11,800 And I found a guy by the name of Phil Town 55 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:13,720 who provided some of the mathematics, 56 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:15,640 some of the calculus equations in a book. 57 00:02:15,640 --> 00:02:17,160 I won't talk about those here. 58 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:19,760 But people can check out Ticker. 59 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:21,600 We are open source with our calculations 60 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:23,600 so people can use those calculations. 61 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:25,440 We always say, go create your own version of Ticker. 62 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:26,520 We really don't care. 63 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:30,080 But I wanted to create a green light, 64 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:32,320 red light decision-making process. 65 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:34,160 When you're sitting at the stoplight in your car, 66 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:36,360 it's not like, maybe should I go forward? 67 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:38,200 It's like you trust the green light, 68 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:40,480 red light rating system. 69 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:41,880 How do we do that with stocks? 70 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:44,640 So I created a gamified experience in Excel, 71 00:02:44,640 --> 00:02:46,760 used it for four years, 72 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:50,920 making returns that are about 15 to 50% per year. 73 00:02:50,920 --> 00:02:55,920 For context, the S&P 500 is about 8% after inflation. 74 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:58,560 So I'm like, all right, it's beating the market. 75 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:01,720 2019 comes around and I start sharing this Excel sheet 76 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:03,040 with a few people and everybody's like, 77 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:05,360 hey, you should turn this into a software 78 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:07,240 to share with others. 79 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:11,240 So after like 10 years, I finally have a SaaS idea. 80 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:15,360 It just took overnight to get this thing moving. 81 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:18,280 But it took about a year to build the first version of Ticker. 82 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:21,960 And then it took six months to get the first paying customer, 83 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:24,720 but that's what building a SaaS is. 84 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:27,080 You gotta get people on the platform for free, 85 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:30,320 but in return, you gotta ask for feedback 86 00:03:30,320 --> 00:03:31,600 on how to make it better for them. 87 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:32,960 Because it's not my tool, 88 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:34,480 it then becomes my customer's tool. 89 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:37,520 So yeah, then fast forward to today, in 2024, 90 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:39,320 we have over 9,000 customers. 91 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:41,760 So that's the backstory on the platform. 92 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:43,040 That's incredible, man. 93 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:44,120 I mean, you gotta start somewhere 94 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:47,040 and you started from the hard point, huh? 95 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:50,400 Right, I guess I always like to make it difficult. 96 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:52,600 I mean, I think it's the best way to learn 97 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:55,200 is whenever you headstrong, you just dive into it 98 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:57,680 and you face headfirst all of the issues 99 00:03:57,680 --> 00:03:58,520 that you're going into 100 00:03:58,520 --> 00:03:59,960 and you just figure it out from there. 101 00:03:59,960 --> 00:04:01,320 Right on, right on. 102 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:05,400 So in your personal life, what is your why? 103 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:07,520 What's pushing you forward? 104 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:11,720 Freedom, in my 20s, when I had that business 105 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:12,720 and that service business, 106 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:15,440 I was working like 60, 70 hours a week 107 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:18,640 and it was around age 29, age 30, 108 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:19,680 after that merger happened, 109 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:21,840 I'm like, I cannot do this anymore. 110 00:04:21,840 --> 00:04:23,920 I have to work smarter, not harder. 111 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:27,800 So my driver is financial freedom. 112 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:29,640 Fortunately, it was a year ago. 113 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:34,560 I'm just over 40 now, I'm 41 and it was at age 40, 114 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:36,720 I was able to go full time with Ticker. 115 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:40,000 I bootstrapped it for three years, so kept the day job. 116 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:42,120 I did, since that merger, I'll keep this quick, 117 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:45,160 I did a lot of corporate contract and project management 118 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,720 for a lot of big companies and that was great experience. 119 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:51,400 But I'm like, I don't wanna work in big business, 120 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:52,520 I don't wanna work in corporate America, 121 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:53,880 I wanna create my own schedule. 122 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:57,400 So I get to wake up and do whatever I want every day. 123 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:01,360 I love serving my customers, I love building Ticker. 124 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:03,480 During the summer, I take Fridays off, 125 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:05,800 I do not work Fridays, I actually play golf 126 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:08,520 or I should phrase that, I try to play golf. 127 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:12,800 But my wife and I, we enjoy work life balanced 128 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:15,920 to the nth degree, life is about living, not working. 129 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:18,120 So that's my wife. 130 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:19,480 Thank you for being here today. 131 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:21,960 I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. 132 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:24,600 I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions 133 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:26,880 as these episodes continue to move forward. 134 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:28,600 This is gonna get more and more fun, 135 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:30,400 we'll have more and more engagement as well. 136 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:32,520 We'll invite people to participate in the show 137 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:34,880 and thank you for giving us your time and attention. 138 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:37,600 Have an excellent time building out your vision 139 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:39,520 and becoming a Vision Pro yourself. 140 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:44,520 I'll talk to you soon, bye bye.