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The post DIY Fund Investing Fintech Tools Wendy Garfinkel Nissan Eric Nissan Cofounders Show 048 was first published on mitchellchadrow.com

0:00you’re listening to the listen up show
0:02darn up entrepreneur podcast I’m
0:03Mitchell Chad Rowe your host today will
0:05show zero four eight we’re here with
0:07Wendy Garfinkel nissan and eric nissan
0:10don’t let anybody convince you that you
0:13know you know you’re going to be Bill
0:15Gates or you know Zuckerberg as you know
0:18because you you know you see the two out
0:21there and they’re worth doing it’s hard
0:23work if most of us in the startup
0:25industry have to work at it every single
0:29day not to say those two didn’t work at
0:32it but if you know and and the results
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1:28enjoy the show Wendy an arat after
1:31careers on Wall Street Eric as a
1:33technologist working for a ten billion
1:35dollar hedge fund and Wendy working as a
1:37bond trader they have co-founded a
1:39company called DIY bond which creatively
1:43enough is also there are weather
1:45hey guys how you doing on money bar
1:49thank you super well there are only a
1:52long ways away from Wall Street oh yes
1:54our roots are from Wall Street we both
1:57grew up in the New York area one too
1:59many cold winters and here we are our
2:02startup around for all your hosting
2:04needs head on over to Mitchell Chad Road
2:07comm
2:08slash hosting Mitchell Chad Road comm
2:10flash host
2:12thing for all your web-hosting need who
2:14do you use to host this website that
2:15everybody wants to manage their
2:17portfolio like a hedge fund and so now
2:20with thin tech tools and resources you
2:22could actually do it yourself so you
2:25actually help people invest
2:26professionally using do-it-yourself
2:29tools can you tell us a little bit about
2:31that I mean it’s part of our personal
2:33journey we you know we noted that you
2:36know we invest ourselves we tried all
2:39our lives to invest ourselves and the
2:42pain point we found as investors that
2:44you go to your online broker they’re you
2:47know telling you to trade options and
2:49chart the markets and technical analysis
2:51and all this stuff that I’m if you talk
2:53to professional investor and I’ve worked
2:55at multi-billion dollar hedge funds
2:57building on the technologist building
2:59these things of assistance they’re not
3:01doing any of those things they have
3:03proper investment management systems
3:06they manage their portfolios or their
3:08investments holistically they can change
3:11parameters on it and have the whole you
3:14know flavor of their risk change they
3:16understand their risk all those terms
3:18and things I’m talking about are not
3:20delivered by your online broker and so
3:23we are essentially we sit on top of your
3:27broker and we aggregate your data for
3:30you and we let you kind of invest in a
3:32more holistic way instead of just listen
3:36Jim Cramer I tell you to buy buy buy you
3:38actually can look at your accounts and
3:40say should I buy more Apple how much
3:42risk do I have in technology if I buy
3:44this what should I sell to keep my
3:46accounts in balance and of course on the
3:48flip side ad is of course he hits the
3:50button he says sell sell sell so you
3:52have to know you also have to know when
3:54to sell of course as well which is this
3:56which is the other side of the coin sure
3:58how whens if I went direct but also how
4:01much to buy itself you know the ah yes I
4:03accountant you be like God I think that
4:05you know X dollar seems like a good
4:07amount is it a good amount I mean there
4:09should be some pre thought into how
4:12you’re going to structure your
4:12investments before you just dive in
4:14there and decide to just put some cash
4:16up for it and I saw both of you on the
4:19red carpet this was actually the 2017
4:22Enza go global
4:23Tech Award tell me how you actually won
4:26that award a tell us you know give us a
4:28little bit of a behind-the-scenes in
4:30terms of what that was all about it was
4:31actually really very exciting for us I
4:34have to say we were one of 22 companies
4:37in our category for leveling the playing
4:39field
4:39you know we it’s exactly what we’re
4:41doing we really thought we were
4:42perfectly suited for the category but I
4:45mean there were very established
4:46companies in our category one company
4:48has just gotten three or four hundred
4:50million dollars in funding you know when
4:52when they say you’re really happy to be
4:54a finalist we were really happy to be a
4:56finalist I mean it was we were in very
4:59good hands and very good shoes to be in
5:01that category and when they met the very
5:03large company as the runner up I tried
5:05to Eric instead so who do you think won
5:07and I mean I will honestly admit I had
5:10my shoes off that’s great other company
5:14it was and when they said our name
5:17everyone’s halfway before I even like
5:19registered they said us it was crazy it
5:22was very exciting we were really honored
5:24great honor you know and and all those
5:28little pieces helped to validate what
5:30we’re doing but at the end of the day
5:31does you know the hard work is building
5:33the business and and doing right for our
5:36you though which we’re going to
5:38certainly talk about in a little bit now
5:39Eric you you had mentioned that you’ve
5:42built these portfolios in trading
5:44systems for multi-billion dollar hedge
5:47funds and Wendy you were actually
5:49creating bonds for that for the big
5:50firms on Wall Street so what like one
5:53day the light bulb just kind of goes off
5:55and when he turns to you Eric and says
5:57leave these xfig yer job our DIY dot fun
6:00not quite that easy but I think part of
6:02our frustration was really I mean I was
6:04on you know the high yield of distressed
6:06desks which was like the you know the
6:08really meaty part of the bond world
6:09where we really had to understand
6:11companies and credits and at the end of
6:13the day you know we’re screaming across
6:15the desk recharter what did you just buy
6:16what are you doing what are you doing
6:17and bonus time came around I turned to
6:20my boss and said you know you know where
6:21do I even start investing and he said
6:23here gave me the name of a broker to go
6:25invest for me I mean we’re doing this
6:27for a living and we still had no idea
6:29how to invest ourselves so what it came
6:31down to was that Eric and I
6:33were kind of struggling with how to stay
6:35vested properly and Eric started
6:37building these tools for just us
6:39personally for our own account started
6:40with the spreadsheet right so this
6:42spreadsheet just kept going and I you
6:44show me something I said was it but can
6:46I see this so he filled it I love it but
6:48can I see this when you keep building it
6:50and then we kept building it and he
6:52turned to me one day and said there’s
6:53really something here there’s a whole
6:55world of people who would love this tool
6:57and that’s how we got artists what
6:58actually makes your do-it-yourself
7:01investment platform different than
7:03anyone elses so I mean and then you know
7:06the world is you know if I want to
7:08divide up the neat world of investment
7:10platform you have your online broker
7:12which I think I live in the beginning of
7:14the call they have you know the ability
7:17to buy and sell stock chart you know you
7:19can do research on individual companies
7:22and so the research piece and the actual
7:24trading piece and even the charting
7:26piece we say that’s fine there’s plenty
7:28of solutions out there for that we’re
7:30not reinventing those wheels we are
7:33allowing someone to do so then let me
7:35just take a step further on the other
7:36side you have you know these new players
7:38these Robo advisors etc and what they do
7:43is say hey you know investing you know
7:45time-consuming hard we’ll just do it for
7:47you click a button and we’ll just make
7:49sure that you’re invested every much
7:51much lower fees so then traditional for
7:53one or two per site or you don’t have or
7:55you could have a wealth manager who just
7:57you know you pay a lot of money to it’ll
7:58do for you the net effect is if you want
8:01to invest like a wealth manager or like
8:03the robos do and rebalance your account
8:06and make sure that you’re properly
8:08allocated etc you don’t have an option
8:10out there there are no tools that your
8:12broker will give you a lie do that your
8:14only choice is to give it to a robo or
8:16to you know spreadsheets and try to keep
8:19up with it which can be very
8:20time-consuming so our platform is the
8:23tools that a professional adviser would
8:26have and use or a hedge fund might have
8:28in you obviously there’s a lot more
8:30complicated things that a hedge fund
8:31might do because of their situation and
8:33the amount of money they manage but in
8:35general the ability to manage account
8:37through software those that tool is now
8:41available to you through DIY – sure what
8:43what oh yeah I’m sorry we really
8:46don’t have true competition in that
8:48regard I mean doing exactly what we’re
8:50doing there are online you know you can
8:53do a lot of online research you can do a
8:54lot of online trading and we don’t take
8:56your money we are just a platform that
8:58sits on top of whatever you’re already
9:00doing and if you if you have your
9:02accounts in one place of your accounts
9:04in 50 places it can all be analyzed in
9:06one place together so you truly know
9:08what your your risk your volatility and
9:11everything truly looks like in your
9:13portfolio let’s talk a little bit about
9:14fees that’s one of the biggest affects
9:16of overall performance since they can
9:19tend to eat away at performance
9:21depending upon how high they are
9:22depending upon what type of funds let’s
9:25say someone’s investing in I’m actually
9:27on your site right now and I’m actually
9:29going to be typing in my email it says
9:31to sign up for your beta test in terms
9:33of your own resources and the tools that
9:35are right there that I normally would
9:37then pay for are we saying that your
9:40site itself is actually breathe how are
9:42you making money yes so right now it is
9:45all entirely free the goal is to have
9:47always some level of services that are
9:50free and then on top of that build on a
9:53premium service for people who want to
9:56have more tools or more features
9:58available to them but as we’re in beta
10:00right now and we’re working with our
10:03user base and we’re making sure that
10:05we’re building features that they want
10:06you know all the the great comments and
10:10suggestions and questions we get from
10:12our users all go get baked back into the
10:14product and so we’re not charging for
10:17the use of best information back and
10:19forth it’s very collaborative that’s
10:21really why we’re at this point right now
10:23put a little bit deeper into how the
10:25actual web platform itself is actually
10:28helping the average listener out there
10:30in our audience manage their own
10:32portfolio how is it actually helping
10:34them understand their risk and actually
10:36tracking their performance sorry I mean
10:38when you initially get on the site it’ll
10:41take you through a little wizard that’ll
10:43ask a couple of questions and what that
10:45wizard does is set up basic parameters
10:48in in your account for example it might
10:52say you know the S&P 500 and I don’t
10:55know the exact number today but
10:56earning X dollars and dividends a year
10:59you know so let’s if you want to be
11:01aggressive you should probably be you
11:03know standard deviation or so under that
11:05if you want to be more moderate
11:06portfolio maybe you should be bad or
11:08higher etc different parameters
11:10volatility you know different measures
11:13of your risk etc then when you go in and
11:17you import in your account so you link
11:19to your brokerage account we take all
11:22those parameters and match it against
11:23your accounts you can see how you’re
11:25doing and versus what you thought you
11:28should be doing according to your the
11:30questions you answered from there you
11:33have the ability to allocate your
11:36portfolio so you can go in and say well
11:38I want have these percents for these
11:41either different investment types or for
11:45these securities and so we have a
11:48rebalancing tool that’ll go in there and
11:50alert you and say hey you’re out of
11:52whack with what you want we calculate
11:54and we will make it easy for you so you
11:57click a button and essentially we lay
11:59out for you to say this is what you need
12:00to do to get your account back in shape
12:02the goal is not to have people have to
12:05stare at this every single day the goal
12:07is to have us monitor your account for
12:10all these parameters and all these
12:12settings for you and when action needs
12:14to happen we let you know and we let you
12:16know what the recommended course of
12:18fixing it is what a bit we find with
12:21even professional wealth managers that
12:23you’re paying a lot of money is that
12:25they’ll say ok if you know if you’ve got
12:27a really active you know wealth manager
12:29involved in your accounts maybe they
12:31look at your account quarterly if you’re
12:32really lucky
12:33mostly annually if you’re even luckier
12:36you know and so what’s every balance on
12:39a specific date rebalancing is a date
12:41driven it’s where your accounts are so
12:44you made over the course of a year
12:45needed to rebalance a hundred times
12:46would say but you never rebalance
12:49because at that point every year the
12:51same point you never rebalance you truly
12:53miss out on the best performing parts of
12:56your portfolio which is when you’re
12:57supposed to rebalance we have you know
12:59tax loss harvesting tools things that
13:01you know if you went to any advisor
13:02today they say well you got to be Texas
13:05arson you got to be and so we’re saying
13:07to the individuals this stuff isn’t hard
13:09you don’t need a PhD in you know prime
13:13man or you know you don’t need to have
13:16complex strategies but we just want to
13:18make sure that your your accounts are
13:20doing the necessary things to keep it
13:22moving and you’re earning the most out
13:25of it that you can our audience prized
13:26of a lot of not only startups and
13:29business owners and entrepreneurs that
13:30are taking their company to the next
13:32level from the audience’s perspective
13:34maybe let’s delve a little bit into your
13:36actual numbers how are you bringing
13:39people to your website from a marketing
13:42perspective and if you could talk to us
13:43a little bit about the numbers right now
13:45in terms of how many active people are
13:48in your beta and what are you doing what
13:50is your revenue model look like going
13:52forward in the next next six months two
13:54to nine months to 12 months yes sure um
13:56so as far as marketing goes you know we
14:00you know we certainly rely a lot on
14:03social media and the likes you know as
14:06you mentioned you know the awards and
14:08the different accolades that we’ve
14:10gotten certainly go into us you know we
14:14just only get a big boost of people who
14:16sign up and understand and learn about a
14:19podcast like this are a great additive
14:22for that as well as you get to explain
14:24exactly what you’re doing you know it’s
14:27a lot of marketing is a lot of testing
14:29the borders and seeing what works and
14:31and just as we do with the platform we
14:34we read jiggle things and we you know
14:37focus on the things that work for us we
14:40came out of a accelerator here out in
14:42Orlando and so that um you know we knew
14:47we wanted to do it certainly though help
14:51focuses on the customer experience and
14:54making sure that we’re validating our
14:56ideas before we move forward as far as
14:58users I will say you know we have
15:01thousands of people who have signed up
15:03for the platform you know we’re not a
15:06funded company we’re we’re a private
15:09privately held bootstrap startup and in
15:14that we have some potential big deals
15:17that we are working with that I cannot
15:20talk about but but that could help us
15:23better integrate with some of the online
15:25brokers and to do things more in line
15:29with them and those type of bigger deals
15:31would you know certainly like you know
15:34there’s a thousands of people that we
15:35have registered that would that would
15:37you know kind of tip the scale in a in
15:39an astronomical way so you know we’re
15:43we’re we’re really at the stage where
15:45we’re being as fluid as possible because
15:47we have a lot of different avenues of
15:49growth and revenue but we you know we
15:52need to kind of lay out a solid course
15:55and our goal is to remove the data from
15:57the site so that people can just join
15:58and sign up and don’t have to wait for
16:00that that wall in front of them now you
16:03mentioned about validating your idea you
16:05also mentioned about an incubator there
16:07in Florida I don’t know if that’s the
16:09starter studio that I was reading about
16:11as far as that goes but maybe talk to
16:13the audience about not just because
16:15you’re in beta but how you’re actually
16:17some additional ways you’re actually
16:19validating your idea to sort of take it
16:22to the next level because there’s a lot
16:24of people in the audience that are
16:25obviously trying to validate their own
16:27ideas as well yeah when we first started
16:29we said oh you know I worked at a hedge
16:32fund and this is what I need is an
16:34investor so I’m just going to build it
16:36and the when you go in to accelerate
16:40especially when we went into they said
16:42we hold everything before you spend your
16:44time building and just writing software
16:47let’s you know go up the street you know
16:49walk around and ask people and so you
16:53know part of our homework assignment was
16:54we would walk around and we would you
16:57know and then as we got comfortable with
16:58that process we realized that you know
17:00there’s even more ways ways to do this
17:04that we can grow so we would do things
17:06automated through you know emails and
17:09questionnaires and etc and by the time
17:11we were done we had thousand plug
17:14responses of you know questions and not
17:17to say that you know there’s always bias
17:19and the questions and all that but it
17:21certainly if you’re trying to figure out
17:22what’s the right path those things help
17:25and those things you know probably saves
17:27us a ton of time because instead of
17:29building and spending efforts on
17:31features that
17:33math necessarily we don’t know if they
17:36would have been relevant now we have a
17:38better idea of the relevancy of what
17:40works or not so that would certainly
17:42like of all the things that we got out
17:43of the accelerator I would think
17:45probably the the number one is that the
17:47force approach to developing it what is
17:50your your business model until you start
17:53charging some of the more premium types
17:56of features that you’re going to add
17:57down the road are you going to create
17:59revenue from companies so I mean we
18:01don’t have a current I you know like
18:03right now our focus is not on you know
18:05how do we build the user and that’s kind
18:08of a longer-term goal for us as I said
18:11we have some bigger deals that are you
18:14know in the works and so a lot of those
18:16things in the way that they pan out and
18:18work out will kind of affect how we
18:20shift you know as I said we always plan
18:24on having a free version of the platform
18:27and you know even and then even in you
18:31know the monthly premium fee we’re not
18:32talking about a percent of assets or
18:34anything you know you know incredibly
18:37expensive it would be in the you know
18:39$20 month range you know type of service
18:42for premium service in terms of these
18:44partnerships I know you can specifically
18:46mention exactly who they are but may be
18:49talking very broad brushes in terms of
18:51what type of relationship this will be
18:54and how it will actually integrate to
18:55the product we talk to our startups
18:57about the emergence of sales and sort of
18:59networking getting the word out there
19:01and so I think it would be helpful from
19:04a creative perspective to let people
19:05know how you’re continuing bilbies
19:07partnership and the ventures that are
19:09going to help the product evolve over
19:11time yeah so you know and then that’s a
19:13great point you know we we you know we
19:16wake up every day saying you know how
19:18who should we call today and you know
19:20what is our next you know angle that we
19:23can get to the platform you know to that
19:25end you know we’re not here to poopoo
19:27any of the industry you know there’s
19:30there certainly needs and and reasons
19:33for financial advisors there’s reasons
19:35for online brokers for sure robo brokers
19:38etc they all have their plate and we
19:40tend to feel because we are an open
19:42platform that we can
19:44and talk to any one of those players and
19:46say hey we have a solution for you we
19:48have something that works with you and
19:50so to that end you know like an idea you
19:55know that you know you know that we you
19:57know certainly had plenty of
19:58conversations about with some of these
20:00online brokers is to say hey you know
20:02let us handle portfolio management for
20:04you let’s show your customers a better
20:06way to do this and the reception’s of
20:08that has been really really strong for a
20:10financial advisor the the conversations
20:14have been look you know you can still
20:16manage your clients accounts but why not
20:18do it in a way with complete
20:20transparency and so that you’re both
20:22seeing the same screen and doing you
20:25know operating on the portfolio in the
20:27same way instead of you you know behind
20:29a veiled wall you know we know that from
20:33people we’ve talked to you know kind of
20:34some of the major pain points of their
20:36advisors is you know lack of information
20:38and knowing you know what are they doing
20:40why they’re doing it and and even if
20:42things go bad on a portfolio as long as
20:44you knew what was happening you could
20:46have saved a lot of headache with your
20:47clients and conversely from the wealth
20:49managers perspective they feel like they
20:51are fielding phone calls that take hours
20:53and hours that are not adding any value
20:56to someone’s portfolio and they’re
20:58basically about simple questions of why
21:00this and why you did that so if you set
21:03up your account set your risk parameters
21:05set your balanced allocation and all of
21:08a sudden you know you set your threshold
21:09because okay it’s above the three
21:11percent threshold it’s time to sell it’s
21:13time to buy you knew exactly why your
21:15wealth manager was making those trades
21:17in your account that would prevent a
21:19phone call from happening so it works
21:20for both sides of the equation both in
21:22the individual and the professional and
21:25so I think with questions this to being
21:26a start-up and at us as a start-up you
21:28know when you’re a mature company you
21:30have you know where your revenue
21:32specifically comes in from and you know
21:34where your bread and butter is you know
21:35that that turns into that innovators
21:37dilemma where it’s hard to change in a
21:39diamond and you know kind of upset your
21:42current customers but when you’re
21:43start-up the benefit you have is because
21:45you don’t have the the paying customers
21:48per se you have the ability to try all
21:51different sorts of waters and that
21:53certainly a conversation and thoughts
21:56that go on
21:57I think that that’s terrific insight
21:58were those or out in the audience who
22:01obviously have their own startup and can
22:03easily pivot to reevaluate what’s
22:05working for them and what’s not working
22:07for them so in terms of Wendy in terms
22:10of personal finance and educating your
22:12consumer who are you finding then out of
22:15these thousands of beta testers is your
22:18typical average customer it’s so
22:20interesting because usually though it’s
22:21definitely in a start-up everyone tries
22:23to get you to giving your target
22:26audience an age range you know male or
22:29female and what I finally have
22:31determined if our user base is someone
22:34with the attitude and the propensity to
22:36want to do it themselves
22:38so we’ll get everyone from you know
22:40experienced investors to first-timers
22:43it’s anyone who says I can do this
22:46myself I don’t need to pay somebody I
22:48want to check on my advisor we really
22:51are focusing on that person with the
22:53attitude of doing it I had mentioned
22:55earlier that I was actually on your site
22:57and signing up myself because even
23:00though I might have a lot of years of
23:02experience as a investment counsel and
23:05working with Russia Aires I think that
23:07these resources and tools can benefit
23:09not only the novice but even the more
23:12experienced person and as I’m looking at
23:14some of the steps on your site by I see
23:16maybe like six easy and simple
23:18straightforward steps like design a
23:19portfolio set your investment goals
23:22monitor the portfolio talk to us a
23:25little bit about what is read to me that
23:27not only your do-it-yourselfer but it
23:29could also be a tool for professional is
23:32that would you say that that that’s your
23:33site in a nutshell yeah that’s what I
23:35said I did this for a living and had no
23:38idea where to get started I mean that’s
23:39how crazy it is you can be experienced
23:41with investing but not truly know how to
23:43properly invest for yourself and I think
23:45that’s what the message we’re trying to
23:47make sure people understand it’s like
23:49you may know how to execute trades you
23:51may not you may know how to you know buy
23:53and sell options but do you really know
23:55how to manage your portfolio do you
23:57really understand how risky you truly
24:00apart do you really understand all of
24:02those mutual funds and ETSU owned you
24:04know they probably all own you know
24:06Apple and Google Microsoft and you
24:09on the stocks individually so do you
24:10really know what you’re two exposures
24:12and those sectors right but our goal is
24:14not that information overload you we’re
24:16not you know expecting you to know it
24:18we’re just saying we’re going to monitor
24:19for you and make you aware and help you
24:22adjust what type of good investment
24:25advice big picture would you offer the
24:27audience it’s not a I’m not an
24:29investment advisor so I certainly want
24:31to you know tap it with that you know
24:33I’ve seen through my own portfolios and
24:35things that I’ve done and you know and
24:37the nice thing is now that I’ve seen and
24:39I’ve managed my portfolios holistically
24:41you know are you still nice to worry
24:43right like my I would have a stock that
24:45went down and garroted and you’d not
24:47want to look at it and we’ve all done
24:49that a type of thing and now that I’ve
24:50kind of grouped my investments into
24:53different strategies for myself I know
24:55that I’m going to have some strategies
24:57that are gonna underperform during
24:59certain periods of time and I’m going to
25:01have other strategies that will uh
25:03perform during certain periods of time
25:04and it is now knowing that and seeing
25:07yevon flow it just turns out that my
25:09best portfolio this year was my worst
25:12for Pali Hill last year um though you
25:14know it’s helped me understand how you
25:17do stay calm when things are going down
25:20because I’m not looking at individual
25:21stocks and saying well I lost X dollars
25:23in this and you know that that really
25:25doesn’t feel right but I’m looking at it
25:28holistically and saying okay well I’m
25:30comparing myself to how the overall
25:31markets are doing I know that I have
25:33things that are underperforming how can
25:36I exert things I can do to adjust them
25:38do I believe it and I know over time
25:41those things will all work out so really
25:43going through this process myself and
25:45doing it myself has been enlightening
25:47just to my own personal investments you
25:50know it’s you know we always hear the
25:52adage when you’re talking to people just
25:54you know don’t panic when things are
25:56falling but unless you’ve been through
25:57it and do it yourself and that’s part of
26:00also why we you know think that this is
26:02important for people to do you’re going
26:04to pay so you need to go through it and
26:06understand how these numbers work and
26:08how the markets kind of work and change
26:11it really
26:12is been extremely helpful to me
26:14personally I also think that individual
26:16really feel I mean as smart and as
26:18educated as most the world is everyone
26:21feels like I’m not smart enough to do
26:22this myself I don’t know how to invest I
26:24don’t know anything about investing and
26:26really honestly even professionals just
26:29have some kind of system like what we’re
26:31using in front of them there’s no secret
26:33sauce there’s really no you know crazy
26:35an easy answer if you just kind of have
26:38to get your feet wet and get in and
26:39realize it’s simply right in front of
26:41you and just start monitoring it that’s
26:43before you even start trading just start
26:45monitoring you know it’s interesting
26:47people have a lot of fears we talked
26:49about years of investing or how do I buy
26:51or can I buy or am I going to be smart
26:53enough to do it and it’s those same
26:55types of fears that I hear over and over
26:57and over again that startups will say
26:59before deciding to let’s say leave you
27:02know a six-figure position and start
27:04their own company take the next step in
27:07sort of continuing to build out their
27:09business and so I see a lot of parallels
27:11there and that’s why Wendy I had asked
27:13you about you know financial education
27:15for those who are let’s say for example
27:18first-time investors I know you had
27:20mentioned that there’s a lot of research
27:21out there that on the web and so that’s
27:24why I wanted to see how you’re actually
27:26empowering those first-time investors
27:29with financial education because I know
27:31I’m really big on that we’ve had you
27:33know people on to talk to us about
27:34financial education and I know that’s
27:37big here in my own household with my
27:38girl I know you have two boys and so
27:40what do you do to teach the younger
27:43generation about investment and get them
27:46more comfortable so they don’t have
27:48these continued fears you know one of
27:49the big things we know is that education
27:51key to our platform and the more
27:53education we have right now we do have a
27:55website with a lot of you know probably
27:58more detailed articles but that is a big
28:00you know another chunk of our business
28:02we really want to grow we really want to
28:03get this down to you know even in the
28:06school we feel like it is caramel you
28:08know you learn so much about every
28:10different subject that you really truly
28:11I was a Wharton you know I would I have
28:13a finance degree you didn’t really even
28:15learn great portfolio management even
28:17there necessarily besides maybe one
28:19class if you took it so we would love to
28:21have education be a big portion of our
28:24business it’s just like I said where
28:26startup and that’s you know probably
28:27phase two or three but it is sure no I
28:30and I think we really appreciate that
28:32because as people are listening to your
28:35own story and what you’re going through
28:37with your own startup they’re thinking
28:39about it from their own perspective in
28:41terms of the type of businesses that
28:43they’re trying to startup and it’s
28:44giving them creative ideas and marketing
28:47and sales ideas from their own industry
28:49and from their own businesses that they
28:51have as they continue to listen our Fast
28:53Pitch Mitchell Chad Road comm slash
28:56books for books audiobooks des
28:59recommendations and the books that I
29:01read to start off each day sponsors are
29:05fast pitch my book club recommendations
29:08that I get Mitchell Chad Road comm slash
29:10books to see more of my recommendations
29:13and recommendations of our guests just
29:15go to Mitchell Chad Road comm slash
29:17books it’s your number one resource for
29:20book reviews and recommendation can you
29:23recommend an investment book or a
29:25business book that both of you have
29:26found to be in the investment industry
29:28or the business industry but a book that
29:31you continue to go back to yeah I mean I
29:33don’t know that I you know necessarily
29:34time anymore to go back to both okay but
29:38that’s a whole of random walk down Wall
29:40Street type of book were you know pretty
29:43you know interesting too you know when
29:46you realize that there is a randomness
29:48and trying to make sense of it you know
29:51I think yeah and Lean Startup if you’re
29:55a startup company I was just speaking
29:57with someone who’s on a second startup
29:59and he talking about how first one has
30:01got gone well but he started his second
30:03one and it’s going so well and he goes
30:05you know the both the Lean Startup and
30:06that was week one of our of our
30:08accelerators we actually had the the
30:11co-author of you know run through went
30:13through an entire program so that were
30:15based on how our business model is based
30:17on that and I think if you’re a startup
30:18that’s a great great place to start not
30:20only have we talked about that book
30:23right here on the podcast there have
30:25been other guests who have obviously
30:27mentioned it which lets you know that
30:28when you hear a name over and over and
30:30over again it’s more than just
30:32coincidental it’s because it really
30:34truly is a timeless fuck and we will
30:37definitely link up to that reason
30:39worse and for people who need the show
30:41note they can always go back to Mitchel
30:43Chad Road comm slash show zero four
30:46eight and anything and everything that
30:48we’ve talked about today including how
30:50we’re going to stay in contact with you
30:52they’ll be able to get back at that
30:54website URL for this for the show note
30:56we’ve also talked about area that I
30:58don’t know if at some point you’re going
31:00to create your own a FinTech app in
31:03conjunction to the website but I talk to
31:05us a little bit about that and if you
31:07can recommend an app that you use in
31:09business family or life that you can
31:11recommend to the audience I think that
31:12would be terrific as well yeah we are
31:15actually in development of a app for
31:19your phone it looks really good
31:22well I’ll tell you what Eric and Wendy
31:25when you guys have that happy to have
31:27you back on so that we can talk about
31:29that I actually just started a niche
31:31site called add mortar and we’ve
31:33actually had app developers on our show
31:36though I’m sure the audience would
31:38really be very interested in finding out
31:40how you continue to develop not only
31:42your tools and resources but how you’re
31:44taking that business to the next level
31:46sure hey I mean and the great thing is
31:48you know nowadays you can develop a
31:50cross-platform app and so we are
31:53utilizing some of those technologies so
31:56we can write it once and run it in
31:58multiple places that the app is meant to
32:01not be the full suite of tools on the
32:04iwata on the website and it’s meant to
32:07be what what what is usable useful in an
32:12app form and some of the alerting and
32:14performance and reporting and stuff like
32:17that that you can get at your fingertips
32:19so you may ever get curious of how
32:21you’re doing or what needs to happen in
32:23your town you can do it at a glance um
32:25as far as other apps that we use you
32:29know a good question you have any
32:34preferred apps that you use I use them I
32:37use the net worth calculator on personal
32:41capital which is a robo broker and that
32:44it advocates all of our accounts and you
32:48know I like seeing you know I can get a
32:50sense of what’s happening with our
32:51counters
32:52obviously as markets move in a day it’ll
32:54be it will replace our investment
32:56accounts but also take into account all
32:58of our other assets and I’ll look at
33:00that on a daily basis who actually hosts
33:03your website oh yeah we reppin Amazon
33:05Amazon Cloud our wrap-up round mitchell
33:08chad row comm slash photos for all your
33:12graphic design need um how can how can
33:15people stay in contact with with you
33:17Wendy and our uh our you know I’m a PR
33:21IC @ di wives our fund at ung and Wendy
33:25is the Wendy at DeAndre and I see here
33:29your your blog because we we we started
33:31talking about some of the education and
33:33articles blog DIY dot fun so yeah I know
33:36that that’s great can you can you leave
33:38the audience with three main takeaways
33:42that they can get that you’d like them
33:43to leave this interview with sure first
33:46of all wall before I do that thank you
33:47for the time on the podcast really
33:49appreciate it oh no it’s been more than
33:51a pleasure I’m really excited to have
33:54both of you on to talk about not only
33:56your startup but tool that that you’ve
33:58that you’ve created that is really
34:00helping the investment industry and
34:02those who are not only just starting out
34:04with investment but people who are also
34:07professionals as well I think that that
34:09was a terrific and so for your three
34:10main takeaway start off with from the
34:12investing side you know regardless of
34:15what you do I think you need to
34:17understand what it means to invest and
34:20how if things were whether someone’s
34:21managing your money for you or you’re
34:23doing it on your own have your own
34:25strategies but you need to understand
34:27how it works otherwise you’re just not
34:29going to end up with results or with you
34:33know situations for yourself down the
34:35road that are to your liking because you
34:36didn’t have an understanding of the
34:38fundamentals of what you were getting
34:40involved in so no matter where you do it
34:43or how you do it I strongly urge
34:45everyone to do that from the startup
34:47side you know I think that you know the
34:50ability to as a as a young startup to
34:53adapt is critical and to always think
34:57you know what what else can I be doing
34:59that that’s just an ongoing exercise for
35:03us and to add to that the really the
35:06important is number three when do you
35:08know I wasn’t going to forget you third
35:10point is really important and that you
35:11may think everyone wants you know one
35:14two three four five but realistically
35:16they want ABCDE and I think you really
35:19have to listen to your audience and get
35:21that customer feedback continuously
35:24throughout the process as you’re
35:25starting up and that’s really important
35:27that you build what your customer wants
35:29not what you want well Wendy Garfinkel
35:31Nissan and Eric Nissan this has been
35:34awesome we really want to thank you very
35:36much for joining us here on the listen
35:39up show startup entrepreneur podcast and
35:41as soon as you have that app out we
35:43certainly want to have you back again
35:45thank you so much and you take care now
35:47in closing let me have for my listeners
35:50help first please subscribe to my email
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36:54until next time

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