

StockTwits raises $800K round - byrneseyeview
http://howardlindzon.com/?p=4134

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kyro
Huh?

I went to the stocktwits site a few days ago after hearing about their
acquisition of chart.ly. I could not figure out what they did. I get a cute
live feed of people talking about stocks and... that's pretty much it. Who
throws 800k at an app that is basically a much less aesthetically pleasing
skin of search.twitter.com with the search fields essentially prepopulated? I
told myself I wouldn't be so quick to judge too, but after spending about 10
minutes on the site, I left with nothing more than a stream of strangers'
opinions and expletives regarding specific stocks , and my following of their
twitter account without permission.

I'm looking for any and all enlightenment as to why this is worth 800k.

~~~
gaika
They will be selling user behaviour analytics, this is a gold mine for hedge
funds. My startup would be first in line for that data too.

~~~
gmoney
yeah right... amateurs sharing stock tips in < 140 characters. A hedge fund
goldmine for sure...

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gaika
I think you didn't get it, hedge funds will be stealing money from these
amatures, by knowing what's on their minds. Crowds, if you can predict them
(or direct them), you can be rich.

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kirse
_start searching real time discussions from the web's savviest investors._

I'm sure the web's savviest investors are just sitting around on Twitter
pointing out their upcoming positions and next big moves in the market.

Other than that, I _do_ think this is a brilliant platform for generic real-
time stock news (why is this stock tanking 10% in AH??). The Google Finance
and Yahoo Finance message boards are often clogged with so much junk and spam
there's nothing of value.

~~~
axod
The funny thing is, there's probably 1000x as many investors talking stocks on
IRC, as there are on twitter.

One of the biggest users of the Mibbit IRC widget is a share dealing community
in Brazil.

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davidw
Normally, I'm with you on the irc vs twitter thing, but twitter is centralized
(meaning it's really easy to search all the data coming through) and its real
time search thing is pretty good. Maybe it's something you could add to
mibbit?

~~~
axod
Yup, good point. I was mainly meaning if you want volume of users/serious
traders, they're more likely hanging out on IRC, than tweeting afaik.

Saying that, opt in, publicly logged channels are in the pipe line for Mib :)

~~~
davidw
I'd guess they spend more time hanging out in expensive locales in NY and
London, or at Gorat's, or other non-twitter, non-IRC, non-online places.

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wmeredith
I don't have enough industry experience to put any authority behind this
statement, but investing in a company that has no profits and who's business
model is based on using the API of another company with no profits seems like
a bit of a dance at a dreamers ball. Isn't this _exactly_ the stuff bubbles
have been made of?

I'm going to go ahead and assume they know something I don't. (They do have
the $800k to invest in the first place, after all.)

~~~
wensing
VC's and the like are very bullish on twitter, ergo investment in things
related to twitter, and undoubtedly pressure for many portfolio companies to
somehow bolt twitter on to their app/service.

I happen to like twitter, myself, but I agree this is obviously a huge risk
for anyone. At least they are building something that will generate revenue
(assuming demand):

 _Stocktwits premium, which is coming very soon , is like Stocktwits, but with
even more awesome (or as I like to say…’The Social Bloomberg’)._

~~~
sachinag
Does no one think that fool.com or TheStreet or Dow Jones or the FT or [pick
'em] will pick this up to show that they Get It(TM)? Really? Come on.

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ashleyw
Am I the only one who's a little scared that a company who relies so heavily
on another companies' service, has got funding?

I wish them luck with their ongoing success of course, it's just worrying,
that's all...

~~~
josefresco
It's high stakes (lower because of the economy) acquisition-bait.

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MicahWedemeyer
So this is essentially the pump-and-dump stock advice I've been getting by
email for years, but condensed down to <= 140 characters and delivered
realtime. Awesome!

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floozyspeak
First of all there a billion 2.0 apps on the planet that have no biz model and
they get plenty of funding. Sure its sad, but don't be mad! Second Stocktwits
is built on twitter, and thats good and bad, good that its harvesting real
time stock chatter that is wickedly addictive if your trading and you wanna
know why a stock is blowin up or tanking. Get a few good ones to follow and
you'll be on the cusp of a trend like the pros. The bad is mostly for
stocktwits not so much you, they are built on twitter so they are at the mercy
of it- meaning someone could hijack content pretty easily. BUT thats why they
are going after bigger stuff which is to get behind a few champion traders and
go subscription service for extended goodness. Ask anyone who pays for a stock
info service, tips, super screeners or whatever, they pay thru the nose in
general, and some swear by it. Once you get to know a few of the better
traders on Stocktwits you'd pay as well. In all its not a bad product and
someone in Wallstreet will gladly acquire it once it gets a bit more refined.

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rmason
He's been successful with other ventures and that how you build credibility
with investors. Right now we're only seeing the beginning of what he is
working on. Without knowing the entire story, its hard to make a judgement on
his potential chances of success.

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floozyspeak
now why they bought chart.ly other than the fact its short url domain
sqwuating action.. who knows, they could of done better than that, but maybe
it was a cheap short cut, but odds are the url was more than the actual
service...

