3 ms·

I have a clear idea of what I am building (based on lot of real life discussions and a bit of iteration) and have an internal early version (https://stockquanta

I have a clear idea of what I am building (based on lot of real life discussions and a bit of iteration) and have an internal early version (https://stockquanta.com https://stockquanta.com). Nothing sold yet. But I have also been talking to folks and based on what I've seen from my network trying to start ventures, most of these ideas (Good or bad) end up biting the dust. I'm trying my best to avoid the same fate. I've seen 1 venture out of 7-9 in my network succeed. I can survive for a year from some friends/family funding but it's too early for VC. Everyone is suggesting co-founders and I am definitely trying to find the right fit for that. But none of these will be already hyper successful entrepreneurs, I think :) Hence the question about a good way of finding an experienced mentor who probably wouldn't be interested in leaving their successful company and being a co-founder for a first timer unproven venture. Thanks for the advice - I will email you.

anongraddebt 8y ago
I hope you'll find the materials helpful. Here are some quick initial thoughts for your website: After I scroll down, download your white paper and open it, I find the clearest statement of your value proposition under Mission Statement. "To democratize Wall Street Investment Technology for mainstream investors and make it super-affordable. So that all mainstream investors can benefit, not just Wall Street Professionals." That could be reformulated to be cleaner and better sounding copy and put on the home page, as that seems closer to your true value proposition than anything I can find on the home page. On the home page, you try and draw me in with a description focused more on the features of your product. You talk about a search engine and finding lower risk investments, etc. However, your value proposition (put in informal, conversational form) seems to be something more like, "Hey, I worked at D.E. Shaw and Google. Want to buy the same tools that quantitative traders use to make better investments than the average person? I know the tools and will sell them to you." Now, this would need to be reformulated to make better copy, but you catch my drift. Will pretty much everyone who lands on your site know Google? Yes. D.E. Shaw? Most won't know who or what D.E. Shaw is. Here's a simple set of A/B experiments to start with: Come up with a more accurate statement of your value prop., and the story you want to tell on your home page, and run different versions to see which gets more traffic. It may be that more average joes know Goldman Sach's than know D.E. Shaw. So, on one version of the site you are testing, you can try potentially more recognizable Wall Street names like GS.
- nyrulez 8y ago
  This is cool - I appreciate you taking the time to think about this. And if you're an investor, I hope you find the guide helpful. I like your ideas about making the mission more prominent, which I will do. I have had this struggle in conveying clear benefits of what I am doing, in real life conversations. I find that when I go too meta, I can lose some of the more pragmatic and impatient users as their eyes glaze over, but it makes sense for more thoughtful types and even investor types. There is this distinction between user pain points, features, benefits and mission. I've mostly stuck to the duo of pain points and benefits, and delegated features and mission to other pages. I like my mission of course :) but I don't know if users care about it as much as I do compared to benefits the mission provides. But that's where A/B will help as you suggest. I am going to pay attention to this along with coming up with a better copy. Thanks a bunch!

anongraddebt 8y ago

I hope you'll find the materials helpful. Here are some quick initial thoughts for your website: After I scroll down, download your white paper and open it, I find the clearest statement of your value proposition under Mission Statement. "To democratize Wall Street Investment Technology for mainstream investors and make it super-affordable. So that all mainstream investors can benefit, not just Wall Street Professionals." That could be reformulated to be cleaner and better sounding copy and put on the home page, as that seems closer to your true value proposition than anything I can find on the home page. On the home page, you try and draw me in with a description focused more on the features of your product. You talk about a search engine and finding lower risk investments, etc. However, your value proposition (put in informal, conversational form) seems to be something more like, "Hey, I worked at D.E. Shaw and Google. Want to buy the same tools that quantitative traders use to make better investments than the average person? I know the tools and will sell them to you." Now, this would need to be reformulated to make better copy, but you catch my drift. Will pretty much everyone who lands on your site know Google? Yes. D.E. Shaw? Most won't know who or what D.E. Shaw is. Here's a simple set of A/B experiments to start with: Come up with a more accurate statement of your value prop., and the story you want to tell on your home page, and run different versions to see which gets more traffic. It may be that more average joes know Goldman Sach's than know D.E. Shaw. So, on one version of the site you are testing, you can try potentially more recognizable Wall Street names like GS.

nyrulez 8y ago
This is cool - I appreciate you taking the time to think about this. And if you're an investor, I hope you find the guide helpful. I like your ideas about making the mission more prominent, which I will do. I have had this struggle in conveying clear benefits of what I am doing, in real life conversations. I find that when I go too meta, I can lose some of the more pragmatic and impatient users as their eyes glaze over, but it makes sense for more thoughtful types and even investor types. There is this distinction between user pain points, features, benefits and mission. I've mostly stuck to the duo of pain points and benefits, and delegated features and mission to other pages. I like my mission of course :) but I don't know if users care about it as much as I do compared to benefits the mission provides. But that's where A/B will help as you suggest. I am going to pay attention to this along with coming up with a better copy. Thanks a bunch!