skhatri11's comments

Probably best to "scratch your own itch" first. Do your friends have the same problem(s) your solving?

Have you tried making something that you (and your friends) would pay $5 / month for?

I loved Mailbox. Really disappointing. What do folks suggest we use as our replacement email app? Problem with Apple's stock Mail app is that Google doesn't allow push email. Yes, those few seconds before I receive an email are very precious to me :)

You mean a S-1?

I can send you the Twitter link too :)

Stock is getting slammed after hours.

Competition is important here, but I think low oil prices are driving customer savings.

Generally :)

Hearing rumbles that this deal isn't going to go through. But I will say from experience that when companies announce such deals they have already done their homework and generally feel pretty good about anti-trust issues. We'll be interesting to watch. Either way - Wall Street is selling Walgreen's on the news.

TLDR. Summary: Burn was too high.

I always wondered what the economics of a buffet were.

Is the eating a cost a traditional bell curve? At what point do buffet's lose money?

Qasar has been instrumental in Instavest's development. He gives it to you straight up and has garnered the trust and respect of all YC founders. You can count on him for sage counsel and "gentle reminders" that keep you focused on growth and product. This is a great step for Qasar and an awesome win for YC. Congrats!

The biggest problems in investing are (i) when and what do I buy; and (ii) when do I get out?

Instavest is the only platform to address these issues in a systematic way.

You'll see high quality investments ideas that have been backed by real money. You can choose to invest in these ideas and have the investment leader notify you when they sell or you can invest in your own idea and share with it with the community.

Our equity trades only $3.49 a trade.

How would an insurance company price this risk?

Good piece, but more specific to money licensing companies.

One more thing: Unlike most regulated industries, this is not a space where you "do and ask for forgiveness later". You have to be super aggressive when it comes to compliance. Otherwise you will get shut down. Think of it as "preventative health" to the extreme :)

Thanks for the typo. That has been fixed.

To address your comment on the CEO search. The markets do not like surprises. There is too much speculation with Jack Dorsey as the interim CEO. Especially because Dorsey is the CEO of Square and SqUARE is exploring an IPO. This further confuses investors. What the market wants is guidance. The fact that the company of this size has not named a CEO is puzzling. Large companies don't wait 2 months to name a successor - especially after they have forced the incumbent out. Most boards have a plan.

The blog post says by stocks (or index funds). Going to Reddit personal finance will just confuses people. The Mr. Money Mustache posts are good, thanks for sharing.

20% of the profits at a hedge fund is divided among the partnership with the owner of the hedge fund getting substantially all of the economics and the junior analyst receiving nominal basis points. On Instavest the 10.3% is for the one lead investor (with the Instavest transaction fee, of course :). Also, the lead managers on Instavest have an opportunity to build their track record and brand.

Thanks, Roy. I believe that the Index Fund approach is a good one - especially for novice investors - and Instavest definitely does not replace Index Funds.

What we are, however, is a better to invest in the stock market. The problem with investing in the stock market is (i) where do I invest? and (ii) when / how do I get out? The Instavest platform is a curated research base that's meant to show you the ideas that our out there. There is no obligation to invest (or follow, as you put it). You can poke around and if something strikes your fancy, jump in.

To come back to Index Funds for a second, I think that ~85% should be in Index funds unless you have an edge. The balance of your portfolio should be in higher returning assets. Its hard to do that buy yourself, however, and that's how Instavest adds value.

On the topic market efficiency, I think Warren Buffett said it best" "If I was running $1 million today, or $10 million for that matter, I’d be fully invested. Anyone who says that size does not hurt investment performance is selling. The highest rates of return I’ve ever achieved were in the 1950s. I killed the Dow. You ought to see the numbers. But I was investing peanuts then. It’s a huge structural advantage not to have a lot of money. I think I could make you 50% a year on $1 million. No, I know I could. I guarantee that.”

The reason why retail investors have a structural advantage is because they can invest small dollars in relatively inefficient parts of the capital structure. A large hedge fund or Goldman Sachs can't invest in a small cap company because that doesn't have high average daily trading volume because they have to put big dollars to work. This leaves a part of the market that is relatively uncovered with an opportunity to make substantial returns.

Folks on Instavest are not investing in Google or Apple, they are looking for overlooked stocks or opportunities to make incremental return like this (scroll to bottom of this link): http://blog.instavest.com/the-17-investment

Hope that clarifies things :)

Thanks for your thoughtful comment. Agreed that there are some bad apples in the HF space and I think that many of them will die in the next few years. Unfortunately, many emerging managers can't start their own hedge fund because it takes a minimum of $250 million just to get the ball rolling. At Instavest, we hope to be a launching platform for these folks while delivering value to other investors.