I’ve just begun writing about the New Rules but part of the thesis is that expert communities can and will play a bigger role in investment decisions and idea generations for savvy investors going forward. We’ve only just begun, as has MarketGuru, a new site focused on providing New Rules-type functionality for a community of experts. I had a chance recently to chat with the founder and CEO of MG, Gili Beiman.
**************************
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Gili Beiman, Founder and CEO: I was the founder of the largest groups site in Israel, Tapuz, which we sold a few years back. lived in the States for 3 years. Like any good American, I opened an etrade account and 2 things stood out as problems in the whole data acquiring process, meaning trusted data and content that I could invest on:
- too much information: There is a ton of information out there. But if you don’t have a ranking system on all the content, I can’t really tell what to think – if I see a guy who’s writing a great blog on Apple, I have no idea whether he’s been right or wrong in his analysis. There was no rational order or hierarchy in this information.
- generic information: I find it interesting to know that the biggest source of financial content is via subscription newsletters, which is a $6.5 billion industry. What an anomaly to think that all this content is generic, meaning newsletters are making recommendations to people they don’t know. Your picks may be great but they can also be really risky — certainly not suitable for a retired school teacher.
So, where does MarketGuru come in?
GB: MarketGuru solves this issue. Most Americans hold blue chip stocks in their investment portfolios and they know that risk and reward go hand in hand. My target for MarketGuru is a dentist living in Wyoming – he can’t use social investment sites. While more content has been generated, he still doesn’t know how to act on what he reads.
