Putting Investment Management On Hold…For Now

Some of you may have noticed my absence from the stream the last week and a lack of direct market related commentary or idea flow on this blog.  There’s a good reason for that, and one I would like to address now.  I am putting my asset management business on hold for the time being to focus on what we are doing at StockTwits.  I will be returning investment authority over the accounts I manage under Surfview Capital to my clients until further notice (they have already been informed).

No, I didn’t blow up my book, in fact I am extremely proud of the returns I’ve put up over the past few years.  I’ve done right by my clients on both the trading and business sides of this endeavor.  And no, I am not cashing out here because I believe the market won’t fit my strategy for the foreseeable future or that we are about to crash.  In fact, because of insane growth overseas in emerging markets, a revolution in mobile internet, a race for resources around the world, and a wave of liquidity from the Fed, the next few years could be a great time to be a momentum trader.

I have an opportunity to build an amazing business at StockTwits, something I may never again in my life have the chance to do.  For all of you out there who’s ultimate goal in your professional life, or just life in general, is to manage money, here’s a small piece of advice.  If you’re a good trader the opportunity will always be there.  There are always people willing to invest in good strategies and good people.  Having the opportunity to contribute in a huge and meaningful way to a great business is not something that comes along every day.  As well, I have come to really enjoy being involved in the tech world during my time at StockTwits, it is extremely rewarding building something that people find utility and fun in every day.  Don’t get me wrong, I do believe there is utility in managing assets for others, but it doesn’t quite feel as good as actually building something.

My role at StockTwits will be shifting significantly as we move from being a startup to a company.  I will be spending significantly more time on the business development side of things and far less in media and community.  I thoroughly enjoyed broadcasting on StockTwitsTV, writing this blog, tweeting my trades and market commentary, helping you all to understand the best ways to use the platform, your blogs, Chart.ly, and many other things.  I will have an insanely hard time detaching myself from these roles on a day to day basis which kept me so incredibly connected to all of you and the market.

Not being able to trade is going to be just as hard.  Since my first day as an intern at Geller Capital during my junior year as an undergrad I have lived and breathed the market.  Being a trader isn’t something you do, it’s something you are.  It is all consuming, every day, from when you wake up to when you go to bed, even in your sleep (yes I have had many a good and bad dream about the market).  You don’t trade the market, you live it.  I’m not yet sure how I’m going to handle this.

What I do know is that my talents at this point are best used here at StockTwits in a different role given our direction as a company.  And it is only because I have spent these years managing money that I am suited for it.  I’m extremely excited to see where we can take this, we have so much ahead of us and so many great opportunities.  StockTwits is like an earthquake in the financial media landscape, one that will reshape it, in my opinion for the better.  We are just at the beginning of finance meets social, finance meets transparency, and the ability for the guy with no name to make one just by sharing great ideas.

I have no doubt in my mind that I will return to trading and the investment management business in a few years, and most likely sooner than I expect.  I have thus far kept my client list relatively small due to my role in developing StockTwits.  Taking institutional money while having other obligations was something I was not willing to do, even though I was approached several times.  When I return I fully expect to tap these resources and build a large investment management business.  As well, I had given a lot of  thought before accepting this new role at StockTwits to offering a research product to my readers and followers on StockTwits, Chart.ly, and StockTwitsTV.  I will be focusing at StockTwits now largely on building these premium tools so that others can monetize their content, along with teaching them the best practices in doing so.  Upon returning to investment management I expect to leverage these premium tools we build to share my research with the community.

For the time being, I will be offering consulting services through Surfview Capital.  I’ve been approached recently by several individuals looking for guidance in setting up their investment management firms the way I have and developing a social media presence.  For these professionals I believe I have something to offer given my experience.  There are two huge trends right now in the investment management industry, professionals moving away from the broker and into the investment management business, and going social.  This is just the beginning of both trends, and they are connected in an important way.  The transparency that comes with sharing ideas on StockTwits is extremely important to those looking to raise money from clients for their investment management firms.  This transparency gives a look not only into the ability of the manager to produce returns, but how he is producing them, how he thinks about the market, and how disciplined he is with his own strategy.  For prospective clients looking to get a more in depth understanding of a manager, StockTwits is an extremely important tool.

To those of you who found utility in this blog, my StockTwitsTV shows, and Twitter/StockTwits/Chart.ly streams, I apologize.  I don’t feel that it would be fair to be throwing out ideas on the stream or on this blog while I am not myself trading.  This has been a cornerstone of what we believe at StockTwits, that we are for traders by traders.  I’ll still be around the community of course, just not in as visible a manner.  I have enjoyed all of these things more than you can believe and have gained far more out of it than any of you, that I am sure of.  I will still be actively writing on this blog, but will not be giving trading ideas for now.  Instead, along with all of the other stuff I normally write and tweet about, I’ll be giving more insight into what I have learned from my experience running an asset management firm, my thoughts on the future of the business, and how you can use these social mediums to monetize your valuable expertise.    I’ll still obviously be here to answer any of your questions at any time so please do not hesitate to ask.

Please join me on Monday morning at 9AM EST for the last StockTwits News Desk on StockTwitsTV, hope you can make it.

Full Disclosure: Nothing on this site should ever be considered to be advice, research or an invitation to buy or sell any securities, please see the Disclaimer page for a full disclaimer.


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