Imagine a social network that works similarly to Airbnb and Twitter, but it's all about stock investments and growing your personal portfolio. In this online environment, experts offer access to their investment choices as Airbnb hosts would grant full access to a room in their house. Subscribers can decide to "follow" seasoned investors (as they would do with a Twitter account) and receive an alert every time experts buy or sell.
Such a platform is the basic idea behind Keel, a downtown Boston startup at the convergence of technology and finance that was founded by software engineer Andrew Kelley and investment specialist Sophia Lin.
"Most of the people, after age 25... have some savings, they may have a 401K," Lin, who launched the company with Kelley four months ago, said in an interview. "And the next step is that they want to know how to best manage their savings."
Building financial knowledge is a time-consuming process, which usually involves reaching out to financial advisors, reading online and watching Bloomberg, as Lin pointed out in an interview. On top of that, Lin said that you never really know the person you get financial recommendations from.
"You want to buy something on Amazon, you would read reviews. You go to restaurants, you would read Yelp... But with financial advisors, a lot of time you don't really know their investment track record."
"You want to buy something on Amazon, you would read reviews. You go to restaurants, you would read Yelp... But with financial advisors, finance bloggers, a lot of time you don't really know their investment track record," Lin said.
And that's where Keel comes in, Lin said. By following people who know better, investment newbies get suggestions of what's worth investing in and what's better stay away from. Before accepting any advice, subscribers can check the track records of the opinion leaders and their risk level. On the other hand, investors with a proven track of success and their personal brokage account earn extra money by letting Keel users access their feed.
Lin said the Keel platform currently features three experts and they're in the process of onboarding 15 more. Usually, experts have been working on Wall Street, hold an MBA or a CFA certification and have invested their personal money.
Experts can price their portfolio as they see fit. Keel has a suggested monthly subscription price between $10 and $30, although some of the most experienced pros decided to price between $80 and $100 a month, Lin said. Keel makes money by taking a 30 percent fee on each subscription paid to each expert.
New users can follow as many Keel experts as they want, but they need to pay each one individually. When an expert makes a move, the people who follow him or her receive an email alert or a text message by the end of the day.
Since its launch, Keel has been bootstrapping.
