I thought the board might like some good news.
The following is an email and its reply that I sent to Paul on 10/31. The only change is my name & email address, which I prefer to keep private. As regarding whether I should post this, I emailed Paul and told him of my intention to do so, to obtain comments from interested parties who might inquire of Spooz as regards this, thereby indicating interest and constructing (perhaps) a case for implementation of this idea (or something similar). In a separate email this morning, I told him that I was going to do so unless he emailed me back, asking me not to. As of this moment, my Outlook is open and I've not heard back. Since most of the day is gone, I've decided to go ahead & post it before the weekend. If you guys-n-gals think it is worth following up on, contact them Monday to see if it was in fact discussed in Monday's sales meeting. I expect it will be and, if they spend any time with stockfetcher this weekend, they will understand my idea. (So will you, too, if you do too, by the way).
Enough said. I konw exactly what I intend to do when Spooz is available Q1 2007. I'm going to do it myself. I'm going to design the trading solution I've needed all these years. Spooz is freedom in spades... for Everyman!!. Period.
----------- THE FOLLOWING EMAIL IS AUTHENTIC --------------
From: XXXXX XXXXXXXXX [mailto:imperialwhazoo@xxxxxxx.xxx]
Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 12:33 PM
To: pstrickland@spooz.com
Subject: New and elaborated Everyman idea
Paul –
I hope you don’t mind my contacting you directly. I know you are busy and I’ll keep it brief, but I too am busy so I trust you will take a moment to consider my comments here.
I am XXXXXX XXXXXXX, or as I’m known on iHub, the Imperial Whazoo. I’m the guy who did the Everyman dance for the iHub board for the first time. To place myself into some kind of framework of reference, I’m a professional daytrader and I trade on AIQ, where I’ve built some rudimentary tools using their crummy little language. Prior to becoming a daytrader, I ran a full service computer consulting firm specializing in high end document management solutions. Put into layman’s terms, I helped companies automate the process of going paperless. All told, I’ve probably written a million lines of database code.
That introduction out of the way, I think I have a pretty good idea for you and your marketing folks to pursue. It is truthfully said, I think, that most writers are merely writing about themselves. Accordingly, I want to reference my own habits as the type of everyman you need to sell to. This is not being done just because I’m vain… I really think what I’d like to see would stimulate sales for you. I think it is appropriate or I wouldn’t bother you.
I use quite extensively a site that is like no other… you may or may not be aware of it (you may even use it): www.stockfetcher.com. At $8.95 a month, there is, in my opinion, no better buy and no better tool for the everyman user to whom you need to sell. Like most sites whereon I post, I’m ImperialWhazoo on it, although I don’t share my stockfetcher scripts with others there because the site blogs are already too mature for me to break into and be a participant without expending an unrealistic amount of my time. What I do there is test ideas. I’ve invented one I call my diffyy and another I call my diffyt and, to be frank, they are awesome.
In a nutshell, here’s my idea: first, if you are unfamiliar, join and explore stockfetcher. If you go to the index tab on the main screen, you will be taken to a list of over 100 “verbs” that you can combine and manipulate to make custom screens. My idea comes in three flavors, all of which are basically the same and all of which devolve to one simple main theme: you need to tap into the stockfetcher user group and, by doing so in the right way, you will supercharge awareness with a user base custom designed and already predisposed to use your Fractalz tool.
As I see it, Fractalz can sit in one of three places at stockfetcher: (A) In front of the stockfetcher, (B) as a verb amongst the other 100 someodd verbs or (C) as a receiving list at the tail end of the stockfetcher screens that the user create. I suppose you’d give stockfetcher users a huge discount and you’d have to pay the stockfetcher owners in some kind of marketing/licensing scheme. I’m only pushing the general idea out at this time for you to think on. Details and whether it is even possible are both open questions.
(A) Lets say you want to tap into the already warmed up users of stockfetcher by serving as a pre-stockfetcher tool. In (A), users of Fractalz could generate lists and feed them to the stockfetcher users for incorporation into the stockfetcher customizations they each design for themselves.
(B) The second approach would be to license Fractalz (somehow… may not even be possible) as a verb amongst the others that are available to stockfetcher users. I like this idea the least because it’s hard for me to envision how you could scale Fractalz down to a single verb, but it might be possible. I’d expect you to streamline Fractalz with assignable variables and then this verb would be usable just like the other verbs. I least favor this idea.
(C) The third idea is to have Fractalz be an add-on feature, probably at a significant discount given that stockfetcher costs $8.95 a month. If you could coordinate it so that stockfetcher users could export the end results of their custom screens into Fractalz, then I think you would have a real winner here. This way, they would not have to modify one thing about their existing habits of use. They could back test to their hearts content and then export it to Fractalz for forward testing. This is my favorite idea. I think you would have to private label it and brand it to stockfetcher so that it does not damage your TD Ameritrade relationship, but it would give stockfetcher users something totally unique and exactly in line with the very concept of the stockfetcher product itself. You see, stockfetcher allows people to build their own black box trading system for next to nothing a month. It enables them to create a strategy and to back test it in a short period of time. If you could partner or JV with these folks, whose users are already sold on the idea of building their own black box system, then I think your user awareness and your sales would skyrocket.
The thing you bring to the table (assuming idea 3, which I favor) is that you would give stockfetcher users something to die for: not only could they back test (their current level of functionality), they could also forward test. In a nutshell, Fractalz is the perfect add-on that taps directly into a community of experienced users who are already adept at the idea that underlies your product and who are ready made because you bring them something they could not get elsewhere…. Forward testing as an add-on to their existing back testing. All you need to do is figure out how to sell the owners of stockfetcher on the idea… and put together a cohesive idea of exactly what levels of product stockfetcher buyers/co-licensees would be using. If you can create brand awareness in this experienced and tool-hungry user group, you could instantly have a base of excited users upon which to build.
I hope the idea isn’t a waste of your time. It’s offered because its something I’d readily subscribe to myself, and having been a stockfetcher user for a long time, I am fairly certain you’d find their users to be an absolutely perfect fit for your marketing efforts.
Good luck to you,
XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX
The Imperial Whazoo (and Everyman)
----------- THE FOLLOWING EMAIL IS PAUL'S REPLY --------------
Mr. XXXXXXXX,
I have been inundated lately so I apologize in advance for my brief response. I have forwarded your plan to Darryl Dennis for evaluation and recommendation, but that’s not the important part. The important part is that I have intelligent, external investor/advisors that can provide substance; who can communicate intelligent ideas for creating shareholder value?
This plan will be discussed at our Monday morning status meeting with marketing.
Thank you for your letter.
Best Regards,
Paul
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I feel compelled to comment on Tradestation:
I am a programmer, by the way, and I've spent a lot of time on various platforms such as Tradestation. I don't use Tradestation because there is a tradeoff that makes no sense: it enslaves you. Spooz frees you because it is VBA. It is idiocy to enslave yourself to a proprietary solution. The thing about Excel is that it is programmable in Microsoft VBA. There are thousands upon thousands of extensions you can buy worldwide. It is VB/VBA. That is what its all about in the programming world. In VBA, you are not on planet Zargon having to plod along in a proprietary environment. In my enthusiasm to elaborate, I got up from my trading area and went over to my bookshelf and pulled down two manuals: Microsoft's "Excel Language Reference" and the "Excel 97 Developer's Kit" manual. Its all there: Objects, Methods, Collections, and so on. They are all there. Looking up there at my bookshelf, there are dozens of other manuals: COM & COM+, ADO, VB Controls, FoxPro Connectivity, Oracle & VBA.... and on and on and on. There is no limit to what I will be able to do using Spooz. Spooz is freedom: with it, I can create whatever I dream of wheras with Tradestation or AIQ or any of the other platforms (believe me... I've looked at them all... Spooz is the only truly freeing product out there), I am always entangled in a proprietary solution of some kind; locked in. Spooz is freedom in spades. Period.
GLTY
Push this idea if it resonates with you all. I offer it in a spirit of hopefulness. Remember, we are all Everyman and Spooz is freedom in spades. Period.
Imperial Whazoo
