Kyle
Investors have a lot of tools out there to do research on companies both public and private. There are tools like Bloomberg, Hoover and other mega research sites for companies. One of the problems with these sites though, is that they all stopped at different points in the current digital evolution. They also don’t factor in tools that business professionals in 2012 use, like social media.
That’s why Tony Golden, a seasoned Wall Street stock professional, came up with StockClout. Golden is no Wall Street wannabe, he spent 15 years with firms like Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns and Smith Barney, back before the big investment banks went belly up. Golden has spent the last 17 years as the CEO and Founder of a successful investor relations firm in Atlanta. It’s this experience dealing with investors and helping them find information that led to the creation of StockClout.
Through StockClout you can create your own free profile and then add your portfolio companies to it. StockClout will do the rest bringing you the most up to date information on the public companies you have your money in. You’ll get updates from traditional sources and social media as well.
StockClout is free for anyone to use and sign up for. Golden says that StockClout actually gives their users the most precious commodity back, and that of course is “time”. StockClout cuts out hours of research and provides everything to you in easy to read updates, and it’s all free.
We got a chance to talk to Golden about StockClout. Check out the interview below.
What is Stockclout?
StockClout is a social media and communications platform built specifically for public companies and investors.
StockClout provides “free” information about every publicly traded company in the world on unique state by state, country by country, region by region basis. The StockClout communications platform is changing the way investors worldwide are receiving information about their stocks and portfolios..and it’s all free!
In layman’s terms, how does it work? (In other words how would you explain it to your grandmother)
Inside of StockClout.com is a world map with hundreds of websites covering every public company in the world. Examples of the sites are www.GeorgiaPublicCompanies.com and www.NewYorkPublicCompanies.com and www.CaliforniaPublicCompanies.com ( and every other state listed similarly). Internationally we cover companies with sites like www.UAEPublicCompanies.com or www.ChinaPublicCompanies.com or www.FrankfurtPublicCompanies.com. Etc etc .
We believe investors generally have geographic biases. If an investor wants to know the “Top Performing” 15 stocks this morning in any state or country they can go to that site either directly or thru the StockClout map. If an investor wants to know which companies are the “Most Active” among investors social media wise, they can come look and see which companies pages are being the most viewed.
The public companies benefit from our communications platform by being able to communicate with investors through the video and audio presentation capabilities that we provide again for free. The companies can further communicate with investors
Through the various social media features of our StockClout platform as well.
We like to say we provide public companies with the opportunity to create “Reputational Dividends” with our StockClout Communications Platform
Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?
StockClout was the founded by Wall Street seasoned-professional Tony Golden. The vision of StockClout evolved after 32 years on Wall Street as Mr. Golden spent 15 years with the firms Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Smith Barney and more recently the past 17 years as CEO and Founder of a successful Investor Relations firm in Atlanta. Tony will serve as the CEO of StockClout as well.
Where are you based?
StockClout is head-quartered in Roswell, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb.
What’s the startup scene/culture like where you’re based?
There is a significant effort underway to establish Atlanta as a premier technology hub of the US. Through the efforts of various groups and organizations Atlanta is redefining itself
As a startup community that VCs, as well as entrepreneurs and developers now pay serious attention to.
How did you come up with the idea for Stockclout?
StockClout evolved from our vision to combine social media with the various aspects of traditional research and due diligence. We wanted a one-stop center that investors could come to obtain information about every publicly traded company in the world. We wanted investors to be able to see how the various companies within their own states or countries compared to one another. We wanted to create a communications platform that would deliver all this information to investors on a timely basis that would result in the savings of precious time they might otherwise spend researching themselves. Lastly, we wanted to do it all for free!
How did you come up with the name?
The name StockClout was chosen because we wanted to provide both investors and public companies with STOCK CLOUT. WE have also branded the daily alerts that we deliver for free to any investor on behalf of any public company as “CLOUTS.” We will discuss more about CLOUTS later.
What problem does Stockclout solve?
Too often new technologies end of occupying more and more of our precious time. As wonderful and useful as they are to our lives, many keep us working longer hours resulting in less time to spend on other things we all would rather be doing. Our clocks still only have 24 hours in the day and we all must decide how we chose to spend those hours.
We like to say using StockClout will actually put “time” back on your clock! By taking advantage of letting our StockClout communications platform keep you informed about the stock(s) you own or follow, StockClout will save you time that you might normally spend doing all the research yourself. Also, StockClout’s far- reaching abilities keep your informed of any information concerning your stocks on a world-wide basis. …and it’s all FREE
What’s your secret sauce?
Our unique ability to keep you informed via our CLOUTS. When you come to StockClout.com and check “ Follow” next to any stock(s) that you like or have an interest in, the StockClout communications platform will deliver to you any all news , stories, articles,
Corporate press releases, analysts opinion updates, filings, blogs, social media articles from every source in the world on that day. CLOUTS automatically are delivered at Noon, 4pm and Mid-night on-the- fly to your phone or computer.
We also provide full analytics on each public company’s pages so they know how many investors are viewing their company. Our goal is to keep you informed and to do it for FREE!
Are you bootstrapped or funded?
StockClout starting in R&D in November of 2011 and was launched in August of 2012
To date, the project has been 100% bootstrapped however the company is open to discussions with an appropriate funding partner
What’s one challenge you’ve overcome in the startup process?
As with most bootstrapped companies, the challenges are the limited resources that might enable one to grow faster. However, therein also lies the satisfaction and pride of being an entrepreneur of a startup! The thrill has been the journey!
Who are some of your mentors and business role models?
We have been blessed by so many people who have opened their minds and given us a piece of their valuable time to ask questions.
What’s next for Stockclout?
Our goal is to open the world of public companies to investors everywhere. To provide a platform whereby public companies in places from China to California have the abilities to communicate their respective opportunities and corporate businesses to investors worldwide.
Linkage
