Let's start with the good news... I've spent some time the past month speaking to a gentlemen who runs a small fund he started from scratch, and through resources he put me in contact with (who specialize in smaller independent funds), the 'launch costs' and 'break even costs' are going to be lower than I first anticipated. So this was very fortunate and due to this development I'm going to change my headline title from "need to raise $12M" to "need to raise $7M", although somewhere in the mid $3M to mid $4M range I will begin to get serious about actually taking the next steps.
Now on to the really good news - the past month was a bonanza in terms of pledges - we've been at a run rate of $200-$225K a month or so, but we doubled that this month and $421K was pledged. This came from both new (future) investors and a lot of people who made an initial pledge earlier in the year but have come back after watching the progress and reading the blog, and feel more comfortable committing more. So once again, as always, thanks for that trust.
I often get emails of "when will you actually start" and my answer is "I don't know, it is not up to me"; when I get to a pledged asset base where I feel comfortable I won't be taking a huge bath in year 1, than we'll move to the next steps of launch. I've pegged that at roughly $3.5-$4M so we are almost half way there. The good news is, if the pace continues at +$200-$225K/month, we'll be talking about an early 2009 launch instead of 2011 as first estimated (or hoped). But how much is pledged each month is a variable that is impossible to project.
Web traffic continues to increase and now we are averaging about 2000-2100 visits on most weekdays; and we've broken into the top 200K on Alexa rankings. Still gunning for Google at #2 ;) As always more readers should lead to more future investors as long as I do my part.
As always, you can see how I am doing by verified independent 3rd party metric here: 'Rising Tide Growth' performance
To future investors, as always, if you change your mind and want to rescind an investment pledge and/or change (up or down) the amount, please let me know since I simply want know where I stand in this process. Also if you see your name below but no location, please drop me an email or comment on this blog entry of your city, state. Thanks.
The original post on the purpose of the blog can be found here [Jan 7: Readers 'Pledges' Towards Mutual Fund Launch]
Totals
January 7, 2008 = $75K total raised
February 19, 2008 (click here for full post): $766K total raised
March 18, 2008 (click here for full post): $994K raised
April 16, 2008 (click here for full post): $1.19M raised
May 15, 2008: $1.61M raised
Important info since I get this question a lot via email:
One question asked is the process once the fund is up and running - it would be no different than any other mutual fund out there - you'd get an application, prospectus, send the check to a 3rd party clearing house and away you go. Retirement and normal accounts both available, it is no load, etc - nothing different than all the other mutual funds out there, other than the most transparency in terms of manager decisions and daily feedback. So that's down the road once the fund is created - for now I just need a clear amount of commitments/pledges so I can hit the ground running.
| Amount | Who | Where |
| $75,000 | Self | MI |
| $2,500 | Michael D | Oceanside, CA |
| $7,500 | Oth | Parts Unknown |
| $10,000 | Dean D | San Jose, CA |
| $2,500 | Oza P | MA |
| $20,000 | Oren L | Chicago |
| $10,000 | Rob T | NYC |
| $5,000 | Ryan | Seattle, WA |
| $7,500 | Ted | Sunnyvale, CA |
| $2,500 | Brian P | Cerritos, CA |
| $50,000 | David B | Middlesex, NJ |
| $50,000 | Ian M | San Antonio, TX |
| $40,000 | "LiquidWindows" | Deep in heart of TX |
| $5,000 | Jonson | LA, CA |
| $5,000 | Jimidean | Parts Unknown |
| $3,000 | Brooks R | Baton Rouge, LA |
| $5,000 | Zlatanscores | Parts Unknown |
| $3,000 | Ben S | Portland, OR |
| $20,000 | Sheng S | Omaha, NE |
| $10,000 | msuberri | NJ |
| $5,000 | David W | Houston, TX |
| $10,000 | Ryan T | NJ |
| $3,000 | NandaK | Nashua, NH |
| $10,000 | WaltF | Louisberg, KS |
| $2,500 | Joe | Scranton, PA (email) |
| $2,500 | Todd | Nashville, TN (email) |
| $250,000 | David R | South Carolina (email) |
| $100,000 | A.F. | Los Altos, CA (email) |
| $50,000 | Satya | Temple City, CA (email) |
| $10,000 | Bobby L | San Jose, CA |
| $200,000 | Ganesh S | Bellevue, WA |
| $2,500 | Michael A | Charleston, SC (email) |
| $2,500 | TJP | Sterling, IL (email) |
| $75,000 | Bob B | VanBuren, AR (email) |
| $10,000 | Pat L | Tuscon, AZ (email) |
| $25,000 | Art H | Auburn, CA (email) |
| $5,000 | Dan D | Augusta, GA (email) |
| $5,000 | Jeffrey H | Greensboro, NC (email) |
| $50,000 | Tom L | San Fran, CA (email) |
| $10,000 | Wesley W | San Jose, CA (email) |
| $10,000 | Tom S (daKat) | Minneapolis, MN |
| $5,000 | Dan W | Mentor, OH (email) |
| $10,000 | Jim G | Marana, AZ (email) |
| $5,000 | Andrey G | Baltimore, MD |
| $20,000 | Doug M | San Fran, CA (email) |
| $75,000 | "Skooker" | Boise, ID (email) |
| $3,750 | Brian C | Milwaukee, WI (email) |
| $2,500 | Jason F | Big Apple, NY |
| $3,000 | Chung W | San Jose, CA (email) |
| $3,000 | Mac | Bellevue, WA |
| $10,000 | BMW | Bay Area, CA (email) |
| $10,000 | "steelelana" | NY |
| $10,000 | "Jpassana" | Parts Unknown |
| $5,000 | Brian J | Racine, WI (email) |
| $5,000 | Ceferino J | Parts Unknown (email) |
| $10,000 | Link M | Knoxville, TN |
| $5,000 | Pankaj | Forest Park, OH |
| $20,000 | Alex A | Big Apple, NY |
| $100,000 | D.K. | Los Altos Hills, CA (email) |
| $20,000 | Roger B | Arlington TX |
| $20,000 | Rohit S | Chicago, IL |
| $5,000 | Praveen K | Somewhere in Kansas |
| $25,000 | Robert D | Niantic, CT (email - IRA) |
| $25,000 | Scott R | Longbranch, WA (email) |
| $7,500 | Roy S | Knoxville, TN (email) |
| $25,000 | Douglas D | Atlanta, GA (email) |
| $10,000 | Mahender B | Crofton, MD (email) |
| $1,611,250 |
9 comments:
I have a question...would you continue posting on this blog after your fund is up and running?
My original thoughts are because many people have emailed me and say I should just do a subscription site and they'd be happy to pay is
Continue site - for all investors they have login where its free.
For non investors or non Americans (who cannot invest in mutual funds) continue website as subscription service.
So between now and then my job is to make the website addicting enough that you'd want to pay. While raising money for my true goal.
Last, I'd have a free site as sort of my "publicity" where I'd probably keep posting some 10% of entries free.
But a lot of people have emailed me saying I should just go to a straight subscription model today ;)
But that's not my goal. My goal is to run money professionally.
also frankly the amount of hours I put into this website are like a 2nd job. Plus I give away a lot of my trading ideas which probably have some value to them as well. At least a few.
I am a portfolio manager of a fund in Atlanta and like your work. I can also give you my shareholder service company that could help you for what you are looking for...cost wise that is plus great service....doug@wisdomfund.com
Thank you Doug, I'll shoot you an email so I can see how the costs compare. It is a nightmare with all the paperwork, and Blue Sky laws and all the stuff that goes into this.
Mark,
You can change "somewhere in Kansas" to "Atchison", a small town in Kansas. I'm forwarding your site to all my friends and told them about the transparency u maintain. I'm doing a free publicity.management fees is waived for me ,,right??;)
Praveen
I'll work on a "refer a friend" program ;)
How about every $10k of new investment you bring in from other people, a free donut? Or more Kool Aid? There seems to be an abundance of the latter? ;)
Sure..I will take the Kool Aid.
I will collect lot of Kool Aids in this way..and sell it back to people for a premium when they need it in this market..lookslike they need it soon..
"I will collect lot of Kool Aids in this way..and sell it back to people for a premium when they need it in this market"
Careful. With talk like that, an investment bank is likely to higher you. That is what they do, day in and day out. You're a natural!
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