Our mission at Intrinio is to power a generation of applications that will fundamentally change the way our broken financial system works. Intrinio data feeds form the basis of everything from large enterprise business reporting applications to startup fintech apps. It’s rewarding to see our product come to life at the hands of today’s most innovative developers building powerful things.
We’re lucky to be in a business where we grow together with our customers, and we’re proud to show off their hard work. Each blog in this series will highlight a customer that has leveraged our financial data feeds to build something incredible.
Meet TYKR, an investment platform designed to make investing easier, smarter, and faster. We spoke to Sean Tepper, founder and CEO of TYKR, about what inspired him to start the company and how TYKR stands out among other investing tools.
What is your professional background?
I have 15 years of experience in software engineering and 10 years of experience as a self-directed investor.
What inspired you to start your company?
My backstory on TYKR has a not-so-glamorous humble beginning. In parallel to my career in software engineering, I worked intensely as an angel investor without much success for five years (2011–2016). I was able to generate some residual income through angel investing but I was never able to achieve the desirable goal of selling a tech startup at a 10X multiple. To no surprise, that is a lot easier said than done.
Since I couldn’t find success as an angel investor in the private market, in 2016 I took a step back and decided to read as many boring investing books as I could to create an algorithm that would help me generate higher returns in the public market. Within one year, I achieved a 15% return compared to the market average 6%. I then went on to refine the algorithm and achieve returns ranging between 15% and 50%.
In the summer of 2019, I back tested TYKR through the 2008 recession and in 2008, the S&P 500 went down 38% while TYKR went up 24%. I then went on to back test TYKR every year from 1999–2019 and TYKR has proven to beat the market every year. That is the moment when I decided I can’t keep this algorithm for myself. I need to turn this into a platform to share with others.
What have been your biggest challenges, and what did you learn from them?
Angel investing is speculative investing. It’s like investing in penny stocks, cryptocurrency, and cannabis stocks. I don’t have anything against speculative investing but understand you don’t have historical data to calculate the trajectory of a business. I found that leveraging data allows an investor to make consistent returns in the market. The key word is “consistent” because that’s how real wealth is built.
What have been your biggest successes?
In the summer of 2019, I started showing investors what this algorithm could do, and I was advised to put this through a real test. Run it through the 2008 recession and see what happens. Here are those surprising results…
In 2008, the S&P 500 dropped by 38%. If you would have used TYKR in 2008, you could have been up 19%.
In 2009, the S&P 500 went up by 23%. If you would have used TYKR in 2009, you could have been up 72%.
In 2010, the S&P 500 went up by 12%. If you would have used TYKR in 2010, you could have been up 96%.
This is the moment when I knew I was on to something.
How do you set yourself apart from your competitors?
1. The algorithm that powers TYKR was built and refined over the duration of four years. For me, it has generated consistent returns ranging between 15% and 50%. When I back tested it from 1999 through 2019, it generated consistent returns ranging between 10% and 96%. Over my 10 years of investing, I have never found a software platform that produced those kinds of returns.
2. TYKR uses a definitive rating system. A stock is either ON SALE, WATCH, or OVERPRICED. As most investors know, a wise investor should buy ON SALE stocks because the probability of making returns is extremely high. The finance industry is notorious for using complex rating systems, redundant charts and graphs, and technical language most people don’t know what to do with. TYKR cuts through the noise and gets right to the point.
3. If I tell you to buy AAPL (Apple) that last thing you should do is buy AAPL. The first thing you should do is ask WHY. TYKR provides a clear reason WHY a stock is ON SALE, WATCH, or OVERPRICED and it explains it with layman’s terms. Most stock screening platforms do not provide a reason WHY. They give you a rating such as “C” or “6/10” and expect you to make a rational decision based on that rating.
What else would you like people to know?
A lot of people don’t realize the power of compound interest. Once you leverage compound interest in your favor, your financial goals become much different.
Why did you choose to work with Intrinio?
I chose to work with Intrinio because Intrinio is the ONLY company that has the vast array of historical data necessary for the TYKR algorithm to work. I tested and interviewed several other financial data providers, and all fell short.
How would you describe your experience working with Intrinio?
Working with Intrinio has always been a great experience. Their team is always quick to respond and motivated to provide more value.
Interested in working with Intrinio? Request a free, one-on-one consultation with one of our data experts.
Originally published at https://intrinio.com.
