Podcast: Tykr Stock Investing Confidence
Listen And Share This Software Spotlight Podcast
Watch And Share This Software Spotlight Podcast
Podcast Summary: Software Spotlight Featuring Tykr
Origins of an Investing Platform
Sean Tepper, founder and CEO of Tykr, started his journey in tech over 20 years ago by building an agency focused on creating software and websites for small and mid-sized businesses. As he puts it, “It was a volume game where we brought in a lot of projects, completed those projects, got them out the door.”
While running the agency, Sean realized he wanted to transition to a SaaS business model after seeing the success of companies like Salesforce, MailChimp, and Netflix. However, he didn't yet have a strong SaaS idea to pursue. So after merging his agency in 2010, Sean spent the next several years managing projects and engineering teams at large corporations like GE and Kohler to gain more business expertise.
Turning to Value Investing
In 2015, Sean decided he wanted to start building wealth by investing in the stock market. But rather than angel investing in risky startups, he turned to the value investing principles of Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, and Phil Town.
As Sean describes, “I read a bunch of books. I went down the YouTube rabbit hole and tried to take in as much knowledge as possible to learn, ‘How are they doing this?'.” He managed to reverse engineer their approaches into a quantitative scoring system and Excel spreadsheet that allowed him to evaluate stocks and make investment decisions.
Over the next four years, Sean earned annual returns between 15-50% by using his spreadsheet to invest. By 2019, when he started sharing it with other investors, they encouraged him to turn it into software. That marked the beginning of Tykr.
Launching and Iterating Tykr
Sean invested $30,000 to build an MVP version of Tykr in 2020 using an outdated tech stack from the early 2000s. It managed to attract some initial customers, but couldn't support adding complex features like payment systems.
So in 2021, Sean rebuilt Tykr on a modern stack using Node.js, MongoDB, and tools like Paddle for payments. However, this second version also failed to allow for easy expansion.
Finally in 2022, after a third round of development, Tykr launched a platform that enabled continual improvements. Today, after much learning and iteration, Tykr serves over 9,000 customers across 50 countries.
Empowering Confident Investing
The key philosophy behind Tykr is empowering retail investors to make their own confident investing decisions, rather than relying on unpredictable stock tips or financial advisors.
As Sean explains, “We emphasize that confidence piece. People want the confidence to do this on their own.” Tykr aims to provide investors with the insights, data, and education to gain that confidence.
The platform functions as an all-in-one stock screener, educational platform, and portfolio tracker. Its algorithm analyzes financial metrics to score stocks and estimate their margin of safety and upside potential, helping identify promising investments.
Tykr also offers courses and micro-learning modules to educate users on investing topics and platform features. And later this year, it plans to launch mobile apps with gamified and social elements to further boost confidence and understanding.
Spreading Financial Knowledge
On a mission to spread financial knowledge, Sean hosts a podcast called Payback Time covering investing, business, and passive income topics. He also shares tips on YouTube and encourages aspiring founders to reach out so he can guide them on the SaaS journey.
When asked about the future, Sean says, “I'd love to exit and sell [Tykr] someday. But right now I'm focused on removing the pain from customers' lives and making the tool better every single day.”
As Tykr continues its rapid growth, Sean aims to stay grounded by focusing on creating value rather than chasing money. With educational empowerment at its core, Tykr strives to make investing accessible for everyone.
