I’m inviting you to participate in the usability testing of our company’s Data Driven Investment Manager (DDIM) product, which may be found at DDIM.com.

What is DDIM?

Between July 2000 and October 2016, I earned an annual compounded return of 23.6% in a highly diversified stock portfolio. Based on the algorithms I’ve been using in my own investing, DDIM provides its users with ratings on roughly 3000 stocks.

Because DDIM ratings are based solely on financial statement and trading data, we take the unique additional step of integrating our ratings with crowdsourced research provided by Seeking Alpha (SA) and its 10,000+ contributors. Our ratings identify stocks with metrics that, historically, have correlated with above average returns, while SA’s research taps the “wisdom of crowds” to provide thoughtful analysis of the many variables that DDIM’s metrics ignore.  

Academic studies indicate that SA’s recommendations, on average, have outperformed market indices. By providing one-click access to SA’s recommendations of stocks with strong DDIM ratings, we conveniently enable rapid identification of stocks whose returns are likely to far outpace what is otherwise achievable by most small investors. (Bear in mind, though, that past performance can never guarantee future performance.) 

What we’re asking you to do 

DDIM will benefit from review and feedback from people like you prior to its general release.

What we ask is that you try out DDIM’s three basic functions, which allow you to:

• access the DDIM rating and SA articles for a company (or ticker) that you select,
• screen for companies on the basis of rating, market cap size, existence of a recent SA article, and/or presence in my portfolio, and
• maintain a watchlist providing regular updates on companies that you select (registration required at the link we provide)

After you’ve given DDIM a try, we request that you let us know what you liked or didn’t like about it, as well as any suggestions you may have for improving it. This can be done by sending your thoughts to our moderated Forum, where we intend to post all constructive responses.

What’s in it for you?

Our usability test is expected to conclude in January 2017, though we reserve the right to extend it. Those who share their opinions and ideas on our Forum during the beta testing period will receive three free monthly reports summarizing 11/16, 12/16, and 1/17 activity in my personal trading account, along with commentary describing the rationale for my most significant buy and sell decisions.

Warren Buffett has said that he could make 50% a year if he only had a million dollars to invest. Small investors have big advantages over billionaires, mutual funds, and other large institutions, but few of them ever cash in on these advantages.

DDIM may not make you 50% a year, but we believe it can help improve your investment returns – often by highlighting small company stocks that big investors are unable to trade efficiently.

Any questions?

Please post your questions on our Forum at DDIM.com.

Thank you for your attention,

Bill Matson, MBA, CFA, CPA (Retired), CFP

CEO, BrainFutures.com, Inc.