Why Doesn't Titan Invest Have More Users? (not affiated, just curious)
Why isn't Titan isn't more successful?
Titan Invest is a well-designed mobile app that provides retail investors with access to a "hedge fund" via iOS.
Their investment strategy is to construct an equity portfolio based on the top 20 positions from 13F filings (publicly disclosed hedge fund holdings).
They also claim to hedge downside risk during downturns. (I don't love the verbiage here, as it implies that they purchase downside protection after prices have already declined & insurance is most expensive.)
While their strategy seems rather vanilla, it seems like a reasonable offering for folks who have no clue how to value a security and don't want to manage their own portfolio.
They charge 1% per year and no performance fee. Sure, you can get cheaper exposure to the market via a low cost index fund, but for a single way to invest in a concentrated portfolio of high-quality companies, this seems fairly reasonable (much better than paying 2 & 20).
Compared to a financial advisor, Titan is far superior. Most FA's are asset gatherers who make zero investment decisions & add a layer of fees on top of fund fees.
Unfortunately, Titan trades each account on an individual basis, instead of a pooled investment vehicle. I assume this is because arcane regulations make it difficult to offer a fund on a small scale.
So let's get to the point.. Why doesn't Titan have more AUM? I understand that they just launched, but according to filings they currently have 22 clients & $77k under management. For the uninitiated, funds need massive amounts of capital to succeed ($10m in AUM, 1% fee = $100k/yr.) $10 million hardly keeps the lights on.
Robinhood had hockey stick growth because they solved a real problem by eliminating brokerage fees.
Does Titan lack a compelling value proposition?
Are millennials capable of managing their own money instead?
Does Titan just lack marketing exposure?
What's the problem here?
