Built a free stock screener for value investors. Here is what I learned shipping it.
Background: I spent years as CEO of a brokerage and COO of a fintech. I watched millions of retail investors lose money, not from bad intentions, but from bad tools.
So I built ValueMarkers.
The core insight: every stock screener gives you a valuation score with zero explanation. A black box. Professional investors would never accept that. Retail investors had no choice.
We changed that with a glass-box DCF, where every input (WACC, growth rate, FCF margin) is visible and editable. We added a Quality Triple Check combining Piotroski, Beneish, and Altman scores in one view. 30 years of financial history. 100,000+ stocks across 73 exchanges. AI-powered guru 13-F tracking.
The result: institutional-grade analysis at a fraction of the cost of Bloomberg or FactSet.
What I would do differently:
Ship the free tier earlier. The Explorer plan (free forever) has driven more word-of-mouth than any paid campaign.
Current status:
Three plans live. Free, Analyst ($24/mo annual), and Professional ($49/mo annual).
Happy to answer questions on building in fintech, data infrastructure, or positioning against entrenched competitors.
