Got laid off → turned “idle time” into a passion project.
About a year ago I had this idea for a stock fundamentals research app — the kind that just sits in the back of your brain while life stays loud.
Then in January, I got laid off. Suddenly I had two things in abundance: time and existential dread… so I dusted off the idea and started building.
The result is StockTaper: a fundamentals-first stock research app that’s meant to feel good to use — simple, clean, and actually helpful for long-term investors (emphasis on investing, not trading 🙃). There are plenty of tools that throw charts and ratios at you, but I wanted something more approachable and design-driven while still being grounded in the fundamentals that matter.
It’s live now: https://stocktaper.com
Why I built it
Investing can feel ridiculously complex when you’re just trying to understand:
- what the business is doing,
- how the financials are trending,
- and whether the story makes sense without needing a finance degree.
StockTaper is my attempt to make that experience calmer, faster, and less jarring.
Under the hood (for the builders)
- SSR: Built with SvelteKit (NextJs, but lighter).
- DB: Postgres — because I’ve become increasingly allergic to unstructured NoSQL chaos.
- Prefilled data: Automated Spring-based cron jobs running in 2 Docker containers to prefill the database so pages load instantly (no chaining 12 API calls just to render a profile).
- Hosting: Vercel, leaning on edge optimizations (and praying I don’t wake up to a wild bill 😅).
What’s next
If it gets traction, I’ll explore premium features and deeper analytics. For now I’m mostly excited that it’s no longer an idea incubating in my head — building it has been the best kind of therapy.
If you have a minute, I’d genuinely love feedback from this sub:
- What would make a fundamentals tool “must-have” for you?
- Any obvious gaps / confusing parts of the UX?
- What would you pay for (if anything), and why?
Appreciate y’all 🙏📈
