MoneyNeverSleeps: Ankur Mohan and MarketXLS

Ankur Mohan, Founder & CEO of MarketXLS, joins the show to share his story on his entry point into Galway in the West of Ireland to launch MarketXLS, how a certain demographic just prefers the simplicity and control of Excel for managing personal and professional portfolios, closing the gap between the haves and the have-nots of the investing world, and the life-long lesson of the benefits of hard work.

MarketXLS provide a leading Excel-based investment research platform with a belief that each investor and strategy is unique, and that building and executing a great investment strategy should not require a PhD or a million-dollar budget.

MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by PAT Fintech, the training partner that demystifies fintech and digital finance for financial services professionals.

HIGHLIGHTS:

On Ankur Mohan’s inspiration to start MarketXLS in 2015:

“There is a big disconnect in terms of information asymmetry between Wall Street investors and Main Street investors. They are the smaller investors and individuals who are investing their own money, versus big hedge funds and money managers who can afford to pay for access to the information and tools which give them an edge.”

“Our key objective is to make sure that the availability of information, tools and systems are equally distributed for everyone.”

On focusing on Microsoft Excel to deliver the MarketXLS value proposition:

“There are effectively 750 million users of Excel around the world. When I started MarketXLS, I was surprised to see that every platform gives an option to export data to Excel, but there was no one focusing on what users were supposed to do when they got to Excel.”

“So, if everyone is using Excel and that’s what they want at the end of the day, why not bring them what they need instead of creating more apps and platforms? I thought it would be a good idea to bring analytics and market information to Excel to help individual investors reduce the gap that exists [vs. Wall Street].”

On the rise of “Excel-killers” in SaaS and fintech:

“For decades, I have been hearing that Excel is going away. I have been using Excel for 20 years, and it hasn’t gone away. I don’t think it should go anywhere because it works. It gives anybody the freedom and the flexibility to create useful solutions without having to spend thousands or tens of thousands of dollars or millions of dollars for that matter. Just use it to produce something useful for those who need it.”

On picking Galway for the MarketXLS HQ:

“We pitched to Enterprise Ireland in Galway when we first arrived. I stayed here for three days and realized it’s a fantastic city, it has everything that you would need, everything is nearby and Enterprise Ireland is very supportive of those based in Galway or the West of Ireland.”

“For an online business like ours, it did not really matter if you are in Dublin or if you’re in Galway, and I found Galway to be a fantastic place to live and grow the business. There’s a big community feeling around here as well, especially at the Portershed with all of the startups and you get to meet lots of people and it’s fun.”

On the benefits of hard work:

“One of the key learnings from the earlier part of my career is that there is no substitute for hard work, and you need to work quite hard to create a business.”

LINKS:

Episode title inspired by ‘Global Access’ by Wiz Khalifa

Get in touch with Ankur Mohan and MarketXLS to learn more

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