In case you haven’t noticed, bank fees of all types have been working their way down, down, down, at least in some parts of the world. This is as it should be, of course. Transactional fees have little if any place in the digital age, especially in a sophisticated global financial center like London. Still, the UK and Europe have lagged behind in this area, and UK consumers are were expected to pay a £10-12 brokerage fee per trade.
Enter Canadian transplant Adam Dodds, founder and CEO of Freetrade. Freetrade is a bootstrapped and crowdsourced — yes, crowdsourced — trading app boasting free stock trades, a vibrant community, and a superior customer experience.
In this episode, we learn about the Freetrade platform, its funding history, the pain points Freetrade solves, where the platform is headed, and we hear Adam’s perspective on the industry as a whole.
In today’s episode you’ll learn:
- About Adam’s background and what inspired him to found Freetrade
- About Freetrade
- Why Freetrade used crowdfunding to raise capital
- About Freetrade’s revenue model
- About Freetrade’s expansion plans
- Adam’s outlook for the online brokerage industry
- Adam’s advice for entrepreneurs
Listen to this episode on iTunes
What was your biggest insight from this week’s episode? Let Jay know in the comments or on Twitter: @jaykimmer.
LINKS FROM TODAY’S EPISODE
- Read the full transcript from Adam’s interview
- Freetrade
- Freetrade on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram
- Episode 8 with Mikaal Abdulla of 8 Securities
- Interactive Brokers
- Robinhood
DETAILED SHOW NOTES
- (1:00) Adam gives a brief introduction and shares a bit of his background
- (3:33) The online brokerages available to Adam when he first moved to London
- (6:04) Adam describes Freetrade’s early days
- (9:37) Adam gives details about Freetrade’s crowdfunding rounds
- (11:11) Adam addresses the administrative side of crowdsourcing
- (13:20) Adam explains why crowdfunding isn’t as popular in the US
- (16:26) The Freetrade business model and user experience
- (19:32) Freetrade’s plans to expand into Europe
- (20:38) Adam describes the regulatory hurdles Freetrade has had to clear
- (22:42) Adam describes the current Freetrade team
- (24:22) Adam’s plans for Freetrade over the next 12 to 24 months
- (27:30) Adam describes Freetrade Alpha, a future tier of the business and why a subscription model aligns well with users’ goals
- (30:06) Adam explains how cryptocurrencies fit into the Freetrade platform
- (31:42) Upcoming plans for Freetrade
- (33:34) Adam’s outlook for the industry in the next five to ten years
- (36:04) Adam’s advice to aspiring entrepreneurs
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