Re: FinFolio Forums

I read the "Unfinished Business" article in The Gluck Report and have to say I'm very intrigued by what you plan on developing. Then again, I've been intrigued and dare I say, a little excited, about similar efforts and plans I've read about regarding other well-intended developers. Yes, I may sound skeptical or maybe even a little pessimistic, but I've seen challengers to Advent come and go - will you really be able to distinguish your product from Advent's APX? It would be great to see a true alternative to Advent.

If you're still looking for beta testers I may be interested. I'm an independent consultant currently working for a RIAy. They use Advent Axys, Advent Packager and the Advent Corporate Action module. They are currently doing due diligence on APX. I have a good understanding about all Axys functionality (been a user for over 10 years), and understand DCF, ACB and TWR performance calculations. So, how would a beta tester be involved in your process?

Lastly, most portfolio management software ("PMS") caters to your traditional RIA/money manager, and ignores the needs of an ever growing population of the RIA world - managers of managers. Managers of managers use PMS different than your traditional RIA - do you have any beta testers/firms that don't fit into the mold of the traditional RIA? And how will your PMS handle alternatives such as hedge funds, private equity investments, and other alternatives - most PMS programs don't handle those types of investments very well.

I wish you the best and look forward to reading about your progress.

Re: FinFolio Forums

I appreciate your skepticism, and can best counter it by pointing to my last company, Techfi. At the time I sold Techfi to Advent in 2002, we were successfully competing with both Advent and Schwab. Outside of Albridge, I don’t think any other would-be competitors can truthfully claim that.

The main difference between us and APX will be the open system architecture and the time and care we are taking to build a plug-in framework. As a consultant, this opens up a new world of possibilities in what you can do for your clients. You could build an integrated billing system, a rebalancing module, or add new business rules that help them enforce data standards specific to their firm. Or you could use Crystal Reports to create a custom report package to match the formatting on their brochure.

As far as non-traditional investments, we have a separate branch of the data that lets you rearrange your assets into custom Portfolios that match the way advisors view their data. You can create a portfolio/sub-portfolio structure for separate account management. You can also set up accounts that both own assets and are owned by other accounts to correctly match a holding company or partnership relationship.

Please give me a call--I'd love to talk this through to make sure our plans will meet your needs. 720-206-0660 x.501