I want to start the blog off with some background and discuss my motivations for building another portfolio management system. My name is Matt Abar and I was the original founder of Techfi. Techfi made a portfolio management suite that included desktop software (Portfolio 2000) and an Internet service bureau (Advisormart.com). Morningstar and First Trust/FISERV were investors in Techfi and in 2002, we sold it to Advent Software.
After the sale I was forced into retirement by a recently expired no-compete agreement. The last few years have been one long, fun vacation; I moved to Vegas, traveled the world and married a wonderful woman. But I still found myself playing with new technology, coding for fun, blogging and cheering or fuming over things I read in the industry news.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Our industry has improved over the last five years but we still struggle delivering technology to advisors and planners. All of the portfolio management solutions are closed systems. Nobody is innovating. People have given up.
Where are the Web 2.0 startups? Where are the cross-platform multi-database portfolio management systems? Who's building an open-source financial platform? Where are the integrated software suites? Is anybody working on rich Internet application technology?
Techfi earned a small place in our industry's history for our innovation. We had the first client-server portfolio management software. We created the first outsourced Internet portfolio management solution. We developed the first integrated Portfolio-Trading-Contact suite. We were the only company with both a software and Internet solution.
Despite some missteps and mistakes (like selling the company without ensuring our clients' future), Techfi was one of the most successful ventures in our industry's history. Our story is one of the reasons there are now 20+ startups out there, many with venture capital invested. I'm proud of what we did.
I'm not ready to retire. I'm ready to do Techfi all over again... Techfi 2.0.
Fast forward to the present day. I've honored my no-compete. I don't have software ready to launch and have nothing to show anyone yet. My first step is finding advisors interested in building a technology platform. We're starting small.
If you're interested in watching the creation of a portfolio management platform, stay tuned to the blog over the next year. If you're interested in helping us design it, test it, or simply want to know when it's finished, please contact us.
