TradingView‘s main competitors are Investing.com, Yahoo! Finance, YCharts, ChartIQ and Stocktwits. Compared to the giants of the financial industry, such as Bloomberg, the site does not have their full functionality but provides its own set of tools for traders of all levels.
And now can you name the closest Meta Force competitor in terms of scalability and achievements? In just one year after the launch of the Metaverse the number of users exceeded 1 million people and the total earnings of participants amounted to 1.35 billion dollars. At the same time the implementation of some programs is only planned for opening, which promises an even greater increase in the project popularity.
Social Network for Traders: How to Make a $3 Billion Project Out of Nothing
“Live so that they write about you in Forbes” – this is what guided two friends – Denis Globa and Konstantin Ivanov. They managed to fulfill their dream by founding a platform for traders called TradingView in 2011.
In 12 years an ordinary startup that promised nothing has grown to a world-class level. Today the company has an impressive user base with 30 million monthly active traders, of which 1 million are paying subscribers. This success has not gone unnoticed by Forbes which has estimated that TradingView’s revenue in 2021 exceeded $230 million while the platform itself is valued at no less than $3 billion.
How One Detail Made the Difference
Denis Globa and Konstantin Ivanov have been friends since childhood. They played the same games, grew up in the same yard but chose two different ways of education. Globa went to study as a financier at the Rostov State University of Economics and Ivanov chose mathematics at the Southern Federal University (at that time it was Rostov State University)
From his youth Denis showed entrepreneurial skills, constantly dreaming of new ways to earn money. In his first years at the institute Denis discovered a book on trading, and this was what inspired him. He told Kostia about his idea and offered to become traders.
They decided to take the starting capital from Konstantin’s uncle. Remembering those distant times the requested amount of $ 2,000 was quite significant. Therefore the uncle just laughed and refused financial support. This moment proved to be a key turning point in their history. They realized that “easy money” could lead to loss of enthusiasm and disappointment in their investment ideas.
In order to earn start-up capital on their own two friends decided to code the custom software. Now it is called fashionably “to cut a script” but then there was no talk of such words, everything was much more prosaic: they found a programmer and started creating trade analytics for traders. But they soon realized why sell what you can use for your own benefit.
From that moment on they began to actively explore various products and platforms related to investments and trading. Over time it became clear that better and more innovative solutions could be created. Thus, Denis and Konstantin changed their main focus from trading to development.
This turn of events opened new horizons for the friends. They saw the potential in developing their own analytical platform for traders which would provide a wide range of tools and opportunities for successful trading. Thus the idea of creating TradingView was born which today is one of the most popular and sought-after platforms in the trading industry.
The Unbowed
Gradually the team grew and the project changed. And after a couple of years the TradingView community consisted of experienced professionals only. Their collective work became the basis for the successful product development. By that time more than 10,000 traders from 25 countries around the world were using the platform. However, despite the success the company has not yet thought about monetizing its activities.
Denis explained that at the initial stage of development when the native functions of the platform were limited the main goal was not to earn money but to attract the attention of large investors. We aimed at creating a minimum viable product (MVP) to enable traders to exchange information about buying and selling shares as well as communicate and receive information about the markets.
This approach allowed TradingView to increase the loyalty of ordinary users. The team continued to develop functionality and add new features based on user feedback. This led to a gradual increase in the number of active participants which significantly expanded the geography of the platform.
When the time came Konstantin and Denis thought about entering the “big” market. They needed the so-called American accelerator which helped raise money for development from venture investors. However, this was not their main goal, at the initial stage the expertise and business connections played an important role.
At first, the applications were submitted to the largest accelerators at that time – Y Combinator and Techstars. “It just so happened that we made it to Techstars, although participation in Y Combinator was preferable for us,” recalls Konstantin Ivanov.
Mentors from Techstars including Ashton Kutcher and Dave McClure have become valuable advisors to the founders of TradingView. They shared their knowledge and experience, providing valuable expertise. However, the majority expressed doubts about the startup’s business model based on attracting non-professional investors. They believed that such a strategy would not work and the unit economy would not be sustainable.
Despite criticism Konstantin and Denis stood their ground. They continued to believe in their idea and strongly pushed the project forward. The initial traffic on the platform grew organically which was very good for self-promotion. Large venture investors quickly learned about the project thanks to such users who came here themselves because it was possible to use the tools here for free.
The founders recall how mentors emphasized that having traffic is good but free access needs to be somehow limited. This raised doubts whether the founders would be able to sell their product in the end when it is so easy to use the main functions of TradingView without payment.
However, Konstantin and Denis did not give up. They confidently continued their work, striving to improve and enhance the platform. They understood that it was important not only to attract a large audience but also to provide them with a valuable and unique tool.
Day “X”
After three months of acceleration the long-awaited demo day was approaching for the TradingView founders. It was a special event where startups presented projects to investors. The demo day was scheduled for the end of summer 2013 and already more than 500 potential partners have confirmed their presence at the event.
A month before the demo day Konstantin and Denis decided to launch the monetization of the platform making the free functionality somewhat limited. For this two tariffs were developed: one costing $9.95 and the other $19.95. Against the background of Bloomberg and Reuters where subscription cost several thousand dollars a month the prices for TradingView seemed ridiculous.
By demo day the founders already had the first results of monetization. Konstantin recalls how they talked about their achievements at the presentation: “Look, less than a month has passed and we already have more than 500 paid subscribers and more than $10,000 of revenue.” These numbers indicated that their product generated interest among traders and investors.
TradingView Premium subscribers found value in the features and functions they offered and were willing to pay for the pleasure. This confirmed the correctness of the decision of the founders to introduce paid tariff plans.
Millions of Venture Investors
After another successful seed round it was necessary to continue preparing for the next stage. For grandiose plans, new investments were required; such were the terms of the campaign. Konstantin Ivanov notes that holding a new stage of investments was an important step for a startup, allowing them to maintain control over the company and reduce the share of early venture investors
Very soon, the founders of TradingView again felt distrust from American investors. The unit economy and business model of the startup remained a subject of doubt. In light of these events Globa and Ivanov decided to turn to Russian venture capital funds. Following the advice they received at Techstars they made a list of goals and began to actively send pitches and contact management companies.
At that time TradingView had already attracted the attention of a significant number of audiences. Their platform was actively used by about 500,000 users worldwide. The beginning of monetization led to the start-up breaking even. The main source of income for the project was a paid subscription which provided users with access to the expanded functionality of the portal, more indicators and other features.
A total of four seed rounds were held, resulting in over $340 million in investments. Which ultimately allowed evaluating the company as the one which is $3 billion worth?
Lado Okhotnikov: The Metaverse Turns Mind Upside Down
Denis and Konstantin at the beginning of their journey were ordinary young enthusiasts who dreamed of creating something unique and in demand.Their passion for finance and desire to help traders led to the launch of a startup.With little capital and great desire, they started building their platform from scratch.
I think the guys had a lot of ideas and ambitions but they didn’t understand that talent and creativity don’t always play the main role.They faced many difficulties, financial constraints and competition in the market.However, they did not give up.Being stubborn and persistent, they resolutely went to their goal.
Now I see myself in them.Back then in 2000s making enough money was not easy, but I was ready for anything to achieve my goals. Watching successful people, I saw in them what I lacked so much. I watched them drive past me in luxury cars, with pretty girls by their side, like money didn’t matter to them. I wanted to surpass myself, to become like them. And open the way to financial independence for others. It was at that moment that I had the idea to gather a community around me, where everyone would help each other earn money.
Unlike these guys who dived into development I ended up in marketing. At first I was not at ease but then I realized that there is potential in this area and it will help me realize my dream. I accepted the challenge and began to study marketing with extraordinary zeal.
Over time, I began to apply the knowledge and experience gained in practice. My marketing strategies were paying off, my clients were becoming more successful, and I was finally feeling true freedom myself.
“‘My dream of financial independence materialized when Meta Force was released – a Metaverse where reality is intertwined with virtuality” – Lado Okhotnikov said. “For many years, our team has been working on creating a scalable and unique platform. Today we transcend the boundaries of traditional tools and embody the idea of a whole metaworld where everyone can do what they want: own real estate, create their own business, and release new products that are necessary for the rest of the inhabitants of this virtual reality”.
The Metaverse is a grandiose project that has turned the idea of virtual space upside down. We have created a place where the boundaries of reality merge with the boundaries of imagination, where everyone can fulfill their dreams and become the creator of their own destiny.
In just one year of work, unprecedented progress has been achieved – our participants have been paid 1.35 billion dollars. This once again proves that the Meta Force platform is reliable. Agree, it’s hard to find a startup like this, which in such a short time was able to achieve such impressive results.
In Conclusion
It is pointless to draw an analogy between these two startups. If TradingView positions itself as a tool that helps traders earn money and for this you need to be able to understand charts, know patterns and much more. Meta Force is a Metaverse where earnings do not depend much on the state of affairs in the crypto market, since rewards are paid in the Dai stablecoin and in the platform’s native token Forcecoine which once again proves the stability of the project.