Discussion:
Response 1:
I identified Stockpile Inc as a big idea. The company sales fractional shares of stocks from traded companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Apple and so on. As Stockpile for the time being is a privately held company and financial data are not available to determine its share of the total market. However the company operates in the financial service industry which has about $27.4 trillion in market size not to include the bond market (Wathen, 2018). And stocks makes up about 41.6 percent of the total domestic market in the U.S. One could say the total addressable market for Stockpile is 41.6 percent.
Why did the company pick that initial target market? Initially the company targeted parents, grandparents and other relatives such as uncles and aunts who wanted to gift stocks to their underage relatives (Stockpile.com, n.d). And it was costly to buy some premium stock the company thought that fractional stock purchase would be the way to go. Individual could purchase $10, $15, $50 of stock trading for $1000 and gift the purchase to a love one say at Christmas. How did competitors respond? Stockpile main competitors are most the established financial institution such as E*Trade, Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade, Ameriprise and so on. Those firms still charge a much higher trading fee and they do not offer fractional stock purchases. However they are a few companies out there using the same business model as Stockpile and are offering ETF purchases such as Stash, Robinhood, Acorns and Betterment. With those companies you can invest in fractional ETF some as low as $5.00. However I could not find any company offering fractional stock purchases other than Stockpile.
Response 2:
Last week I discussed CBRE and when they came to market. Even though they started out in the early 1900's, not a lot has changed for them. If anything the real estate market has become even more competitive. With CBRE not only conducting real estate deals, but also having their hands in M&A's, it gives them the opportunity to bail out other companies financially or acquire companies that CBRE feels would help excel them to the next level. From a business aspect, times are really tough in the world, and this is the time for powerful companies to strike, or invest in companies they feel will have a return of investment. CBRE started in the real estate business as conducting quotes for customers on house and personal insurance. During the early 1900's not many people were in the real estate or financial insurance business. It was a way for CBRE to make a early impact on the market and mold the company in the eyes that CBRE sees fit. Too this day, not many competitors have been able to achieve what CBRE has been able to achieve. This is mainly due to CBRE buying competitors at an early age, to expand their business under another sir name. This allows CBRE to claim stake ti their business, while having the ability to do different things under other companies names, but at the ens of the day.... it is still CBRE.