Pocket Watcher

Pocket Watcher is a community platform that provides a user-friendly site for beginning investors to learn about the stock market and ways to invest.

Design:
Developer:
Portfolio
Developer:
Brad McEwen
Developer:
Portfolio
Developer:
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Portfolio
Mentor:

Problem Statement  

How do we increase stock market knowledge so that investors, especially beginners, have no fear of the unknown and participate more consistently?

Problem Background  

The customers we target are beginner stock market investors with limited knowledge of the stock market. These customers may feel overwhelmed or intimidated by the complexity of the stock market and are looking for a user-friendly tool/platform that helps them increase their knowledge. We are addressing this problem now because of the current social and economic uncertainty everyone is facing now. We know the long-term growth potential of investing in the stock market, especially at a younger age, is advantageous because you can use compounding and time to your advantage. According to CNBC, if you invested $500 a month over the past ten years in the S&P, you would have a total return of 225%, roughly $120,000. We also know investing in the stock market protects individuals against inflation,  and social security may or may not be here in 30 years. We know the need for knowledge, or plain-out intimidation of investing, causes individuals to invest less or not at all in the stock market is a common theme based on our survey and articles provided.

Research Method

To truly build a product that would help inexperienced investors learn about the stock market, I used surveys, a quantitative research method. Surveys helped gather data amongst beginning investors. The survey included questions about current knowledge and confidence in the stock market. Additionally, the survey included questions on preferred learning styles and resources to help increase the knowledge among beginning investors.

Research Insights

Conducted a survey to see the data amongst beginning investors and their pain points when it comes to investing in the stock market. Despite the survey only receiving twenty-two respondents, I was elated to see roughly 90% were between 18 and 34. This serves as a great representation of who I deemed as the target consumer. 

The results indicated that about 80% say stock market investing is important to reaching financial goals. Also, 70% state that they are somewhat or not satisfied with their current stock market investing knowledge. Lastly, an estimated 85% stated they do not invest in the stock market. According to our results, younger individuals would say stock market investing is important and would like to increase their knowledge, but they need an avenue that helps them.  

Landing on the Solution

Based on the pain points of our potential users, it was identified that the main pain point was the need for more knowledge and confidence when it came to stock market investing. 

This confirms our solution that a platform or social media tool that supports beginning investors by increasing their knowledge and confidence in stock market investing can be done through social investing. 

Social investing is a term in which we believe novice stock market investors by introducing a new platform designed for users to become more knowledgeable about the stock market and investments. The platform is user-friendly and provides a plethora of information on investing in the stock market. Users can access educational content such as tutorials, videos, and articles covering various stock market aspects.

Users can interact with each other and share posts related to stock market investments, including their personal experiences and strategies. They can also create or join groups based on areas of interest and investment goals. The platform provides real-time updates and alerts on the stock market to inform users of the latest news.

Learnings

Product Manager Learnings:

Robert Adkins

As a product manager, it is always a good practice to define your problem early on to ensure you focus on one core problem. To discover one core problem, product managers develop product strategies by conducting surveys to understand market trends and customer needs. 

Overall, it is important to understand that a product can be brand new or never thought of by anyone else. Still, it needs to have a well-defined problem space so that the design, engineering, marketing, and sales teams all have a product and overall business goals in mind.

Designer Learnings:

Developer Learnings:

Developers Learnings:

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Full Team Learning