Our vision has always been the democratization of finance technology, to lower the formidable barriers so retail investors can invest using algorithmic trading. This is an inspiring vision and has kept us working hard bootstrapping for over a year.

However; we're geeks, building amazing algorithm development tools, so other geeks can design powerful trading strategies. We're not market makers. That is an entire business in itself that has formidable challenges and so we're struggling to excel at either task.

One of the best parts of the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference was the feedback; the overwhelming support from geeks, engineers, finance professionals, day traders -- all who instantly understood the enormous potential QuantConnect offers to them. We had a tiny mention in TechCrunch and received over 500 visits from it, with a 20% conversion rate bringing over 100 of new members into QuantConnect, and the vast majority are engineers, just like us!

After seeking direction from very experienced advisors we will be refocusing QuantConnect to serve Engineers, Quants, Traders and Geeks. We will provide excellent tools for the design and execution of algorithmic strategies, and seek to provide them for free - to break open this market to everyone.

What does this mean for investors? We will still give you access to these strategies but through partnerships. We will plug directly into social investing marketplaces and manage the execution ourselves. We understand high-quality execution is critical for the these strategies and will provide free secure co-located servers as part of the full service: Code, Test and Trade. With your permission, institutional clients will have the option of licensing the engineer's strategy and earning you even better returns.

We will focus our business model around two points: 1. Professional licenses of the algorithm simulator, and 2. Performance revenue sharing with the engineer. This will keep our incentives aligned with yours: 1. Provide a great simulator, and 2. Provide returns to investors.

We welcome your feedback, and are excited about the way forward!

Best Regards,

Jared Broad,

CoFounder QuantConnect