An interesting thread has arisen on the Search Engine Watch Forums out of a relatively interesting question. Many of us who are "search savvy" can get a feel of what might be the next big thing. Do we invest in stocks because of our industry know-how?
It appears that a few people have done so.
Ian McAnerin has an interesting story to share about his experience with Yahoo. Some highlights are below:
[O]ne day I came across this cool site run by a student at Stanford named jyang. The directory was great, though it had a silly name (Yahoo). I sent him an email saying I liked his site and noticed he didn't have a lot of Canadian links. I also wanted to grab a bunch of his. We were both students so we basically agreed to swap links....Anyway, a couple years later, I was walking by a newsstand and noticed that an issue of Barrons featured Yahoo as going IPO. SInce I was working with a small public company at the time (mostly for stock options), I was interested and read the article.
Funny thing was, Barrons thought that the stock was interesting, was concerned about monetization, and didn't really recommend buying. The reviewer said something to the effect that if you bought it, it would likely be a "nice ride".
I had more faith in Jerry's project and bought as much stock as I could on IPO day.
Do you ever have a hunch or are swayed based on industry talk? Do you have a story like Ian's to share?
Discussion continues at Search Engine Watch Forums.