Monitor 110 was an information and data gathering service that offered real-time internet monitoring services for Wall Street. It allowed investors to monitor internet sources for information and insight relevant to their investment and portfolio management. Their algorithm allowed customers to gather data and monitor 40 million online sources so as to get first knowledge of any new trend by essentially ‘listening in’ to online conversations and blogs that included keywords related to the financial market.
Monitor 110 closed down its operations in July 2008 due to various reasons.
First, there wasn’t a clear leadership at the top levels. Monitor110 was directed by two people that had completely different backgrounds - which is not a bad thing - but that also had different perspectives when it came to decision making. The company also waited too much before releasing their product also due to the fact that they received substantial publicity (for example, they were featured by the Financial Times) before they had a thoroughly tested release. This got people’s expectation high and made the company reluctant to release a less than perfect product. The fact that they received $17 million might have also been counterproductive for them, as instead of building a lean beta version they kept developing the product in a vacuum based on their vision for it rather than receiving valuable feedback from customers. A technical problem they also faced was related to the amount of spam and duplicate posts that the algorithm was picking up on, it was too much and it could have diminished the value of the platform. When they finally decided on a suitable business pivot after months of indecisiveness, the company had already started running out of money and there was an unpleasant tension between the company team. The company lost also the edge they could have had in such a competitive market as theirs and decided to shut their operations in 2008.
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