Tallahassee, Fla., Teen Operates His Own Online Investment Community.
Publication: Tallahassee Democrat (Tallahassee, Florida) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News)
Publication Date: 17-JUN-01
COPYRIGHT 2001 Tallahassee Democrat
Byline: Juana Jordan
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Jun. 17--Sitting across a table, Matt Brown looks like the typical 18-year-old.
He dresses like the typical 18-year-old. A faded Oakland A's baseball cap sits tightly on his head -- almost hiding his bushy eyebrows and inset eyes -- while a bright, wide smile reveals his plump, babyish cheeks. Even the cellular phone hooked on his hip doesn't seem out of place.
Looks can be deceiving.
When Brown talks, it's not of girls and sports. It's of dollars and cents. And he's in love just the same.
The Tallahassee teen operates his own Internet business, an online investment community called Investors Hub Inc., where stock aficionados congregate to talk and learn more about their love.
His goal is to make it the No. 1 such Web site on the planet -- and to make lots of money along the way. In the process, he's putting his college education on hold and convincing rich people more than twice his age that his ideas are worth investing in.
"He is the total anti-18-year-old," said Brian Tripp, one of Brown's best friends.
Want further proof?
"I want to become a serial start-up guy," Brown said.
He wants to create new companies, sell them and move on to the next project. That's his plan for Investors Hub.
"I love building," he said. "I like the fight, working the deals and closing the deals."
Brown wants his investment community to become the premier "click-to" site for trading tools and investment education. His plan is to license Investors Hub to other sites, such as Yahoo!, AOL and Excite. He also wants to create forums in which students can interact with people in the investment community.
Brown's ambition is no surprise to those who know him -- at least not anymore. Brown has since caught the attention of the financial world: He has been featured by Bloomberg News, the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones.
He has been on this career path since he discovered the stock market at age 12.
"I've always been interested in the stock market," Brown said. "I always knew I wanted to do something with stocks."
His mother hadn't a clue.
When Leslie Brown introduced her son to her profession six years ago -- she worked for a stock broker -- she would never have guessed it would become a passionate love affair between her son and the market.
"We had no idea it would turn out this way," Leslie said.
In May 1996, Brown made his first investment -- plunking $2,000 he saved over a summer into a low-fare airline called ValuJet. Unfortunately, he bought the stock the day before a ValuJet plane crashed into the Everglades, killing 110 passengers. Brown lost all his money.
"I was upset about that," Brown said.
That was when he started learning more about the market and how it operates. He read everything he could get his hands on. And he hung out on various investment discussion boards, such as Raging Bull and Silicon Investor.
In less than a year, Brown said he had a pretty good handle on the market. So much so, that by the time he was 15, he was picking stocks for people he had met on the discussion boards. By 17, he had formed his own group -- made up of about 700 investors. He earned no money, he said, but gained much experience.
That year, he was asked to teach the stock market lesson to his high school economics class.
"I had learned how to research and figure out what companies do," Brown said. "And I enjoyed it."
Today, Investors Hub is his baby. It's his No. 1 priority -- he works on the Web site, which he started last June, from 9 a.m. to 4 a.m. most days.
It's also a Web site that he is convinced will "take out Raging Bull and Silicon Investor."
"Investors Hub is the product of my frustration," he says. "I heard someone say 'Don't complain, create.' I got tired of the way they (Raging Bull and Silicon Investor) were run. So I said I would create my own site. I got a group together to get feedback and built a site based on what they wanted."
Initial costs for site startup were $50 a month for hosting fees. But as the concept for Investors Hub grew -- it generates revenue from online advertising and has about 200,000 visitors a month -- more money was needed. Brown's father invested about $10,000.
Then two years ago, Brown found a private investor from Montreal -- Anthony Mirarchi, a 38-year-old dentist.
"I was surfing the Internet and ended up on this chat site," Mirarchi said. "I found out we had a lot in common."
That commonality was over-the-counter stocks -- stocks of small companies that don't have a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.
"He emailed me about his new site," Mirarchi said. "I looked at it, and it was an amazing site. So we started talking some more. I found out he was a little 18-year-old kid, but he had the intelligence of a 40-year-old. I knew he had to have eaten and lived this for most of his life. The more I talked to him, I said 'Oh my God, how could an 18-year-old have organized thoughts on this?'"
Mirarchi's and Brown's discussions eventually led a meeting in Las Vegas, where they formed a business partnership. Mirarchi won't say how much he invested, only that it was in the six figures.
"I had been around a while and saved a few pennies," Mirarchi said. "We are equal partners. He helps me as much as I help him. He has as much influence as I do. He's fully committed. A lot of people follow his lead. He just needs white-hair wisdom every now and then."
Mirarchi admits the partnership sounds a "little crazy." His wife, he said, thinks he's lost it.
"She thinks I'm totally out of my mind," Mirarchi said. "But she's seen what Matt is able to do. I mean, how do you explain 'I'm investing X amount of dollars with an 18-year-old'? Most people would think I've fallen off the wagon."
The site is doing well, although Brown won't give specifics on its financials. He has about 11 employees between Tallahassee and Montreal and hopes to double that number this year.
Investors Hub is now a subsidiary of MarketFushion, Brown and Mirarchi's operating holding company. Its other subsidiary, OTCData, is in the planning stages. Brown's goal is to grow it into an extensive database -- one he will market to well-known search engines -- where investors can research information on these companies.
"The market is full of trash and scams," Brown said. "Investors should be able to come to a site and get all the information they need. These (OTC stocks) are some of the fastest-growing stocks, and there is nothing on these companies. We have that opportunity to provide that information. I want to make this like the next Nasdaq."
Those who know him don't doubt that Brown will achieve his goal.
"He's really very mature, much more than some adults," said Jim Lieser, assistant principal at North Florida Christian. "He's a gentleman from the word gentleman. And he has such a humble spirit. When you find a youngster like Matt, you wouldn't mind calling him your son."
Lieser, like Brown's parents and some of his friends, was surprised that Brown halted his education. Brown, a straight-A student who planned to attend Florida State University, put his college career on hold. He wanted to focus on Investors Hub.
"What scares me is that when they get out of high school and if they don't go straight to college, they will lose that ability to sit in a classroom," said Tommy Brown, Brown's father. "If he succeeds, great. But if he falls on his butt, then he'll go back to school."
In the meantime, Brown is feeding his dream.
Before his venture took off, he had never been "north of Tennessee," Brown said. "Now I go to New York, Canada, Nevada. I'm shaking hands with people who are worth billions."
Most wouldn't know it by Brown's demeanor. He hasn't changed a bit, say his family and friends. That's not excluding his childlike traits. Every so often, the teen in him comes out. Some of his dreams reflect it.
"My goal in life is own a Hummer, an island, and a Gummy Bear factory," Brown says with a laugh. "Oh, and I love Krispy Kreme Donuts and Starburst Twizzlers. Oh my God! They're like $1 a pack and much better than cigarettes."
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(c) 2001, Tallahassee Democrat, Fla. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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