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Sep 2, 2018 · 17m · top-founders

1135 This app lets you use real money to compete with your friends in crypto, stocks

Thomas Beattie · 8m spoken Nathan Latka · 7m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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In this episode of The Top Entrepreneurs Podcast, host Nathan Latka interviews Volio founder Thomas Beattie to explore how his social trading platform enables friends to pool capital, split fees, and collaboratively trade stocks and cryptocurrency.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 48.8% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.2 Guest teaching 3.8 Guest disagreement 2.6 Nathan pushing back 4.0
05100:0010:001:09–4:20 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Introducing Thomas Beattie and Volio's Mission Nathan probes Volio's value proposition against established players like Robinhood and Wealthfront, directly challenging Beattie on the semantic contradiction of 'picking a passive portfolio.' Beattie defends the model by breaking down how robo-advisors operate and the compounding drag of fees over an investor's lifetime.4:20–7:07 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Group Trading Commission Model and Social Gamification Nathan questions the viability of group trading and how interpersonal friction is managed when picks lose value. Beattie details the governance mechanism of proposal tracking and redacted leaderboard visibility, winning Nathan's enthusiasm.7:07–10:28 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Regulatory Licensing, Team Structure, and Simutrader Traction Nathan mistakenly assumes Volio charges real transaction fees for trading with simulated paper money. Beattie corrects the misunderstanding, explaining that the simulation app is entirely free for users and students.10:32–14:25 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 User Investment Habits, Revenue Numbers, and B2B White-Labeling The conversation turns highly collaborative as Beattie candidly reveals making only $2,500 in trailing revenue despite raising $5M in equity. Nathan connects the gamified investing concept to his childhood experience with Neopets and proposes an audience competition.14:26–17:02 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Expanding into Cryptocurrency with Cryptolio Beattie introduces Cryptolio and dismisses Warren Buffett's anti-crypto skepticism as generational obsolescence during the Famous Five rapid-fire questions.1:09–4:20 · Guest teaching 6/10 Introducing Thomas Beattie and Volio's Mission Nathan probes Volio's value proposition against established players like Robinhood and Wealthfront, directly challenging Beattie on the semantic contradiction of 'picking a passive portfolio.' Beattie defends the model by breaking down how robo-advisors operate and the compounding drag of fees over an investor's lifetime.4:20–7:07 · Guest teaching 3/10 Group Trading Commission Model and Social Gamification Nathan questions the viability of group trading and how interpersonal friction is managed when picks lose value. Beattie details the governance mechanism of proposal tracking and redacted leaderboard visibility, winning Nathan's enthusiasm.7:07–10:28 · Guest teaching 5/10 Regulatory Licensing, Team Structure, and Simutrader Traction Nathan mistakenly assumes Volio charges real transaction fees for trading with simulated paper money. Beattie corrects the misunderstanding, explaining that the simulation app is entirely free for users and students.10:32–14:25 · Guest teaching 2/10 User Investment Habits, Revenue Numbers, and B2B White-Labeling The conversation turns highly collaborative as Beattie candidly reveals making only $2,500 in trailing revenue despite raising $5M in equity. Nathan connects the gamified investing concept to his childhood experience with Neopets and proposes an audience competition.14:26–17:02 · Guest teaching 3/10 Expanding into Cryptocurrency with Cryptolio Beattie introduces Cryptolio and dismisses Warren Buffett's anti-crypto skepticism as generational obsolescence during the Famous Five rapid-fire questions.1:09–4:20 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Introducing Thomas Beattie and Volio's Mission Nathan probes Volio's value proposition against established players like Robinhood and Wealthfront, directly challenging Beattie on the semantic contradiction of 'picking a passive portfolio.' Beattie defends the model by breaking down how robo-advisors operate and the compounding drag of fees over an investor's lifetime.4:20–7:07 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Group Trading Commission Model and Social Gamification Nathan questions the viability of group trading and how interpersonal friction is managed when picks lose value. Beattie details the governance mechanism of proposal tracking and redacted leaderboard visibility, winning Nathan's enthusiasm.7:07–10:28 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Regulatory Licensing, Team Structure, and Simutrader Traction Nathan mistakenly assumes Volio charges real transaction fees for trading with simulated paper money. Beattie corrects the misunderstanding, explaining that the simulation app is entirely free for users and students.10:32–14:25 · Guest disagreement 1/10 User Investment Habits, Revenue Numbers, and B2B White-Labeling The conversation turns highly collaborative as Beattie candidly reveals making only $2,500 in trailing revenue despite raising $5M in equity. Nathan connects the gamified investing concept to his childhood experience with Neopets and proposes an audience competition.14:26–17:02 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Expanding into Cryptocurrency with Cryptolio Beattie introduces Cryptolio and dismisses Warren Buffett's anti-crypto skepticism as generational obsolescence during the Famous Five rapid-fire questions.1:09–4:20 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Introducing Thomas Beattie and Volio's Mission Nathan probes Volio's value proposition against established players like Robinhood and Wealthfront, directly challenging Beattie on the semantic contradiction of 'picking a passive portfolio.' Beattie defends the model by breaking down how robo-advisors operate and the compounding drag of fees over an investor's lifetime.4:20–7:07 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Group Trading Commission Model and Social Gamification Nathan questions the viability of group trading and how interpersonal friction is managed when picks lose value. Beattie details the governance mechanism of proposal tracking and redacted leaderboard visibility, winning Nathan's enthusiasm.7:07–10:28 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Regulatory Licensing, Team Structure, and Simutrader Traction Nathan mistakenly assumes Volio charges real transaction fees for trading with simulated paper money. Beattie corrects the misunderstanding, explaining that the simulation app is entirely free for users and students.10:32–14:25 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 User Investment Habits, Revenue Numbers, and B2B White-Labeling The conversation turns highly collaborative as Beattie candidly reveals making only $2,500 in trailing revenue despite raising $5M in equity. Nathan connects the gamified investing concept to his childhood experience with Neopets and proposes an audience competition.14:26–17:02 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Expanding into Cryptocurrency with Cryptolio Beattie introduces Cryptolio and dismisses Warren Buffett's anti-crypto skepticism as generational obsolescence during the Famous Five rapid-fire questions.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 74% · guest 26%0:00 · Nathan 74% · guest 26%3:00 · Nathan 28.4% · guest 71.6%3:00 · Nathan 28.4% · guest 71.6%6:00 · Nathan 29.5% · guest 70.5%6:00 · Nathan 29.5% · guest 70.5%9:00 · Nathan 62% · guest 38%9:00 · Nathan 62% · guest 38%12:00 · Nathan 40.4% · guest 59.6%12:00 · Nathan 40.4% · guest 59.6%15:00 · Nathan 61.4% · guest 38.6%15:00 · Nathan 61.4% · guest 38.6%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 15:56 Dismissing Warren Buffett's anti-crypto stance

When Nathan notes that Beattie's role model Warren Buffett hates crypto, Beattie firmly dismisses Buffett's outlook as an outdated generational bias.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 3:23 Calling out the passive portfolio contradiction

Nathan directly challenges Beattie's product description, pointing out that actively choosing elements contradicts the definition of passive investing.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 3:29 Breaking down robo-advisor fee structures

Beattie demystifies robo-advisors as simple 7-ETF buckets and cites specific data on how ongoing percentage fees erode up to a third of lifetime wealth.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 3:23 Nathan pounces on product contradiction

Nathan demonstrates sharp domain knowledge by immediately catching the logical tension in Beattie's explanation of building a passive portfolio by manual selection.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Thomas Beattie and Volio's Mission 6646 Nathan probes Volio's value proposition against established players like Robinhood and Wealthfront, directly challenging Beattie on the semantic contradiction of 'picking a passive portfolio.' Beattie defends the model by breaking down how robo-advisors operate and the compounding drag of fees over an investor's lifetime.
Group Trading Commission Model and Social Gamification 4324 Nathan questions the viability of group trading and how interpersonal friction is managed when picks lose value. Beattie details the governance mechanism of proposal tracking and redacted leaderboard visibility, winning Nathan's enthusiasm.
Regulatory Licensing, Team Structure, and Simutrader Traction 3534 Nathan mistakenly assumes Volio charges real transaction fees for trading with simulated paper money. Beattie corrects the misunderstanding, explaining that the simulation app is entirely free for users and students.
User Investment Habits, Revenue Numbers, and B2B White-Labeling 4213 The conversation turns highly collaborative as Beattie candidly reveals making only $2,500 in trailing revenue despite raising $5M in equity. Nathan connects the gamified investing concept to his childhood experience with Neopets and proposes an audience competition.
Expanding into Cryptocurrency with Cryptolio 4333 Beattie introduces Cryptolio and dismisses Warren Buffett's anti-crypto skepticism as generational obsolescence during the Famous Five rapid-fire questions.

Statements from this episode (9)

Opinion
Beattie: Robo-advisors just package seven ETFs and charge unnecessary fees
“All these robo-advisors are doing is putting seven ETFs into a bucket and selling it to you and charging you a fee every year for rebalancing it. This is not rocket science. Any member of the public can do this if they have an understanding of why there are th…”
Thomas Beattie Sep 2, 2018 ▶ 3:30
Assertion Supported
Beattie: Traditional advisors erode a third of lifetime wealth in fees
“With a traditional advisor charging you one and a half percent per year in total fees both what they're charging and the embedded ones in the products, that you're going to lose about a third of your wealth over your lifetime. When you look at a robo-advisor, …”
Thomas Beattie Sep 2, 2018 ▶ 4:01
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Beattie: Volio Has Over 1,000 Profiles and Hundreds of Active Users
“Yeah, but on our real platform, we've now got over a thousand people that have created profiles. Some of them are active in teams. We've got dozens of active clubs, hundreds of active users”
Thomas Beattie Sep 2, 2018 ▶ 8:52
Prediction Held up
Beattie: Volio Will Become a Public Company
“We're going to become a public company.”
Thomas Beattie Sep 2, 2018 ▶ 11:36
Disclosure
Beattie: Volio Generated $2,500 in Revenue in 2017
“Our revenue last year was a mere 2500 dollars.”
Thomas Beattie Sep 2, 2018 ▶ 11:39
Disclosure
Beattie: Volio Has Raised $5M in Total Funding
“Five million dollars as of this year.”
Thomas Beattie Sep 2, 2018 ▶ 12:22
Disclosure
Beattie: Volio raised equity entirely from angels, bypassing VCs
“All equity all from high net worth individuals, no VC investors.”
Thomas Beattie Sep 2, 2018 ▶ 12:27
Disclosure
Beattie: Volio to launch crypto platform Cryptolio in late 2018
“This is a new crypto version of our platform that we're going to be launching first north of the border, but then in the United States sometime later this year.”
Thomas Beattie Sep 2, 2018 ▶ 14:30
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Beattie: Cryptocurrency will permanently reshape the financial system
“I think that crypto was not made for his generation. I think that those of us that are a bit younger understand that these assets are exciting, that they're going to change. The way that the financial system works, and whatever you think about their current va…”
Thomas Beattie Sep 2, 2018 ▶ 15:57
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