Hi everyone,
With the Crowdcube raise still live weâd love some community input on what topics youâd like to see more content on.
Weâll be publishing a long form write up daily on the Crowdcube page under âUpdatesâ.
The first three I have on my list are:
What else do you want to hear more about?
One thing that I would really like to know is the investment of Freetrade to automate processes. Considering that you need to grow at scale, I am worried to know that things like dividend payments are increasing delivery times due to lack of staff. For the survival of any company, investment in automation is the key to grow at scale.
Thank you!
Iâd really like to see some more detail on the cash burn scenarios.
Given you mentioned raising ÂŁ6-7m at the community meet and we are at c. ÂŁ2m, what are your options to extend runway? How much of these funds are to meet regulatory capital requirements vs burn?
Also what have you modelled in terms of trading volumes? As we are soon to enter a global recession, we can expect a drop in retail trading volumes as individuals withdraw money in the face of a large cost of living crisis.
As an investor my concern is that FT is running out of time and is looking to raise a Series C within 12 months during a financial crisis. Shouldnât we be taking drastic action (dare I say it halving headcount) to increase runway to 24 months+. Survival is absolutely key and it feels too uncertain atm to make this investment attractive.
Hey Adam,
Thanks for the effort!
Numbers on the business opportunity in Sweden. Market sizing, feedback from first clients, competition
This is the first country in Europe where FT is launching and we got no data on Sweden in the pitch deck which feels bizarre. The numbers in the forecasts are ânon-UKâ which makes it hard to look at Sweden as a standalone opportunity.
I am not sure itâs a topic for crowdcube but would be great to hear your view on how has the execution of the roadmap improved at FT. This is something that FT has struggled with historically, sorry If its sounds offensive to a founder, donât mean any harm. FT has stopped sharing the public roadmap at some point. The one in the pitch deck looks promising, but why should we believe it will be executed this time?
For reference the last pitch deckâs roadmap (2021) included these points (with my comments):
Personally I was a bit offended by your laughing during the Zoom conference saying that FT has build Transferwise internally when nothing on the roadmap promised 9 months ago is fully complete.
Is there a clear strategy to attract high net worth individuals to the platform?
I got the new branding message - âhome screen app for your investmentsâ
Which audience will be FT targeting when the roadmap gets implemented?
I am completely lost on FTâs market positioning and I am feeling that the platform is trying to cater to everyone at the same time. As an investor would prefer to see a clear path to getting more high net worth accounts on the platform.
Timelines for all of the major targets or estimates at best. E.g. what quarter you will be in each country and launch each feature/product.
Assuming Freetrade want long term investors and SIPP being a great way of getting said long term customers, are there any plans for draw down options that will be revolutionary as was hinted at in the past?
This really could be a winner for getting long held accounts.
Governance structure:
Thanks
I would be interested in how Freetrade decide to prioritise what areas for development.
In addition, when you plan to start issuing annual dividend statements (via the app).
While such simple features may not bring in direct revenue, it might reduce costs by reducing the number of customer queries.
In addition, it would help your customer growth - I know of several individuals including members of my family who decided not to use Freetrade due to the lack of such basic functionally and poor customer experience.
I would like to hear more about what the company has been up to since the last raise.
From an external point of view, there has been pretty much zero progress. I know everyone must have been doing something. It would be interesting to hear where all the last raiseâs money was spent.
Hi Adam,
Thanks for taking the time to discuss!
Could you compare your platform approach versus an overhead and people light model using other brokers APIâs? (As shown in slide 35 of the pitch deck). What are the economic advantages/disadvantages between these approaches in the near/long term? The near term suddenly being more important.
Do the economics continue to makes sense? And at what scale?
FX
In 2019 Freetrade was charging customers 45bps or so for FX, this was an expense paid 100% to a market maker. This switched to Revenue as Freetrade started using an FX Partner, now FTâs taking a greater share having connected directly to markets.
Does this now pave the way for a tiered FX fee for Plus/Standard customers? (Post a capital injection). And later down the line for Multi-Currency Accounts? (For GIA accounts, as ISAâs must be in GBP).
Fantastic transparency,I would love the same transparency regarding new features and the challenges of introducing them to the Freetrade platform.
Hi Brian, please add this request here if you havenât yet: https://community.freetrade.io/t/crowdfunding-content-what-do-you-want-to-hear-more-on/64979/lastAdam or I would be glad to write about this.
I really really appreciate you suggesting this @Viktor
Thank You
I wish I had some questions that were broader ,and Iâll avoid going on about LISAs again, butâŠ
(Spoiler: nothing was announced shortly after the 11th July post above. The ÂŁ10,000 Perk from R7 is still little more than a jpg.)
What happened to the daily update yesterday?
several questions of the crowdcube page have not been answered. Maybe you should start to answer the existing questions?
Hi Adam,
There has been a lot of talk on development and items which are ready for release but constrained due to regulation or other factors.
Specifically crypto, which you had explained is ready to ship. Can we have a product demo and get a feel of what it will look like and how it would operate?
I am expecting it to be more of a custodian service than a full outright wallet - what are the range of crypto assets that will be included? Will it be a standalone or fully integrated product? Visually, will be part of the GIA if integrated?
Thank you!
After some very interesting content for 3 days and then the mini budget, this round seems to have gone a bit quietâŠ
@adam/@Viktor/@Freetrade_Team, when can we expect the next long form update?
This thread is a bit of a flop. Iâm sorry but when will FT actually follow through on its commitments. This is just sloppy and in the middle of a fundraise too!
The meaning of âdailyâ starting to take on the meaning of âsoonâ in the Freetrade dictionary evidently!
Please 
Stop Overpromising And Underdelivering
Whether itâs this daily posts plan or swag delays during Crowdfunding or the useless ÂŁ10,000 NFT from Round 7⊠or new features/additional stocks.
We get it. You guys are very busy (or understaffed) so please just stick to the things you can deliver and concentrate on the day-to-day of continuing to make Freetrade the best share trading platform in the UK!
editâŠ3 days later Iâve read this back and it really wasnât meant to sound mean spirited! I love Freetrade - Iâd never have got into investing and saving if it wasnât for Freetrade. You guys are great when youâre getting it right but please donât be so over eager to please us all at the expense of your normal workloads and sanity! Keep up the great work in general - Freetrade is the best out there!