Street Brains - an independent research platform that is oh so expensive but oh so interesting!

http://www.streetbrains.com

Street Brains is a company that brings together research from Independent Research Analysts and offer it in one smooth platform. It is a product that I am having my Research Team evaluate. The whole concept of the product is to offer a medium for these independent analysts to provide there unbiased research. Street Brains is simply the mechanism used to intrigue clients and to package different independent research companies based on what you as a money manager are looking for. Essentially the way they are selling the product to investment managers is that the resesearch being offered is completely independent of the street. They pride themselves on their independence and the analysts picked to be part of the platform are able to offer a completely non-biased point of view. They do not have a trading desk and are simply a way of promoting these free independent analysts and the brands that the researchers create for the Street Brains platform.

They currently only have a few products available but they have been producing a NEW product on the 15th of every month and hope to keep on that pace for a period of time. Below is a list of their current products that they have on the website:


Products (from their website)

InMotion aims to deliver actionable investment ideas in the global aerospace and defense sectors. Our research focuses on sector and company fundamentals and the forces shaping them: global growth and the demand for aircraft, along with the geopolitics and threats driving the rate of growth and the composition of defense spending. More info...

The Sterling Account is written exclusively for institutional investors including traders, fund and portfolio managers, executives of entities planning acquisitions, takeovers, turnarounds, workouts, and LBOs of an energy related company. The goal is to provide the necessary information for short-term and long-term financings, investments, and trades to enable the client to make the best benefit to cost and risk decisions. More info...

MediValu is an improved and simplified system of calculating valuations in the biotechnology and healthcare industries. MediValu uses proprietary techniques and models developed by our experienced industry analysts. More info...

Real Consumption is the product of a strategic partnership with a boutique niche specialty financial consulting organization, Market Service, with offices in New York, Ohio, and Florida was established in 1993. Through its principal subsidiaries it is considered the preeminent authority on 17 retail channels with respect to financial analyses of fundamental operating metrics as well as market position and competitive advantage/disadvantage evaluations. Market Service maintains a direct relationship with over 500 manufacturers and service providers selling to the retail channels covered. More info...

PatternWatch provides a short-term and long-term outlook for 17 markets, including stocks, bonds, US dollar, gold, crude oil and real estate. PatternWatch utilizes a combination of Elliot Wave Theory, Gann Theory, Cyclical Analysis and Classical Charting methods to analyze the various markets. In addition to this unique combination of analytical techniques, PatternWatch technicians add a keen intuition and sense of the "big picture", which has enabled them to identify fundamental and economic trends well before their peers. More Info...

Gotham Research conducts independent equity research for institutional investors and professional money managers... We have been developing our system and report designs for many years and have been delighted by the positive reaction from the institutional investment community. As an additional service to our clients, we now provide a collection of web-based dynamic research tools. These tools allow monitoring of our recommendations as well as permit one to research and investigate new trade ideas. More Info...

Picking Analysts and Products

Street Brains also prides itself on the way that they choose their analysts to create the brands that they promote on the platform. Before a product is offered in the Street Brains catalog, the researcher(s) have to go through a thorough screening process. They look for the analysts that provide a completely independent view of the street. Another feature that I thought was interesting is the fact that this research can only be viewed by firms that subscribe to StreetBrains and will not be available to anyone else like you would get with a Reuters Multex or Thomson One. Also, they limit the number of firms that are able to subscribe to one of their products so only 40 or 50 Money Managers will have access to the information.

As new products come online members of Street Brains get access to the Research to evaluate whether they would be interested in purchasing the product.

Pricing

The one draw back concerning Street Brains is the price of the different products. You purchase individual licenses for the different products based on which ones you want to order. Each license comes with 5 seats which would be ideal for the different sector we have at our firm . The prices can range from $40,000-$100,000 (no exact figures as of yet) per year per license. There are cost breaks based on the number of different products that you subscribe too. All costs are able to be soft-dollared.

Samples

Street Brains has offered to supply us with Samples of the Research that is already on the platform. We are going to have our analyst's evaluate the research and decide it it would be worth the cost.