(This is all written in the third person because I’m told that’s how it’s done. —Howard)
About Howard
Howard has been actively engaged in the financial community as both an entrepreneur and investor for over 20 years. He has extensive experience in both public and private market investing, which has given him a unique perspective on what is working and not working in finance and financial technology. He is a leading advocate for the decentralization and democratization of investing, believing that it is something everyone can and should learn how to do.
Early life and career
Howard hails from the far north of Toronto, Canada. His investment career began in his teens with an an early investment in Clearly Canadian stock, and continued in college when he assumed the management of his mother’s financial nest egg.
Graduate school brought him to the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University at the dawn of the PC era. His knowledge of the technology industry was still in its infancy, however, as evidenced by his decision to turn down a job at Intel at the dawn of the “Intel Inside” era because he’d never heard of the company. But his investing acumen was still in place, and while working as a stock broker after graduate school, he made an early investment the company behind The Gripp® line of stress balls, a product that would go on to be lauded in QVC’s Product Hall of Fame.
His eye for good investments in both the private and public markets led him to start his hedge fund Lindzon Capital in 1998 (which he continues to manage today).
Wallstrip and beyond
In October 2006, Howard used his investing and trading knowledge to create Wallstrip, a daily news video podcast. The show provided satirical commentary on publicly traded companies and the economy at large and attracted a loyal and influential viewership. The show was acquired in May 2007 by CBS’s interactive unit, which continued to produce shows until December 2008. In all, approximately 500 episodes were made.
Howard’s next creation was StockTwits, started in 2008 as a social media platform where investors and traders could share investment ideas. StockTwits invented the “cashtag” (e.g., “$AAPL”) and pioneered its widespread use initially on Twitter, and later on its own service. Today, StockTwits remains the largest active community of investors in the world and Howard continues to serve as its Chairman.
Since 2009, Howard has been the general partner of his venture capital firm Social Leverage, through which he and his partners continue to actively invest in technology startups, with a particular interest in financial applications. Current investments include Robinhood, Rally Road, eToro, ChartIQ, WAG, Produce Pay, Kustomer, among many others.
Standard Descriptions
200 Word
Howard Lindzon has been a financial industry investor and entrepreneur for over 20 years, and has extensive experience in both public and private market investing. He is the founder and managing partner of the hedge fund Lindzon Capital, and the founder and general partner of the venture capital firm Social Leverage. Through Social Leverage, he and his partners actively invest in technology startups, with a particular interest in financial technology. Current investments include Robinhood, eToro, ChartIQ and Rally Road among many others. Howard was also the creator of Wallstrip, and is the the co-founder and Chairman of StockTwits, the leading social platform for traders and investors to share real-time ideas and information.
Throughout his career, Howard has advocated for, and helped create the products and services that drive, the decentralization and democratization of investing. He believes that, despite Wall Street’s best efforts to convince us of the contrary, investing is something that everyone can and should learn how to do.
Howard resides in Coronado, California with his family, where he trades, runs, uses Twitter to complain about Twitter, and tries to live by his personal maxims “invest for profit and joy” and “be too small to fail.”
100 Word
Howard Lindzon has over 20 years of experience in both public and private market investing. He founded and manages the hedge fund Lindzon Capital, and is the founder and general partner of the early-stage venture capital firm Social Leverage. Through Social Leverage, he and his partners actively invest in early-stage startups. Howard was the creator of Wallstrip, and is the the co-founder and Chairman of StockTwits, the leading social platform for traders and investors.
Throughout his career, Howard has strongly advocated for and helped drive the decentralization and democratization of investing. He resides in Phoenix, AZ and Coronado, California.
50 Word
Howard Lindzon is a founder and a General Partner of venture capital firm Social Leverage. Howard was the creator of Wallstrip, and is the the co-founder and chairman of StockTwits. He advocates for the decentralization and democratization of investing and lives in Coronado, California.
Notable Investments
- Robinhood
- SPARK Finance
- StockTwits
- Bitly
- LifeLock
- Klout
- Assistly
- Rent.com
- TweetDeck
- GolfNow
- Disqus
- Etoro
Notable Non-Investments
- Zynga
Social Media
- StockTwits: @howardlindzon
- Twitter: @howardlindzon
Photos
The photos included in this kit are copyrighted by Howard Lindzon and are licensed for use by journalists and conference organizers involved in articles or events in which Howard has agreed to take part.
Contact Information
Media and press inquiries should be sent to media@howardlindzon.com.