Interested in investment but need some help figuring it all out?An app is in the works for that.
Through the Austin College Entrepreneur Pitch Competition, 2015 graduates Mitchell Camp, Joshua Stowers, and David Smith, pictured left to right, have co-founded the company Wall Street Ninja, providing a web-based stock simulator and financial education tool for both students and professors in finance and investment courses, as well as general finance enthusiasts. Through the stock simulator, users will be able to create portfolios of different stocks without spending or risking any real money. The website also will contain educational tools to create better understanding and use of investment strategy.
Stowers is the lead developer, and continues work on the project with Camp, Ninja’s director of marketing and business development, this summer at the Dallas Entrepreneur Center (DEC). The graduates, through the Pitch Competition, received $5,000 for startup costs, which will support software development. Financing for the competition and startup company was provided by the Morris Foundation of Fort Worth, Texas, which helps fund several programs at Austin College.
In addition to the project being in incubation at the DEC, Camp was chosen for the DEC Ambassador Program, a volunteer network created both to provide assistance and networking connections for those working with startups and to offer leadership opportunities for those who want to help support the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Dallas. Ambassadors assist with promoting and educating the public about programs and offerings in the startup community and share the DEC mission of creating a collaborative ecosystem by supporting talent and innovation in the area.
Smith is the director of finance for Wall Street Ninja and works part time on the project from Houston, where he accepted a position with Credit Suisse upon graduation.
Stowers and Camp have many more irons in the fire than Wall Street Ninja. Stowers also works as a developer with a startup called Hipstu, a fundraising tool for college students; Camp is vice president of communications with Divergence Academy, a technical school in Addison specializing in data science, which offers training in programming fields and placement into companies within DFW’s technology industry.
Camp also is a city coordinator with 1 Million Cups, an extension of the Kauffman Foundation program designed to connect and educate entrepreneurs through weekly events in which companies present their business concepts to the local entrepreneurial community. Camp also is a contributing writer with the local newsletter “Launch DFW.”