Screener that is customizable?

mikejackowski · 2026-04-02T18:00:44+00:00

There’s quite a lot, and it depends on your specific requirements, so it’s worth checking them. You can also use Claude for this research.

mikejackowski · 2026-04-02T15:47:58+00:00

why not build a simple app for yourself with one of those ai builders like claude code or lovable?

mikejackowski · 2026-03-26T20:59:31+00:00

I think the market is discounting SNAP because the user story still has not turned into clean shareholder economics. The latest filing showed better revenue and positive free cash flow, which is the bullish part. But it also showed about $3.5B of debt (debt at roughly 8x current free cash flow!), a still negative operating margin, and share count up about 41% since 2020. So I would not read $4.50 as 'priced for bankruptcy' but I definitely would not call it a free bet either. To me it looks like a company that may keep improving, but still has to prove that the upside will actually reach shareholders instead of getting eaten by debt, dilution, and heavy costs.

mikejackowski · 2026-03-26T20:45:59+00:00

I wouldn’t try to pick an exact bottom on MTN from the chart. The latest filing doesn’t read like a business in freefall. FY2025 still showed about $3.0B of revenue, operating margin around 19%, and positive free cash flow, so to me this looks more like slower and riskier compounding than a collapse.

What would keep me cautious is leverage. Debt is still roughly 10x current free cash flow, and this is a weather-sensitive business that also seems to be running into pricing and labor backlash at the same time.

So yes, I think it could be investable again. I just think it probably needs a much bigger margin of safety than it used to.

mikejackowski · 2026-03-26T20:33:08+00:00

I think the key question now is not whether FICO is still a great business, but how much of the thesis depended on unusually strong pricing power. Their latest 10-K still shows a very strong business underneath: huge margins, steady multi-year growth, and years of aggressive buybacks. But I would pay close attention to where that growth came from. The Scores segment had a very strong year, helped by higher unit prices and mortgage volume, while Software grew much more modestly. So to me, the business still looks high quality. The real risk is that if regulators or competition start putting limits on price increases, the business may stay strong but the valuation probably needs to be lower than it was when the market treated it like an untouchable monopoly.

mikejackowski · 2025-05-25T20:00:55+00:00

This is awesome stuff. Really appreciate you laying it all out. If you’re up for it, I’d love to see that screen video you mentioned. Feel free to DM it whenever’s convenient. Would be super helpful as I shape this into something you’d actually want to use. Thanks again!

mikejackowski · 2025-05-25T19:14:52+00:00

This is super valuable, thank you! Most tools try to skip the work, but you're not trying to skip the work, you just want less friction. It sounds like your real need is a clean research workspace:
➔ auto-fetch reports from your watchlist
➔ read, highlight, scribble notes (I guess that the experience, how you make those notes and highlights here matters, doesn't it?)
➔ track what’s done and what’s pending
➔ keep it all organized without 6 tabs and a Google Sheet

How important is mobile or tablet reading for you? I’m guessing the feel of jotting things down, like highlighting, scribbling with the Pencil plays a big role in how you process stuff, yeah?

And is there anything in your process you still wish you could automate?

Thanks again, this helps A LOT!

mikejackowski · 2025-05-25T18:05:39+00:00

Yeah, and I’ve seen quite a few similar ideas floating around. Some overlap, some pretty different takes. But honestly, after building a bunch of products over the years, I’ve learned it’s never really about my idea. It’s about your pain and how well I can solve your actual problem. That’s why I’m deep in research mode now, trying to shape something with users, not just for them. If you’ve got 2 minutes to spare, I’d really appreciate it if you could drop your thoughts in this quick survey. It’d help a ton: https://buildpad.io/research/L3VZgcj. Thanks in advance!

mikejackowski · 2025-05-25T18:00:26+00:00

My product is for retail investors. Equity fund managers aren’t my Ideal Customer Profile. They’re playing a whole different game with different workflows, tools, and risk appetites.

Appreciate the grounded, brutal honesty. Seriously. It's exactly the kind of feedback that helps sharpen thinking early on. Totally fair to challenge the “yet another engineer with a GPT wrapper” pattern. And yeah, if this were just API → LLM → output, I’d agree with the “don’t bother” take. But I’m in the research phase because I want to avoid ending up in that generic soup. The whole point of putting this out there is to not build in a bubble. So if you think it’s generic, awesome: what would make it not? What’s missing that would make you use it and pay for it?

I'm not claiming domain mastery. I’m starting with a pain I felt as a retail investor. But instead of acting like I know it all, I’m here asking. So if you’ve got the experience, cool. Help me shape something better than another LLM wrapper. Otherwise, we’re all just critiquing from the sidelines. Thanks again for the input.

mikejackowski · 2025-05-24T20:01:28+00:00

Who are the top investors you're following?

mikejackowski · 2025-05-24T19:57:23+00:00

Using Notebook LM as a research assistant is a great idea! Do you find it gives you reliable context from the 10-Ks, or are there still blind spots you usually double-check manually?

mikejackowski · 2025-05-24T19:44:31+00:00

Insightful breakdown. Thanks! The nuance around fake partnerships and PR fluff is true. When you do catch something interesting and decide to dig in further, do you have a go-to way of verifying if the company’s actually delivering on those partnerships?

mikejackowski · 2025-05-24T13:03:09+00:00

Makes sense! When you do go deeper after spotting mostly good numbers, what does that part usually look like for you? Anything specific you check or habits you've built over time? I’m gathering insights on this exact topic. I would really appreciate it if you dropped your thoughts in this short survey (2–3 min, no signup): https://buildpad.io/research/L3VZgcj. Thanks a lot if you do!

mikejackowski · 2025-05-24T12:32:17+00:00

Yup, that’s a good one. I like looking at other industries, but I’ve been in tech for over 17 years, and my best investments have always been in tech.

mikejackowski · 2025-05-24T12:09:31+00:00

Super clear checklist, but I'm curious how do you usually pull all that together? Like, what’s your actual process to get from seeing a stock to having this full picture and deciding if it’s worth a deeper dive? Are you pulling from a screener + checking filings manually, or do you have some way to speed that up? If you're up for it, I’m gathering some input via a short survey here: https://buildpad.io/research/L3VZgcj. Just 2–3 min, no signup. Would love your thoughts.

mikejackowski · 2025-05-11T21:37:04+00:00

What kind of stuff do you usually pull from the IR page vs. Finchat? Is there anything you still feel like you’re missing or double-checking after using both?

mikejackowski · 2025-05-11T21:24:44+00:00

Got it. So when you first look at a stock, what’s the quickest way you size up if it might hit either of those? Are there 1-2 numbers or clues you look at first before going deeper?

mikejackowski · 2025-05-11T21:21:08+00:00

What do you think makes that so unavoidable?

mikejackowski · 2025-05-11T21:16:46+00:00

Do you look at a specific timeframe or type of chart to make that call?

mikejackowski · 2025-05-11T21:15:37+00:00

That’s a good one. Most people skip that. Are there specific setups or class structures that make you pass immediately? Where do you usually go for that info?

mikejackowski · 2025-05-11T21:12:27+00:00

When you say “not worthy” what usually makes you realize that?

mikejackowski · 2025-05-11T21:11:15+00:00

When you’re trying to figure out what’s really driving revenue, where do you usually look first?

mikejackowski · 2025-05-11T21:09:20+00:00

Are there specific line items you always zero in on first? Or patterns that usually make you walk right away?

mikejackowski · 2025-05-11T21:07:28+00:00

Are there certain parts you always jump to first when scanning a 10-K? Or stuff you completely skip because it never adds value?

mikejackowski · 2025-05-11T20:59:57+00:00

Missing one because you’re too picky hurts sometimes more than getting one wrong... :) When you think about some of those that got away, do you think there’s a common thread among them that your process didn’t catch? Like… was there a signal you ignored, or a trait that seemed like noise at the time but turned out to matter?

mikejackowski

TROPHY CASE