Please introduce yourself and tell us about your business.
I’m Raghav Kapoor, I’m CEO and Co-Founder at Smartkarma.
Prior to Smartkarma, I spent nearly 10 years in the financial services sector, first of all as a strategy consultant. Later I worked with Citigroup in their institutional equities business as a research salesperson, covering pan-Asia regional markets.
What makes Smartkarma unique?
There are certainly many other websites out there, but that doesn’t make them platforms. I think, to be a true platform, you need to be a two-sided marketplace at least, if not more. You need to bring together demand and supply.
How does Smartkarma support independent analysis?
A very profound success story for me is that of one of our very senior Research Providers in Indonesia, who used to work for a very large US bank. For right or for wrong, he was let go very abruptly. Smartkarma became a very powerful incubator for his ASEAN business, it allowed him to regain distribution to his erstwhile clients while discovering new clients. But more than anything else, it gave this particular analyst the freedom to pursue research in a way that appealed most to him.
What advice do you have for aspiring Independent Research Providers?
Be differentiated and build your niche. I think a lot of Research Providers tend to underestimate the power of being a deep expert in a particular area of the market.
