RIABiz makes its first major capital investment -- an iPad

Elizabeth’s note: Remember back in the dot-com boom when vc’s were throwing million-dollar pots of seed money at any small business with an idea? RIABiz belongs to the new era of the lean startup. Because of the Internet, it’s possible to start an online business with next-to-no capital; and we judged it better to do so than to be beholden to investors. After a year of shoestring operations, RIABiz’s first capital purchases feels like a milestone. We were pretty sure our readers, so many of them entrepreneurs themselves, could relate to the story of the first time in RIABiz history we acquired an asset that we can depreciate.

From Brooke:

One of the big technology providers to RIAs reached out to us to say that it had adapted its portfolio accounting technology to the iPad. I decided that our readers would appreciate hearing about it. Nevin explained that we needed the Apple toy to make this happen. Our chief technology officer came armed with a few other reasons why RIABiz should purchase this skinny box.

It would be good for reviews of other iPad applications of advisory technology. It would take us a step closer to developing a native app to allow RIABiz readers to read our articles on the iPad. It would allow him to address the site’s technical needs from anywhere that a cell phone connection reached. And he would be willing to pay for part of it.

Minutes later we were in Best Buy where – presumably – the big retailer sold us its first iPad ever. Our announcement that we were there with deadly purchasing intent seemed to confuse the sales staff, and it took the efforts of multiple personnel to get their hands on one and check us out. If Nevin, in his enthused state, weren’t there, I might have left.

The Etch-a-Sketch-like device made little impression on my non-technical soul even as Nevin demonstrated its powers. I was taken aback by its weight [it’s heavy], but I liked how easy it is to read the New York Times when the app is activated. I walked out of Best Buy with an Apple-inspired bounce in my Dell-owning step and Nevin and I posed for a photo with the sleek bundle of circuitry. I felt like we had just made it through Ellis Island or something; it was a rite of passage.

Knowing that we only have 14 days to return it — with a $105 re-stocking fee — I sent Nevin back to his Santa Clara home with the iPad in its flimsy Apple-made case and hoped for the best.

From Nevin:

Thanks to Bill Winterberg we were able to offer an RIA-slanted view of the iPad when it first came out without actually buying one ourselves. Not that I didn’t want to buy one; but we weren’t in a position then to be early adopters.

But ever since we learned that TD Ameritrade’s Veo is in the process of being ported to a native iPad app I’ve suspected that RIABiz might get into the business of reviewing such apps. After we heard of another similar case from another vendor, it was a fairly easy choice.

I’ve been a bit confused since bringing the device home — what it is for? I’m a very avid laptop user, and it seemed like many things were plenty easy on my 15” screen device. But over the past couple of days I’ve taken to using it on the fringes of my workflow — while cooking, for reading before going to sleep, and for navigating along the highway. In fact I was pleasantly surprised on my way to Stanford when I found my location being tracked with 3-second precision. I didn’t know it came with GPS!

So far it hasn’t seemed like a priority to make a native app for RIABiz readers, since not much of our traffic is from iPad users according to Google Analytics. But now that we own the device, it’s tempting to ask Heather Underwood, the main RIABiz tech reviewer, to put her iPhone/iPad skills to work for us. Her most recent app allows you to track your sleep every night by indicating when you are going to bed and waking up, and then gives you some nice graphs and averages. It’s called “Sleep On It,” and is free on the app store as of a week ago.

Oh, and did you notice the peculiar resemblance held between my tie-dye shirt and the box in hand? It was intended to be an artistic interpretation of the iPhone, jokingly made at the party of my PC-all-the-way friend. My hobby: Exaggerating my Apple fan status in strange ways for the benefit of my anti-Apple buddies.