How We Built Ticker by Accident

2 crore investors analyse stocks on Finology Ticker every quarter. Funny thing? We never planned to build it.

Ticker wasn’t born out of a grand product vision. We didn’t even want to build it. All we wanted was reliable data so our research team could analyse stocks properly and with more credibility. But sitting in Raipur, that wasn’t easy.

The Problem with Data

Around 5 years ago, if you wanted serious stock data, you had to depend on platforms like Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, or Money Control. We took demos to finalise one. 

Bloomberg’s terminal cost? ₹25 lakh per terminal. For one desktop. Per year. And only one person could use it at a time. Forget multiple analysts accessing it remotely. Still, we were desperate enough to ask Bloomberg for a demo. But their team didn’t even respond. So, typical amateurs (except our CTO), we decided, “Fine, let’s build our own Bloomberg.”

The Naïve Beginning

Our little bit of research showed that vendors sold stock market data for about ₹12–15 lakh. Compared to Bloomberg’s ₹25 lakh for one computer, this sounded like a steal. So, Pranjal went to our CTO with what seemed like a “small task”:

“Sir, it’s nothing. We'll get you the data from the vendor; you just have to make it visually appealing, arrange the tables as needed, and showcase it on our website.” 

Calm as ever, our CTO estimated that the project would take 15 days, max and a budget of just 1 lakh. (But little did they know. 🥲) 

Because the first dataset we received broke our illusion instantly. One company reported debt as 0, another as 00, some as 000, some as –, some as nil, and some even left it blank.
If this were just one column, imagine the chaos across thousands of columns spanning 10 years of data.

Eventually, that “15 days, ₹1 lakh” project turned into a 20-month, ₹1 crore hustle.

Investors Building For Investors

If there was one blessing in this accidental mess, it was this: since we weren’t trying to copy-paste another product, we built Ticker to solve our own investor problems. We didn’t want it to be something built by a team of engineers whom we cannot expect to understand an investor’s troubles. 3 instances:

1. On most platforms (like Screener or Moneycontrol), you’ll see generic ratios such as PE, ROE, or Sales Growth upfront. But when it comes to banks, these ratios aren’t the correct metrics! A bank’s real strength isn’t just its book value; it’s in metrics like CASA ratio, Net Interest Margin (NIM), Gross/Net NPA, and the Credit-Deposit ratio. That’s why on Finology Ticker, we made these banking ratios display separately and prominently. So, instead of digging through reports or Excel sheets, investors can analyse banks with ease.
2. Another frustration: DCF (Discounted Cash Flow). Retail investors like us had to download Excel sheets, plug in assumptions, and run calculations manually. We asked: “Why not just let people input their assumptions on the platform and get the DCF instantly?" That’s how Ticker became the first (and still, the only) platform where you can run a DCF online, along with features like Common Size Balance Sheets and DuPont Analysis.
3. Screener is a phenomenal product built by a family of legendary investors we deeply respect. But here’s the catch: because they’re such brilliant investors, they didn’t think like beginners. For them, doing a DCF in Excel is easy, or remembering which brands belong to which company comes naturally. For a new investor, it’s a headache. So, we built features like:

• Brand Search (type “Dove” and you’ll know it’s HUL, plus all other brands under HUL).

• DuPont & Common Size Balance Sheets are auto-generated, so retail investors don’t have to do manual accounting. Basically, we wanted retail investors, who had no teams or advanced accounting skills, to be able to analyse stocks effectively.

What Ticker Became

Over time, Ticker shaped up into a platform built by investors, for investors. Not traders. Not engineers sitting in Bangalore building trading tools. Actual investors who knew the gaps.
That’s why 99% of Ticker’s features are free. But for the advanced stuff, we didn’t want you juggling five different subscriptions. That’s why we built Finology ONE. Here, you get TickerPlus for premium stock analysis tools and resources, and Quest for practical courses on investing and finance. 

It’s been over 4 years since we launched, and Finology Ticker remains the only platform where a retail investor can do everything from screening stocks to running DCFs to comparing industry-specific metrics, all on the cloud. And to think, it all started because Bloomberg didn’t reply to our email. :p