ModelLab
No. 04 — Founder Project
Founded and built an interactive investing education website that simplifies investing strategies for beginners, showing each philosophy as an example portfolio they can explore and compare.
The challenge
Investing content mostly explains philosophies in the abstract. I wanted beginners to see each one as an actual portfolio they can open, browse and compare, in a product that looks like a startup, not a blog.
Approach
- Concept and brandDefined the purpose, what ModelLab offers and how it benefits beginners, and chose the name.
- Rule-based portfoliosEvery portfolio follows published rules or an industry-standard method, never hand-picked, so there is no bias.
- Product and designA Library, Compare and a dollar calculator, designed in Figma first around startup sites like Turbo, then recoded in HTML.
- Launch and growthDeployed on GitHub Pages with a free email signup (Klaviyo) that unlocks price data and Compare, plus a weekly Lab Drop email that adds one model at a time, starting with Dogs of the Dow.
What I learned
- Gate with an email, not a paywallFor a new product, an audience comes first, so I dropped the password and the idea of charging.
- Take my own judgment outRemoving hand-picking from portfolio selection made the product more credible.
- Pick a cadence I can keepOne new model a week is a content system I can sustain, and it gives the list a reason to open emails.
- Design before codeWorking out decisions in Figma first made them faster and cheaper to change.
Why it matters
ModelLab is a small product exercise in positioning, a free email funnel and a weekly content cadence, the same skills I bring to any consumer or community brand. For education, not investment advice.