What Happened?
From Banyan to ATG to now: An overview of the events that led me to where I am today
A lot of you have been asking what happened, between Banyan Hill, ATG, and now. For anyone who still feels left in the dark, I hope this article helps you gain more of an understanding.
Back in July, to my complete surprise, Bold Profits was let go of by Banyan Hill except for a couple employees that were given other roles at the company. This was totally unexpected to me, but it was a business decision, and I feel no animosity towards anyone there.
I tend to be a forward thinker, and I actually saw this as an opportunity to grow more efficiently than while I was part of Banyan — the smaller the company, the less friction to get stuff done. Paul was on board with my idea, and after assembling a team that included a few now-unemployed team members from Bold Profits, we ended up creating ATG Digital.
You all were extremely supportive of our transition, and for that I’ll always be beyond grateful. Our initial fund raiser was a massive success, and we gained thousands of subscribers on Substack in a matter of months.
I had huge plans at ATG, establishing a brand for myself in order to expand the company. However, as we continued to grow at ATG, two things became clear.
1.) While I had relatively aggressive plans for growing the company in 2023, it recently became clear that the team didn’t share the same view.
I don’t fault anyone for that, but at the end of the day I feel that I have to use my full ability to make my vision become reality. And that reality was not ATG’s reality. I don’t mean this as a knock on anyone, and I hope that ATG is successful in their future endeavors.
2.) I felt that there was too much pushback in asking for what I believed was rightful compensation. This is an insanely sensitive subject, and there’s basically an infinite spectrum of opinions here; I understand.
You might be thinking “oh, he’s only in this for the money,” and in an industry full of greedy people, I wouldn’t blame you. Honestly, I’d do what I do for free if I was able to. However, I took a big pay cut to help form ATG, while working 50-60 hour weeks, and my ask was still less than my base salary at Banyan. I also completely understand that as a small business, ATG needs to be tight with their budget. I don’t want to get too much further into details here, but I owe you at least that amount of transparency.
Now, with all that being said, the bottom line is this: I’m still here, and I’m working for you. I consider myself blessed that you’re sticking around, and that’s the reason I’m writing this article.
I don’t plan on going anywhere. I plan on continuing to improve and learn and relay all my knowledge to you. I would absolutely love to do this full-time, which is the only reason I’m charging for the trading services. I have other ideas in the works, but I need to know that I have some amount of income in order to realistically do this an also contribute to my soon-expanding family.
They say “do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” I fully identify with that statement, and I feel extremely lucky that I can say that. I truly hope that passion comes through in my writing and my videos, and above all else I want to keep serving all of you in any way I can.
Thank you!
Ian
Ian: All the time you were with Banyan Hill and Paul Mampilly I found your reports and videos very well prepared and concisely delivered. Most of all I had confidence in your work and your recommendations on stocks and your assessments on growth and sector trends. It's very obvious you like what you do and I will continue to follow you as you proceed to educate us investors. J.A.S.
Hi Ian, thank you for your transparency and taking the time to explain.
Quick question, I have subscribed to your Crypto services for some time and would love to continue to hear your recommendations, however I don't have any interest in Options. Are there any plans to have different levels of membership so that I can receive Crypto recommendations but not stock option recommendations at a lower cost?