Fantasy Finance
The funding is fake, but the knowledge is real in this online stock market game.
Childhood friends Daniel Carroll and Christopher Carlevato both enjoy teaching corporate finance. So last October, they created HedgeStop.com, an online destination for fun and fantasy--with a financial twist.
Visitors to the website can build and manage an imaginary portfolio of stocks. "Our stock market game gives you $50 million to invest," says Carroll, 25, noting that the amount of capital adds to the excitement and adrenaline of picking great stocks.
HedgeStop.com also offers all the best aspects of a community website. A scoreboard lets the mostly college-aged traders compete with others. Irreverent finance blogs, interviews with business leaders and stock market quotes combine with music, animation and large doses of bravado to make the site as educational as it is fun.
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Carlevato, 24, who projects sales of $250,000 for 2007, says, "We created a community where [people] can share ideas while fostering fun and competition."