Public Stock Bragging Rights...Paging Dharmesh Shah

The CEO (Dharmesh Shah) of newly public Hubspot $HUBS commented on Twitter the other day that public shareholders did not come with bragging rights.

Here is the exchange:

Dharmesh is correct so far about his stock …it is hard to find people bragging on Stocktwits about owning the stock. I have checked the stream and people think the stock will see the teens. If they are indeed short the stock, they will be bragging if the stock drops, because in the public markets, not only do people brag about owning winners, they brag about avoiding and shorting losers.

Dharmesh would do well by using Stocktwits or having his marketing department use Stocktwits to explain the big opportunity of Hubspot, marketing automation and why his company can break free of the valuation ceiling that many believe exists.

In fact – PR Newswire has found that Stocktwits drives 3 times more traffic than Twitter from shareholder communications.

As the media pounds the drum on ETF’s and low cost investing, the stock market rages to new highs and individual stocks like Disney, Tesla, Salesforce, Nike, Under Armour, Apple, Google and Chipotle have developed enormous fan clubs around their stocks and tickers. They talk price levels, entry points, upside potential, news and opportunity much like celebrity fan clubs.

In an era of ‘institutionalized’ America, the public stock market, home of the ‘ticker’ is still a place where the individual believes they have a voice and so I tell every public CEO I can to embrace their ‘fans and hear what the detractors are chirping about. They are easy to find.