Today I’m happy to confirm that I’m adding 2 new stocks to the list of stocks that I follow:

Snapchat Inc (SNAP)

Shopify (SHOP)

Shopify (SHOP) is a Canadian based company that has a platform making it very easy for merchants to start selling their stuff online. That means making it easier for merchants to build a website, list their items, process orders, etc. There is of course a lot of competition in the sector but it’s fair to say that SHOP has emerged as a market leader and given the fact that my web company does have items to sell (not on this blog though), I did end up going through their website quite a bit as well as look for competitors. I then spent a bit more time looking at its financials and while I doubt I’ll be trading the company anytime soon, I will start following it, listening earnings calls (or reading transcripts), etc. So you should expect some commentary in the coming months.

Snapchat (SNAP) is a fascinating company. If you exclude Uber and Airbnb, it is the one company I was most looking forward to turning public. There has been an incredible amount of buzz about Snapchat and I’ve personally read at least 15-20 good pieces about Snapchat. As is the case for other IPO’s, I don’t expect to trade the stock anytime soon but I am excited to get going. With LNKD’s purchase by MSFT about to close, we’ll be down to Facebook (FB) and Twitter (TWTR) in terms of listed social media stocks. I know that SNAP considers itself a camera company Here are my main takeaways so far:

-SNAP’s user engagement is very impressive I’m much more interested (at this point) about that evolution than in revenues or profits

-SNAP’s user growth is a major source of concern. There is no way that SNAP can livve up to its valuation if Instagram truly stopped or slowed down significantly enough SNAP’s user growth.

-Evan Spiegel, SNAP’s foudner and CEO does so far look very impressive in terms of product ideas and execution. Given SNAP’s listed shares are non-voting, this is a similar case to Facebook’s where SNAP’s future to a large extent depends on Spiegel’s performance. Tough to ask him to be the next Mark Zuckerberg but this will be interesting to follow

Overall, I personally would and will stay on the sidelines for now. I’d be very afraid to be both long and short at these levels until I see a few more earnings/numbers come out.