On 26 May 2026, StocksGuide turned 5 years old. Time to pause for a moment and reflect.
What a wild ride it has been – founded right in the middle of the Corona pandemic as a Swiss public limited company, today one of the most-used stock analysis platforms with investors all over the world.
In this post I'll tell you how StocksGuide came to be, why the platform keeps growing in the age of AI, and what I'm most proud of after 5 years. And yes – we've prepared a birthday gift for you. 👇
Tino Wendland and I founded StocksGuide right in the middle of the Corona pandemic – at the time, without even meeting at a notary's office in person. Born as a Swiss public limited company, in the middle of lockdown. It sounds strange, but back then it was simply the only option we had.
What began as a side project of two passionate stock-market enthusiasts is today one of the most-used stock analysis platforms for retail investors. I'm not writing this to pat ourselves on the back. I'm writing it because, honestly, I sometimes still can't quite believe it myself.
Personally, StocksGuide made a dream of mine come true. After more than 35 years on the stock market, I was finally able to have a talented and highly motivated team build all the analysis tools I had wished I had as a young investor – tools that used to be reserved for the pros. The team poured all these ideas into an interface that, to this day, remains simple and clear.
Time and again, I hear that StocksGuide is by far the easiest tool to get started with stock analysis on the market. That's exactly how it should be – and I'm incredibly proud of it. Because that was always our goal: not a tool exclusively for pros, who usually know what they're doing anyway. But one for everyone who wants to get started.
Over the past two years, I've heard again and again that subscription-funded SaaS tools like StocksGuide would lose their reason to exist in the age of AI. ChatGPT and the like, the argument went, would make classic software tools obsolete.
And yet, to this day, the number of paying users, our revenue and especially the engagement of StocksGuide users keeps growing – with a still very low churn rate. Our users love StocksGuide, they recognise the added value, and they are happy to pay a fair price for support in their stock-picking process – even in the age of AI.
A big part of this comes from the fact that StocksGuide has continuously evolved over the past 5 years and has integrated AI very early on. Both in internal processes and the development of the platform (so you get more and more new features faster), and through using AI in the right places inside the product itself.
Thanks to AI, there are now features that would have been unthinkable a few years ago:
All in one place. For us, AI isn't a threat – it's a tool, when you use it in the right places.
On this 5th anniversary, I look back with pride and gratitude at what a small international team has built together, working purely virtually. And I'm looking forward to evolving the platform with this team over the next 5 years.
We have countless ideas ahead – many of which will be implemented step by step with AI. And some of them, deliberately, without.
If you've been thinking about getting a StocksGuide subscription, now is the right time. For our 5th anniversary, new customers get 40 % off Premium and Unlimited in their first year – only until 3 June 2026.
StocksGuide was founded on 26 May 2021 as a Swiss public limited company – in the middle of the Corona pandemic. The real beginning goes back even earlier, when Tino Wendland built a stock screener out of a hobby over many late nights, which we then developed further together.
Does AI make stock analysis tools obsolete?No – and our numbers show this clearly. Despite the AI hype, StocksGuide keeps growing, user engagement is high, and our churn rate is very low. General AI tools like ChatGPT can do a lot, but they don't provide a curated, verified data foundation for systematic stock-picking. That's exactly where StocksGuide comes in – and we use AI on top, in the places where it brings real added value.
What AI features does StocksGuide offer?Currently, among other things: real-time explanations of short-term stock price movements, summaries of international earnings calls, and AI insights into the business models of individual stocks. More AI-powered features are coming in the next few months.
What's coming new in 2026?The focus is, among other things, on expanding the Value Investing area, and the new Ownership tab, which shows – beyond insider transactions – who actually owns a company. We'll also continue to integrate AI further, always where it brings real benefits to our users.
How does the anniversary offer work?For our 5th anniversary, new customers get 40 % off Premium and Unlimited in their first year. The offer is valid until 3 June 2026. From the second year, regular prices apply, and you can cancel anytime.
About the author: Stefan Waldhauser holds a degree in business mathematics and is Co-Founder of StocksGuide. He has been investing in stocks for more than 35 years – with a focus on technology and growth companies. He founded his own software company in 2000 and sold it to Silicon Valley in 2013. On his blog high-tech-investing.de and in his free newsletter, he regularly publishes analyses of individual stocks and commentary on growth companies.