Christian Perry, founder and CEO of ChatterQuant has been busy. Since taking first place in the Software Track and winning the Final Pitch competition at the Idaho Entrepreneur Challenge in April, he has been building his customer base, undergoing another fund raise and he attended TradeTech Europe 2022 in Paris.
TradeTech is the largest equity trading conference and ChatterQuant was a sponsor alongside notable others such as Bloomberg, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and Citadel Securities. At the conference’s pitch competition for startups, ChatterQuant was voted the most innovative and likely to succeed which Perry said granted them some legitimacy and validates their work.
ChatterQuant offers real-time discussion and sentiment monitoring on over 28,000 stocks, ETFs, and more than 10,000 cryptocurrencies. Using proprietary artificial intelligence algorithms and techniques ChatterQuant is able to make unique data interpretations and provide actionable insights to funds, banks, and traders. ChatterQuant has more than 10,000 individual users and multiple institutional customers.
Originally from Orange County, California, Perry went to University of Montana but quit school to start a business. Later, while working at Mammoth Mountain he had an accident.
“I was in a bad place,” Perry said. “It made me realize I wanted to go back to school. Boise State was still taking applications when a lot of others were not. So I ended up here, but I absolutely love it.”
Perry learned a lot in Jason MacDonald’s marketing class and it was one of his favorites. Perry also credits adjunct professor Brain Sahr.
“The biggest thing he [Brian Sahr] gave me was his incredible support. He was excited about what we were doing which was a really great validator for me at such an early stage when we had literally generated no revenue.”
Perry’s been in Boise six years now and is very grateful for the contacts he’s made. A lot of his customers and his partner are in the UK; he works on UK time but is happy to be here in Boise.
“Ryan Vasso at the Venture College was invaluable to me,” Perry said. “His advise and introductions to local capital and advice in Boise has been huge for us. We wouldn’t be where we are now without our Boise contacts. I’ve grown a network here that’s valuable enough that it doesn’t make sense to leave. It’s a great thing.”
In the near future, Perry plans to continue to serve their customer base, perhaps expand into government contracts and he’s thinking of an early retirement.
“We’ve had interest from some of the biggest financial companies in the world,” Perry said. “I hope to have the opportunity to retire at 30 or 35. Although, I’d probably go nuts just sitting at home. So I would still work. I’d love to advise and get involved with middle-stage startups and help them grow and expand.”