IW FiNN — Internal Planning Document

Platform Cost Analysis
& Break-Even Model

Full cost breakdown by phase, per-tier allocation, and the exact number of users needed to cover every data service we buy.

Cost by Build Phase

Recurring monthly costs only — one-time developer fees shown separately

Phase 1 — Now (Free Stack)

$39–$209
per month to run the full intelligence system

Phase 2 — Scale (Mid-Tier)

$942–$2,457
per month — adds institutional data feeds

Phase 3 — Institutional

$3,500–$6,000+
per month — Bloomberg, FactSet, AlphaSense

Complete Data Source Cost Stack

ServiceWhat It DoesPhaseMonthly CostTier Allocation
FREE TIER — $0/MONTH
FRED APIFed economic data — rates, inflation, GDP, yield curveFREE$0All tiers
SEC EDGAR10-K/Q/8-K filings, Form 4 insider trades, earnings transcriptsFREE$0All tiers
TreasuryDirect APIDaily yield curve, auction data, TIPS real yieldsFREE$0All tiers
Atlanta Fed GDPNowReal-time GDP growth estimate — fills FRED lag gapFREE$0All tiers
NY Fed NowcastWeekly economic momentum — current-quarter GDPFREE$0All tiers
FINRA TRACECorporate bond trade data — early warning before equities moveFREE$0Professional+
World Bank / IMFGlobal macro context — ECB policy, China PMI, trade flowsFREE$0Family Office+
Nasdaq Data LinkHistorical economic datasets, international rates, commoditiesFREE$0All tiers
Alpha VantageStock data, technical indicators (free tier: 25 calls/day)FREE$0Founding Member
PHASE 1 — CORE BUILD (~$39–$209/MONTH)
Polygon.io (Starter)Primary market data engine — real-time equities, ETFs, optionsPhase 1$29–$199Professional+
Tiingo (Power Plan)News sentiment scoring + clean price data backupPhase 1$10All tiers
Claude API (Anthropic)AI reasoning layer — generates natural language recommendationsPhase 1$100–$400Shared infrastructure
AWS Cloud HostingAgent system infrastructure, data lake, pipelinesPhase 1$50–$200Shared infrastructure
QuantConnectBacktesting platform — validates signals before going livePhase 1Free–$150Internal — no client tier
PHASE 2 — SCALE (~$433–$2,248 ADDITIONAL/MONTH)
Unusual WhalesOptions flow — institutional block trades, sweep orders, congressional tradesPhase 2$50–$100Family Office
IntrinioStandardized fundamentals + earnings revision velocityPhase 2$50–$300Professional+
Koyfin (Advisor)Bloomberg alternative — parallel advisor research workflowPhase 2$59–$599Internal advisor tool
Benzinga Pro APIReal-time news + analyst upgrades/downgrades feedPhase 2$199Professional+
Quiver QuantitativeCongressional trading data — elected officials historically outperformPhase 2$50–$200Family Office
Market ChameleonOptions IV, expected earnings moves, whisper estimatesPhase 2$25–$75Family Office
CBOE DataShopVIX term structure — volatility regime classificationPhase 2Free–variesProfessional+
EPFR GlobalInstitutional fund flows — see rotation before it shows in pricePhase 2$500–$1,500Family Office
PHASE 3 — INSTITUTIONAL (FUTURE)
AlphaSenseAI-powered document intelligence — earnings call analysis at scalePhase 3$1,000–$2,000Family Office
Bloomberg TerminalThe gold standard — everything in one placePhase 3$2,000–$2,500IW FiNN Wealth Advisors
FactSetDeep portfolio analytics + I/B/E/S earnings modelsPhase 3$1,200–$2,000IW FiNN Wealth Advisors

Break-Even Analysis — How Many Users to Cover Each Phase

Based on 25/55/20 user mix — Founding Member / Professional / Family Office. Blended ARPU = $282/user/month.

PhaseMonthly Platform CostUsers to Break EvenMRR at Break-EvenMargin After Break-Even
Phase 1 — Core Stack ~$200/mo 1 user $282 $82 profit from user #1
Phase 1 + Developer hosting ~$600/mo 3 users $846 $246 margin at 3 users
Phase 2 — Mid-Tier Stack ~$1,500/mo 6 users $1,692 $192 margin at 6 users
Phase 2 — Full Stack ~$3,500/mo 13 users $3,666 $166 margin at 13 users
Phase 3 — Institutional ~$6,000/mo 22 users $6,204 Profitable at 22 users
Bloomberg + FactSet + AlphaSense ~$8,500/mo 31 users $8,742 Full institutional at 31 users
The key insight: IW FiNN buys platform licenses once and shares the cost across all users. A solo advisor pays $2,500/month for Bloomberg alone. IW FiNN buys Bloomberg at $2,500/month and spreads that cost across 100+ users — each user's share is just $25/month. That is the moat. The more users we add, the cheaper the platform gets per user and the wider the margin grows.

Revenue vs. Cost at Scale — The Margin Story

UsersMRR (25/55/20 mix)Phase 2 Platform CostGross ProfitGross MarginCost Per User
25 (Founding)$7,050~$1,500$5,55079%$60/user
50$14,100~$2,000$12,10086%$40/user
100$28,230~$2,500$25,73091%$25/user
250$70,575~$4,000$66,57594%$16/user
500$141,150~$6,500$134,65095%$13/user
1,000$282,300~$9,000$273,30097%$9/user
1,000,000 $282,300,000/mo ~$500,000 $281.8M/mo 99.8% $0.50/user
Troy's number: 1,000,000 users × $250/month = $3 billion/year. Platform costs at that scale are a rounding error. This is why SaaS margins are legendary — every new user is nearly pure profit after the fixed cost base is covered. We cover the fixed cost base at 6 users.

Which Services Belong in Which Tier

ServiceFounding Member ($100)Professional ($250)Family Office ($599)
FRED + Free macro data✓ Included✓ Included✓ Included
Alpha Vantage (free)✓ Basic market data✓ Full access✓ Full access
Tiingo news sentiment✓ Daily brief only✓ Full sentiment✓ Full sentiment
Polygon.io (real-time data)— Not included✓ Full access✓ Full access
FINRA TRACE (bond early warning)— Not included✓ Fixed income intel✓ Full access
Intrinio (fundamentals + earnings)— Not included✓ Full fundamentals✓ Full access
Benzinga (news velocity)— Not included✓ Analyst upgrades✓ Full access
Unusual Whales (options flow)— Not included— Not included✓ Institutional positioning
Quiver Quant (congressional trades)— Not included— Not included✓ Alternative data
EPFR Global (fund flows)— Not included— Not included✓ Institutional flows
AlphaSense (Phase 3)— Future— Future✓ Phase 3 upgrade
Bloomberg Terminal (Phase 3)— Future— Future✓ IW FiNN Wealth tier
IW FiNN Solutions, LLC — Internal Planning Document — April 2026 — Confidential