How Does Ask Mr.Owl*SM Work?
Your Account |
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This page indicates:
- How many credits you have in your account,
- What reports you have pledged to support and approximately what tier you are in the distribution for the reports you have pledged and what corresponding timeframe and exclusive time share (see Exclusivity Index) you will have with the reports you have pledged for.
- You can edit your account settings, your anonymous user identification and add additional credits to your account. You can also become an Ask Mr.Owl*SM subscriber.
- You will also have visibility to your complete account transaction history.
- If you are a subscriber, your subscription expiration date will be found here.
- Reports that you have exclusive access to will be visible on this page. This includes reports that are in Phase III or Phase IV distribution.
- For reports you have subscribed to that are in Phase II you will see a countdown timer to when you will have access to the report.
You may enter as many email notification addresses as you would like here. Email notification is important as this is the vehicle that Ask Mr.Owl*SM uses to notify you that your exclusive time with your report is to begin. Make sure your Internet Service Provider, Email Software and Security Software does not treat Ask Mr.Owl*SM emails as SPAM, as this will hinder you receiving time critical notfications.
Email Notification |
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You will be notified via eMail by Ask Mr.Owl*SM that your exclusive time with your report is to begin per the following schedule:
- 1 Week prior – notification will be sent indicating that distribution will begin in approximately 1 week
- 1 Day prior – notification will be sent indicating that distribution will begin in 24 hours
- 24 hours prior to your access grant – notification will be sent telling you that in 24 hours you will have access to the report
- 1 hour prior to your access grant – notification will be sent telling you that you will be granted report access in 1 hour'
- Access has been granted to your report – notification will be sent indicating that access has been granted to view the report
Reports for Pledge |
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Report Pages contains an alphabetical listing of all of the reports that are currently available for pledging. Simply click on one of the names of the reports that you are interested in and you will be taken to the pledge page for this report. Reports appearing in blue are open for free pledging. Reports appearing in green color are in progress. Reports appearing in red color are in distribution. Next to the name of each report you will find the cumulative total of the pledges made to date and the number of pledgers.
If you cannot find a specific report that you are interested in pledging towards you may click on the START A REPORT button and request that pledging be started on a topic (perhaps a company or specific research) that you are interested in. Please allow up to 24 hours for your topic to be created and visible on the Reports for Pledge page.
Pledge Pages (under Reports for Pledge)
The pledge page for the individual topic (perhaps a publicly traded company) will have a list of all the buckets that contain pledges. Next to each bucket you will see how many individuals have pledged that amount and the exclusivity index (see exclusivity index) associated with that bucket. By clicking on the bucket you will see the anonymous names of the individual pledgers and have the option of pledging into that bucket. If you would like to pledge into a bucket that has not yet been pledged into, simply click on the Bucket Tier at the top of the page (see Bucket Tiers) which lists all the available buckets and the number of people pledged in each tier, find the bucket you are interested in entering into and click on it to pledge at that level. If you have already pledged for this topic and are already in a bucket that bucket will be highlighted. At the top of the page you will see the date the pledging was opened, a date that the pledging will be evaluated for cancellation and if the topic has entered phase II, an approximate date for the release of the report.
Distribution Status Phases |
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Reports go through the following five phases of distribution:
Phase I – Open Pledging
Reports appearing in blue are open for free pledging. Reports available for open pledging will accept pledges. You may pledge any amount provided it coincides with a bucket. You may also increase your pledge freely. Reports currently at open pledging appear as blue on the Reports for Pledge page.
Phase II – Report in Progress
Reports appearing in green color are in progress. After enough funds have been received to finance the report the status changes to in progress. This means that Ask Mr.Owl*SM has begun working on the report. During this time you may increase your pledge if you have already pledged during Phase I through the payment of a 2 bucket cost. If you have not pledged at all during Phase I and you are new to the pledge group for this report the cost is 4 buckets. Reports that are deemed in progress will appear as green on the Reports for Pledge page.
Phase III – Report in Distribution
Reports appearing in red color are in distribution. After a report has been written it enters its distribution phase. During this time, pledgers are granted individual access to the report at their specific allotted time. While the report is in distribution a pledger may increase their pledge by paying a 4 bucket penalty. A non-pledger may enter the pledging for the report by paying a 6 bucket penalty. Reports at this level of distribution are marked “Ask Mr.Owl*SM Confidential Proprietary Information” and are not allowed to be shared with anyone even if they are a member of Ask Mr.Owl*SM.
Phase IV – Report released to Ask Mr.Owl*SM subscriber base
After a report has been distributed to the pledgers it will be made available to the Ask Mr.Owl*SM subscriber base. You must be an Ask Mr.Owl*SM annual subscriber to receive all reports at this phase of distribution. Reports are generally released to the subscriber base 1 to 7 days upon completion of Phase III distribution. Reports at this phase of distribution appear as purple. Reports at this level of distribution are marked “Ask Mr.Owl*SM Confidential Proprietary Information” and are not allowed to be shared with anyone even if they are a member of Ask Mr.Owl*SM.
Phase V – Report released to general public
After the report has been made available to the Ask. Mr. Owl subscriber base it will be made available to the general public. Reports are generally released to the public 1 to 3 months upon completion of Phase IV distribution and appear as black. At this phase of distribution certain files that may be provided in native formats may be converted to locked, uneditable files. Reports at this level of distribution are released to the public and the contents may be shared with others.
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Pledging |
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Pledging is how Ask Mr.Owl*SM funds the reports that it generates. A pledge is a certain number of credits that are put forth to fund the writing of the report. Once a pledge is made, it cannot be removed from the report however, additional credits can be added to increase your pledge subject to the pledge penalties. In the event that insufficient pledges are being placed toward a report after a 1-year timeframe, Ask Mr.Owl*SM may cancel the pledging and return all credits to their respective accounts to be used on alternate reports at the discretion of the account holder.
Exclusive Access |
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The more credits that are pledged against a specific report the fewer people you will share the report with at a given instance in time. In general, the higher the pledge amount, the sooner you will receive access to the report relative to the other people that are sponsoring the report. In the extreme, the individual that has pledged the most for the report will be granted exclusive access for a certain amount of time. (See Report Distribution for additional information.)
Buckets |
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The Ask Mr.Owl*SM distribution system accepts pledges through buckets. You must select the bucket you would like to be placed into and have enough credits in your account to pledge to gain entry into that bucket. Pledging into buckets after the report is in progress will cost pledge penalties. See Distribution Status for a summary of the penalties.
Bucket Tiers |
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As one can see from above, each tier contains 100 buckets. You may pledge as many credits as you want on any report including at the same level as other pledgers. Being in the same bucket as other pledgers will allow you to receive access to the given report at the same time as the other pledgers in that bucket. The minimum pledge for sponsoring a report is 5 credits.
Report Distribution |
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There are currently five distribution periods available in the Ask Mr.Owl*SM system. The distribution periods define the time periods of active distribution and the distribution profile defines the volume rate of distribution over the distribution period.
The five distribution periods are defined as follows.
The period is specific and appears on the pledging screen for the individual report.
- Period I - 24/7 – The 24/7 distribution mode will distribute reports 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
- Period II - Standard Market Hours - 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM EST M-F (Less holidays)
- Period III - Extended Market Hours - NYSE - 8:00 AM to 6:30 PM EST M-F (Less holidays)
- Period IV - Extended Market Hours - NYSE - 8:00 AM to 6:30 PM EST M-F (Less holidays)
- Period V – USA Day time – 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM EST
- Period VI – USA Night time – 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM EST
The distribution profiles that are currently defined include the following:
- Profile I - Linear – equal weight distribution volumes over time, this is the most common distribution profile used at Ask Mr.Owl*SM.
- Profile II – Early Skewed – this distribution has more of the distribution volume earlier in the distribution period.
- Profile III – Late Skewed – this distribution has more of the distribution volume later in the distribution period.
Report Page |
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The Report Page is the page you are granted access to when the report becomes available to you. This page can have a variety of information regarding the subject matter of the report and links to download all of the analytical work and report materials available on the subject matter being pledged for. This page is accessible under your account or under the pledge pages when the report has been distributed. This page will be customized based on the information available and may contain more than one report if enough funds were provided to perform additional research.
Reports
Subject matter reports are prepared by a variety of sources, includes analyst and research firms and the Ask Mr.Owl*SM staff. Depending on how much funds are raised, Ask Mr.Owl*SM may pursue a multitude of reports and possibly generate its’ own report as well as summaries of outsourced reports and additional commentary, analysis and findings. In general, the more funds that are available for a given subject matter the more reports and information Ask Mr.Owl*SM will seek out and provide to the pledgers.
Reports may also be offered for pledge by host analysis companies. If there are a multitude of companies wishing to author reports on a given subject then they will bid and compete for the lowest price to offer the report to the Ask Mr.Owl*SM users. If there are multiple companies offering reports and bidding for lowest price is in process you will see a listing of the companies offering the report and the price they are willing to perform the research at. Ask Mr.Owl*SM will choose the most qualified companies for authoring the research taking report cost, quality and timing into account. If you are an analysis firm and wish to offer a report for pledge, please visit the contact us page to open an analyst account. In the future when voting features are enabled, the Ask Mr.Owl*SM users will be able to vote for their preferred analysis company. A vote vs. cost factor will then help determine which company the report is placed with first, second, third and so forth. In some cases the pledgeing period will be extended to accumulate enough funds to launch multiple reports.
Currently available report types and pledge categories are as follows:
- Financial Analyst Report – A typical report on a publicly traded company is a financial analyst report. Typically, equity analysis companies or financial analysts are commissioned to compile these reports. Ask Mr.Owl*SM expects this to be the largest portion of site activity.
- Books and Articles – Authors or research reporters are typically consulted to create this information.
- Scientific Research – This is a general scientific research funding category. Universities or other research scientists will be commissioned to compile this information.
Anonymity |
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The Ask Mr.Owl*SM system acquires unbiased information on topics through the anonymous funding of the information. Although your account information will have your true name, address, phone number and email address you will use an anonymous username throughout the site when chat and communication features become available. Analysts and others in the organization and outside firms will not know which users funded which reports thereby making it extremely difficult for an analyst to bias a report based on the funding source. In addition, it is a violation of your terms of service agreement to reveal your true identity to other site users through Ask Mr.Owl*SM communication services.
Exclusivity Index |
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The exclusivity index has two components, time and quantity. We have defined a cumulative and a discreet index to assist you in understanding how reports are shared as a function of time. The time is the duration of time that you will have exclusive access with the report. The quantity is the number of people that are sharing in that distribution bucket.
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- As user A put in 100 of the 300 credits, user A will receive the report for 2 hours all alone.
- Users B, C and D put in 150 of the 300 credits so they will receive the report for the next 3 hours together,
as a group, now in addition to user A. - Users E and F put in 50 of the 300 credits so they will receive the report for the last hour together, as a group, now in addition to users A, B, C and D.
This is the simplest form of the distribution system. It is linear over a straight 6 hour distribution period. Other distribution profiles are available and provide additional complexity to the calculations.
Follow Up Reports |
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Follow up reports are reports meant to fill in the gap between the primary report and some future period in time. Many companies will have follow up reports going forward in time up to one year. Usually these reports are issued quarterly. For a follow up report, all the original report pledgers will be automatically entered into the pledging for the follow up report at the same pledge level for free (roll over pledging). That means if you pledged 20 credits toward a report you will be automatically entered into the 20 credit bucket for all follow up reports. New pledgers that wish to enter pledging just for the follow up reports may do so at a 2x pledge multiplier. That means that a 1 credit pledge will get you into the 2 credit bucket and a 20 credit pledge will get you into a 40 credit bucket, etc. Additional pledging for the original pledgers of the report will also be subject to a 2x pledge multiplier. That means that if you pledged 5 credits for the original report you will be entered into the 5 credit bucket for the follow up report. To get to the 7 credit bucket you will only need to add 1 credit. The multipliers increase with the level of the follow on report. The second follow on report is subject to a 4x multiplier. In general we have the following
The pledge penalties during the distribution phases are also subject to the multipliers.
Report |
Credit Multiplier |
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Initial Report
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1x
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1st Follow-Up
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2x
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2nd Follow-Up
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4x
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3rd Follow-Up
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8x
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4th Follow-Up
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16x
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Released Reports |
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This page contains all of the reports that have been released to the general public. All reports that are in Phase V of distribution are available for viewing on this page. These reports serve as marketing tools for Ask Mr.Owl*SM to allow new users to see the type of information generated for various funding levels. At this point in the distribution, much of the information will be dated and therefore of less value. Many files that are originally provided in native file format may be provided in a locked file format in this phase of distribution.
Site Terms and Conditions |
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All pledgers and site subscribers have agreed to the site terms and conditions. There are some key parts to the Site Terms and Conditions as follows:
Limitation of liability
We do our best to verify information received however, you should use this information in conjunction with other pieces of information, advice from a broker / dealer, and your own research to arrive at any investment decision. We do not recommend buying or selling stocks we simply try to convey accurate, timely information to assist you with your due diligence process.
Agreement to be bound by the distribution system
Basically, everyone agrees to receive the reports based on Ask Mr.Owl*SM’s time distribution system. This is not open to the public, only paying members receive reports that they have paid for (sponsored). Reports are generally released to the public for the purposes of allowing the public to see examples of the quality and types of reports that they are likely to receive should they participate in the Ask Mr.Owl*SM system (in essence, a marketing document). Public report release occurs at a time in the future when the report contents are less applicable (and hence, less valuable) due to ever changing environments.
Agreement to not share the information with others
You are pledging for a single user license to review and use the information contained in the reports. The information is considered confidential proprietary information of Ask Mr.Owl*SM, LLC until such time that it is released to the general public as a marketing document. Sharing the report in advance of public dissemination will cause substantial harm to the other pledgers that have not yet seen the report but pledged to have it created. You are strictly prohibited from reposting or transferring or disseminating reports contained or originated in the Ask Mr.Owl*SM system.
Confidentiality of your information
Your information will not be shared with outside parties and will be kept strictly confidential by Ask Mr.Owl*SM. In addition, you are forbidden from revealing your true identity in the Ask Mr.Owl*SM communication system.
FYI |
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Pledging Vs. Bidding
Ask Mr.Owl*SM is a pledging system. In a pledging system, you are spending all money you pledge against the item. By pledging for a certain report you become a report sponsor and will receive the report when it is your turn. You will receive no money back. You have in essence, pre-purchased the report.
This is not a bidding system. In a bidding system you bid against other people to achieve individual title (possession) of an item for bid. In the end, if you don’t win the item, you have not spent any money.
Sarbanes-Oxley
Ask Mr.Owl*SM seeks to assist with the principles of Sarbanes-Oxley by allowing you to directly fund reports companies. Since the money to fund reports ends up being anonymous to the analysts writing the reports there is no conflict of interest. Ask Mr.Owl*SM has no interest in the outcome of a report other than to do its best to achieve a report that is as accurate as possible. Ask Mr.Owl*SM does not invest in individual securities (sometimes excess cash may be invested in funds or ETF’s), is not and has no relationships with brokers or securities dealers and receives no securities as compensation of any kind.
Section 501 amends Section 15A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Information on Sarbanes-Oxley can be found here:
http://www.sec.gov/howitworks/laws/soa2002.pdf (See Title V, Section 501)
http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/sarbanes-oxley.htm
Site Aliases
http://www.askmrowl.com
http://www.duediligencenet.com
http://www.duedilnet.com
http://www.hahnengineering.com
http://www.hahnventures.com
http://www.vote4stocks.com
http://www.pledgeforstocks.com
http://www.pledgeforreports.com
http://www.voteforreports.com
http://www.stockpledge.com
Purpose and Mission |
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Primary:
The purpose of Ask Mr.Owl*SM is to provide the most accurate, unbiased research possible to its user base. It accomplishes this objective through anonymous funding of information and the random nature of using multiple report sources for the information all of which have no stake in the consequences of releasing unbiased opinions and results.
Secondary:
To provide the above information on equities and other subject matter that may have no analyst or industry coverage at the lowest price possible. We accomplish this objective by pulling together parties with a common interest and allowing each party to contribute to the maximum of their individual willingness to pay.
FAQ |
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Who pledges to fund the reports? Who are the Ask Mr.Owl*SM customers?
Anyone or any entity can pledge to support reports. Although Ask Mr.Owl*SM will not know the background of the entities that pledge their support we surmise that fund managers, current individual investors, potential individual investors, other analyst firms and potentially the target itself are all potential customers of Ask Mr.Owl*SM.
How does Ask Mr.Owl*SM generate revenue?
We generate revenue from the following basic sources:
- Excess funds for the reports – Ask Mr.Owl*SM seeks to spend less on acquiring the information for its reports than is pledged for the reports.
- Site subscriber fees – Ask Mr.Owl*SM seeks subscriber fees for attainment of all reports at phase IV distribution.
- Advertising throughout the site – Ask Mr.Owl*SM allows third party access to banner advertisements on the site.
- Interest on credits in the system – Ask Mr.Owl*SM is a negative working capital model in that it collects money for the reports prior to spending that money. In the mean-time, these funds earn interest.
- Late to the party penalties – Ask Mr.Owl*SM obtains funds through late pledging penalties
Can I invest in Ask Mr.Owl*SM?
We are a privately held LLC at this time. If you are interested in investing in Ask Mr.Owl*SM, contact us.
What types of reports can I request?
We expect that a large portion of the site will consist of reports on business entities. Many of these reports will be generated on publicly traded companies similar in scope and structure to financial analyst reports. Other subjects of interest are books and other articles or studies that will be commissioned. Scientific research studies will also be commissioned and funded through the Ask Mr.Owl*SM system. Research studies and other pledging categories will be enabled in the future.