James Ward
Founder · writes everything on this site
I’m James. I run VI Stack, write the weekly newsletter, and built the system the platform teaches.
I’m not a fund manager and I don’t sell stock picks. I’m a private value investor who got tired of running his process across a dozen spreadsheets and scattered notes, so I built the system I wished existed: one place where philosophy, company research, and portfolio discipline run as a single continuous process.
Why VI Stack exists
Most investing products answer the question “what should I buy?” That question keeps you dependent on whoever is answering it. VI Stack is built around a different question: “how do I decide?” It coaches you through writing your own investing philosophy, building a universe of companies you actually understand, researching them through five sequential gates, and holding your positions to the rules you set. The work is yours. The system keeps it honest.
The method is classic value investing: circle of competence, business quality, margin of safety, patience. None of it is new. What VI Stack adds is structure, so the method survives contact with a busy life and a noisy market.
The rules this platform holds itself to
- No picks, no signals. Nothing here recommends buying or selling any security, and nothing ever will.
- Process over outcome. The platform measures whether you followed your own rules, because that is the part you control.
- Your work belongs to you. Foundation documents and research outputs are exportable, so leaving is always an option.
- Plain language. If something needs jargon to sound smart, it gets rewritten.
Start with the free material
Most of what I publish is free. The Five Gates guide covers the research method in eleven pages. The Knowledge Centre teaches the underlying concepts with real companies and real history. The free calculators run the same valuation math the platform uses, with no sign-up.
Questions? Email james@vistack.io. I read every reply.