Without Fear or Favor, but With Gratitude

Editor's note: We'll be commemorating our 10-year anniversary all week with a look back at how we covered the biggest business news of the past 10 years, as well as the award-winning exclusives that cemented TheStreet.com's reputation as a leading provider of financial commentary, analysis and news. To kick off the week, see what our co-founder has to say a decade after the project went live.

Ten years ago when we started TheStreet.com, we were about something different. We were about making it so that everybody could get the inside story about how stocks worked.

At the time, we were alone. We were first on the Web with market-moving news and commentary that was tradeable and proprietary, that was hard-hitting and actionable, with no fear or favor.

I believe we still are.

Dozens of Web sites devoted to this space have come and gone. Maybe it's a testament to our value, but we're still here, going stronger, getting stronger, branching out to answer what our readers want, now with a full range of videos and ratings of stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.

What distinguished us then is what distinguishes us now: interactivity. From the days when I first started hiring the nucleus of people who drove the company through today, 10 years later, we have always been about you. I felt that media companies had become distant and imperial, that the Web allowed individuals to change that and change it instantly. I wanted everyone to respect our readers as customers, not just as users. I think we have done that, too.

For me, the whole enterprise has been a labor of love. How much so? At the end of 2000, I gave up my hedge fund to come work here full-time. I felt and feel that strongly about the mission. We survived the dot-com implosion, 9/11 and the bear market, and it didn't kill us; like the cliché, it made us stronger.