NO TIME TO WASTE. Every gold rush has an outpost selling picks and shovels. For the online trading boom, that could be Beacon Street. The financial research and education firm whose mission is to “level the playing field for investors” is listing shares via a blank check company. The $3 billion valuation isn’t hard to justify. The online trading market is more popular than ever. Even ignoring the claims of a $191 billion “total addressable market,” the fantastical metric now common for companies going public, Beacon Street has had a great year. The number of paid subscribers jumped 71% in the year through Jan. 31. Revenue grew 40% through the end of last year to $377 million, the company estimates. That puts its enterprise value on a multiple of 8 times, roughly in line with Factset Research Systems and Breakingviews parent Thomson Reuters, and slightly less than Moody’s. Beacon Street won’t be the last to capitalize on the retail investing gold rush, but it’s at least shrewd enough to be one of the first. (By Lauren Silva Laughlin)