My understanding is they were shooting for ETF listings, which are arguably the easiest listings business to establish in if you have the right sales team (due to the lighter regulatory regime compared to listing common stock).

They were also making a play at trying to capture listings for companies looking to reincorporate in TX (think of it as a 'social issue' campaign; same as what the LTSE guys are shooting for).

That all said, I definitely do not disagree with you. While I think they at least have more justification to launch a venue than MEMX did, I am highly skeptical of their ability to pull listings business away from NY. The Big Board and Nasdaq have it on lock.