Tag Archives: Mike Paulus

FPPad Bits and Bytes for May 16

Posted on May 16, 2014 by in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, two financial technology startups raise new rounds of capital. Find out how their solutions have the potential to enhance your business. A popular online document storage provider adds new features. Will they be enough to wean advisors off of consumer services like Dropbox? And this month I say farewell in my final column for Morningstar Advisor, but not before I leave readers with a glimpse of disruptive advisor technology coming in the near future.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now!

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

This week’s episode is brought to you by Wealth Management Marketing, providers of complete outsourced marketing services for Registered Investment Advisers.

Wealth Management Marketing

Learn how outsourcing your marketing can result in successful custom marketing campaigns that grow your business by visiting fppad.com/wmm.

Here are this week’s top stories:

Motif Investing partners with financial advisors to introduce flat-fee trading and rebalancing platform from Motif Investments

[Leading off this week’s broadcast is news on two financial technology startups, Motif Investing and Addepar, which both announced new rounds of financing this week. Motif Investing, fresh off its second Best of Show award from Finovate, raised $35 million in funding from new investors, bringing its total to $86 million in venture capital.

During its Finovate Spring 2014 demo, Motif unveiled the Motif Advisor Platform, a solution that allows financial advisors to build, manage and rebalance their own motifs on behalf of clients. Motifs can include a combination of up to 30 stocks and ETFs, but instead of paying a commission to trade each individual security, motifs can be traded for one flat fee of just $9.95. Combining your model portfolios into motifs has the potential to save you time when trading, and it undoubtedly saves your clients in transaction fees that can add up quickly.] Motif Investing’s Advisor Platform, which was recently awarded “Best of Show” at the FinovateSpring conference, streamlines how advisors can build, monitor, and rebalance model portfolios.

Motif video thumbnail

Addepar Raises $50M in Series C Financing from BusinessWire.com

[And moving on to Addepar, the company announced a round of Series C financing to the tune of $50 million dollars, bringing its investment total to $66 million. Addepar’s technology is designed to bring better transparency to the world of complex investments, which includes private equity, committed capital, non-traded alternatives, and more. If you need a refresher on Addepar’s technology and its potential to serve the RIA market, you can watch my interview with Addepar’s former president and chief strategy officer Mike Paulus.] Addepar, a leading financial technology platform for the $120 trillion investment management industry, announced that it has raised $50 million in its Series C financing.

Citrix ShareFile Secures Files for Today’s Mobile Workspaces from Citrix.com

[Next is an update on ShareFile, the web-based document storage service now owned by Citrix. At its annual conference in southern California last week, Citrix announced several enhancements to the document storage service popular among financial advisors. First is a new Software Development Kit, or SDK, that enables support for more third-party integrations with the ShareFile service.

Second, a ShareFile Personal Cloud Connector was introduced to facilitate the migration of files stored in other online services like Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and Microsoft’s OneDrive and consolidate everything in ShareFile. Third, the company announced the upcoming redesign of the ShareFile app for iPhone that will offer a simplified and easier-to-use interface. And finally, all ShareFile users can now review and edit Microsoft Office documents or annotate PDF files on a mobile device, which are features that were once only available to enterprise subscribers.] Today at Citrix Synergy™, Citrix announced new Citrix ShareFile® features that deliver the broadest storage access for users and the most choice for IT.

The Big Trends in Financial Services Technology from Morningstar Advisor

[And finally, if you’re want to stay up to date on the big trends in financial services technology, you should read my farewell column at Morningstar Advisor this month. Yes, after four years of monthly columns, I have decided to hang up my hat, but not before leaving loyal readers with a glimpse of what I feel will be the most significant technology trends to affect the advisory profession. A preview of those trends includes big data and social collaboration in your CRM, first offered by Redtail and Wealthbox respectively, modern on-demand portfolio reports from companies like Blueleaf, Quovo, and Guide Financial, and the disruptive potential of tech-heavy online investment providers like Wealthfront, Betterment, Personal Capital, and more.] In a farewell report, MorningstarAdvisor.com technology columnist Bill Winterberg reflects on the advancements and evolutions in cloud-based and mobile technology, CRM, portfolio management, rebalancing software, and online advice over the last four years.

Here are stories that didn’t make this week’s broadcast:

Advisor Websites & Salesforce – The integration you’ve been waiting for from Advisor Websites

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for May 16, 2014

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for May 16, 2014

FPPad Bits and Bytes for July 12

Posted on July 12, 2013 by in Bits & Bytes

The upper cascade portion of Amicalola Falls in the north Georgia mountains

The upper cascade portion of Amicalola Falls in the north Georgia mountains

I spent much of the week on vacation at Amicalola Falls State Park in Georgia, home to the tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi.

So, you know that this week’s stories of interest are some of the best for me to take time away to list them here:

Addepar Expands Management Team with Appointment of Chief Executive Officer, President and Chief Operating Officer from BusinessWire.com

[Earlier this week I posted my interview with former-president-turned-chief-strategy-officer Mike Paulus of Addepar (see: Managing over $100 billion, Addepar’s Mike Paulus reveals how the company will cultivate RIA business). I had to add an explanation at the beginning of that video because of Paulus’ title change, and know we know why. Addepar now has a new CEO, and President and COO, who bring seasoned experience from Palantir (Addepar co-founder Joe Lonsdale’s more recognized venture) and the private equity industry.] Addepar, the leader in smart technology platforms for global wealth and investment management, today announced the appointment of Eric Poirier as Chief Executive Officer and Karen White as President and Chief Operating Officer.

Client of the Future from AdvisorOne.com

[Practice management expert Mark Tibergien, Chief Executive Officer of Pershing Advisor Solutions, a BNY Mellon company, issues a stern warning that if your firm isn’t changing to adapt to service expectations of Gen X/Y, you’re in trouble. Tibergien is inspired by Cam Marston’s book Generational Insights and argues that the tactics used to satisfy baby boomers won’t work with the client of the future.] Something has been nagging at us about the way in which most advisory firms are oriented. The epiphany came when we realized our view was more about the advisor of the future than the client of the future.

Twitter Advertising: A $100 Experiment Pays Off from Financial-Planning.com

[I don’t think columnist Dave Grant wrote the title of his article, because I don’t think he would have used the phrase “pays off.” Grant experimeted with advertising and promoting his Twitter accounts with $100 seed money, and experienced ho-hum traffic to his website. Remember, nearly anyone can access Twitter analytics for free (my screencast showing how is embedded below) and you can see your account with as little at $1 for some testing. You don’t have to start with $100.] As an avid Google Analytics user, and having previously explored Facebook ads, I thought I would see what effect “Promoted Tweets” would have on my website.

15 power Tweeters every adviser should know from InvestmentNews.com

[Remember, you don’t have to tweet to get benefits from Twitter. Following these 15 “power Tweeters” recommended by Nerd’s Eye View publisher Michael Kitces will get you off to a fast start to get the most out of Twitter without the compliance headaches of posting your own tweets.] While there are many social media lists out there of people and businesses to follow on Twitter, InvestmentNews’ own Power 20 “Power Tweeter” Michael Kitces, partner and director of research for Pinnacle Advisory Group and publisher of The Kitces Report and the blog Nerd’s Eye View maintains a list of people financial advisers should follow on Twitter.

Managing over $100 billion, Addepar’s Mike Paulus reveals how the company will cultivate RIA business

Posted on July 9, 2013 by in Software, Technology

With its build first objective, Addepar has quickly attracted hundreds of billions in assets and is now targeting the lucrative RIA market

Addepar, the Silicon Valley tech startup, spent four years building the next-generation portfolio management platform.

Now the company is ready to solicit business from RIAs with its premiere analysis and reporting capabilities.

Addepar’s Origins

Mike Paulus, Chief Strategy Officer of Addepar

Mike Paulus, Chief Strategy Officer of Addepar

I recently sat down with Addepar Chief Strategy Officer Mike Paulus (who held the title of president up until June 2013) to clear some of the mystery surrounding the tech startup.

Addepar originated with the goal of solving founder Joe Lonsdale’s frustration with managing his own personal wealth from his success at PayPal and Palantir.

“[Lonsdale] looked at the tools that were available to him and really didn’t see any tools that met his need,”said Paulus.

Lonsdale founded Addepar in 2009 with the goal of creating “modern, well-built technology” that was capable of addressing the intricacies of a complex portfolio. Non-public and non-traded assets including private equity, committed capital, and hard assets are examples of holdings that can be difficult to manage with existing technology.

What About RIAs?

Four years later, Addepar’s robust platform is available to registered investment advisers.

“Some of our happiest clients are RIAs,” said Paulus.

“A lot of our workflows around billing and reporting are just better suited to RIAs,” he added.

Watch the entire interview to learn more about Addepar’s capabilities, how the company retains top talent in Silicon Valley’s competitive environment, and details on pricing.

(click to watch on YouTube)