Fast-paced and nerve-wracking for some of the presenters, the annual WealthStack Demos did not disappoint and have become a fan favorite among attendees of the Wealth Management EDGE conference held last week at The Boca Raton resort in Boca Raton, Fla.
Held on day two of the conference, 11 competing wealthtech firms each had but a few minutes to pitch their wares before three judges, Woodgage Financial’s Jason Pereira, Nexus Strategy’s Tim Welsh and Aureus Advantage’s Amy DeTolla.
Fynancial, which refers to itself as a digital experience platform, won Best in Show. The mobile-first application built for the wealth management industry hails from Covington, Ken., which is a good bit north of Lexington and just across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio (sorry, I love geography and startup origin stories).
“Your brand always visible. Be just a tap away,” reads the tag line on Fynancial’s website. The application combines traditional wealth management tools with modern social engagement features.
Fynancial founder and CEO Tom Fields demos the product for the WealthStack judges. CREDIT: Joey Corsica & SpotMyPhotos
Tom Fields, CEO and founder of Fynancial said the application lets advisors post directly to their client’s or prospect’s pocket—their mobile device, that handheld world where many people spend up to hours a day and where an advisor can use Fynancial’s tech to integrate with planning and performance providers as well as ping the clients with messages.
“My parents are 67 and 68, they have the classic Dell desktop covered in dust—everything is on their phone,” he said.
“I demonize email because email is holding this industry back,” Fields said in a hallway off the exhibit floor near the hotel kitchens.
“We have a serious communication problem in the industry, and it can be really hard to get hold of clients,” he said, noting that with his technology, advisors can see their clients go to the app every day.
“Most importantly, it is a superior comms platform that is compliant,” he said.
Advisors can customize the application to convey pretty much any type of data or information clients or prospects might want.
“Most clients want to know their ‘Am I OK numbers,’ and we can show a number or a summary, that is what makes it unique,” he said.
The other competitors in this year’s demos included Addepar, Altrata, BILL, Encorestate Plans, GReminders, MileMarker, Mili AI, Wealthfeed, Zeplyn and Zocks.
For the first time this year, attendees voted on an Audience Choice Award, which Mili Software Inc.’s Mili AI won. The audience was impressed by Mili’s presentation and their vision of where AI notetaking is headed.
The Mili AI team. CREDIT: Joey Corsica & SpotMyPhotos
Founded in 2022, Fynancial is already used by some big RIA firms, like Sanctuary Wealth and is integrated with many top technology providers, including eMoney Advisor, Orion and Wealthbox.
Fields said in some ways there is just too much technology, too many applications and desktops for clients and advisors.
“What works really well for us and going back to growth, referrals are too hard, all the steps in a referral, when you give them [advisors] a branded mobile app of their own that they can show, the response is often: ‘oh I want that,’” said Fields.
“There is something to be said for owning your own distribution channel,” he said.
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