Our online financial advisor service debuted last week to a host of great stories in the technology press. Our CEO Andy Rachleff wrote about the advisor service last week in Introducing The First Online Financial Advisor Built In Silicon Valley For Silicon Valley.
“We realized that our local clients wanted exactly what we wanted for ourselves. As software engineers, we wanted good, rigorous investing advice, wrapped in a low-cost, convenient package,” Andy wrote.
In the following days, Wealthfront was covered in Cnet, All Things Digital, Gigaom and TechCrunch.
Leena Rao of TechCrunch wrote “Wealthfront Debuts Customized, Intelligent Online Investment Advisor For The Tech Community”
“Finding (and paying for) a high-quality financial advisor can be a challenging task. First, you may not meet the minimum for some private wealth management advisors, which require millions under investment. And if you do qualify, these advisors take 1 percent or more of the returns.
“What makes Wealthfront’s web service unique is that it brings the quality investment theories of a fund manager online, at a much lower fee, essentially democratizing private wealth management to the masses. The company uses the industry-standard Modern Portfolio Theory, which until now, has been kept out of consumers’ reach, and was only accessible via expensive financial advisors.”
Her whole story is here.
Cnet’s Paul Sloan wrote “Wealthfront takes on Wall Street – Silicon Valley style”
“Wealthfront, a startup backed by Marc Andreessen and other Valley luminaries, is trying to upend the old-school money management model by replacing it with a system powered by software. The pitch: Why trust your money to a Wall Street money manager who charges steep fees when well-designed software can do a better job for a lot less?
“‘Our goal is to democratize access to sophisticated financial advice,’ says CEO and President Andy Rachleff, a former general partner with Benchmark Capital. ‘This area is ripe for disruption.’”
His full article can be found here.
On Malik of Gigaom wrote, “As Tech Booms, The Doors To Wealthfront Open”
“From LinkedIn to Pandora to, soon, Facebook, there is a growing number of folks who are looking to find better ways to manage their money. That includes engineers, product managers, designers — folks who are not senior management, founders or c-suite residents. They may not have millions, but they need financial advisor services.
“Enter Wealthfront, which has its own variation of modern portfolio theory and has developed its own algorithms for assessing your risk profile.”
His whole story is here.
Kara Swisher of All Things Digital wrote “Wealthfront Finally Launches, Aimed at Silicon Valley’s ‘Richie Rich’ Newbies
“Wealthfront, the Silicon Valley start-up with more than $10 million in its own kitty, finally officially launched its long-planned Online Financial Advisor product today, with a focus on attracting techies interested in more easily managing their money. … Its aim now is to try to solve the thorny problem of delivering actionable and easy-to-use tools for making investments online, for those who have some money but little time or expertise.”
Her whole story is here.