Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Carl, thanks so much for joining us.
Karl Roessner, Vestmark
Thanks for having me.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
I'm excited to talk to you because we're going to talk about Vestmark, which is a fast-growing tech company focused in the financial services industry. So let's unpack that. What is Vestmark?
Karl Roessner, Vestmark
Sure. So Vestmark has actually been around for about 20 years, based up in Wakefield, Massachusetts. It's a smallish company called three to 500 employees is sort of our best range. And we provide middle office solutions. So basically personalized investing at scale, for six of the 10 largest asset managers, very well-known names folks that you would talk about, you know, in, where you keep your money and who provides advice to you. And we provide most of the services that allow them to trade their portfolios, rebalance, and do all of the engineering behind the scenes that allow their financial advisors or others that time to do their day jobs and actually talk to their clients.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Now, you are the CEO of Vestmark. So talk about your background, and what led you to join the company.
Karl Roessner, Vestmark
Sure, I was the Chief Executive Officer at E trade financial for a period of time. I was also the general counsel there for a long time. My background comes from mergers and acquisitions. So after I left the trade during COVID, I started a special purpose acquisition company with a partner of mine, a gentleman actually used to run LPL named's Mark Cassidy. So the two of us had a SPAC together and we went out. And we met with over 150 Different fintechs in the space over the course of about two years. And one of the first calls that we made was actually on this little company in Wakefield, Massachusetts called Vestmark. So I met the leadership team here, I met the principal shareholder, and Chairman, I met some of the board members. And I was extremely intrigued by what they did, and just the opportunity set that was out in front of them. And it was sort of a natural fit for me, given my financial services bent. And what I'd always done in my career, and the way that it was a FinTech tied in with my background from E trade and the work that I'd done, you know, for them. So that's what really got me here. My history was, you know, coming through as both, you know, a senior executive, but also as an attorney, and then as a more of an entrepreneur through the SPAC and meeting tons of different people. And what I saw with Vestmark, was the ability to connect a lot of the dots that I had seen out of whatever we're doing this back and some of the transactions that we were looking at. And it just made, it made a lot of sense, it was almost the perfect fit.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
So looking ahead for Vestmark, you know, you joined as CEO of the company, so what's, what's the plan kind of moving forward?
Karl Roessner, Vestmark
Well, you know, in terms of Vestmark, when I look at what they've done over the past, as I said, a number of times over the past 20 years, there hasn't been a lot of change, they've been in the sort of middle office box, if you will. And when you take a look at that the layering of of where the companies fit, there's the middle office box, that's extremely important. But there are others right there, the client facing side, there are some of the tools that you can provide to advisors, there are some other tools and functionality that we can get at that can really increase and enhance the value proposition here at Vestmark. So you know, a couple of things on the radar. One is our vast product, which is our direct indexing offering that we'll be rolling out into the marketplace over the next call it two months. It's a product that's been in development here for quite some time, it really harnesses the strengths of Vestmark, and a technology core, our corporate rebalancing engine, to really drive into a space that I believe is going to be very important going forward. And it enhances the total addressable market that we have here at Vestmark. And then I look at some of the other products and solutions that we're starting to build. We've just launched a vehicle in Cambridge, Massachusetts, right next door to the MIT campus called Vestmark labs. So we've hired a bunch of engineers, some product managers, and business analysts, who are looking at executing more quickly on our strategic roadmap. So getting into some of the tools and functionality that Vestmark hasn't had in the past, like reporting, like billing, like some of the feature functionality that really will assist our customer base in getting more time with their clients making their lives more easy to do their jobs, and providing more of a, you know, a broader solution than just a single point solution. So it's really that area that's causing us to drive for more talent and to continue to grow, is to really start hitting that strategic roadmap hard and executing on some of the priorities that we've had for a very long period of time. We just haven't tackled yet.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Now as far as working at the company, what's the day to day culture like at Vestmark?
Karl Roessner, Vestmark
The people here genuinely care about each other. So it's a small company culture that has some extremely large clients and some really cool technology. So it's been very easy to sort of set land here have been very, very accepted by the entire group. I mean, their core values in terms of things like owning it, right? Everybody takes responsibility. Everybody is in this together, we put, you know, we before me, right, just simple things, but called the collective group has to come before your own, you know, individual sort of advancement. And they live that every day. And it's something that, you know, it's kind of easy to bring new people in, because it's a very welcoming culture, we are more than 50% hybrid, actually more than 50% remote, we embrace sort of the the remote culture, the hybrid culture, I'd love for everyone to be in the office every day. But that's just not a reality anymore. I myself live in, in New York City. I'm here Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and I work from home on Mondays and Fridays. And I find that, you know, that gives people sort of the flexibility to do what they need to do. So we're very open in that respect. And you know, and we make it work, right, there really hasn't been and I've done all the analysis, that there hasn't been a loss of productivity as a result of that, which is what gives me great comfort that, you know, the folks here at Vestmark are pretty serious about their day job.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Now Vestmark is growing. And there's multiple positions available in different functional areas. Is it a requirement to have that deep financial services knowledge to join the company?
Karl Roessner, Vestmark
So there? That's a great question. And thank you for bringing it up, keep the there are no obligations requirements where no other sort of prior experience necessary in terms of financial services, we do a very nice job. And actually, I went through the onboarding myself, and I did the courses online and came in like every other employee, and we do a very nice job at Vestmark have really bringing people up the curve in terms of what they need. So what we are looking for, are the best and brightest, the most talented individuals to come into Vestmark, we will provide you with the rest that you need to really understand what our core businesses and help us drive this place forward. So for me, if you give me a room of really smart people, and really hard driving or charging individuals, we can definitely take care of the rest and help them advance their careers.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Now, top talent, regardless of market conditions, always have options in front of them multiple opportunities. So why is now the ideal time to join Vestmark.
Karl Roessner, Vestmark
We've decided over the course of the last call a year or so I started consulting and really getting deep into the company back in April of 2022. So it's been almost a full year now that I've been engaged. And we've decided during that period of time, if 2023 is our investment year, or 2023 is when we're really going to take care of some of the things that have been lagging behind and then we're going to invest in Vestmark's future. So building out Vestmark Labs, launching our direct indexing product, really addressing some of the client dissatisfy errs that we've had for a period of time. So now is the time, right I what I look at is 2425 We're going to be extreme growth here sort of Spark, as we start to execute on some of the strategies that we're laying the groundwork for now. So the reason that I joined when I did was really getting in at the opportune time to say, this is the baseline. It's upside from here. Right? And by upside, I mean, you know, cool things happening day to day driving it, how to new technologies, how can we use them to impact our client relationships? How can we drive further with the tools that we have today? Let's invest a little more, let's hire some more individuals. Let's get some of the top talent on the street to come in and help us drive this place forward. So for me, we're just entering growth phase, we're laying the foundation during 2023. And I think 2024 and 2025. We're going to be very exciting years for Vestmark.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Well, that's smart is definitely a company when I look at it. It is the best of both worlds, you got the solid foundation of a 20 year history with revenue, a list customer base yet as you outline a tremendous growth opportunity ahead. So if you are interested in exploring opportunities at Vestmark, you need to go to their company page on VentureFizz which has all their job listings there. Go to venturefizz.com/vestmark and you'll see their listings there. Karl, thanks so much for taking the time to walk us through all the great things happening at the company.
Karl Roessner, Vestmark
Keith, I appreciate it. Thank you very much for having me.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
