How Power Player Jon Stein's braggadocio about how Betterment is the next Amazon may be a blind distracting from stealth IPO moves and surgical deployment of a flesh-and-blood workforce

Stein, 38, tightened reins at his NYC robo-advisor this year when the COO departed, stuffing more cash into a war chest and adding CFP-wielding humans to the mix at every turn

Author Mia Diamond August 11, 2017 at 4:13 PM

3 Comments

Part of Jon Stein's power lies in taking New York's media glare in stride.

Robo-Advisors

Jon Stein

Jasen Yang

Eli Broverman

Min Zhang

Wealthfront

Betterment

Polly Portfolio

Totum Wealth

Stephen Winks

August 11, 2017 — 6:19 PM

There is a desperate need for the Financial Services business to modernize, much of which will be through the electronic management of real time client holdings data required for the expert professional standing of the advisor. There are at least 20 innovations which will reorder the industry. Betterment and Stein have an important role to play. Don't count out Wall Street to follow suite, they just will not be market leaders. The safest bet for Jon Stein is to lead the charge on fiduciary duty which Wall Street will not follow--establishing a competitive edge in professional standing of its users. SCW

Ha

August 13, 2017 — 5:38 AM

Eli, and other C-level and management team employees were forced out.

Frank Chaparro

August 15, 2017 — 4:07 AM

This is egregiously misleading: "He is happy to play along with reporters who ask about his firm being the Amazon of financial services world." In what way was he "playing along" with my line of question.The question to which Jon responded by likening himself to Amazon was as follows: "Incumbents have had their own robo offerings for years, and they have their big brand and infrastructure to back them up. What makes you so certain Betterment can survive up against such competition?" Come on Mia. Read the full post.

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June 29, 2024 at 3:00 AM

Jon Stein ousts himself as Betterment CEO and taps Sarah Levy, who joins an exclusive club of top women executives, with a mission -- an IPO

The co-founder of the New York robo-advisor headhunted the ex-Viacom brass through Harvard professors on the down low to ostensibly scale operations.

December 8, 2020 at 5:27 PM

Altruist is CTO-less, for now, quasi-intentionally, it says • Ex-rival exec hired to jumpstart cross-selling Orion products to enterprise clients • BlackRock tops Grayscale • Facet outsources estate plans • Advyzon profits off Goldman exodus • Dan Wiener's RIA has new CEO • CFP count tops 100k

Shiralker out at Altruist • Orion gives Trevor Noble his cause • Bitcoin has a new fund king • Software maker benefits from Goldman custody exec. churn • Carson Group denies lawsuit • Merge of Wiener's old shop complete • 100,000th CFP named.

June 7, 2024 at 1:44 AM

Wealthfront cedes to four years of investors clamoring for crypto by taking on expensive third-party vendor that Betterment rules out

The Redwood City, Calif., robo-advisor turned a hard 'no' into a soft 'yes' by dealing with Grayscale and its 200 basis-point-plus fees, which its robo rival in NYC -- also without a crypto path -- finds ludicrous.

August 14, 2021 at 2:20 AM

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Mentioned in this article:

Wealthfront
Portfolio Management System
Top Executive: Andy Rachleff

Betterment, LLC
Financial Planning Software
Top Executive: Jon Stein