Seeds with Zach Conway | E301
A platform to better assess investors, personalize portfolios, and present engaging insights.
On today’s episode of Fintech Impact, Jason is going to talk to Zach Conway, co-founder and CEO of Seeds. It is a platform that allows advisers to better assess investors and personalize their portfolios in order to create a better engagement with them. Zach highlights the traditional mechanical investing process with Seeds' approach, which aims to make investing more meaningful and engaging for both the investor and the advisor.
Episode Highlights
00:29: Zach explains the mission of Seeds; it is an introduction to the concept of investing as an experience to advisors in the industry. He suggests that understanding an investor's behaviors, interests, and values can help shape portfolios.
02:07: Zach stresses the importance of understanding your client deeply. By asking the right questions, one can understand their needs, desires, and values. This is essential for delivering a personalized experience.
03:23: Zach points out a disconnect in the investment component of their services. The investment approach was more about selling a particular method rather than tailoring it to individual client needs and the observed disconnect in investment strategies was the catalyst for the creation of their company.
05:13: Zach emphasizes the difference in their approach. Instead of explaining the money management strategy, they take clients through a digital assessment to unpack their personal investment mindset and behaviors.
06:57: Zach discusses the importance of knowing an investor's analytical nature, their interest in emerging investment trends, and their specific values and thematic interests. He comments on the significance of understanding if an investor has moral or ethical concerns about owning particular companies or sectors.
08:19: Zach speaks about side-by-side analysis of the current and proposed portfolios. He highlights the platform's capabilities, from portfolio construction to implementation and management.
09:16: Zach explains the overarching goal of their platform: to provide a personalized investment experience from the initial assessment to ongoing portfolio management and reviews.
09:37: Jason discusses the values and goals-based discovery process. He emphasizes the importance of understanding what keeps an individual engaged with their investments and how these align with their goals.
10:39: The traditional process of managing money and the flaws in not truly understanding the client's perspective, says Zach.
11:10: Zach recalls an experience with a younger investor who felt their values were not reflected in the portfolio proposal and this feedback was a wake-up call on the importance of understanding and incorporating client values in investment strategies.
13:54: Zach references a Bloomberg article about banks offering 5% returns, pointing out the misperception of financial advisors' value being solely tied to investment returns.
15:54: Zach stresses the need for a change in the narrative, moving away from the emotional investment stories driven by fear and greed. He talks about the ongoing struggle and their aim to rectify this perception in the industry.
17:16: Zach talks about the prevalent sales conversations in the industry when clients walk in and the narrative around money management. He comments on the industry's realization of the pitfalls of this narrative, especially when the S&P decreases.
19:05: Jason acknowledges the psychological tactic being employed, emphasizing the shift away from purely investment-centric discussions. He also points out the fallacy of focusing on relative returns and praises the approach of wrapping investments around values.
20:37: The real value lies in understanding the client deeply, shaping the portfolio based on their interests, behaviors, and values.
21:03: Zach explains their rules-based approach in creating an investable universe. Their focus is not on trying to beat benchmarks but on aligning the asset allocation with the client's captured inputs.
23:05: Zach talks about presenting a three-dimensional story to the investor. The focus can be on values alignment, risk exposure, or other aspects based on the client's persona. He emphasizes the need for personalized storytelling in the industry.
25:16: Zach discusses results across the life cycle and the importance of sustainable organic growth that it's not about the technology, but how it's applied. He shares a real-life example about younger clients not connecting with traditional processes.
27:22: Jason talks about the next generation's perception of investing and mentions the disconnect in the industry's marketing and actual delivery.
28:19: Zach discusses the pitfalls of the exclusivity pitch and the commoditization of money management. He highlights the need for advisors to be more like therapists and less like product salespeople.
29:02: As per Zach seed is a bridge between digital expectations and meaningful experiences with the importance of targeting demographics outside of the core.
30:19: Zach emphasizes the importance of deep discovery when working with advisors to facilitate a smooth transition to the future. He wishes for better understanding when engaging with firms and advisors, helping them adapt to new paradigms in financial services.
32:26: Zach and Jason highlight the industry's reliance on outdated technology like COBOL, which dates back several decades. They discuss the challenge of dealing with outdated infrastructure in the financial industry, particularly in investment management.
33:25: Zach expresses excitement about the prospect of creating a future where investors feel heard and understood, and advisors provide value by aligning investments with clients' values and goals.
3 Key Points
Seeds takes a client-centric approach by understanding an investor's analytical nature, interest in emerging trends, values, and ethical concerns. They emphasize the importance of aligning investments with these factors.
Seeds aims to make investing more meaningful and engaging for both investors and advisors, contrasting this approach with traditional mechanical investing processes.
Zach emphasizes the need for a shift in the industry's narrative, moving away from focusing solely on investment returns to understanding clients deeply and shaping portfolios around their values.
Tweetable Quotes
"Understanding your client deeply is essential for delivering a personalized investment experience." - Zach Conway
"The real value in financial advisory lies in understanding the client deeply, shaping portfolios around their interests, behaviors, and values." - Zach Conway
"Our goal is to provide a personalized investment experience from initial assessment to ongoing portfolio management and reviews." - Zach Conway
"It's not about the technology, it's about how it's applied. Sustainable organic growth is the key." - Zach Conway
Resources Mentioned:
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