Social Leverage Leads FinChat’s $1.5M Seed Round, Pioneering Generative AI in Investment Research

Social Leverage is excited to announce a $1.5M seed investment in FinChat, a Toronto-based generative AI startup that is shaking up the investment research and analytics landscape.

On behalf of Social Leverage, I will be joining FinChat’s board of directors leveraging my previous experience in data leadership roles at both Third Point and WorldQuant to help contribute to the company’s continued success.

Founded by Braden Dennis, FinChat's journey began as an experimental AI tool alongside sister company Stratosphere, aiming to enhance research on publicly traded companies. Braden and his team drew on their experience from co-launching Stratosphere to conceive FinChat, a platform that merges large language models with financial data.

With FinChat’s access to rich financial datasets and their own unique segment and KPI dataset, they are positioned strongly amongst others in the space.

The platform's growth trajectory has been phenomenal, surpassing 100,000 users within a month of its launch in April 2023, a milestone that Stratosphere took two years to reach.

The company offers a subscription-based public equity research platform tailored for both retail investors and professional portfolio managers.

However, FinChat's focus is not just consumer-oriented; its key strategy includes selling its API to businesses, allowing them to integrate their data into FinChat's platform. This dual approach positions FinChat as a versatile player, catering to both individual investors and larger firms.

FinChat addresses a critical need in the investment industry by automating data retrieval and analysis, thus freeing up analysts to focus on more strategic tasks. Their AI-powered solution aims to significantly enhance efficiency and decision-making in investment analysis.

Leading FinChat’s seed round which brings their total funding to $1.75 million, reflects our confidence in their vision and strategy. As early backers of many other successful FinTech companies, we recognize the potential for FinChat to be a first-mover in applying generative AI to investment research.

To test out the product and learn more, visit FinChat.io.

Altruist and Seeds Forge a Powerful Partnership to Transform Financial Advisory Services

Social Leverage is thrilled to share an exciting development from two key players in the financial services industry: Seeds, a Fund IV investment and Altruist. 

This newly announced partnership marks a significant step toward modernizing the way financial advisory services are delivered.

What the Partnership Means:

Altruist and Seeds are joining forces to empower financial advisors with a deeper understanding of their clients and advanced automation. This collaboration enables advisors to assess clients on a profound level, create custom portfolios in Altruist accounts, and provide investors with meaningful portfolio insights.

Seeds, founded by former financial advisors, is dedicated to offering a more personable investing experience. They equip advisors with tools to better understand investor behaviors, values, and interests, resulting in tailored investment strategies, all within a single digital solution.

Altruist, on the other hand, is a leader in the financial custodian space, offering a fully-integrated digital brokerage platform for financial advisors. They combine a self-clearing brokerage with software for account opening, trading, reporting, and billing to create an all-in-one investment platform for financial advisors.

Exclusive Access for Altruist Advisors:

The strategic partnership between Altruist and Seeds provides Altruist advisors with exclusive access to the Seeds platform. This access allows advisors to gain a three-dimensional understanding of investors and recommend personalized portfolios. These proposed strategies can then be seamlessly implemented using the Altruist Model Marketplace.

Benefits for Advisors:

By merging personalized portfolio construction with automation at scale, advisors can streamline their day-to-day operations. They'll spend less time on administrative tasks and more time focusing on what they do best: offering exceptional, personalized financial advice.

Seeds is committed to staying at the forefront of industry innovations, ensuring advisors have access to modern, seamless financial management tools that meet the expectations of their clients.

For those interested in learning more about this powerful partnership, Altruist and Seeds are hosting a live webinar scheduled for November 15th. Zach Conway, Founder and CEO of Seeds, will provide insights into how this partnership empowers advisors to make investing more meaningful, intentional, and personal.

Gemini Sports Analytics Raises $3.25 in Additional Funding

I am pleased to announce that Social Leverage has participated in Gemini Sports Analytics' most recent $3.25 million funding round, led by Eberg Capital. Existing investors Florida Founders and Ocean Azul Partners also participated in the round. I will be joining the board as an observer on behalf of the Social Leverage team.

Revolutionizing Data-Driven Decision Making in Sports

Jake Schuster, founder and CEO at Gemini Sports Analytics, brings a decade of experience in the elite athlete performance domain, and has identified a critical need for predictive analytics tools to enhance data-driven decisions. Inspired by this vision, Schuster embarked on a journey to build a platform that empowers sports teams to harness the power of athlete data for better, faster decision-making.

My previous experience acquiring data and building out teams to utilize it first at Worldquant and then at Third Point enabled me to immediately see the opportunity that Gemini Sports Analytics is pursuing.The deal was brought to us by Roger Ehrenberg of Eberg Capital, a close friend of the fund who we love to work with, furthering our conviction. 

The Genesis of Gemini Sports Analytics

Throughout Schusters’ extensive career, he witnessed a common challenge faced by sports teams worldwide: the abundance of data without an effective means to leverage it. Recognizing this need, Schuster founded Gemini Sports Analytics, which collaborates with industry giants like Snowflake and DataRobot to provide teams with a no-code layer of predictive analytics. This innovative approach allows teams to make the most of their existing data infrastructure, whether it's an athlete management system or a bespoke team dashboard.

In partnership with the MLB, NBA, international rugby, and European soccer teams, GSA has been refining its product through beta partnerships. The results have been remarkable, with GSA's predictive models providing valuable insights that were previously untapped due to resource constraints.

Empowering Every Member of the Organization

One of the standout features of Gemini Sports Analytics is its commitment to empowering non-technical stakeholders within sports organizations. This includes assistant general managers, strength and conditioning coaches, and high-performance managers who may not be able to code themselves but have a keen desire to work with data as the space continues to evolve and become more complex. GSA's user-friendly platform enables these individuals to perform data queries and ask critical questions of the data, without the need to write complex code.

Furthermore, GSA's commitment to transparency sets it apart from the competition. Unlike other providers in the space that offer opaque solutions, GSA believes in open-source models that allow scouts and GMs to understand the reasoning behind data-driven insights. This approach aligns with GSA's vision of equipping sports organizations with the tools they need to succeed in the modern age of analytics.

What the Future Holds

This latest round of funding will be instrumental in expanding the startup's team and accelerating their mission to transform data into actionable insights. 

Jake Schuster's vision of data-driven decision-making in sports is becoming a reality through Gemini Sports Analytics. As sports teams continue to face the challenges of managing vast amounts of data, GSA's platform promises to be a game-changer, enabling smarter decisions, enhanced performance, and ultimately, more victories on the field.

For more information visit geminisports.co.

Equabli Secures $3.35M Funding Round Led by Social Leverage

I am pleased to announce that Social Leverage has proudly led Equabli's most recent funding round, securing an additional $3.35 million in capital with participation from BankTech Ventures and Cross River Digital Ventures, bringing their total funding to $6.35 million. 

Equabli is a leading financial technology company dedicated to modernizing and optimizing debt recovery for lenders and borrowers. Their Recovery as a Service platform is a solution that acts as the industry's central hub for intelligent debt recovery. It offers clients a curated value chain of technology, analytics, and a multi-channel network of integrated recovery providers, all managed and overseen by Equabli's team. Gone are the days of piecemealed solutions and suboptimal results; Equabli offers a comprehensive, optimized, and compliant recovery process, making it the go-to solution for financial service institutions seeking efficiency and excellence in debt management.

At Social Leverage, we are particularly enthusiastic about continuing to partner with Equabli on this transformative journey. Equabli's team possesses world-class knowledge in collections and recovery, and they are leveraging this expertise to revolutionize the credit lifecycle using new technology and services.  

The newly raised funds will play a vital role in propelling Equabli towards its strategic objectives, including product development, market expansion, and talent acquisition. Equabli is committed to continuously enhancing its innovative debt recovery products and services, ensuring that it maintains its position as a market leader, and continues delivering exceptional value to their clients.

At Social Leverage, we are proud to be part of Equabli's journey and are excited to support their continued growth and success. We believe that Equabli's innovative approach to debt recovery will revolutionize the industry and create new opportunities for lenders and borrowers alike.

For more information about Equabli, visit www.equabli.com.

Seeds Raises an Additional $2 Million in Funding

I am thrilled to announce that Social Leverage has participated in Seeds' additional $2 million in funding, which was led by Blank Ventures and included further participation from The Compound Capital Fund I, the affiliated venture arm of Ritholtz Wealth Management.

With our thesis on the future of wealth management, we at Social Leverage instantly aligned and understood the problem that the team at Seeds is taking on.

They recognized that many clients are dissatisfied with the traditional assembly-line approach adopted by financial advisors. Investors today find themselves longing for a more personalized and profound experience, as they grow increasingly dissatisfied with the prevalence of generic assessments, cookie-cutter portfolios, and superficial insights. Recognizing this unmet need, there is a resolute determination to redefine the investment process and pave the way for a future where advisors can deliver a truly immersive and transformative investing journey.

Seeds offers a comprehensive digital experience that empowers advisors to gain a deeper understanding of investors' needs, behaviors, and values. By leveraging Seeds platform, advisors can seamlessly automate the creation of personalized portfolios that align perfectly with each investor's unique preferences. Additionally, Seeds facilitates the delivery of tailored portfolio insights, enabling advisors to engage with clients on a more meaningful level.

The benefits of Seeds go beyond enhanced personalization. Advisors who use this platform gain a competitive advantage. Additionally, the streamlined onboarding process ensures that advisors can quickly bring new clients into their portfolios. This, in turn, allows them to capture a larger share of the wallet and build deeper, longer-lasting relationships with their clients as they progress through their financial journeys.

The $2 million of fresh capital will accelerate Seeds product development, allowing them to further cater to the evolving needs of the advisors they serve.

To learn more, visit SeedsInvestor.com

Pro Platforms Construct CRM Emerges from Stealth Mode

Pro Platforms Inc. (Social Leverage Fund IV) just emerged from stealth mode with the launch of their Construct CRM platform for contractors. The company expects to assist with over $100 million in home improvement projects by the end of the year. Contractors across all 50 states and in 30 plus trades like HVAC, roofing, and remodeling are already using the platform.

Construct CRM is the first truly one-size-fits all home improvement contractor operating system. The platform’s automated features eliminate over 20 percent of the manual processing time, saving thousands per employee per year. And Construct CRM is the most affordable solution on the market at just $999 per year. In addition, contractors can connect to QuickBooks and give past due customers the ability to finance their receivables using same-day zero dealer fee lenders. 

Plans are underway to expand the platform later this year with free treasury management and payment processing to improve cash flow for contractors, and in June, the company will launch its third product, Homepro Pay – a treasury management service that provides cashback on certain business expenses that instantly increases contractor profit margins. 

I invested in Pro Platforms because of the team’s passion for the business in every interaction I’ve had with them. Not only do they have the premier solution for a huge addressable market, less than 10 percent of the nearly 3.7 millions contractors are using any sort of CRM software,  but the team is  incredibly motivated. Their instincts for building and scaling are unmatched. The team’s vision and execution is revolutionizing the home improvement industry – bringing best-in-class technology to a market that has been woefully underserved.

Tips for Boosting Your Creativity

Are you struggling to come up with creative ideas? Do you find yourself stuck in a rut, unable to think outside the box? If so, you're not alone. Many people struggle with creativity from time to time. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to boost your creativity and overcome creative blocks. Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Break Your Routine

"Creativity is contagious, pass it on." - Albert Einstein

Sometimes, all it takes to spark creativity is a change of scenery. If you're stuck in a rut, try breaking your routine. Go for a walk, visit a new coffee shop, or take a different route to work. These small changes can help you see things from a new perspective and get your creative juices flowing.

2. Embrace Your Inner Child

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." - Pablo Picasso

Kids have a natural sense of creativity and wonder. As we get older, we often lose touch with these qualities. To tap into your inner child, try engaging in playful activities like drawing, coloring, or playing with toys. These activities can help you loosen up and approach problems with a more open mind.

3. Collaborate with Others

"Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much." - Helen Keller

Collaborating with others can be a great way to generate new ideas and approaches. Seek out other creatives in your field and bounce ideas off of each other. Alternatively, try collaborating with people outside of your field to bring fresh perspectives to your work.

4. Try Mind Mapping

"Creativity is just connecting things." - Steve Jobs

Mind mapping is a technique that can help you generate new ideas by visually connecting different concepts. Start by writing down your main idea in the center of a piece of paper, then branch out with related concepts and ideas. You can use colors, images, and symbols to make your mind map more visually engaging.

5. Take Breaks

"The creative process is not like a situation where you get struck by a single lightning bolt. You have ongoing discoveries, and there's ongoing creative revelations. Yes, it's really helpful to be marching toward a specific destination, but, along the way, you must allow yourself room for your ideas to blossom, take root, and grow." - Carlton Cuse

Finally, don't forget to take breaks. Creativity can be mentally taxing, and you need to give your brain time to rest and recharge. Take a walk, meditate, or simply close your eyes and breathe deeply for a few minutes.

By following these tips, you can boost your creativity and overcome creative blocks. Remember, creativity is not a fixed trait - it's something that can be nurtured and developed over time. So don't be afraid to experiment and try new things!

*this post was written using Notion AI.

Being A Venture Capitalist - Who Is Your Customer and Who Is Your Shareholder?

Who is the ‘customer’ of the Venture Capitalist and who is the ‘shareholder’?

My friend Fred Wilson, one of the best Venture Capitalists in the business, brought back an old post on the subject the other day. Here it is. Do read it.

Fred brought the post back up after technology journalist Dan Primack tweeted that Venture Capitalists ultimately work for their limited partners not their portfolio companies.

The whole conversation restarted because of this Citizen App ‘cramdown’ story where major investor Sequoia decided to walk away from further funding. We can expect a lot more cramdowns and walk-aways as ‘pay to play’ rounds come together as companies run out of capital in this tougher fundraising environment.

I have my own thoughts here on the customer/shareholder discussion.

I think the answer is much more nuanced.

I won’t argue with Fred but I contend that both the LP and the founder are the customer and shareholders in the venture. From 2005-2012 the VC held most of the power in the VC/founder relationship and from 2012 to 2021 the pendulum swung too far (my opinion) towards the founder. I believe a good venture capitalist needs to understand these dynamics as the power shifts. To have paid market prices for seed and venture deals in 2019-2022 was to treat your customers (the founders in Fred’s definition) too well at the expense of your LP’s.

Large venture capital brands have a luxury that seed funds like Social Leverage do not. I/we can’t afford a poor performing fund early as a firm because our ‘shareholders’ under Fred’s definition do not want to continue making investments until we prove we can produce great returns

Call it chicken and egg, or catch 22, but too many seed funds and VC funds were leaning too hard towards founders being the customer (2012-2021) and now the LP’s will start feel like stupid and/or poorly represented shareholders.

I believe the best seed and vc funds know how to treat both founders and LP’s as customers and shareholders at the right times.

The Four-Day Work Week: Growing Trend or Passing Fad?

Oh the joy of a three-day weekend? Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Well, for some companies the dream is reality. 

Tampa-based Brick Media has seen a deluge of resumes since implementing a four-day work week in January of this year, according to CEO Jake Kurtz. 

The concept of a four-day work week continues to gain popularity as more companies experiment with it. But like all new ideas, there are potential benefits and drawbacks.  

Simply put, the four-day workweek is a schedule where employees work four days per week instead of the traditional five. It’s designed to give employees an extra day off in the hopes that a rested and energized workforce will be more motivated and productive on the days they are at work. And as you may imagine, the significant advantage is increased employee satisfaction. The extra time off can lead to improved work-life balance and employees are more likely to stay with your company longer.  

Proponents believe fewer workdays create a sense of urgency that increases productivity and results in improved time management skills, along with other benefits like reduced overhead costs. 

You’re sold. So what are the drawbacks? The most significant concern is a potential impact on productivity. One fewer workday often means the same amount of work needs to be done in a shorter amount of time, which some fear may lead to burnout, increased stress, and decreased productivity. And with less face-to-face time at the office, collaboration could suffer, leading to lower quality work.

In addition, a four-day workweek might not be feasible for all industries. Many fields, like retail or healthcare, require employees to be present on a regular schedule. Companies with a global presence could struggle to coordinate schedules across time zones as well.

Results have been mixed. Many companies have reported increased productivity, decreased stress and improved employee satisfaction. Microsoft Japan experimented with a four-day workweek in 2019 and reported a 40% increase in productivity.  Other companies have reported decreased productivity and a need to increase work hours on workdays to compensate for the extra day off. 

• Shake Shack: In 2020, Shake Shack announced that it would be implementing a four-day workweek for some of its employees at its Las Vegas location. The trial was meant to address the challenges of the hospitality industry, which can be physically and mentally demanding.

• Treehouse: A tech company that provides online education, Treehouse implemented a four-day workweek in 2015. The company has reported increased employee engagement and productivity since the change.

• Buffer: Buffer, a social media management company, has been operating on a four-day workweek since 2020. The company has reported increased employee satisfaction and productivity since the change.

• Reusser Design: In 2017, the Indiana-based web design company experimented with a four-day workweek but found that it was difficult to coordinate schedules with clients who were still operating on a five-day workweek. The company ultimately returned to a five-day workweek.

• Basecamp: The project management software company implemented a four-day workweek in 2008 but eventually went back to a five-day workweek in 2011. The company found that it was difficult to maintain productivity with fewer work hours.

• Filimundus: The Swedish game development company experimented with a six-hour workday and a four-day workweek in 2015 but ultimately returned to a traditional eight-hour workday and a five-day workweek. The company found that it was difficult to coordinate schedules with clients and that employees were not as productive during shorter workdays.

While the idea of a four-day workweek is appealing, especially to employees, founders need to weigh the potential benefits and drawbacks carefully before considering it. The four-day workweek works for some companies in general, but may not be a fit for others, like retail or health care in particular. Ultimately, the decision needs to be made with the best interests of the company, the investors, and the employees in mind.

Lessons for Founders from Navy SEALs

I heard two inspiring lessons from two different Navy SEALs on two different podcasts that stuck with me over the years. I’m sorry I can’t remember who the SEALs were, or which podcasts. I believe one of the lessons came from a Joe Rogan clip on YouTube.

Maybe you don’t think there’s much of a comparison between starting a company and going through BUD/S, but I’d argue the two lessons apply:

The first lesson was from a SEAL who was asked about getting through the training process. He said that rather than look at the totality of the 6 months he was going to spend at BUD/S, he would just focus on making it to his next meal. He reasoned he had to be fed at least six times a day, and if he could just make it to the next meal, he’d be ok. Those in his class who looked at the totality of the misery about to last for six months, didn’t make it.

The second lesson was from another SEAL who was asked the same question. He mentioned that the candidates who voiced their fears out loud were the ones who didn’t make it. He noted that while it’s okay to have inner doubts, voicing negative thoughts out loud can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

So, whatever you’re going through as a founder, just make it to your next meal, to the next day — whatever it takes. And while you may have inner-doubts, try not to voice them out loud.