Three Crowns Mixtape: April 8, 2022
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Important financial industry news + marketing insights + good music.
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Big news this week – we’ve welcomed a new member to the team! Our new Project Manager, Amber Froendt, is already kicking butt around the office. Welcome, Amber!
Who else rocked our world this week? From Riskalyze’s WealthTech win to Ellevest’s superb Series B funding, you know we’ve got everything you need to know. 👇
Must-Read Financial Industry & Marketing Articles
Burt White Gives Carson Group a Boost
Less than a year after announcing his retirement as CIO from LPL, Burt White has officially joined Carson Group’s executive board. Why does it matter? Well, it’s only been six years since Carson also left the custodian behind on less-than-friendly terms.
White’s hire is the latest move for Ron Carson’s expanding leadership team. The two are likely to work closely together traveling the country and expanding the RIA giant’s influence (and maybe bonding over their shared history at LPL?)
Riskalyze Wins the 2022 Three Crowns WealthTech Madness Tournament
You voted, and now we’ve got a winner.
Last week we ran the second annual WealthTech Madness tournament, where we select 16 advisor technology companies and pit them against each other where your votes are the only thing that matters.
This year you took Snappy Kraken and Riskalyze to the finals, and the hexagon-lovers from northern California came out on top.
Congratulations, Riskalyze! You’re the Internet’s favorite fintech.
Check out the full bracket here to relive the action.
Fast Closes Down from Slow Growth
It turns out that the only thing fast about Fast – a fintech startup that wanted to put one-button check-out all across the Internet – was how fast it folded.
It’s an unfortunate end for the many employees hired over the last year by Fast, which raised $125 million and managed to burn through all of it in record time while generating a bafflingly minuscule revenue stream – at latest report, Fast brought in $600,000 in 2021.
We’re not mathematicians, but that’s…not good.
The amount of VC capital being pumped into startups is almost obscene, and it’s more than a little frustrating to see a touted business like Fast be so poorly managed and gain such little traction when it has so many resources at its disposal.
Making matters worse, the Fast CEO has a, let’s call it *dubious* history as a businessman. You can read a Twitter thread here breaking down his history.
Beyond the CEO’s penchant for abrupt shutdowns, sometimes what sounds like a brilliant idea in Silicon Valley just…isn’t. Maybe the innovation we need is the ability to buy things online slower.
Crypto Bull or Crypto Bull$h!t?
Miami desperately wants to be seen as Crypto City, which sounds more like it belongs in a knockoff version of Blade Runner than our current reality, but whatever.
A new version of the Charging Bull statue is the city’s latest attempt to become the Bitcoin leader. Miami’s bull is exactly like the one on Wall Street…except, again, it looks like it came out of a Blade Runner knockoff.
Is this cool or cringe? We want to know your thoughts.
Ellevest Breaks Barriers with Bountiful Series B
While one VC-backed company closes, another continues on.
Ellevest, which provides financial solutions targeting women, announced it raised a whopping $53 million in Series B funding.
Funding stories aren’t all that interesting on their own (there are a lot of them, after all) but what makes Ellevest and its funding round unique is that it includes 360 women and underrepresented investors.
In an industry that’s been historically exclusionary, it’s exciting to see an investment platform not only tailored to women, but that also has women involved in and driving its creation and success.
Congratulations to the Ellevest team on their continued growth.
Fast Tracks
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An Intriguing Look at What Happens When You Buy TikTok Comments (Spoiler alert: It’s not great)
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Here’s a Good Marketing Tools Roundup that’s Worth a Quick Scan for New Ideas
Our Favorite Marketing Whoops of the Week
We agree, it would be nice to write a nice quote about diversity there. 🙂
Here’s what we’ve been listening to this week.
Zach McDonald, President & CMO
“It’s been a good week to listen to the National.”
Johnny Sandquist, Founder & CEO
“‘Would you like us to assign someone to butter your muffin?’ may be the greatest lyric ever written.”
Connor Brandt, Graphic Designer
“I’m a huge Kali Uchis fan so I have to share one of her songs, too.”
Justine Young, Content Writer
“This one passes the vibe check. just don’t ask me what the lyrics mean 🤷♀️.”
Amber Froendt, Project Manager
“This is a cool song.”
Keep up with all of our picks of the week over time with the Three Crowns Mixtape on Spotify.
Click here to check it out and favorite it to add it to your collection.