Tech-Savvy Titans: Navigating the Future with Top AdvisorTech Consultants

Seeing as there are a lot of advisortech companies to navigate, implement, transition... it sure would be helpful to have a list of independent consultants.

You'll notice some of the bios include questions from Tim Ferriss 's book: Tribe of Mentors. I thought it would be fun to include some insights from these consultants.

Also, let me know who I'm missing!

But first, a word from our sponsor:

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Ok, let's get started:

First, honorable mentions go to Michael Kitces , Craig Iskowitz , Joel Bruckenstein , Bob Veres , and others leading the way in advancing advisortech knowledge, resources, surveys, directories, maps, and the like! I couldn't do what I do without them.

Ian McKenna - 23,520

Ian McKenna

Founder & Director at the Financial Technology Research Centre (FTRC)

Website: https://ftrc.co/

Bio: A Financial Technology Evangelist, Futurist and Singularitarian who is passionate about how technology can help people better understand their money and improve the quality of their lives. I believe there has never been a more exciting time to work in the personal finance market and that emerging technology can help advisers and other financial services businesses make a real difference to their clients financial health. I travel the world seeking out those firms that are transforming financial advice and guidance for consumers.

I’m convinced technology can democratise the advice process, expanding its reach from the 15% of the population serviced today, to enable the vast majority of the population so they can access affordable advice on how to better manage their finances.

John O'Connell - 13,937

John O'Connell, MBA

Chief Executive Officer & Founder at The Oasis Group

Website: https://theoasisgrp.com/

Consult on: All Advisor Technology

"Current" favorite AdvisorTech: We don’t really have a favorite. The nature of our engagements is to find the best fit for our client’s requirements.

If you could have a gigantic billboard with anything on it, what would it say?

• Stay curious. Curious people ask more questions and continue learning throughout their lives.

What is an unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love?

• I change my virtual backgrounds every week. I started this when I created my firm in 2019 and its stuck. Now clients expect a new background every week and it brings me great joy to change them.

In the last five years, what new belief, behavior, or habit has most improved your life?

• I read “The Magic of Thinking Big” again last year. This is an outstanding business book that includes great behaviors to grow your business. Know the worth of your service offerings and do not be afraid to ask for fair compensation for your services.

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?

• I see many firms who do not establish professional sales programs and expect a high level of sales. If you want to grow your firm greater than your contemporaries, then invest in professional sales programs, training, and sales professionals.

In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to?

• When you start a company, you tend to take on many engagements that may not be the best fit for you and your team. We learned early to say no to clients and engagements that are not a good fit for The Oasis Group. We have 4 core offerings that we deliver better than anyone in the business. We now refer away business that are not aligned to our offerings.

Jason Pereira - 9,713

Jason M. Pereira

Senior Partner & Financial Planner at Woodgate Financial Inc.

Website: https://jasonpereira.ca/

Consult on: Officially - Side Drawer (Advisor document storage, collaboration, and security), Advisory AI (Generative AI report generation), Pocket Finance (Advisor/client personal finance and communication app) Unofficially, many more

"Current" favorite AdvisorTech: Don't ask me to pick between all my friends in the space :P

Questions: What advice would you give to a smart, driven college student about to enter the "real world"? What advice should they ignore?

Goals in your life are not the endpoint. Reaching them does not make you complete. They are mile markers in the larger path that is your life, and the journey is what matters, so make sure it's full of mile markers that will enrich the entire experience.

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?

• Unfortunately, the industry is rife with heuristics and general advice. Advice given and listened to should be based on empirical evidence peer review and factor in the biases, and desires, preferences, and financial traumas of the person being advised. Quantitatively optimal is not the same as behaviorally optimal. Unless the advice fits that Venn diagram it is unlikely to work.

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?

• Take a deep breath, eliminate the unnecessary, put your nose to the grindstone and work your way out of that feeling. The only way out of it is to either abandon or do the work. Time lost dwelling on being overwhelmed is time not spent solving the problem.

Cameo Roberson - 5,780

Cameo Roberson, fCOO ?? Integrator ?? Operations Expert

Managing Principal at Atlas Park Consulting

Website: https://atlasparkco.com/

About: We provide Business Coaching & Operations Strategy services for Financial Advisors and Wealth Management Firms and assist our clients to build confidence around mindset, service structure, growth and implementation strategy without feeling overwhelmed so they can execute solutions to drive revenue.

Kristen Schmidt - 4,836

Kristen Schmidt

Founder |Tech Strategist & Consultant at RIA Oasis

Website: https://riaoasis.com/

Consult on: RIA Oasis is a technology Consulting Firm within the Financial Services Industry focused on creating defined efficiencies using purposeful technology initiatives. RIA Oasis prides itself on helping firms maximize their use of technology while driving best practice & business growth.

Michelle Odom - 2,647

Michelle Odom

Founder & CEO at Ellevate

Website: https://ellevateft.com/

Consult on: With Ellevate, your firm gets a team of industry experts that bring a healthy balance of discipline and technology solutions to improve operational efficiencies and scalability allowing wealth management firms to focus on their core strengths, deepening client relationships and growing a successful business.

Charesse Spiller - 2,464

Charesse Spiller

Founder & Principal Consultant at Level Best

Website: https://www.getlevelbest.com/

Consult on: At Level Best, we empower financial planners and entrepreneurs by teaching them how to level up their operations. We help you maximize your time by giving your team the best-of-breed tools and proven processes you need to scale successfully.

Michael Whitman - 2,104

Michael C. Whitman, MBA, CFP?

Owner/Financial Planner at Millennium Planning Group, LLC

Website: https://www.michaelwhitmanmba.com/

Consult on: Pulse360 , Zapier , Snappy Kraken , Calendly , fpPathfinder

Bio: I have been in the financial industry since 2009. I started in risk management (yes that means insurance agent). I quickly went from insurance agent to annuity sales to financial advisor. The one thing that never changed is my love for technology and how I could better use technology to work with my clients. Working with a couple broker/dealers, I found ways to use the technology I wanted while staying compliant and within their guidelines. I realized that compliance doesn't want to hinder you and your use of technology, they simply want to be compliant.

Stephanie Dannebaum - 2,033

Stephanie D.

Founder at Stephanie Dannebaum Consulting

Website: https://stephaniedannebaum.com/

Consult on: Redtail Technology , Wealthbox , Hubly Inc

"Current" favorite AdvisorTech: I do not currently have a favorite Advisor Tech as I consult on many of them. However, I appreciate Advisor Tech that enables Financial Advisors and Financial Planners to focus on strategic decision-making and client relationships. It is important to leverage technology when appropriate.

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?

• Automations and artificial intelligence have become prominent buzzwords in AdvisorTech recently. While they can offer valuable assistance, it's crucial to understand their purpose. I consistently advocate for prioritizing the accuracy and setup of CRM data, encompassing contact management and templates, to establish a smoothly operating CRM system. Only after achieving this foundation can, you effectively leverage automation to scale operations.

In the last five years, what new belief, behavior, or habit has most improved your life?

• Recognizing the dual roles of being a mother and a business owner, I've learned the importance of setting boundaries to maintain balance. This involves establishing clear guidelines for when and how I engage with both my family and my business. By setting these boundaries, I ensure that I devote quality time to my children without neglecting the demands of running a successful business. This mindful approach allows me to effectively manage both aspects of my life and fulfill my responsibilities as a mother and business owner.

In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to?

• Over the last five years, I've transitioned from simply striving to achieve the skill of saying no to refining my ability to discern what I embrace. This change in perspective has enabled me to allocate my time, energy, and resources more intentionally, ensuring that my work aligns with my values and objectives. I've found greater fulfillment and effectiveness in delivering what I excel at, while also leveraging my network to provide my prospects and client's with resources to achieve additional business development needs.

Kate Guillen - 1,746

Kate Guillen

Founder, Lead Coach at Simplicity Ops

Website: https://www.simplicityoperations.com/

Consult on: Redtail Technology , Wealthbox , FinMate AI , Bento Engine , GReminders

"Current" favorite AdvisorTech: FinMate AI

How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a "favorite failure" of yours?

• Getting laid off from a personal assistant job. I was beside myself when it happened, no one in my family had ever been laid off before. I was sad and embarrassed. But once I got over that and put myself back out there, I was introduced to a VP of a B/D who was looking for a CSA and he took the risk on me, some 24-year-old kid who didn’t know the difference between a stock or a bond. We worked together for 3 years, I learned a whole lot more than the difference between a stock and a bond. I learned to love the investment management industry and the rest is history.

In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to?

• What is saying no? Just kidding, I am trying very hard to say no to distractions and anything that takes our focus away from our mission to change the lives of financial advisors and the teams that support them. I have gotten much much better at tuning out the noise.

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?

Just stop and walk away. Not everything can be solved on the spot. Sometimes you need to be quiet in your own thoughts to find the solution and regain your focus.

Heath Jackson - 1,578

Heath Jackson

Managing Consultant at TruGrowth Consulting

Website: https://trulearning.trugrowth.consulting/trugrowth-consulting-home

Consult on: We create infinite advisory practices by leading successful and motivated firms through the obstacles separating goals from results. Through our process, we identify the issues, collaboratively implement solutions, and deliver meaningful results that are measured as exceptional advice delivery, faster growth, stronger profit, and the best people.

James Cantwell - 1,567

James Cantwell

Founder at The Cantwell Advisory

Website: https://thecantwelladvisory.com/

Consult on: We provide Advisors, Asset/Wealth Managers, and Family Offices with workflow design services, road mapping technology infrastructure, and then executing that design from vendor evaluation through implementation. We cover all applications commonly used by small breakaway RIAs up to multi-billion dollar wealth managers and RIA aggregators.

"Current" favorite AdvisorTech: I have to pick just one? I’d have to say ARQA has my attention. They are an early entrant to our space with powerful AI tools. They have two core products. One is KorScript, which uses generative AI to capture data from financial documents to populate your systems. It can also be used with their other product, ARQA AI, which I’m excited about. ARQA AI is like ChatGPT but uses your data to enable your team to uncover key insights effortlessly by just asking it for what you need. It empowers Advisors, PM’s, and principals to ask their questions without having to rely on the Operations teams to run extracts, reports, or perform analysis. It has huge potential to help with your CRM and workflows too! I know other vendors will have impressive AI tools soon, but ARQA is a smaller company and came to market with the vision and product first and I think they are spot on with solving common issues across all these financial advisory firms.

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?

• This is less of a bad recommendation and more of a prevalent line of thought. Whether it is another consulting firm doing your vendor evaluation or an RIA looking to add technology to their tech stack, it is way too common to believe the technology will solve your issues. IMHO, It is far more critical to have a thoughtfully designed workflow that is applied consistently throughout your organization by a team that understands the steps being taken and the value of the output. This ensures all parties are aligned and headed in the same direction. Having a solid workflow paired with the right technology and a knowledgeable team will yield powerful results and eliminate inefficiency. You can’t ignore the people and the process. Tech won’t solve your issues alone.

In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to?

• Prospects. Wait, did I say that out loud? I don’t “prospect.” I network and look for opportunities to solve problems with a partner who is genuinely interested in investing time and energy toward that goal. I won’t take on a firm that doesn’t have extreme enthusiasm for growing their organization through thoughtful design and hard work. Consulting is a team sport, and I want to work with those who are training to play in the majors. For the record, I don’t actually say no to these firms I don’t take on; I’ll always find them another resource or provide advice on where I think they should focus, and then I genuinely wish them the best.

If you could have a gigantic billboard with anything on it, what would it say?

• “Don’t buy features, buy solutions!” Many firms I work with evaluate software vendors focused on features they believe they need based on how they do things today. You want to design your future platform and select one based on how effectively it solves your pain points. It’s not about a prettier report, it’s about finding a more effective way to distill information and then present the data or the story you wish to share with your customers. You want to build a relationship with your customers; colorful reports showing asset allocation and TWR for the last quarter don’t do that; clients need to see that your financial guidance enables them to live the life they have planned. The right solution will aid you in doing just that.

Verity Larsen - 1,025

Verity Larsen

Founder, Chief Executive Officer at Versoft Consulting

Website: https://versoftconsulting.com/

Consult on: At Versoft, we pride ourselves on being vendor-agnostic. While other software consultants in the FinTech space may suggest whomever is paying the most, Versoft is committed to developing solutions and integrations based on the unique needs of your business. We are confident that after working with our team you will trust us to keep your tools updated and your business running smoothly.

Arielle Minicozzi - 922

Arielle Minicozzi, CFP?

CEO & Automation Queen at Sphynx Automation

Website: https://www.sphynxautomation.com/

Consult on: Jotform , Zapier

A unique, customized system so your business can run itself. We can use tech you're already familiar with or make suggestions depending on your current business model and goals you wish to achieve.

Tad Herrington - 800

Tad Herrington, CFP?

Founder & Consultant at AdviceGuide

Website: https://www.adviceguide.co/

Consult on: We collaborate with financial advisors to streamline, optimize, and amplify their advisory experience.

Our mission is to optimize how financial advice is developed, delivered, and adopted by collaborating with financial planners to optimize their advisory experience.

Meghan Rutherford - 582

Meghan Rutherford

Practice Optimization Partner at MKR Consulting, LLC

Consult on: Hubly Inc

Partnering with financial planning firms/RIAs/Hybrid/IBD advisors looking to: - implement process and gain efficiencies - adopt new tech or integrate tech stack - automate key processes - empower teams, create company values, build culture - provide a deeper, more meaningful client experience

Cooper Shubert - 537

Cooper Shubert

Owner and Founder Rockstar Righthand

Consult on: Hubly Inc

Bio: RIA Operations & Support Employee Guru

Jeff Rusin - 317

Jeff Rusin ?

Owner at Advisor Tech Partners

Website: https://www.advisortechpartners.com/

Consult on: Redtail Technology , Wealthbox , and Email Marketing Solutions

At Advisor Tech Partners, we believe in the power of an integrated ecosystem. By aligning your CRM, website, and email marketing systems, we create a seamless experience for both you and your clients. This integration drives efficiency, enhances communication, and ultimately helps you achieve your business goals.

So what advisortech issues are you currently facing? How can we help?

Join the conversation at: skool.com/proadvisorsuite