StackUp aims to make the process of financial advising more transparent.
StackUp is a fintech startup that serves as a watchdog for financial advisors. Through machine learning, StackUp looks to provide the information consumers need to know if their advisor is really the best fit for them.
The three-person company was founded in May 2017 by CEO and co-founder Jason Aronson while he was working as a financial advisor. In that role, he found out just how many ways financial advisors were able to cover up negative information such as bad reviews or fees—some would even ignore current clients to focus more on growing their own business. He realized this needed to change.
The industry currently has $7 trillion being invested among the 41 million people who currently work with advisors, according to Aronson. Aronson said there should be transparency in the financial advising sector, because people trust these advisors to help them reach large future financial goals including retirement, buying a home or saving up for a child’s education.
“From working directly with clients I know they often feel intimidated, and in the dark about their financial future,” Aronson said. “No one really knows if their advisor is doing any good.”
From these two big problems, Aronson thought that there must be a solution, so he formed a team and founded StackUp.
StackUp users will sign up for the service and choose who their financial or robo advisor is. Users will also link their financial accounts that are managed by advisors. They can pick and choose which accounts.
Users will then pick their willingness and ability to accept investment risk. If they aren’t sure, StackUp provides a questionnaire that can tell them.
StackUp then breaks their advisor’s performance down into four different categories: returns, risk, allocation and fees. The service will analyze each users current financial portfolio and provide scaled ratings from 1-5 on the findings in comparison to other financial advisors that people who have the same ability to accept risk, among other factors, work with.
Guy Bauman, a co-founder, met Aronson through a mutual friend and instantly was interested in the company’s mission. Bauman has experience starting multiple other startups including Wizeo and OurCart and originally planned on just serving as an advisor for StackUp. However, as he and Aronson spent more and more time together developing the product for market, Bauman joined as a co-founder.
Bauman said this service is necessary, as most other industries have a platform for ratings and feedback from consumers so that they can make informed choices. Bauman said it's critical to have a service like this for people's finances.
"It's something that consumers demand," Bauman said. "They demand transparency."
StackUp currently can’t disclose any information on funding. They are currently part of the DCU FinTech Innovation Center, and Sandbox which gives them six months of free data services, mentors, and many potential connections.
The startup looks to hopefully add a service in the future to allow people to use StackUp’s ratings to find well-rated advisors. For now, Aronson said he hopes this service will keep people from being surprised about what is happening in the market.
“We want StackUp and the data driven ratings to be the de facto financial advising rating platform in the marketplace,” Aronson said. “We want to be the platform to help people understand what their financial advisors do for them.”
