Leah Del Percio and Tara Faquir had been planning for over a year to launch their company in summer 2020. Then, the coronavirus pandemic hit.
"There was this constant conversation, which is one good thing that's come out of Covid — that people are talking about their estate plans more," Faquir said. "As terrible as Covid is, and was, it shed some light on some very important topics."
The duo decided to launch their company, Trustate, on their planned timeline. The company aims to help streamline and automate the estate administration process. The group offers a flat rate to help close an estate, as compared to a lawyer with an unknown price tag. Trustate works with "preferred partners" that range from banks to financial advisers and estate lawyers, although any customer can sign up for their services.
"An [estate] executor is typically a close family member, so you're dealing with the loss of a parent or grandparent, and then having to reiterate the story over and over becomes too tiresome for people," Faquir said. "And until Trustate, they didn't have a resource that did the work for them and didn't cost a crazy amount of money."
It now has nine total employees and is available in all 50 states.
The company has caught the attention of a national accelerator program for financial technology startups. Trustate was one of five companies accepted to the "WMN-FINtech program," which is a collaboration between BMO Harris Bank and Chicago-based incubator 1871. The program, as its name implies, is focused solely on female-led financial technology startups.
"Trustate ... has made incredible traction this past year," Stephanie Miller, VP of corporate innovation at 1871, said in an email to Tampa Bay Inno. "Their mission to use care, compassion and technology brings a solution to the market that focuses on both the human and technical component of estate planning."
The program will last three months, allow a four-month membership to 1871 and give opportunities to pitch to investors and learn from mentors.
"One thing that's special to us with this accelerator is it's fintech-focused and integrated with a large, successful bank," Del Percio said. "That added a success value, not that the others couldn’t provide, but getting connected to an investment arm is really valuable to us."
It's also entirely virtual, in a move that could be here to stay long after the coronavirus pandemic has ended.
"Pre-Covid, most accelerators were in person, which makes sense but it's really interesting because now we can build a network in the Midwest which is something we haven't done before," Faquir said. "So I'm thrilled it is virtual and can meet so many people we wouldn’t have."
