Name
Title: CEO
Company: RIA in a Box
Web Address: www.riainabox.com
What does your firm do/offer within the fintech sector?
Will Bressman: RIA in a Box provides the leading compliance solution for investment advisers. We put the client first by delivering innovative software and expert advice. We offer software and services to support ongoing compliance and operations functions, such as cybersecurity, of RIA firms.
What is your role within your firm and what do you do there on any given day?
Will Bressman: My main job is to support our wonderful team. We are a true multidisciplinary team; talented software developers and product side by side with former regulators and compliance experts and sales and marketing pros. I view my main job as keeping these talented functional areas united and working together to accomplish great things for our clients and our company.
What areas of fintech do you believe will grow the most in the coming 5 years?
Will Bressman: We are obviously in a period of unprecedented uncertainty, anxiety and disruption. This is a scary thing with unknown consequences. Without a doubt, like so many parts of our world, I don't think anyone has a crystal ball to understand how this will all shake out, but we are very keenly aware that this shock will create change and some headwinds.
The broad trend towards consumer empowerment, fee awareness and aligned incentives is a wonderful trend for the financial services industry. As a result, broadly speaking, fintech that helps improve the efficiency and quality of financial services firms are poised for great growth. We are biased, but operational support tools are the next frontier for empowering this market evolution.
What has been the biggest failure of your firm to date?
Will Bressman: When we first launched our SaaS platform, MyRIACompliance, we naively operated with a 'if you build it, they will come' mindset. What we quickly learned is that while people love the platform, the aspect of our operations that made us unique is the combination of software and people...and we weren't helping people actively learn how to use the software. We quickly pivoted to add an onboarding team and in doing so, we have seen our extremely talented team help drive adoption and satisfaction of MyRIACompliance.
What fintech leader do you admire most and why?
Will Bressman: I did not know him personally, but the late Jud Bergman stands out. On a product and strategy level, he clearly led an organization with clairvoyance about where the adviser landscape was heading and built a platform to really ride that wave. Yet what really sticks out, in learning of his tragic death, is the impact he made on a personal level. Whether industry colleagues or people at the company, the memories of his decency as a human being and putting others first set an example for me of what true servant leadership entails. That is an incredible legacy to leave in the world.