Founders’ Leadership Series with Andy Rachleff, Co-Founder, President and CEO, Wealthfront
Andy Rachleff, Co-Founder, President and CEO, Wealthfront, in a candid leadership conversation with Bruce Aust, Vice Chairman of Nasdaq and President of the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center
Andy Rachleff is doubling down that the future of financial planning and investment management will be completely software-based. And that bet is paying off with Wealthfront, the largest and fastest growing financial services firm of all time. Launched at the end of 2011, Wealthfront has grown to manage over $6.5 billion in assets under management with over 130,000 clients. How? With 90% of their clients under 50, Wealthfront is laser focused on a clear market opportunity – attracting millennials who want the benefits of a financial advisor without having to talk to them.
Andy spent 25 years in venture capital, including co-founding the storied Benchmark Capital, and also teaches entrepreneurship at Stanford Graduate School of Business. In 2008, he went back to the business of building companies when he saw a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to change an industry and building something new, something different, something better.”
A fixture in the Valley with the track record to prove it, learn why Andy believes that product market fit is the real driver of growth and how the most successful companies are able to continually reinvent themselves. Understand how Andy sees market opportunities and what he does to build companies to address the gaps he sees. And hear why he couldn’t stay away from the day-to-day at Wealthfront, returning as CEO last fall after two years out of the c-suite.
Bruce E. Aust, Vice Chairman, Nasdaq
Bruce E. Aust is Vice Chairman of Nasdaq. In this role, Mr. Aust works closely with Nasdaq’s Global Listing Services unit to assist clients and prospects worldwide. Mr. Aust also serves as President of the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, located in San Francisco, and played an integral role in the creation and launch of the Center, which opened in 2015. The Entrepreneurial Center is a new non-profit organization funded by the Nasdaq Educational Foundation designed to engage emerging entrepreneurs through events, hands-on mentorship and education.
Previously, Mr. Aust served as Executive Vice President, Global Listing Services, a role in which he oversaw Nasdaq’s new listings and capital market business as well as global business development and relationship management with the companies listed on Nasdaq’s 16 listing markets worldwide.
Andy Rachleff, President and CEO, Wealthfront
Andy Rachleff is Wealthfront’s co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer. He serves as a member of the board of trustees and vice chairman of the endowment investment committee for University of Pennsylvania and as a member of the faculty at Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he teaches courses on technology entrepreneurship. Prior to Wealthfront, Andy co-founded and was general partner of Benchmark Capital, where he was responsible for investing in a number of successful companies including Equinix, Juniper Networks, and Opsware. He also spent ten years as a general partner with Merrill, Pickard, Anderson & Eyre (MPAE). Andy earned his BS from University of Pennsylvania and his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
