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Alt Goes Mainstream

iAltA's Bill Crager - from building Envestnet to a "transformational moment" in wealth management

53 min episode · 2 min read
·
Bill Crager

Episode

53 min

Read time

2 min

Topics

Productivity, Personal Finance, Relationships

AI-Generated Summary

Key Takeaways

  • Wealth tech fragmentation problem: Advisors navigate 450 wealth tech solutions and 850 asset managers without technical staff, creating impossible operational complexity that requires horizontal data infrastructure rather than additional vertical point solutions to deliver holistic advice at scale.
  • Data as horizontal foundation: Aggregate and normalize client data across all platforms into a universal cloud first, then build intelligence and workflows on top. This approach shortcuts distance between asset managers, products, and clients without building another operating system the industry doesn't need.
  • Private markets convergence moment: Within two years, vehicle-agnostic portfolio optimization using integrated data from platforms like Envestnet and iCapital will become standard. AI-driven matchmaking will connect specific private market funds to appropriate clients based on portfolio characteristics, collapsing the sell-to-buy distance.
  • Future advisor skillset: Young advisors should focus on three areas: behavioral science and client psychology, technology utilization for empathetic delivery, and understanding proliferating product sets including secondaries and single portfolio company opportunities that research analysts cannot contain alone.

What It Covers

Bill Crager, Envestnet cofounder and current iAlta founding partner, discusses building wealth management infrastructure from dial-up modems to AI, the convergence of private and public markets, and solving industry fragmentation through horizontal data integration.

Key Questions Answered

  • Wealth tech fragmentation problem: Advisors navigate 450 wealth tech solutions and 850 asset managers without technical staff, creating impossible operational complexity that requires horizontal data infrastructure rather than additional vertical point solutions to deliver holistic advice at scale.
  • Data as horizontal foundation: Aggregate and normalize client data across all platforms into a universal cloud first, then build intelligence and workflows on top. This approach shortcuts distance between asset managers, products, and clients without building another operating system the industry doesn't need.
  • Private markets convergence moment: Within two years, vehicle-agnostic portfolio optimization using integrated data from platforms like Envestnet and iCapital will become standard. AI-driven matchmaking will connect specific private market funds to appropriate clients based on portfolio characteristics, collapsing the sell-to-buy distance.
  • Future advisor skillset: Young advisors should focus on three areas: behavioral science and client psychology, technology utilization for empathetic delivery, and understanding proliferating product sets including secondaries and single portfolio company opportunities that research analysts cannot contain alone.

Notable Moment

Crager reveals that creating 25 million automated financial plans from existing account data, then asking clients what the system got right, invites people to add more information and drives holistic engagement rather than building plans one by one.

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Episode Transcript

The way that the technology worked back then was pretty rudimentary, but it was transformational. And the fact that we leaned into it and built upon it was the game changer. I think we're in a kind of a similar moment right now. This episode of the Altco's mainstream podcast is brought to you by Ultimus, a leading full service fund administrator for asset managers in private and public markets. As private markets continue to move into the mainstream, the industry requires infrastructure solutions that help funds and investors keep pace. Ultimus is a leading full service fund administrator for asset managers in both private and public markets, offering a wide range of capabilities across registered funds, private funds, and public plans, as well as outsourced middle office services. Delivering operational excellence, Ultimus helps firms manage the ever changing regulatory environment while meeting the needs of their institutional and retail investors. Ultimus provides comprehensive operational support and fund governance services to help managers successfully launch retail alternative products. Trusted by institutions, investment consultants, registered investment advisors, state governments, and fund managers, Ultimus provides solutions for nearly every investment structure in the marketplace. Visit www.ultimusfundsolutions.com to learn more about Ultimus' technology enhanced services and solutions, or contact Ultimus executive vice president of business development, Gary Harris, on email at gharris@ultimusfundsolutions.com. We thank Altimus for their support of Alt's going mainstream. Everybody gets a piece. We're going mainstream. Welcome back to the Alcos Mainstream podcast. Today's interview is with a wealth management entrepreneur who created one of the most consequential wealth management technology companies. Bill Kreger is the cofounder of Envestnet, which he and his cofounder, the late Jud Bergman, grew into a public company. Bill was the CEO of Envestnet during the company's time as both a public company and following Bain Capital's acquisition to take the company private for $4,500,000,000. Phil is now back at it again, joining Ialta Holdings as a founding partner to build a suite of businesses at the intersection of private markets and private wealth management infrastructure alongside Ipreo CEO Scott Canales, Ipreo executive Bill Sherman, and former Blackstone CFO and Westcap founder Lawrence Tosi. Bill and I had a fascinating conversation about wealth management in private markets. We covered the evolution of wealth tech, what advisors are looking for when it comes to technology, how technology can help advisors deliver a high quality experience to clients, why private markets are now playing such a big role in the business of wealth management, what's missing in private markets infrastructure, why Bill wanted to go back to building again, and what is in store for Ialta. Thanks, Bill, for sharing your wisdom and expertise on private wealth and private markets. Welcome to the Alco's Mainstream podcast. Michael, it's really great to see you. Likewise. Well, it's exciting to sit down today because you've had such a tremendous career at the intersection of wealth management and the evolution of wealth management as well. Now you're here building another …

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