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Today — 11 January 2025Main stream

Private credit is hot. Here are the five dos and don'ts that could help you get a job in the burgeoning field.

11 January 2025 at 02:15
A man enters the revolving doors of his office.
 

Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images

  • Asset managers are flocking to the lending business, creating a "private-credit" gold rush.
  • This has pushed up demand for talent, but how does one break into the burgeoning field?
  • BI breaks down the top career pathways and do's and don'ts, according to recruiters and consultants.

Lending is not a new business for Wall Street, but the private-credit gold rush has opened the door to a hiring spree that's only expected to heat up in 2025.

After the 2008 financial crisis, banks removed much of the riskiest lending from their balance sheets. Investment behemoths like Apollo Global Management and Blackstone have been picking up the slack ever since, underwriting loans to real-estate developers and blue-chip firms like Intel or funding corporate buyouts.

According to Morgan Stanley, the private-credit industry is poised to grow to $2.8 trillion by 2028, nearly double the $1.5 trillion mark it reached at the start of 2024. New funds are being launched all the time: Just this week, hedge fund Point72 launched an investment team focused on private credit, and insurer Northwestern Mutual announced that it is partnering with private credit shop Sixth Street to invest insurance money into the sector.

As private credit's star rises, demand for talent has surged, according to financial industry recruiters. Finding the right talent, however, can be challenging — a situation that could worsen in 2025 as demand for corporate lending accelerates.

With so much interest in this field, Business Insider spoke to three financial industry recruiters and two consultants who have worked with private-credit firms to understand what it takes to break into this burgeoning field, where the career path is less obvious than some other financial industry jobs. They said most private-credit shops want people with experience in the field, especially at the senior levels. Given the surge in nonbank lending, however, other pathways are also opening up.

"If you understand credit and you have some stomach for risk or are willing to do workouts to take control of companies if something goes south, there's an awful lot of money to be made in credit," said Robin Judson, founder of recruiting firm Robin Judson Partners.

Depending on the job, it can also offer a better work-life balance —by Wall Street's standards anyway.

"Now, that doesn't mean it's 9-to-5, but maybe it's 9-to-9 or 9-to-8, which is a much more doable day," Judson said, though she noted that there are still some very late nights and early mornings to close deals.

Private credit professionals may also have a more "consistent" workflow versus dealmakers, who are constantly hunting for targets or preparing investment memos that go nowhere, said John Rubinetti, a partner at executive recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles. It also means they may close half a dozen deals a year, well above that of their private-equity counterparts, who may work on dozens of deals in a given year but close just one.

Here are five skills and experiences that could help you get a foot in the door of one of the industry's hottest sectors.

For senior talent, it helps to have private credit experience

"At the senior level, most funds say, 'I'm only looking at people who have direct experience, who have a Rolodex, who know what they're doing, and who've got a track record," Judson said.

Only, it's not so easy to find those people. According to Judson, there are more open roles than experienced people who can fill them, a dynamic that will only increase as more private credit funds launch. In the current talent market, it has forced more firms to get creative about where the scout for talent.

"The folks with the acumen to do it exist. The folks with the experience who have done this before do not exist," said Kevin Desai, the head of tax and consulting firm PWC's private-equity consulting practice.

The investment-bank pathway for junior talent

Investment banks are the most common route for young people to move to so-called buyside firms, whether a hedge fund or a private equity shop. The same is true when it comes to private credit because investment banking analyst programs have proven such a great training ground.

"The most important skillsets are evaluating whether a company is going to make money, how the firm can structure an investment to make money, and how to protect yourself from the downside," explained Jennifer Cragin, a search consultant at BellCast partners who formerly was a director of the capital markets group at Lazard.

"Those are the skills young financial professionals tend to learn in investment banking or credit underwriting," she added.

The investment banking roles firms will want to see on a resume may vary, but all three recruiters said a background in leveraged finance can be very helpful. Leveraged finance, or LevFin, is the part of the bank that helps to finance private-equity buyouts and other transactions through debt. Bankers in leveraged finance need to be able to underwrite loans and predict future cash flow, making it the most direct banking analog to private credit.

Outside of those roles, extensive debt experience in a particular line of business can help, especially if it aligns with an industry that the potential employer is targeting, like infrastructure or climate transition.

"It depends on what their lending base is going to be," Cragin said. said. "If it's infrastructure, you may see people coming from project finance or some of the direct lending seats within the banks or from restructuring."

For senior bankers, it depends on the firm

At the senior level, it can be harder to break into private credit from investment banking, where the focus is on getting the deal done versus thinking like an investor, recruiters said.

"If you're a billion-dollar fund, pulling somebody at a senior level from a bank is very risky," Judson said, adding: "It's not about getting the deal done on the investing side; it's about getting the right deal done."

Unlike smaller firms, some of the largest and most institutionalized firms will still hire senior bankers with the right experience because they have the resources to train them.

Indeed, Apollo CEO Marc Rowan recently said the firm has hired hundreds of senior bankers to fill its growing credit business, including its 16 origination platforms. "For the last five, six years, we've taken 300 to 400 senior bankers from their job inside the banking institution to our firm," he said at the Goldman Sachs Financial Services conference last year. "There's been a movement of knowledge and a movement of relationships and a movement of competency."

Investment bankers with strong connections can also prove to be hot hiring targets.

"They essentially bought those relationships," Rubinetti said of some investment bankers with expansive rolodexes who were poached by private-credit firms.

Private-equity experience can help — to a point

The earliest private-credit firms were launched to provide fundraising to private-equity firms' corporate buyouts, creating a natural pathway from private equity to private credit, recruiters said.

"For private equity candidates, three-quarters of what they need is there. They think like investors, they understand how deals are structured and what they look like, and they understand risk," Judson said. "What they don't necessarily have are credit skills."

The longer you stay in private equity, however, the harder it may be to make a move since debt and lending experience become increasingly important the higher you get on the corporate ladder. Rubinetti said an obvious candidate might be someone who worked in private equity and then went to business school. You would need to get your foot in the door soon thereafter, however.

"Once you're 3-4 years post-MBA, it just makes no sense," he said.

Skip on-cycle recruiting

Although private-credit shops will hire from private-equity firms, the recruiters who spoke to BI suggested that bankers interested in a private-credit career skip what's known as on-cycle recruiting.

Private equity has become notorious for this recruiting schedule, in which they recruit junior investment bankers for jobs that won't start for two years, usually after their analyst training is complete. In practice, this means that some young bankers already have their next job lined up before they even set foot in the office for their first gig.

On-cycle recruiting can backfire, however, for people looking to break into private credit as many private-credit shops don't participate in on-cycle recruiting, recruiters said.

"A lot of the best candidates we see for private credit didn't participate in on-cycle recruiting," Judson said. "Instead, they hunkered down, learned their stuff, participated, put their hands up, and got extra work, which as an analyst means that they basically don't sleep. They then decide to pursue what they want to do next, once they're better equipped."

Read the original article on Business Insider

Before yesterdayMain stream

Our roster of Wall Street rising stars, from 2017 to 2024

Wall Street sign surrounded by a pile of cash

Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI

  • Each year, Business Insider highlights Wall Street's rising stars.
  • These are up-and-comers in investment banking, trading, and investing.
  • All are 35 or younger. Check out our lists over the years.

For the past eight years, Business Insider's finance reporters have tapped their contacts to put together a list of who to watch on Wall Street.

We've received recommendations from bosses, colleagues, recruiters, and financial industry experts to create our annual feature. To be eligible, nominees must be based in the US, 35 or younger, and stand out among their peers. The editors make the final decisions.

Business Insider asked these rising stars from leading firms like Goldman, Blackstone, and Citadel to reflect on their successes, challenges, and best career advice.

2024

Four of the rising stars in a photocollage

Natalie Ammari/BI

Meet our 2024 class

Our most recent set of young professionals reflect the future of finance. A number of them are shaping the trajectory of clean energy and artificial intelligence by financing the infrastructure that will underpin it. Some have seen their focus go from niche to hot asset. Others are influencing how Wall Street interacts with Main Street, using their skills and savvy to create new products and services for ordinary investors or giving employees at portfolio companies ownership stakes.

The rising stars also shared how they unwind and stay grounded in order to stay mentally sharp.

2023

Insider's 2023 Wall Street Rising Stars Photo Collage featuring promising figures in the world of investing: Benjamin 'Ben' Kiflom, Yi YI, Luis Arteaga, David Trinh, Tori Gilliland, Rachel Barry, Ricky Mewani, and Anne Victiore Auriault

Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/Insider

Meet the 2023 class

2023's cohort included traders setting new playbooks for deals and trades and an investor building out burgeoning private markets businesses within the world's largest bank. These influencers also financed some of the biggest deals of the past few years and provided an edge to top investors with complex and innovative products.

They shared the lessons learned from their biggest career mistakes and how their Wall Street wardrobe had evolved from their COVID work-from-home days.

2022

Rising stars of Wall Street 2022 4x3

Fidelity; General Atlantic; Jefferies Group; Goldman Sachs; Rachel Mendelson/Insider

Meet the class of 2022

As Wall Street navigated volatile markets, fewer deals, and plummeting company valuations, we found the players rising up despite the challenges.

One invested in space ventures, and another executed multibillion-dollar trades. Some up-and-comers pushed their teams to the top of industry rankings.

From books on the science of sleep to fantasy football strategy podcasts, here's what these bright leaders were reading and listening to. And here are some of their lessons and advice.

Here are the previous editions of our Wall Street rising stars list:

Read the original article on Business Insider

Fintech pitch deck library: How more than 60 startups raised millions in funding from top investors

1 January 2025 at 02:15
dollar bills money
Check out these pitch decks for examples of fintech founders sold their vision.

Yulia Reznikov/Getty Images

  • Business Insider has been tracking the next wave of hot new startups blending finance and tech. 
  • Startups include generative AI fintechs, ones disrupting lending and banking, and more.
  • Check out these pitch decks to see how fintech founders sold their vision.

Check out these pitch decks to see how fintech founders are selling their vision and nabbing big bucks in the process. You'll see new startups using generative AI to ease up grunt work at investment banks and private equity firms, fresh twists on digital banking, and innovation aimed at making it easier for consumers to gain access to financial services and investments.


SecureSave

SecureSave founders
From left: SecureSave cofounders Devin Miller, Suze Orman, and Bassam Saliba.

SecureSave

SecureSave works with employers to offer their workers an emergency savings account. An emergency savings account operates much like a health savings account, in that it sets aside a portion of an employee's wages to pay for emergency expenses.

The 20-slide fundraising deck SecureSave used to raise its seed round


Albert

Yinon Ravid, the chief executive and cofounder of Albert.
Yinon Ravid, the chief executive and cofounder of Albert.

Albert

Founded in 2015, Albert offers automated budgeting and savings tools alongside guided investment portfolios. It's looked to differentiate itself through personalized features, like the ability for customers to text human financial experts.

The 10-page pitch deck used to raise a $100 million Series C from General Atlantic and CapitalG


Novo

Headshot of Novo cofounders Michael Rangel (CEO) and Tyler McIntyre (CTO)
Michael Rangel, cofounder and CEO, and Tyler McIntyre, cofounder and CTO of Novo.

Kristelle Boulos Photography

Novo is a digital banking fintech for small businesses that offers a checking account, debit card, access to financing, and invoicing services.

Novo's 12-page pitch deck for its $40 million Series A


Rocket Dollar

Henry Yoshida is the co-founder and CEO of retirement fintech startup Rocket Dollar.
Henry Yoshida is the co-founder and CEO of retirement fintech startup Rocket Dollar.

Rocket Dollar

Fintech startup Rocket Dollar helps users invest their individual retirement account (IRA) dollars into alternative assets. Cofounder and CEO Henry Yoshida sold his first startup, a roboadvisor called Honest Dollar, to Goldman Sachs for an estimated $20 million in 2016.

The 34-page pitch deck Rocket Dollar used to nab $8 million


NDVR

Pictured: Michael Simon, the CEO of NDVR.
CEO Michael Simon lured Roni Israelov, former principal at the hedge fund, AQR Capital Management, to head up his portfolio management and research team.

NDVR

 

NDVR is a portfolio management app that customizes portfolios and investment strategies to the needs of wealthy investors. The Boston-based startup — pronounced "endeavor"— applies to portfolios holding between $1 million and $100 million, and leverages quantitative investing strategies, which use computers and algorithmic trading to decide what stocks and other assets to buy, a method typically available to only the largest institutional investors. 

The 10-page pitch deck that helped NDVR raise its $20 million Series B


Percent

Nelson Chu
Nelson Chu, Percent's founder.

Percent

Percent is a three-sided private-credit marketplace that connects borrowers, investors, and underwriters. The marketplace is geared towards accredited retail investors but plans to support more institutional investors in the future.

Percent's 18-page pitch deck used to raise a $30 million Series B


Vint 

Vint cofounders Nick King and Patrick Sanders.

Vint wants to make investing in wines and spirits accessible to everyone. In June 2019, it launched as a marketplace to enable both accredited and non-accredited investors to buy shares in collections of fine wines and spirits. 

The 13-page deck that helped Vint raise a $5 million seed round


Tulipshare

Antoine Argouges, CEO and founder of Tulipshare
Antoine Argouges, CEO and founder of Tulipshare

Tulipshare

London-based Tulipshare lets individuals in the UK invest in publicly-traded company stocks, and then pools individuals' shareholder rights with other like-minded investors to advocate for environmental, social, and corporate governance change at firms like JPMorgan, Apple, and Amazon.

The 14-page pitch deck Tulipshare used to raise $10.8 million in seed funding


Altruist

Jason Wenk, Altruist
Jason Wenk, founder and CEO of Altruist

Altruist

Los Angeles-based Altruist is a digital brokerage built for independent financial advisors, intended to be an "all-in-one" platform that unites custodial functions, portfolio accounting, and a client-facing portal. It allows advisors to open accounts, invest, build models, report, trade, and bill clients through an interface that can save advisors time by eliminating mundane operational tasks.

Altruist's Series B pitch deck that raised $50 million  


Hum Capital

Hum Capital cofounder and CEO Blair Silverberg

Hum Capital uses artificial intelligence to match investors with startups looking to fundraise.

Hum Capital's 11-slide pitch deck for its $9 million Series A


Doorvest

Doorvest Co Founder Image
Doorvest cofounders Andrew Luong (left) and Justin Kasad (right).

Doorvest

Doorvest helps everyday investors buy single-family homes to rent out for passive income. Through its online platform, users can purchase and manage their rental properties. 

Doorvest's pitch deck for its $39 million Series A round


Immo

IMMO cofounders founders Avinav Nigam, Hans-Christian Zappel, and Samantha Kempe
IMMO cofounders founders Avinav Nigam, Hans-Christian Zappel, and Samantha Kempe

IMMO

Immo is a real-estate investing startup that buys properties on behalf of institutional investors, renovates them, and rents out the upgraded home. 

Immo's 26-slide pitch deck for its $75 million Series B


Relief 

Headshot of Jason Satlzman, founder of Relief
Jason Saltzman, founder and CEO of Relief

Relief

Relief offers an app that automates the credit-card debt collection process for users. It negotiates with lenders and collectors to settle outstanding balances on their behalf. 

The 15-page pitch deck that helped a credit-card debt collection startup land a $2 million seed round


Stilt

Priyank Singh and Rohit Mittal
Priyank Singh and Rohit Mittal are the cofounders of Stilt, which announced its $14 million Series A funding round Thursday.

Stilt

Stilt offers loans and credit cards to immigrants coming to the US. The startup uses data, such as education and employment details, to predict an individual's future income stability and cash flow before issuing a loan, rather than rely on traditional metrics like a credit score. It also sells its loan software to other companies looking to offer a credit product. 

The 15-slide deck Stilt used to raise a $14 million Series A


Stratyfy

Laura Kornhauser, cofounder and CEO, and Dmitry Lesnik, cofounder and chief data scientist, of Stratyfy

Stratyfy is a startup that uses AI to help lenders underwrite consumers without long US credit histories or gig economy workers who don't get a traditional W-2 from their employers.

The 13-page pitch deck Stratyfy used to raise $10 million


Miren

Miren Gabriela Campoverde
Miren CEO and Founder Gabriela Campoverde

Janick Gilpin

Miren works with federally-certified lenders that focus on reaching underserved customers in low-to-moderate income areas to underwrite credit-thin small-business owners. 

The 15-slide pitch deck for Miren to score a grant from Google for Startups


CollateralEdge

CollateralEdge
TK

CollateralEdge

Dallas-based fintech CollateralEdge works with regional and community banks — typically those with between $1 billion and $50 billion in assets — to help analyze and price slices of commercial and industrial loans that previously might have gone unserved by smaller lenders.

The 10-page deck CollateralEdge used to raise a $3.5 million seed round


Pinwheel

Pinwheel cofounders
Pinwheel founders Curtis Lee, Kurt Lin, and Anish Basu

Pinwheel

Pinwheel shares payroll data to help fintechs and traditional lenders serve consumers with limited or poor credit who have historically struggled to access financial products. 

The 9-page deck that Pinwheel used to raise a $50 million Series B


Tricolor

Head shot of Daniel Chu, CEO and founder of Tricolor
Daniel Chu, founder of Tricolor.

Tricolor

Tricolor is an alternative auto lender that caters to thin- and no-credit Hispanic borrowers. The Dallas-based auto lender is a community development financial institution that uses a proprietary artificial-intelligence engine that makes decisions for each customer based on more than 100 data points, such as proof of income. 

Tricolor's 25-page deck used to raise $90 million from BlackRock investors


TomoCredit

A photo of the TomoCredit team
The TomoCredit team

TomoCredit

TomoCredit lends to thin- and no-credit borrowers using an internal algorithm to underwrite customers based on cash flow, rather than a credit score.

TomoCredit's 17-page pitch deck to raise its $10 million Series A


LoanWell

Justin Straight and Bernard Worthy, LoanWell co-founders
Justin Straight and Bernard Worthy, LoanWell co-founders

LoanWell

LoanWell works with community-focused lenders to fill a gap in the SMB financing world by boosting access to loans under $100,000. It automates the financing process — from underwriting and origination to money movement and servicing — which can shave down an up-to-90-day process to 30 days or even same-day with some LoanWell lenders. 

The 14-page pitch deck LoanWell used to raise $3 million from investors including SoftBank


Uplinq

Ron Benegbi, founder and CEO of Uplinq, poses in a blue shirt in front of a grey backdrop with his arms crossed over his chest.
Ron Benegbi, founder and CEO of Uplinq

Uplinq

Uplinq is trying to bring alternative data to small-business lending beyond a traditional credit score.

Uplinq's 14-page pitch deck used to raise its $1.8 million pre-seed extension round


Parafin

Parafin cofounders Vineet Goel, Sahill Poddar, and Ralph Furman
Parafin cofounders Vineet Goel, Sahill Poddar, and Ralph Furman

Parafin

Parafin works with companies that other small businesses sell their products through (like DoorDash and Mindbody), to offer capital to these small businesses. Parafin's tech offering spans product, marketing, compliance, and IT support. It also provides the capital, sourced via debt capital providers, and manages underwriting and risk. 

Parafin's 18-page pitch deck to raise a $60 million Series B


Boom

Rob Whiting and Kirill Moizik, Boom co-founders, sit on blue chairs in an open office space.
Rob Whiting (left) and Kirill Moizik, Boom co-founders

Boom

Boom helps people build credit by reporting rent payments to credit bureaus. 

Boom's 14-page pitch deck for its $4.5 million seed


Morty

Nora Apsel, the cofounder and CEO of online mortgage broker Morty, stands in front of a wall with the company's logo.
Nora Apsel is the cofounder and CEO of Morty, an online mortgage marketplace.

Morty

Morty is an online mortgage marketplace that connects borrowers with different loan options, while also automating the loan-closing process.

Morty's $25 million Series B pitch deck


Mako AI

Three young men wearing dress shirts pose in a group shot in an office building
Mako's team, Shivaal Roy (CTO & cofounder), Danny Goldman (CEO & cofounder), and Will Peng (founding engineer).

Mako

Mako AI is building a generative AI associate for the private-equity industry. Its seed round was led by Khosla Ventures, an early backer of OpenAI. 

Mako AI's $1.55 million seed round pitch deck


Reflexivity

Collage of two head shots of men outside.
Reflexivity cofounders Jan Szilagyi and Giuseppe Sette

Reflexivity

Reflexivity, formerly Toggle AI, builds data-analysis tools for traders and investors. Its investors include Wall Street investors Izzy Englander, Stanley Druckenmiller, Greg Coffey. Reflexivity's tech is used by ExodusPoint, Soros Fund, and Millennium Management. 

Reflexivity's Series B pitch deck used to raise $30 million


Louisa AI

Rohan Doctor, Louisa AI founder and CEO, stands in front of a window near an indoor plant
Rohan Doctor, Louisa AI founder and CEO

Louisa AI

Louisa AI wants to help bankers and investors make network connections for deals. It was founded within Goldman Sachs by a managing director.  

Louisa AI's 11-page pitch deck used to raise $5 million 


Rogo

Three young men sit on a brown leather couch posing in a group shot.
Rogo cofounders Tumas Rackaitis (CTO), Gabe Stengel (CEO) and John Willett (President)

Rogo

Rogo is building a generative AI chatbot for bankers and analysts that can automate tasks like creating PowerPoint decks. It was cofounded by former investment bankers. 

Rogo's $7 million seed funding pitch deck


QC Ware

Head shot of Matt Johnson, CEO of QC Ware
QC Ware CEO Matt Johnson.

QC Ware

QC Ware is a startup looking to cut the time and resources it takes to use quantum computing. The technology has potential to enable companies to do complex calculations faster than traditional computers and is especially helpful in risk analytics or algorithmic trading. The fintech is backed by Wall Street giants, including D.E. Shaw, Citi, and Goldman Sachs.  

QC Ware's 20-page deck to raise its $25 million Series B


Claira

Eric Chang and Alex Schumacher, co-founders of Claira
Eric Chang and Alex Schumacher, co-founders of Claira

Claira

Claira is a startup that uses artificial intelligence to analyze financial contracts and documents. Its founding team brings experience from Citadel, Goldman Sachs, and BlackRock. 

Claira's 14-page pitch deck that sold Citi as a customer and investor


Beacon

Beacon Kirat Singh, Mark Higgins
Kirat Singh and Mark Higgins, Beacon's cofounders.

Beacon

Beacon is a fintech that provides a shortcut for banks, asset managers, and trading firms looking to use quantitative modelling and data science to help with analyzing risk, ensuring compliance, and improving operational efficiency. The company has been backed by Warburg Pincus, Blackstone, PIMCO, and Global Atlantic. 

The 20-page pitch deck Beacon used to raise a $56 million Series C


BondCliQ

bond trading desk

Mark Lennihan/AP

For years, the only way investors could figure out the going price of a corporate bond was by calling up a dealer on the phone. The rise of electronic trading has streamlined that process, but data can still be hard to come by sometimes. BondCliQ is a fintech that provides a data feed of pre-trade pricing quotes for the corporate bond market. It was founded by Chris White, a former Goldman Sachs exec.

The 9-page pitch deck that BondCliQ used to raise its $7.5 million Series A  


Proper Finance

Proper Finance co-founders Travis Gibson (left) and Kyle Maloney pose outside for their photo
Proper Finance co-founders Travis Gibson (left) and Kyle Maloney

Proper Finance

Proper Finance helps other businesses keep track of transaction data moved between third-party and in-house systems. In 2024, Proper Finance's tech and team were acquired by Intuit to help small businesses.

Proper Finance's 12-page pitch deck used to score a $4.3 million seed


Uprise

Jessica Chen Riolfi and Chris Goodmacher
Jessica Chen Riolfi and Chris Goodmacher are the cofounders of Uprise.

Uprise

Uprise is an app that offers small businesses, entrepreneurs, and freelancers financial advice and tax-planning services. The San Francisco-based startup partners with financial institutions and other fintechs for them to offer Uprise's tech. 

The 14-page pitch deck that helped Uprise raise a $1.4 million pre-seed round that included the cofounders of SoFi and Gusto


Productfy

Head shot of Duy Vo, CEO and founder of Productfy
Productfy CEO and founder, Duy Vo

Productfy

Productfy aims to help non-finance companies offer their own banking products without additional engineering resources or background knowledge of banking compliance or legal requirements. 

The 15-page pitch deck Productfy used to nab a $16 million Series A


Highnote

Highnote
The Highnote team

Highnote

Highnote is a startup that helps small to mid-sized merchants roll out their own debit and pre-paid digital cards. 

The 12-page deck Highnote used to raise $54 million in seed and Series A funding


OppZo

OppZo cofounders Warren Reed and Randy Garrett
OppZo cofounders Warren Reed and Randy Garrett

OppZo

OppZo is a fintech that is figuring out how to speed up loans to small government contractors. It works with financing partners to extend working capital loans to firms that have won contracts, and who need cash to quickly ramp up their businesses, but might not see that first contract payment for as long as 120 days. 

The 12-page pitch deck OppZo used to raise $260 million in equity and debt


Decimal

Decimal founder Matt Tait
Decimal CEO Matt Tait.

Decimal

Decimal provides a back-end tech layer that small- and medium-sized businesses can use to integrate their accounting and business-management software tools in one place, and automate some accounting operations.

The 13-page pitch deck for Decimal's $9 million seed round


Now

Stacey Abrams and Lara Hodgson, Now co-founders, pose outside in front of hedge
Stacey Abrams and Lara Hodgson, Now co-founders

Now

Now is a startup, cofounded by politician Stacey Abrams, that aims to solve the capital supply chain woes that plague bootstrapped businesses that have to choose between paying invoices and keeping the lights on. Now uses its own line of credit to purchase invoices from customers, paying Now's business customers immediately. When the invoice payment is eventually made by the end-customer, that money goes to Now. 

The 7-page deck that Now used to raise $29 million


FlyFin

Jaideep Singh, CEO and co-founder of FlyFin.
Jaideep Singh is the CEO and co-founder of FlyFin, an AI-driven tax preparation software program for freelancers.

FlyFin

FlyFin is an artificial-intelligence tax preparation program that helps freelancers, who don't get traditional W-2 forms, with their taxes. It connects to a person's bank accounts, allowing the AI program to help users monitor for certain expenses that can be claimed on their taxes like business expenditures, the interest on mortgages, property taxes, or whatever else that might apply. 

FlyFin's 7-page pitch deck used to nab $8 million in funding


Worksome

Headshot of Worksome cofounder and CEO Morten Petersen
Worksome cofounder and CEO Morten Petersen.

Worksome

Worksome is a startup that wants to eliminate the extra work required to manage contractors and freelancers by automating the administrative burdens of hiring, paying, and accounting for contract workers.

The 21-slide pitch deck Worksome used for its $13 million Series A


Honeybook

HoneyBook Oz Naama Dror co founders
HoneyBook cofounders Dror Shimoni, Oz Alon, and Naama Alon.

HoneyBook

HoneyBook provides payment and operations support for freelancers. Its $155 million Series D was led by Durable Capital Partners and included Tiger Global and Citi Ventures.

Honeybook's 21-page Series D pitch deck


Salt Labs

Jason Lee, founder and CEO of Salt Labs.

Salt Labs is a loyalty and payments fintech that is helping hourly-wage workers build wealth through a rewards points system. In June 2024, it was acquired by neobank Chime Financial for as much as $173 million, according to a Fortune report.

The 13-page pitch deck that Salt Labs used to raise a $10 million pre-seed round


Hive

David Gurle poses in front of a bush in his head shot
Hive founder and CEO David Gurle

Hive

Hive pools unused cloud capacity on people's phones and computers and resells it to businesses. It was founded by the former CEO of Symphony, an instant messaging service widely used by Wall Street firms. 

Hive's $13 million Series A pitch deck


40Seas

40Seas team poses together in a group shot
40Seas team

40Seas

40Seas provides software and financing to bridge the gap between global importers and exporters. 

The 14-page pitch deck 40Seas used to raise its seed and seed extension


Bolt

Ryan Breslow.JPG
Ryan Breslow.

Ryan Breslow

Bolt gives merchants the tools to offer a one-click checkout experience. The e-commerce startup made headlines in August 2024 for its pitch to raise a $450 million Series F that would see once-ousted founder Ryan Breslow back as CEO and value the company at $14 billion. 

The 12-page deck that Bolt used to raise its $393 million Series D


Method Financial

Mit Shah, Jose Bethancourt, and Marco del Carmen
Method cofounders Mit Shah, Jose Bethancourt, and Marco del Carmen

Method

Y Cominator-backed Method Financial aims to help consumers pay off their debt by providing an application programming interface to move money more easily. 

The 11-slide pitch deck Method Financial used for its $2.5 million pre-seed round


Kasheesh

lil baby
Lil Baby poses in the press room with the award for best new artist at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

Kasheesh allows users to split online payments across several debit and credit cards. The financial-technology company positions itself as a "responsible" alternative to buy now, pay later services.

Kasheeh's 12-page pitch deck used to raise a $3 million seed extension


Qolo

Head shot of Patricia Montesi, CEO and co-founder of Qolo
Qolo CEO and co-founder Patricia Montesi

Qolo

Qolo is a business-to-business fintech that bundles back-end payment rails for other fintechs.

Qolo's 11-slide pitch deck for its $15 million Series A


Atomic

paycheck

Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock

Atomic simplifies payroll integrations with its API, which can help financial institutions access financial data for verification of income and employment, offer consumers automated set-up or updating of direct deposits, collect financial obligations straight from consumers' paychecks, and more.

Atomic's pitch deck for its $40 million Series B


Glean.ai

Glean Howard Katzenberg
Howard Katzenberg, Glean's CEO and cofounder

Glean

Glean.ai

Glean offers both automated payment services and tailored line-item accounts-payable insights driven by machine-learning models. 

The 15-slide pitch deck Glean.ai used to raise $10.8 million in seed funding


Kamino

Kamino cofounders Gut Fragoso, Rodrigo Perenha, Benjamin Gleason, and Gonzalo Parejo
Kamino cofounders Gut Fragoso, Rodrigo Perenha, Benjamin Gleason, and Gonzalo Parejo

Kamino

Sao Paulo-based Kamino helps businesses automate their payments processes, such as invoice processing and cashflow management. Investors include Inspired Capital, Flourish Ventures, Clocktower Technology Ventures, and QED Investors.

The 8-page pitch deck Kamino used to raise a $6.1M pre-seed round


GlossGenius

Danielle Cohen-Shohet, CEO and founder of GlossGenius
Danielle Cohen-Shohet, CEO and founder of GlossGenius

GlossGenius

GlossGenius provides payments and accounting software built for the wellness and beauty industry.

The 11-page deck GlossGenius used to raise $16 million


Finix

Finix founder Richie Serna next to a slide with his company's logo
Finix cofounder, Richie Serna.

Finix

Finix works with businesses so they can accept, disburse, and manage payments without needing software-developer resources or experience.

Finix's 26-page pitch deck for its $75 million Series C


Slope

Slope cofounders Alice Deng and Lawrence Lin Murata sit on a blue couch
Slope cofounders Alice Deng and Lawrence Lin Murata

Slope

Slope wants to digitize the largely manual, $125 trillion industry of business-to-business payments to help companies process customer orders, collect payments, and manage cash flow. It also uses AI to underwrite buyers and extend short-term financing. Investors include OpenAI's Sam Altman, Y Combinator, and Union Square Ventures.

The 21-page pitch deck Slope used to raise $30 million


Ladder

Jamie Hale Ladder
Jamie Hale, CEO and cofounder of Ladder

Ladder

Founded in 2017, Ladder uses a tech-driven approach to offer life insurance with a digital, end-to-end service that it says is more flexible, faster, and cost-effective than incumbent players.

Ladder's 12-page pitch deck it used to nab $100 million


Counterpart

Tanner Hackett, founder and CEO of Counterpart
Tanner Hackett, founder and CEO of Counterpart

Counterpart

Counterpart is a fintech that applies data science to the commercial insurance industry to more accurately measure risk and find coverage that best fits the customers' needs.

The 8-page pitch deck Counterpart used to raise a $30 million Series B


Honeycomb

Itai Ben-Zaken
Itai Ben-Zaken, cofounder and CEO of Honeycomb.

Honeycomb

Honeycomb is using AI to streamline the often time-consuming and expensive process of sending an inspector to identify potential risks of a commercial property. It analyzes a combination of third-party data and photos submitted by customers through the startup's app to quickly identify any potential risks at a property and more accurately price policies.

Honeycomb's 10-page Series A pitch deck to raise $15.4 million


Footprint

Alex Grinman and Eli Wachs
Footprint founders Alex Grinman and Eli Wachs

Footprint

Footprint helps financial firms onboard customers and verify their identities. Investors include QED Investors and Index Ventures. 

Footprint's Series A pitch deck and 5-page memo used to raise $13 million


ValidMind

Three ValidMind cofounders stand in front of a hedge in branded shirts
ValidMind cofounders (left to right): Mehdi Esmail, Jonas Jacobi, and Andres Rodriguez

ValidMind

ValidMind automates risk-manages processes for AI models on Wall Street, specifically testing, verifying, validating, documenting and monitoring models. Its $8.1 million seed round was led by Point72 Ventures.

ValidMind's 12-page seed funding pitch deck


Spade

Spade cofounders (left to right) Cooper Hart, CTO, Tess Bloch, head of operations, and Oban MacTavish, CEO

Spade sells its software to banks and fintechs so they have more granular payments data about merchants to mitigate fraud. Its Series A was led by Flourish Ventures and included Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator, and Everywhere Ventures (The Fund). 

Spade's 13-page pitch deck for used to raise $13 million


Themis

Neepa Patel, Themis' founder and CEO

Themis develops compliance software for banks, fintechs, and the companies they work. Founder and CEO Neepa Patel worked as a bank regulator at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and in compliance at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank.

Themis' 9-page pitch deck for its $9 million seed funding


Zamp

Zamp's Clete Werts, Edward Lando, and Rohit Bhadange.

Most people think of sales tax as a couple of dollars tacked onto their grocery receipt, but for the seller, managing those dollars on every single product is more complex. Zamp aims to help online sellers of all sizes manage their sales tax compliance. 

Zamp's 12-page pitch deck for its $4 million seed round


LeapXpert

LeapXpert is helping companies ensure the messaging channels employees use to communicate professionally are safe and compliant. Monitoring business discussions outside traditional channels has been a sore spot for Wall Street firms, and a regulatory crackdown in recent years has meant firms have gotten more aggressive in their monitoring efforts.

LeapXpert's 15-page pitch deck it used to raise $22 million

 

Read the original article on Business Insider

20 of the hottest proptech startups in 2024, according to venture capitalists

Vishwas Prabhakara (left), Georgianna W. Oliver (center), Alex Israel (right).
Vishwas Prabhakara, left, Georgianna W. Oliver, center, and Alex Israel, right, lead some of the buzziest real-estate tech startups in the country.

Courtesy of HoneyHomes, Tour24, Metropolis.

  • Real-estate tech startups aim to make tasks from property management to homebuying more efficient.
  • We surveyed 10 venture capitalists to identify the hottest proptech companies of the year.
  • Some of the firms are modernizing real estate by digitizing analog processes, sometimes using AI.

The frozen housing market meant tough times for the proptech — or property technology — industry.

As the market starts to thaw, however, things are looking up for firms that seek to use technology to digitize, automate, or otherwise improve legacy processes in the worlds of residential and commercial real estate.

Business Insider asked 10 venture-capital investors who focus on real-estate and construction technology to nominate the most exciting, promising, and talked-about proptech startups in 2024.

The 20 companies on the final list reveal the breadth of the proptech universe.

Take Steadily, a firm trying to digitize insurance underwriting for real-estate investors, a process that has historically taken a lot of paperwork and time — only to result in policies with steep premiums. Another startup, Arcol, aims to make producing 3D architectural drawings faster and easier. A third, Conservation Labs, uses an AI-powered sensor to detect if water is leaking or being wasted in a building to prevent damage and protect the environment.

In the first half of 2024, venture funding for proptech companies dropped 14.3% from the same period a year prior. Funding totaled $4.37 billion, down from $5.1 billion during the same period in 2023 and dramatically less than the $13.13 billion invested in the first six months of 2022, according to the Center for Real Estate Technology & Innovation (CRETI), which surveyed 1,088 proptech startups.

Certain niches, however, hold promise. In 2024, VC investments in AI-powered proptech companies reached a record $3.2 billion, CRETI reported earlier this month.

Here are 20 of the buzziest proptech companies in 2024, presented alphabetically. The companies' fundraising numbers are from PitchBook to ensure a consistent data source.

Did we miss a company you think is disrupting the industry? Send reporter Jordan Pandy an email at jpandy@businessinsider.com.

Agora

City: New York City and Tel Aviv

Year founded: 2019

Total funding: $64.31 million

What it does: Agora is a financial software firm that helps real-estate investors process payments, keep track of tax records, raise money, and generally organize data.

Why it's hot: The firm, which raised a $34 million Series B round in May, said it helps landlords and developers with much-needed modernization.

"Real estate is the largest asset class in the world. However, the market still relies on legacy software providers, inefficient workflows, outdated, fragmented systems, and manual, tedious work," Asaf Raz, Agora's head of marketing, told Business Insider.

"Investors expect a digital-first experience — they're tech-savvy and need access to information quickly. Firms can't work without it, and clients need a platform like Agora more than ever," Raz said.

A challenge it faces: Real-estate investors are still grappling with relatively high interest rates, which makes it harder to borrow money and scale up, and the relatively high price of materials, which makes it tougher to renovate or upgrade properties. Those market forces could make customers more reluctant to spend money on new software.

Agora CEO Bar Mor told business news site Pulse 2.0 earlier this month, however, that Agora might still appeal to customers because its suite of products could help them "enhance efficiency and save costs."

Arcol
Six headshots of men on Acrol team
The team behind Arcol, which allows architects to build and work together on 3D models.

Acrol

City: New York

Year founded: 2021

Total funding: $5.1 million

What it does: Arcol is a web browser-based design tool predominantly used by architects to create and collaborate on 3D models of buildings and explore their feasibility.

Why it's hot: Architects — Arcol's target audience — have traditionally relied on software design tools like AutoCAD and Revit, which require paid licenses and aren't as collaborative. Arcol has set out to solve that issue with a browser-based format easily shared and edited by anyone involved in a building project.

"These people are core to our society; they're literally building the built world, yet they hate using their tools," said Paul O'Carroll, the son of an architect and founder of Arcol. "The design tool we use to design buildings, we want to rethink for the browser to be collaborative and to be performant."

So far, demand is high. Arcol, run by a team of six, has a waitlist of over 18,000 users, O'Carroll said.

A challenge it faces: There are several other startups in the BIM, or Business Information Modeling, space. Competing with established players like Revit could take a lot of time and money, according to AEC Magazine. (AEC stands for architecture, engineering, and construction.)

Also, Arcol is currently only useful to architects during the conceptual modeling phase, and the company hopes to expand the tool to help with other stages of construction.

Branch Furniture
A woman and two men posing for a picture
From left, Branch Furniture's Verity Sylvester, Greg Hayes, and Sib Mahapatra.

Branch Furniture

City: New York City

Year founded: 2018

Total funding: $11.76 million

What it does: Branch Furniture sells office products, like chairs and desks, to businesses and directly to consumers.

Why it's hot: The company's first iteration sold office furniture the old way: B2B, catering to employers outfitting a huge space who would often purchase items in bulk. After the pandemic changed how (and how often) workers occupied offices, Branch pivoted to sell to regular people — wherever they work.

"We launched our D2C business to cater to the future of work, which was definitively hybrid, both during COVID and after — and that's where we sit today," Sib Mahapatra, cofounder of Branch Furniture, told Business Insider.

Branch's ergonomic chair is a bestseller with a 4.6 rating out of five with over 6,000 reviews — it's rated among the best in its category by Business Insider, Architectural Digest, and Wired for its adjustability and sleek design.

In addition to desk chairs — in colors that range from a standard black to salmon-y orange hue called "poppy," the company also sells desks and lamps to outfit a home office. Its inventory includes meeting tables and even phone booths ($6,395) for more commercial office spaces.

A challenge it faces: Branch's products are physical, so it's been plagued by supply-chain delays. Branch is also up against competitors in the good-looking-furniture-that-is-also-comfortable arena, including Herman Miller and Steelcase — though Branch's offerings are often cheaper.

The company is also gaining ground regarding velocity, or the speed at which new products are developed and released.

"We're learning a lot about the pace of iteration in our product category," Mahapatra said. "It's definitely not software, but the benefit is that you get more time to really get things right and to iterate with purpose, and you end up being a little bit more deliberate about how you iterate the product — it just takes longer."

BuildCasa
A photo of two men, both with salt-and-pepper-hair, with one wearing a light gray hoodie and the other with glasses and a gray fleece jacket over a gray shirt
BuildCasa cofounders Ben Bear, left, and Paul Stiedl.

BuildCasa

City: Oakland, California

Year founded: 2022

Total funding: $6.67 million

What it does: BuildCasa helps California homeowners subdivide their lots — thanks to new state laws — and then connects them with local builders who pay the homeowners for a portion of their land and then build new housing on it.

Why it's hot: The national housing crisis is particularly acute in California, which recently passed a series of laws to encourage more building. While others look to transform construction to make cheaper housing, BuildCasa uses technology instead to find more buildable lots in desirable locations like San Francisco and San Jose.

Most massive home-building companies focus on large, master-planned communities, often far from city centers. BuildCasa's vision, said its founders Ben Bear, CEO, and Paul Stiedl, CPO, is to become a large homebuilder focused instead on finding land in already desirable cities and suburbs.

The company works with homeowners to subdivide their land, creating a new, buildable lot. Those lots can then be sold to a local real-estate developer to build on, or BuildCasa can work in partnership with a local builder to erect and then sell a completed home.

A challenge it faces: New laws have simplified the process of subdividing lots, but building in infill areas still requires technical expertise and good relationships with local officials. Building on these smaller lots may be becoming easier, but it still isn't easy.

Conservation Labs
A headshot of a man
Conservation Labs founder and CEO Mark Kovscek.

Conservation Labs

City: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Year founded: 2018

Total funding: $14.68 million

What it does: Conservation Labs developed a smart water sensor that can identify leaks and wasteful water use. The H2know sensor uses machine learning to decode sounds in water pipes and translate them into insights for commercial property owners, including restaurants and hotels.

Why it's hot: The startup is at the intersection of two buzzy topics: AI and sustainability. H2know trains on thousands of hours of water pipe acoustics so that, over time, it becomes more accurate in detecting leaks and inefficient water use in buildings. Customers use that information to fix problems and conserve water, saving them money on utility bills while lowering their overall carbon footprint. Some 20% of home energy use goes to heating water.

"There's a very strong relationship between net-zero carbon emissions and water consumption," said Mark Kovscek, founder and CEO of Conservation Labs.

He added that H2know has detected leaky toilets in nearly every building in which it's installed. Some large properties are wasting 1 million gallons of water a year, he said.

A challenge it faces: H2know starts at $129, and it could be hard to convince cash-strapped commercial real estate owners to spend money to install sensors when the office market is struggling in many parts of the US.

Kovscek said the goal is to scale up to 100,000 sensors installed as soon as possible, or five times what Conservation Labs is currently on track to sell this year. To support that growth, the company needs to hire some of the "best and brightest" data scientists and engineers to further develop the machine-learning platform that underpins H2know, Kovscek said.

Constrafor
Two men in Times Square.
Constrafor cofounders CTO Douglas Reed, left, and CEO Anwar Ghauche.

Constrafor

City: New York

Year founded: 2019

Total funding: Almost $380 million

What it does: Large general contractors use Constrafor's software to onboard and pay their subcontractors on time — sometimes before the contractors themselves get paid by the clients. Contractors can also use the software to help purchase the supplies and services needed to complete a construction project on time and within budget.

Why it's hot: There's the money raised. In November, Constrafor announced that it raised $14 million in Series A funding as well as a $250 million credit facility.

The issues the firm is trying to address are also key. Construction is booming across the US, thanks in part to President Joe Biden's $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. The rise of AI is also leading to a corresponding increase in the construction of data centers.

The actual process of construction, however, can often be long and complicated. That's why Constrafor's role as a one-stop shop appeals to large general contractors.

"So far, everyone has been focused on just building a very, very small point solution," said Anwar Ghauche, Constrafor's founder. "We're combining multiple different workflows, multiple different departments, all on the same platform."

The main challenges it faces: Next up: Constrafor must try to convince subcontractors to subscribe and pay for its software, too.

Gauch added that Constrafor's contractor clients can face cash-flow crunches. Those can lead to delays on important projects.

After Hurricanes Helene and Milton severely damaged parts of Florida, North Carolina, and other parts of the Southeast, Constrafor launched a disaster relief effort that would allow local contractors who are part of rebuilding efforts "to overcome delays, purchase materials, and ensure timely payment for their teams."

Ease Capital
Three headshots of men
Ease Capital's Ryan Simonetti, Guillermo Sanchez, and Charlie Oshman.

Ease Capital

City: New York

Year founded: 2022

Total funding: $13.95 million

What it does: Ease Capital helps private equity firms and large investors lend to smaller apartment landlords. It uses data and technology that allow the biggest players to lend $5 million to $50 million in deals that would typically be too small for them.

Why it's hot: Sophisticated private lenders usually focus on the largest apartment complexes, meaning that most apartment-building owners have to turn to banks and agencies to borrow money to purchase or refinance properties. However, current high rates have dramatically slowed bank and agency lending and the large private lenders usually won't lend for small—and medium-sized projects.

Ease uses data and technology to make it easier and more efficient for these large lenders to lend on smaller deals when the need is the highest. In 2023, the company announced a $450 million partnership with major real estate owner and asset manager Taconic Capital Partners, and has already announced multiple successfully originated loans.

CEO Charlie Oshamn told Business Insider earlier this year that the company is often seeing up to $1 billion in loan requests a month. Unlike other firms, which provide an estimated rate upfront that could potentially change over months of negotiation, Ease Capital sticks to its initial offering, eliminating the guessing game for potential clients.

A challenge it faces: Though the founding team has successfully launched other major proptech businesses, like flexible office and event space provider Convene and real-estate data firm Reonomy, it still needs to prove itself as a lender.

Habi
Two people posing in an office full of people working.
Brynne McNulty Rojas, CEO and cofounder of Habi, left, and Sebastian Noguera Escallon, president and cofounder.

Habi

City: Colombia and Mexico

Year founded: 2019

Total funding: $564 million

What it does: Habi has built Latin America's largest proprietary database and utilizes AI-based pricing algorithms to facilitate transactions and financing for homebuyers and sellers. Habi also buys and sells homes, offers mortgages, and posts and publicizes listings of properties for sale.

Why it's hot: The company operates in Colombia and Mexico without centralized MLS. MLS, or multiple listing services, are databases designed to help real estate brokers identify available homes for sale. These systems are abundant in the US, whereas they are scarce in Latin America. Without an MLS, it means homebuyers and sellers in Colombia and Mexico have difficulty knowing which properties are available for sale, their prices, and their listing and pricing history.

By gathering and sharing information on more than 20 million homes, Habi has addressed a critical need in these countries' real estate sector, establishing itself as an authority on housing in the region.

"We've become a household name for low and middle-income sellers and consumers and brokers in Mexico and Colombia," Brynne McNulty Rojas, CEO and cofounder of Habi, told Business Insider.

A challenge it faces: A combination of factors, including shifting economic and political conditions, has stalled the growth of Latin America's real-estate market. To achieve the same level of ubiquity as Zillow in the US, Habi must get real-estate brokers and sellers to list their properties on its platform and entice buyers to use it.

HoneyHomes
Professional headshot of Vishwas Prabhakara in a Honey Homes polo
Vishwas Prabhakara, Founder and CEO of Honey Homes

Courtesy of Honey Homes

City: Lafayette, California

Year founded: 2021

Total funding: $21.35 million

What it does: Founder Vishwas Prabhakara envisions Honey Homes as a "primary care physician for your home." For a monthly fee, a dedicated handyman will come once or twice a month to knock off "lightweight" home improvement projects like fixing a leaky faucet, installing a new ceiling fan, or repainting a room.

Why it's hot: With a cooling housing market, Prabhakara believes many homeowners are staying in their homes longer and interested in investing resources in — and enjoying — the property they currently have.

The main challenge it faces: Homeowners who already hire their preferred handymen may not be willing to pay for a service that sends new people, and bigger projects might require more specialized repair professionals. Then there's the cost and current smaller scale of the company: Subscriptions start from $295 a month, or $3,940 a year, according to the company website. The service is only available in parts of San Francisco and the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Orange County, and Dallas, according to the site.

Impulse Labs
A headshot of a man.
Impulse Labs CEO and founder Sam D'Amico.

Impulse

City: San Francisco

Year founded: 2021

Total funding: $25 million

What it does: Impulse Labs made a battery-powered induction cooktop that, unlike most of its competitors, which may require an electrical upgrade, can plug into a standard 120-volt outlet. The cooktop can boil water at lightning speeds, and sensors hold heat levels steady even at high temperatures.

Why it's hot: Impulse Labs founder Sam D'Amico said the cooktop offers a better cooking experience than gas burners while promoting more climate-friendly homes. Cooking with gas emits pollutants like methane, benzene, and carbon monoxide, which harm our health and the planet. But it can cost thousands of dollars to rewire a home for an electric induction stove. Impulse Labs' induction cooktop avoids those pollutants and the cost of home retrofits.

The battery in Impulse Labs' stove also stores enough power to make three meals if the power goes out, D'Amico said.

"One of the cheapest ways to deploy battery storage is in the appliances we have to buy anyways," he added.

The main challenge it faces: The cooktop costs $5,999. The price is high, D'Amico said, but similar to other premium appliances. The price is lower if buyers qualify for tax breaks and rebates from federal and state governments, as well as some utilities. It's also only a cooktop — not a full stove — but D'Amico said the company eventually wants to sell a suite of appliances that can be a whole-home battery solution. Impulse Labs is accepting pre-orders, with plans to ship in the first quarter of 2025, according to its website.

Keyway
Two men posing at a table
Keyway cofounders CEO Matias Recchia, left, and COO Sebastian Wilner.

KeyWay

City: New York City

Year founded: 2020

Total funding: $43 million

What it does: Keyway uses machine learning and AI to aid institutional investors in sourcing, underwriting, and managing portfolios of properties.

Why it's hot: Companies that use AI have become commonplace today, but Keyway believes it is ahead of the pack in adopting and applying AI technology to real-estate investing.

"We were very early on in the AI game in 2020, and I think we've built a really strong backend of data with lots of APIs that allows us to integrate very segregated data very fast," CEO and cofounder Matias Recchia told Business Insider. "The fact that we built our system in a modular way also allows us to customize our product to a lot of our customers — so it's really not one solution fits all."

The main challenge it faces: New technology like Keyway can be hard to push on seasoned real-estate investors as they're used to using old-school methods like manually sourcing, underwriting, and managing portfolios.

"We're merging two cultures that are very different," Recchia said. "The real-estate industry requires a lot of proof to show them that data can really help them make better decisions. So there's a little bit of a culture shift that we're bringing to real estate as we sell them these tools and we partner with them."

Latii
A headshot of a man.
Latii cofounder and COO Juan Pascual.

Latii

City: Brooklyn, New York

Year founded: 2023

Total funding: $8.82 million

What it does: Latii is a sourcing platform that uses AI-powered tools to help North American-based architects and contractors save up to 60% by connecting with Latin American, southern European, and northern African window and door fabricators.

Why it's hot: Architects often include custom windows and doors in their designs, but hiring contractors and craftspeople overseas can cost their property-owning clients thousands of dollars. The architects who work with Latii, however, can source materials faster and at lower costs, cofounder and CEO Santiago Bueno told Business Insider.

"We're able to produce either equal or higher quality products at a less expensive rate," Bueno said.

In October, Latti announced that it had raised $5 million in seed-round funding, which it will use to expand in the Pacific Northwest, Mountain states, and the New York tri-state area.

The main challenge it faces: When working with fabricators in Latin America, challenges can arise in managing certifications, enforcing warranties, and overcoming language barriers. The region's use of the metric system can also be difficult for North America-based architects to navigate.

Lessen

City: Scottsdale, Arizona

Year founded: 2020

Total funding: $713.8 million

What it does: Lessen's software allows commercial and residential landlords to track maintenance needs, connect with service providers, and buy products.

Why it's hot: In August, Inc. magazine named Lessen the fastest-growing private software company in the US, citing its $1.1 billion valuation.

The valuation preceded a major acquisition in 2023: Lessen spent $950 million to buy property maintenance management firm SMS Assist in what the Commercial Observer called the largest proptech acquisition in history.

Lessen's software is widely used, handling 3 million work orders a year across 250,000 properties, according to Fifth Wall, an investor in the firm. Lessen also launched Lessen Advantage Marketplace, which allows its landlord customers to buy materials like glass, floors, and doors and find better insurance and loan rates.

The main challenge it faces: Like many real-estate firms, Lessen faces an overall slowdown in both the commercial and residential sectors, with mortgage rates remaining elevated. One big potential client base for Lessen is office building owners and property managers, but the office market right now is struggling, with vacancies around the US at record highs.

"We typically grow hand-in-hand with our clients, serving them in additional properties and markets as they expand. So, for example, interest rates can influence growth in some areas of our business," said Michael Tanner, senior vice president of marketing at Lessen.

A dearth of tradespeople is also a challenge for the company's platform that connects them to landlords, Tanner said.

Finally, the firm competes in a crowded market of competitors offering software for landlords, including Stessa, AppFolio, TenantCloud, and more.

Metropolis
A professional headshot of a man. folding his arms
Metropolis CEO and cofounder Alex Israel.

Metropolis

City: Santa Monica

Year founded: 2017

Total funding raised by the company: $1.93 billion

What it does: Metropolis uses a computer vision platform powered by artificial intelligence to enable checkout-free payment at parking facilities. After registering their vehicles on the Metropolis app, customers can simply drive in and drive out without the hassle of paying with credit cards or ticket machines.

Why it's hot: Metropolis announced its acquisition of SP Plus, the largest parking network in North America, for $1.5 billion in October 2023 and closed the deal in May 2024. The move allowed Metropolis to rapidly scale its technology and reach 50 million customers across 4,000 locations.

"We've seen success and are continuing to scale and grow because Metropolis' checkout-free experiences give people the gift of time back, so they can spend it on the things that matter the most," cofounder and CEO Alex Israel told Business Insider.

The main challenge it faces: Israel said that most of the parking payments and transactions in the world are still analog.

"We envision a future where checkout-free payments travel with you, but scaling this technology across industries is complicated — it requires remarkable proprietary technology and boots on the ground," he said.

PredictAP
Two men posing.
PredictAP CEO and founder David Stifter, left, and president and cofounder Russell Franks, right.

PredictAP

City: Boston

Year founded: 2020

Total funding: $13.17 million

What it does: PredictAP makes real estate invoice processing simple and easy. It uses AI to code invoices quickly.

"So the accounting rules can become very complicated in commercial real estate at big companies," said CEO and founder David Stifter, describing the journey of how an invoice is processed.

He said an invoice would come in first, and someone would need to determine which accounting rules to apply. Predict AP will be useful at this stage because the AI will understand and use the accounting rules correctly. Then, it will go through the rest of the accounts payable process, a department responsible for paying vendors for services or goods at the company. Then, someone will approve it and then pay for it.

Why it's hot: Predict AP serves every corner of the real estate sector. The company said its customers are publicly traded companies that own real estate, private companies that own and operate real estate, or customers who provide services for those big companies.

The company has been able to help AP specialists and property managers face difficulties entering invoices because it takes a lot of time and effort.

"We're able to help folks with that difficult task of coding invoices and it's particularly painful in real estate where there's a lot of complexity," said CEO and founder David Stifter. He added: "Nobody wants to be typing 15-digit invoice numbers; that's not fun."

Russell Franks, the president and cofounder of Predict AP, added to his comments and noted that Predict AP could process an invoice in 30 to 40 seconds faster than the normal processing time of five to 10 minutes.

The main challenge it faces: The company shared that it is hard to find funding in this tough economy, and it is not easy to grow and expand.

Propexo
Three men posing.
Propexo CTO Nikolas Johnson, left, COO Ben Keller, center, and CEO Remen Okorua, right.

Propexo

City: Boston

Year Founded: 2022

Total funding: $7.97 million

What it does: Propexo's unified API, or application programming interface, helps other real-estate tech companies quickly and easily integrate with property-management systems.

Why it's hot: Real-estate tech companies use APIs to integrate with data from external sources, like lead generation systems or rent roll systems.

However, existing APIs and the technology around them are outdated.

That means companies lose time and money that could be used to develop their product while trying to integrate with these APIs, said COO Ben Keller.

Propexo's unified API improves the developer experience by making the integration process simpler, faster, and cheaper. "We're really the first engineering infrastructure product in the proptech ecosystem," said Keller.

The main challenge it faces: It's not easy to convince property managers and owner-operators to change how they've been running their businesses for many years.

In August, the Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against RealPage, alleging that the property-management software company allows landlords to coordinate and unfairly keep rents high. This is causing some landlords to rethink how they handle and process information, according to trade publication Multifamily Dive.

Rent Butter
A headshot of a man.
Christopher Rankin, Rent Butter's cofounder and CTO.

Rent Butter

City: Chicago

Year founded: 2020

Total funding: $4 million

What it does: Rent Butter has created an alternative tenant screening process that gives landlords a more comprehensive view of applicants' financial history.

Why it's hot: Landlords have historically relied on static credit reports and background checks when evaluating potential tenants. Doing so creates a barrier for applicants with financial difficulties early in their adult lives, as credit scores are a difficult metric to improve.

Rent Butter is trying to eliminate that barrier and change the narrative around who is a "good" candidate by providing landlords with additional information that can more accurately assess a person's financial reliability.

Their application connects to an applicant's bank account, credit history, and employment, criminal, and rent payment history to provide a detailed one-page report highlighting their financial behaviors and potential risks.

"Our whole approach is: How do we show who the person is today — not who they were seven or 10 years ago," cofounder and CTO Christopher Rankin told Business Insider.

The main challenge it faces: Rent Butter partners with landlords, rather than selling directly to consumers, which makes scaling a challenge. Most landlords already have a tenant-vetting process, so it could be hard to convince them to change to Rent Butter.

Shepherd
Three men posing on a couch
Shepherd CTO Mo El Mahallawy, left, CEO Justin Levine, center, and Chief Insurance Officer Steve Buonpane, right.

Shepherd

City: San Francisco

Year founded: 2021

Total funding: $22.27 million

What it does: Shepherd is a Managing General Underwriter (MGU) leveraging tech to make underwriting commercial construction insurance more efficient. It also wields data to create more informed risk selection and price recommendations, often leading to upfront and long-term savings for policyholders.

Why it's hot: Insurers partner with MGUs to provide clients with insurance, with the MGU underwriting policies for clients and selling to potential policyholders. Shepherd adapts the typical MGU model by cutting the underwriting process from weeks to hours and incorporating risk assessment tech into its platform, making it a one-stop shop for insurers and clients. By working faster and putting these services in one place, Shepherd can better serve construction companies and insurers while fostering more involved relationships.

The main challenges it faces: Both insurance brokers and potential clients have some healthy skepticism about a new model for commercial construction insurance, so it falls on Shepherd to earn their trust to gain their business.

Steadily
Darren Nix poses for a headshot
Darren Nix, founder and president of Steadily.

Courtesy of Steadliy

City: Austin

Year founded: 2020

Total funding: $60.1 million

What it does: Steadily is a digital insurance company for real-estate investors that promises a "faster, better, and cheaper" underwriting experience.

Why it's hot: Steadily founder Darren Nix first encountered the outdated nature of insurance underwriting, trying to find quotes for his own rental property in Chicago.

Terrible customer service and shockingly high quotes stopped him in his tracks.

"It was like rolling back the clock to the mid-1990s," he told Business Insider. Focusing on selling insurance to real-estate investors has helped Steadily grow to about 140 employees across Austin and Kansas City, Missouri.

In November, Steadily announced it had started to actively write new business on its own insurance carrier. "Nothing says 'we believe in the product we've built' more strongly than underwriting risk as the carrier," Nix said in a statement.

The main challenge it faces: Steadily has started selling insurance to short-term-rental investors, which presents different challenges than underwriting more traditional, longer-term rentals.

The market represents significant growth — accounting for nearly 20% of Steadily's current business — but the pricing is tricker.

"The people coming in and out of those properties don't take care of them at the same level of responsibility," Nix explained. "One of the things that a host can do to demonstrate that they are a good insurance risk is to point to their Airbnb or VRBO history and show that they're a super host, they take great care of their property, they don't host ragers."

Tour24
Founder Georgianna W. Oliver.
Tour24 founder Georgianna W. Oliver.

Courtesy of Tour24.

City: Medfield, Massachusetts

Year founded: 2020

Total funding: $20.35 million

What it does: Tour24 is an app that lets prospective tenants take self-guided apartment tours without a leasing agent present.

Why it's hot: In many cities, renting an apartment can be cutthroat, with open-house lines and bidding wars to nab a good unit at a reasonable price.

More than ever, people are deciding on places to live quickly — sometimes even committing before they've even seen the unit because they aren't able to schedule a walkthrough that jives with their working hours.

Tour24 allows users — who are ID- and credit card-verified — to tour apartments when leasing agents aren't available, such as on evenings and weekends.

"We are seeing that certainly millennials really prefer self-guided experience," Georgianna W. Oliver, the founder of Tour24, told Business Insider.

Oliver said many of their leasing-agency clients offer Tour24's self-guided tours as well as leasing agent-led tours and virtual tours — and have given feedback that the more options they give potential renters, the better.

"People have the options," she said. "And they really like having the options."

The main challenge it faces: Since the worst part of the COVID-19 pandemic, many individual leasing agencies have been offering some version of a self-guided tour on their own with their own video Tour24 also competes with other self-guided rental-tour apps like Rently and CareTaker.

Tour24 seems to be holding its own: The startup announced in October that it raised $5 million in a Series B round, noting that it had doubled in size in 2024 to reach 525,000 units across over 2,060 multifamily properties.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Behind the scenes of Blackstone's trailblazing video operation

20 December 2024 at 01:40
A kaleidoscope-like image showing behind the scenes of Blackstone's holiday video

Alex Nicoll; Rebecca Zisser/BI

  • Blackstone's outlandish holiday videos have become must-see TV for Wall Street and beyond.
  • Love them or hate them, they are smart marketing, and other companies are taking notice.
  • Business Insider went behind the scenes to see how they're made and who's in charge.

On a Thursday in December, a small crowd stood outside the office of Blackstone's heir apparent, Jon Gray. A woman was holding a martini glass and asked the nearby film crew how she should toss its contents at her colleague.

Laurie Carlson, Gray's executive assistant, wanted to know how high she should throw the liquid and worried aloud about the office equipment, including a printer.

A member of the crew told Carlson to aim for the face — for comedic effect. A minute later, Joe Lohrer, the head of US retail sales for Blackstone Private Wealth Solutions, was dripping wet, and the head of Blackstone's video team, Jay Gillespie, called for another take.

Woman throws water into face of man in a suit in an office.
Laurie Carlson throwing a martini in the face of Joe Lohrer.

Alex Nicoll/Business Insider

"This is the first stunt we've ever done in a holiday video," Gillespie, who's spent his career in the film industry as a director, producer, editor, and cinematographer, told a reporter on set.

Since 2018, Blackstone has been releasing increasingly zany videos in time for the holiday season. Think of them as the house with the over-the-top Christmas lights: Some people love it, some hate it, but everyone is talking about it. It's become must-see-TV for Wall Street, and this year's video was among the zaniest. It included a series of mock reality-TV shows and ended with a country-western song-and-dance routine about leveraged loans and data centers.

Blackstone's viral holiday video is the work of Gillespie's team, which has been quietly helping to transform the public face of the private-equity giant since he joined the firm full time in 2019. The video operation now includes about 20 full-time staffers and produces an enormous amount of content, including 2,200 videos this year alone. It is the brainchild of Christine Anderson, Blackstone's global head of corporate affairs, who also oversees the team as the head of marketing.

Jay Gillespie, his team, Laurie Carlson, and Joe Lohrer look at the scene on a monitor.
From L: Laurie Carlson and Jay Gillespie watch a scene they just filmed.

Alex Nicoll/Business Insider

While the holiday video is the most outlandish, much of what Gillespie and his team produce for Blackstone differs from other financial firms. Rather than focusing on how smart its employees are, the videos seek to humanize them, including by dressing them up in funny outfits and letting them sing and dance. Watching its videos, one can learn that Joe Zidle, the chief investment strategist for the private wealth group, is a Deadhead, and Kathleen McCarthy, the cohead of real estate, rocked out to indie band The Beths at the Coachella music festival in April.

It's arguably smart marketing in an era when being powerful and secretive can backfire, leading to questions and even conspiracy theories, especially for a firm as large as Blackstone, which manages over $1 trillion, making it the largest alternative asset manager in the world. On the "Today" show recently, Dan Roth, LinkedIn's editor in chief, said companies around the world are taking notice — even if some of the videos can attract haters on social media.

"They are watching to see what he's doing, and they're copying it," Roth said of a recent Blackstone video in which Gray discusses the company's earnings as colorful emojis (a handshake, a bicep, a gold medal) pop up on the screen. "We are seeing companies in Australia, companies in Europe, doing exactly the same thing," Roth said. "It's wild."

Origin story

Blackstone's holiday video tradition started in 2018 as a replacement for the New York holiday party, which was canceled because the investment firm, with more than 2,500 employees at the time, had grown too large.

Gray, together with Anderson, decided to mark the holidays instead with a video that parodied their workplace in the style of NBC's sitcom "The Office." Gray, who had just been tapped as president and COO, would play the role of the loveable but incompetent boss Michael Scott, played in the show by Steve Carell.

A woman in a gray suit smile
Christine Anderson

Courtest of Blackstone

The video was initially intended for clients and employees, not the general public. Even as the videos have gained a wider audience, however, the company has continued in the tradition of using them to poke fun at the firm's inner-office dynamics.

One of the biggest jokes over the years was the firm's casting of Gray as the guy who drives his colleagues crazy with his special meetings and big ideas, several people who work with him said. Even the way he yells from his office for Carlson, his assistant, to jump on his latest pet project has a ring of truth to it, colleagues told BI.

"People tell me that I have an excess of enthusiasm, and many people I work with roll their eyes at it," Gray acknowledged to BI.

Other inside jokes included CEO and cofounder Steve Schwarzman's relentless hawking of his book, "What It Takes," and the head of tactical operations David Blitzer's obsession with teams he owns, including the NHL's New Jersey Devils. In 2019, the video featured Bennett Goodman, the cofounder of GSO, wearing a Hawaiian shirt in the office while sipping on a tropical cocktail — counting down the days till his retirement.

Over the years, the audience for the video has grown. In 2023, it attracted 8 million views across platforms, up from just 60,000 views in 2018, a spokesman told BI. The production has also grown more ambitious, with 200 of the firm's 4,900 employees starring in it this year compared with 20 the first year.

The video, which takes months to produce, is also popular inside Blackstone — so much so that it has raised Gillespie's profile within the halls of 345 Park Avenue. Indeed, one sign of his newfound status was his appearance in this year's video — as a reality TV show producer.

"People come up to me throughout the year, and they're like, 'My daughter is helping me rehearse so I might get a line next year,'" Gillespie told Business Insider. "People are really into lobbying to be in it."

Man in cowboy hat poses for a photo in front of video lighting.
Steve Schwarzman shows off his cowboy costume before filming a scene.

Alex Nicoll/Business Insider

Blackstone TV

Gillespie, 38, has been working on and off with Blackstone since 2012 but was only hired full-time after working on the 2018 holiday video. After graduating from Bard, a small liberal arts college overlooking the Hudson River, in 2008, he went straight to work in reality television, documentaries, and some corporate work. At Blackstone, he oversees both full-time production employees and outside contractors.

His team films, edits, and produces from Blackstone's headquarters at 345 Park Avenue. The company releases the content on its website and via email lists, as well as social media sites like LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and X.

Some of what they produce is traditional: an executive sitting in an office opining on the state of the economy or a growing business opportunity. Gillespie appears to have a lot of freedom, however, to get creative.

More recently, he has taken to interviewing the firm's executives using his iPhone in a series of walk-and-talk interviews the firm has dubbed "Between Two Meetings." In one recent episode, Gillespie catches the firm's head of private equity, Joe Baratta, in the hallway and asks about the company's portfolio of owned and operated companies.

Four people filming in an office.
From L: Matt Anderson, Laurie Carlson, and Jon Gray film a scene at Blackstone's NYC headquarters.

Alex Nicoll/Business Insider

As Baratta starts to answer, a black bar with the word "REDACTED" appears over his mouth, and a closed caption appears on the bottom: "NOT APPROVED BY BLACKSTONE LEGAL AND COMPLIANCE." The audio of Baratta speaking is replaced with some loungey bossa nova as he walks through the halls to the elevator.

The audience (hopefully) walks away from that video chuckling at corporate America, but also with a sense of what it is like to work at Blackstone. Before the censors cut him off, Baratta was explaining that he was coming out of the firm's "weekly private-equity Monday morning meeting," which includes the entire team from around the globe. Schwarzman had been at the meeting, Baratta says, telling them about his recent trip to Asia.

In another series, Gillespie's video team interviews a series of managing directors. It's shot with upbeat music and spiffy editing like something you might see on the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." The series seems geared toward highlighting Blackstone as a place to work, with questions like," What qualities do you look for in junior employees?," and "How do you overcome a career setback?"

Gray acknowledged that the videos can help with recruiting.

"I was interviewing someone yesterday who said they wanted to work here because of the holiday video," Gray told BI while filming a scene for the holiday video. "'You guys know how to make fun of yourself.'"

Showing that you can laugh at yourself is an important "humanizing" touch, Gray said, adding, "It shows you're a human-scale place."

"Jon Gray's baby"

Blackstone declined to comment on the cost of its holiday video or its internal video team, but Anderson said the company is saving money with its approach instead of relying on outside contractors.

"We started realizing that by having an in-house team, you could produce this stuff so much more efficiently and cheaply, and then you could just use this stuff for more moments," she said.

A BI reporter watched the filming of a few scenes adding up to 45 seconds in the final video. It took more than an hour to film these scenes, with a coterie of video and marketing professionals on set.

A man in a cowboy hat watches another man on mkeshift horse in front of a green screen.
Steve Schwarzman watches Jay Gillespie ride a makeshift horse for the 2024 Blackstone holiday video.

Alex Nicoll/Business Insider

A video professional who has worked with both Blackstone and other financial institutions confirmed much of what Blackstone's executives said about their video-production process.

This person, who asked to remain anonymous to protect career opportunities, said Blackstone differs from other financial firms in its decision to forgo a costly production studio in favor of a team that shoots from wherever they can within the office. The end product takes viewers inside the firm's hallways and executives' offices, giving the videos a documentary feel.

The video professional said too many financial firms are "trying to make one room with four walls look interesting." They also said few financial firms have realized the benefits of investing in full-time video teams.

This person referred to Blackstone's holiday video as "Jon Gray's baby" and said Gray appears to have a great working relationship with Gillespie.

"They met and had a meeting of minds and just got each other," said this person, adding, "They brainstorm very well."

Gillespie credited Gray and Anderson with having the vision to invest in video.

"It feels like if you're not fluent in video these days, you're missing something," he said. "I think Jon and Christine caught that really early."

Gray is usually the first person to come up with the idea for the holiday video, Gillespie said. Sometime in the early summer, Gray will reach out to Gillespie and Anderson with some themes. Then, Gillespie, Gray, and Anderson work together on the script before shooting starts later in the fall.

It's a far cry from the firm's first holiday party in 1985, which included just nine people, Schwarzman told BI. When asked about the new approach, the firm's billionaire founder took a philosophical view.

"This is like your home and this is where you spend more time than you do at your home," he said earlier this month while decked out in a 10-gallon hat between video shoots. "So you have to have a range of experiences from intense work stuff to more casual stuff to the theater of the absurd. So here we are, the theater."

Read the original article on Business Insider

All 7 Blackstone holiday videos ranked

19 December 2024 at 09:31
A collage of Blackstone holiday videos showing Jon Gray, Steve Schwarzman, and Mr. Stone.
A collage of the firm's holiday videos.

Blackstone

  • Blackstone has released a comedic holiday video for the last seven years.
  • Last year's Taylor Swift-theme video attracted eight million viewers.
  • Business Insider has watched and ranked them all so you don't have to.

Blackstone released its first satirical holiday video in 2018 as a way to liven up employees' spirits in lieu of the company-wide holiday party, a tradition that was canceled because the firm had grown too large.

Now, it's a viral sensation. Eight million people have viewed last year's video featuring Blackstone executives doing their best to match the success of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour with a pop song about alternative investments. It made headlines, with the Daily Mail questioning whether it was "the most cringeworthy corporate video ever."

This year, the company doubled down on the singing (and introduced line-dancing) in its most ambitious (and outlandish) holiday video yet. It also featured 200 employees, up from just 20 in 2018, a testiment to the video's popularity within the firm.

Jay Gillespie, Blackstone's head of video, joked that his role in producing the video has made him a hot commodity at 345 Park Avenue.

"People come up to me throughout the year, and they're like, 'My daughter is helping me rehearse so I might get a line next year,'" Gillespie told Business Insider. "People are really into lobbying to be in it."

If you don't get it, don't worry. We decided to help readers save time by watching and reviewing all of the firm's videos going back to 2018.

No. 7: 2020
Jon Gray in front of a large display of holiday decorations.
Jon Gray waves from the video's holiday Zoom call.

Blackstone

This video came out in December 2020, during the depths of the pandemic. It stuck to the theme it launched in 2018 of depicting Blackstone as a version of the NBC sitcom "The Office," but executives wore face masks and pandemic jokes featured prominently. In an early scene one Blackstone executive has a hard time recognizing a colleague with out-of-control long hair. (Remember when all the barber shops were closed?)

While it was a bleak time, the video ends on an upbeat note, with Blackstone employees cutting loose to "I'm Walking on Sunshine," kicking off the tradition of holiday video songs, which have featured prominently since. Still, it's a bit stuck in the pandemic era, hence its place at No. 7.

No. 6: 2022
Blackstone executives in robes stand in front of scrolls with things like "global logistics" and "green energy transitions."
Blackstone executives Byron Wien and Joseph Lohrer in robes, as they're about to present the secret to Blackstone's success.

Blackstone

The conceit of this holiday season is fake news station "BX TV News" prompting Jon Gray to search for Blackstone's secret sauce. (It was a roundabout way for the firm to tout its plan to hit $1 trillion assets under management, which it has since achieved.)

Schwarzman returns to a role he often plays in these videos as the sincere elder statesman to explain that the firm's true secret sauce is its employees. But then, he notes that there is a secret hidden in the basement, setting two executives on an Indiana-Jones-referencing journey to find the scroll with the firm's secret. This weird twist is the highlight of the video.

The video successfully makes a number of self-deprecating jokes about Blackstone's love of acronyms (BCRED, anyone?) and Wall Street's notorious work hours. By 2022, however, the company has been going with "The Office" theme for four years, hence its ranking.

No. 5: 2021
Jon Gray stands behind a podium at a fake award show, with a red carpet and screen behind him.
Jon Gray at the fake award show.

Blackstone

The budget for the holiday video clearly increased this year, with a storyline about the birth of BX TV, the firm's weekly video call that Gray is incredibly enthusiastic about (and employees, less so). There are animals, special effects, and a Reese Witherspoon cameo.

The key joke is a fake award ceremony where Gray receives "'Best Weekly Internal Zoom Call at an Alternative Asset Management firm." The hope is that it will convince the firm's president and chief operating officer that it's time to move on with John Finley, chief legal officer, saying, "I make one call to the FCC and they'll cancel this clown car."

Employees chant "end it," and celebrate as they think Gray has decided to cancel the show after winning the award. But instead, it's clear that 2022's BX TV season is already being planned, and the internal video call is still a weekly requirement at the firm.

No. 4: 2018
Steve Schwarzman plays with a bedazzled Santa Claus hat.
Steve Schwarzman wearing a bedazzled Santa hat.

Blackstone

Scranton, Pennsylvania, is a long way from Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, and Dunder Mifflin would be among its smallest portfolio companies, yet Blackstone successfully riffed off the NBC sitcom "The Office" for its first annual holiday video. The video begins with the theme music from the television show, and like "The Office," there is hand-held camera work and plenty of "candid" interviews with executives. There's also a Michael Scott look-alike. As with all the holiday videos that follow, this one starts with Jon Gray calling his executive assistant, Laurie Carlson.

This video started it all and set the tone for Blackstone's trademark style of mixing the firm's reality with jokes. The premise of the video is that Blackstone canceled its holiday party and replaced it with a video, which actually happened. And Jon Gray really does, sometimes, act a bit like Michael Scott in his enthusiasm for wild ideas, according to people who know him. There are fewer visual gags and no Hollywood cameos, but it's a classic.

No. 3: 2023
Steve Schwarzman dressed in a glittery shirt while pointing at the screen.
Steve Schwarzman delivering the line "Not to be confused with BlackRock" in a sequin shirt.

Blackstone

The 2023's holiday video marked the first time Blackstone moved away from being a parallel version of "The Office" (only the title card remains). Instead, it's an homage to Taylor Swift and the Eras tour, with Blackstone trying to replicate her success with its own song about alternative investments.

This is video that broke into the wider world, spawning more than a few mocking tabloid headlines. But for a video series that's main goal is to help the firm laugh at itself, that's a measure of success. Add that this immortal line: "Just this once, I do hope people confuse us with BlackRock." Also, you get to see Steve Schwarzman dancing while wearing some glittery fringe top.

No. 2: 2019
Blackstone mascot running through an investment committee meeting.
Mr. Stone running through an investment committee meeting.

Blackstone

The 2019 holiday video revolves around Blackstone' absurd search for a company mascot, which turns out to be Mr. Stone, a mascot that looks like a cross of Hulk and Jon Gray. The international offices of Blackstone get cameos in this one, as does a plug for Steve Schwarzman's book, What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence"

Gray told BI that this was his favorite in the series because of the mascot. The firm not only hired a company to build the mascot suit, but also made dozens of bobbleheads which still show up in holiday videos, and on some people's desks.

We agree that that the mascot joke works, hence its ranking.

This video also ends with one of the best Steve Schwarzman gags of the series, when it's revealed that Schwarzman has been the mysterious person inside Mr. Stone the whole time.

No. 1: 2024
Steve Schwarzman cutting a cucumber awkwardly on a granite countertop in an office kitchen.
Steve Schwarzman cutting a cucumber while parodying Kendall Jenner.

Blackstone

After last year's reception, leaned in to the cringe with a metaverse-like exploration of Blackstone executives as reality television stars that ends in a country song-and-dance routine.

It features appearances from famous friends. Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, which was originally created within Blackstone before spinning out in the 1990s, gets in a joke about how the two firms get confused for each other.

An extended "Real Housewives" bit includes some shade from Jenna Lyons, "Real Housewives of New York" star, fashion designer and executive creative director at Fundamental Co, a branding agency spun out of Blackstone last year.

The highlight, however, was billionaire founder and CEO Steve Schwarzman playing Kendall Jenner attempting to cut a cucumber, which has to be one of the most mind-bending images ever put on screen. (We are still struggling to fully process it.)

Gray told BI that the turn to country was inspired by Beyonce's own embrace of the genre this year on "Cowboy Carter", which came in the wake of her 2016 snub by the Country Music Awards. And just like Beyonce, some of the firm's best work comes when they don't let the critics stop them.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Blackstone embraces country music and reality TV in its most ambitious holiday video yet. Watch it here.

19 December 2024 at 05:05
Blackstone CEO Jon Gray, wearing a t-shirt and a cowboy hat, glares into the distance.
Jon Gray, the president and COO of Blackstone, goes country.

Blackstone

  • Blackstone's holiday video series is back, and this time the firm is going country.
  • The video combines another original song with a slew of reality-television parodies.
  • BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and fashion designer and reality-TV star Jenna Lyons make cameos.

Blackstone on Thursday launched its most ambitious holiday video yet on Thursday, featuring 200 employees, two cameos, and a country music song-and-line-dance routine.

The video series, which has become must-see TV for Wall Street, is in its seventh year. Last year's version attracted widespread attention, resulting in 8 million views across various platforms, the company said. The videos seek to poke fun at the people behind Blackstone, which manages $1 trillion in assets, while also touting its investment prowess.

This year's video ditched its usual framing around NBC's hit sitcom "The Office" in favor of reality-TV parodies and included a brief appearance by the "Real Housewives of New York" star and fashion designer Jenna Lyons. Some of Blackstone's portfolio companies, including Supergoop and Jersey Mike's, also got airtime.

It kicks off with a recap of last year's video, which depicted Jon Gray, Blackstone's president and chief operating officer, compelling the firm's executives to go on tour like Taylor Swift. In a "Behind the Music"-type parody, the executives lament the poor reception they received for their "cringeworthy" song titled "The Alternatives Era."

"People just stopped talking to me," Jon Korngold, the global cohead of technology investing and head of Blackstone growth, said. "CEOs, LPs, even my mom."

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink makes an appearance to turn his nose up at the company.

"Can you believe people confuse us with them," Fink says.

The story takes a turn when Christine Anderson, the head of corporate affairs at Blackstone and one of the masterminds of the firm's holiday video tradition, decides that the next logical step is reality TV.

The video, a metatextual reference to its own popularity, then hits overdrive with a series of reality television spoofs, from the "Real Housewives" to "The Bachelor."

"I'm private equity's biggest asset," Joe Baratta, the head of private equity, says in a braggadocious manner while being introduced in the faux series, "The Real Executives of Park Avenue."

Even the firm's international offices get in on the act with the London office starring in "Love Island Blackstone" and the Tokyo team competing in the infamous "Human Tetris" game-show stunt.

Back at 345 Park Avenue, Gray's executive assistant, Laurie Carlson, throws a martini into the face of Joe Lohrer, the head of US retail sales for Blackstone's private wealth group.

"Sorry, Joe, they wanted me to do something dramatic," Carlson says.

The head of Blackstone's video team, Jay Gillespie, makes an appearance as a reality-television producer and calls for another martini to try the shot again.

Perhaps the funniest bit is Schwarzman's appearance in a parody of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," in which he is filmed awkwardly cutting a cucumber à la Kendall Jenner.

Back in the conference room, Gray tells the firm that they're going down the wrong path. A running gag in the series is that no one wants to go along with Gray's hare-brained ideas and it seems like he's finally come to his senses. Instead, he proposes another zany idea.

"Blackstone needs to go country," Gray says.

The video is capped off by the firm's second original song as executives sing and dance around the office, in Midtown traffic, and on the back of a mechanical bull.

The song's chorus, lip-synced by Schwarzman in the video, is "You can build. You can build with Blackstone," a reference to the firm's first television ad, which was released earlier this year.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Marc Rowan addresses Apollo's succession plan after brush with Trump Cabinet

11 December 2024 at 09:08
Marc Rowan
Marc Rowan.

Kevork Djansezian/Reuters

  • Marc Rowan on Wednesday addressed succession at the private-equity giant Apollo Global.
  • The remarks come weeks after he interviewed for a Trump Cabinet position.
  • He flagged several key heads of businesses and the "next generation" of talent.

After Apollo CEO Marc Rowan's whirlwind candidacy for Donald Trump's Treasury secretary, questions remain about what could become of the firm after his eventual exit. After all, he's the last remaining "cofounder" of the newest member of the S&P 500 (Rowan and Josh Harris, the firm's former COO, were granted cofounder status by then-CEO Leon Black about the time the firm went public).

When asked about succession at Wednesday's Goldman Sachs Financial Services Conference, Rowan laid out the private-equity giant's general plan, including the members of his team who could one day succeed him.

"Part of the responsibility that we think we have in stewarding a company is to make sure that everyone has a backup, myself included," Rowan said before delving into the firm's stable of senior talent.

He highlighted "two very, very senior partners" in asset management, likely referring to Scott Kleinman and Jim Zelter. As Business Insider has previously reported, Wall Street stock analysts view the two Apollo Asset Management copresidents as Rowan's natural successors. Rowan also mentioned "two very, very senior partners" in the firm's retirement-services business, Athene. The heads of that business include Grant Kvalheim, its president, and Jim Belardi, its cofounder, CEO, and chief investment officer.

But beyond these names, Rowan said there's "another 10 in asset management and another handful in retirement services" who represent "the next generation" of Apollo executives. He suggested they could soon start playing a more pronounced role in running the company.

"I think you should look to the next 12 months as we will start really pushing forward the next generation and making the transition before we need to," Rowan said, comparing Apollo's preparations for the future to those at any large financial firm.

Rowan, the CEO of Apollo since 2021, has been the visionary behind the company's transformation from a traditional private-equity firm to one that also issues loans and retirement products. The stock is up nearly 275% since he took the helm.

Last month, he was floated as a prospect for Treasury secretary under Trump and Puck reported he flew to Mar-a-Lago to meet with the president-elect, who ultimately tapped the hedge-fund manager Scott Bessent.

Rowan made the comments just days after Apollo was picked to join the S&P 500 index starting December 23, with its stock reaching record highs. Rowan, however, warned against complacency.

"It's just important to realize all of our industry has been really successful," Rowan said, adding that some might be "tempted to take a breath, take a victory lap, or they can keep trying to win."

As BI has previously reported, Rowan has gone to great lengths to keep his employees on their toes despite the company's success, including 4 a.m. wake-up calls and bringing in speakers to scare "'the bejesus out of them."

"I want to make sure that we have a team that is not tired that wants to win because winning is going to involve changing," Rowan said Wednesday. "The shape of our firms is not going to be the same in the next five years."

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'Big Four' salaries: How much accountants and consultants make at Deloitte, PwC, KPMG, and EY

three office employees walking and talking together in an office
Even an entry-level consultant at the "Big Four" can earn over $200,000.

Luis Alvarez/Getty Images

  • The "Big Four" accounting firms employ about 1.5 million people worldwide. 
  • Many of these employees make six-figure salaries and are eligible for annual bonuses.  
  • Business Insider analyzed data to determine how much employees are paid at these firms. 

The so called "Big Four" accounting firms — Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), KPMG, and Ernst & Young (EY) — are known for paying their staff high salaries. 

An entry-level consultant who just graduated from business school can make over $200,000 a year at the four firms when you include base salary, bonuses, and relocation expenses. 

Several of these firms have faced layoffs and implemented hiring freezes over the past year as demand for consulting services has waned. Still, they're a good bet for anyone looking to land a six-figure job straight out of school. 

Business Insider analyzed the US Office of Foreign Labor Certification's 2023 disclosure data for permanent and temporary foreign workers to find out what PwC, KPMG, EY, and Deloitte paid US-based employees for jobs ranging from entry-level to executive roles. We looked through entries specifically for roles related to management consulting and accounting. This data does not reflect performance bonuses, signing bonuses, and compensation other than base salaries.

Here's how much Deloitte, PwC, KPMG, and EY paid their hires.  

Deloitte paid senior managers between $91,603 to $288,000
Deloitte logo
Deloitte offers its top manager salaries close to mid six figures.

Artur Widak/Getty Images

With 457,000 employees worldwide, Deloitte employs the most people of any of the 'Big Four.' It pulled in close to $64.9 billion in revenue for the 2023 fiscal year, marking a 9.4% increase from 2022.

Deloitte did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its salary data or 2024 hiring plans.

Here are the salary ranges for consulting and accounting roles: 

  • Analyst: $49,219 to $337,500 (includes advisory, business, project delivery, management, and systems)
  • Senior business analyst: $97,739 
  • Audit and assurance senior assistant: average $58,895
  • Consultant: $54,475 to $125,000 (includes advisory, technology strategy, and strategic services)  
  • Global business process lead: $180,000 
  • Senior consultant: average $122,211
  • Manager: average $152,971
  • Tax manager: average $117,268
  • Senior manager: $91,603 to $288,000  
  • Managing director: average $326,769
  • Tax managing director: average $248,581
  • Principal: $225,000 to $875,000
Principals at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) can make well over $1 million.
logo of PwC
PwC.

Danish Siddiqui/Reuters

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is a global professional services firm with over 370,000 employees worldwide. The firm reported a revenue of more than $53 billion for the 2023 fiscal year, marking a 5.6% increase from 2022. 

PwC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its salary data or 2024 hiring plans.

Here are the salary ranges for both consulting and accounting roles. 

  • Associate: $68,000 to $145,200
  • Senior associate: $72,000 to $197,000 
  • Manager: $114,300 to $231,000
  • Senior manager: $142,000 to $251,000 
  • Director: $165,000 to $400,000  
  • Managing director: $260,000 to $330,600
  • Principal: $1,081,182 to $1,376,196
KPMG offers managing directors anywhere between $230,000 to $485,000
The logo of KPMG, a multinational tax advisory and accounting services company, hangs on the facade of a KPMG offices building on January 22, 2021 in Berlin, Germany.
KPMG managing directors can earn close to half a million.

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

KPMG has over 273,000 employees worldwide. The firm reported a revenue of $36 billion for the 2023 fiscal year, marking a 5% increase from 2022. 

KPMG did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its salary data or 2024 hiring plans.

Here are the salary ranges for consultants, accountants, and leadership at KPMG. 

  • Associate: $61,000 to $140,000
  • Senior associate: $66,248 to $215,000
  • Director: $155,600 to $260,000
  • Associate director: $155,700 to $196,600 
  • Specialist director: $174,000 to $225,000
  • Lead specialist: $140,500 to $200,000
  • Senior specialist: $134,000 to $155,000
  • Manager: $99,445 to $293,800
  • Senior manager: $110,677 to $332,800
  • Managing director: $230,000 to $485,000
Statisticians at Ernst & Young (EY) make salaries ranging between $66,000 to $283,500.
Pedestrians walk in front of the entrance to EY's head office in London.
EY spends $500 million annually on learning for its employees.

TOLGA AKMEN / Contributor / Getty

EY employs close to 400,000 people worldwide. For the 2023 fiscal year, the firm reported a record revenue of $49.4 billion, marking a 9.3% jump from 2022. 

The firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its salary data or 2024 hiring plans.

Here are the salary ranges for consultants, accountants, auditors, and chief executives at the firm: 

  • Accountants and auditors: $54,000 to $390,000
  • Appraisers and assessors of real estate: $166,626 to $185,444
  • Computer systems analyst: $62,000 to $367,510
  • Management analyst: $49,220 to $337,500
  • Statistician: $66,000 to $283,500
  • Financial risk specialist: $62,000 to $342,400
  • Actuaries: $84,800 to $291,459
  • Economist: $77,000 to $141,000
  • Logisticians: $72,000 t0 $275,000
  • Mathematicians: $165,136 to $377,000
  • Computer and information systems manager: $136,167 to $600,000
  • Financial manager: average $320,000

Aman Kidwai and Weng Cheong contributed to an earlier version of this post. 

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Wall Street life: The films, shows, and books that finance industry insiders say best illustrate their jobs

Actors Myha'la Herrold and Marisa Abela looking at screens in an office in the HBO show "Industry."
A still from "Industry," an HBO drama about young bankers at the fictional bank Pierpoint & Co in London.

Amanda Searle/HBO

  • Business Insider selected 25 young professionals, 35 and under, as its rising stars of Wall Street.
  • We asked these up-and-comers what TV show, book, or movie best represents the finance industry.
  • They shared some parallels and even pointed to works about nonfinancial subjects.

There's no shortage of colorful characters depicting Wall Street. There's the serial-killer investment banker, the corporate raider who declares that "greed is good," and the crooked, if charismatic, stockbroker, to name a few.

Two of those are fictional movie characters, and one was based on a real person, but they've all shaped the public's perception of what working on Wall Street could be like.

If you ask successful people at some of the biggest banks, asset managers, trading firms, or hedge funds whether they see their reality accurately perceived on the screen or in books, they'll tell you that working on Wall Street is a little less colorful than it's often painted to be.

"I don't know that there's a great movie or book depicting life on Wall Street," Mark Zhu, 34, a managing director at Blackstone, told Business Insider. "The day-to-day is a lot more boring than you think. It's a lot of calls and a lot of emails. There's not as much flamboyance or out-there behavior. It's almost not movie-worthy. Why would you pay money to watch somebody just sit in front of a computer doing Zooms?"

So maybe they think all that partying on HBO's show about twentysomething investment bankers, "Industry," is a little overdone, but there are still some elements the entertainment industry gets right occasionally.

We asked up-and-comers on Wall Street about the shows, movies, or books that best represent their daily lives. While no one representation was perfect, the young professionals talked about the parallels they saw. Some even shared some nonfinancial references that give a window into their world.

Here are the shows, movies, or books that give a flavor of what it's like to work on Wall Street.

Shows: "Industry"
A scene from the HBO show Industry. Actors David Jonsson, Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Harry Lawtey, and Sagar Radia are standing behind a set of computer screens, and Myha'la Herrold is sitting down in the forefront.
"Industry" follows junior bankers at a fictional elite institution in London.

Amanda Searle/HBO

The hit TV show "Industry" — full of sex, drugs, and spreadsheets — just wrapped up its third season.

"My friends in the last few years have nonstop bothered me about 'Industry,'" Justin Elliott, 29, a vice president of institutional rate sales at Bank of America, said.

"They see a crazy show about the industry and say, 'My God, I can't believe that happens in your world every day.' From what I've seen, there's definitely some thrills from getting a trade done that might mirror the show a bit, but it's a very exaggerated depiction of life on Wall Street."

"I don't know that any of them do a great job, but I am quite a fan of 'Industry,'" Erica Wilson, a vice president at the private credit firm Blue Owl, said. "I am still behind on the third season, but I think that show is fun."

"Succession"
Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, and Kieran Culkin sitting around a boardroom in HBO's show Succession.
"Succession" siblings fight it out over four seasons for the future of their father's media conglomerate.

David Russell/HBO

Though the blockbuster show "Succession" isn't specifically about the banking industry, Daniela Cardona, a 29-year-old investment banker at RBC Capital Markets, watched it in its entirety and found some similarities in high-stress moments.

"In the last season, when they're trying to merge the two companies, there's one scene that always makes me giggle. I don't think this is fully accurate, but I do think it's funny — they're in a conference room, and Kendall says, 'Just make it up!' and they're all with their laptops sitting in the middle, and the consultants are looking at him like, what do you mean, make it up?" Cardona said.

"There have been instances where it sometimes feels that way — where you're in a time crunch and it's 3 o'clock in the morning."

"Scrubs"
scrubs zach braff donald faison
"Scrubs" follows a group of medical students learning the ropes.

ABC/Photofest

Ben Carper, a 34-year-old managing director at Jefferies, pointed to the medical comedy sitcom "Scrubs" as a better representation than anything that features board rooms and trading floors.

He said the show had a "similar high-pressure environment where there are some opportunities for amusement and humor, but generally a pretty vigorous focus on doing a job well done."

Movies: "Margin Call"
A still from the movie Margin Call of Zachary Quinto with a pencil in his mouth.
"Margin Call" takes viewers inside a nameless financial institution.

Roadside Attractions

The 2011 drama "Margin Call" follows the 24 hours after an analyst at an investment bank discovers it has taken on more debt than it can handle — illustrating the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis.

"I think it picks up the cadence of working at a big bank the best," said Austin Anton, 32, a principal at Apollo Global Management.

"The Wolf of Wall Street"
the wolf of wall street paramount pictures
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Jordan Belfort in the Martin Scorsese-directed film.

Paramount Pictures

"The Wolf of Wall Street" follows the story of Jordan Belfort, who actually only worked at a Wall Street firm for a few months before the 1987 stock-market crash. He goes on to run his own brokerage, which ultimately scams several people, but the movie highlights the debauchery, opulence, and excess that ensued during his run.

"This almost sounds weird, but I'm going to say 'The Wolf of Wall Street,'" Matt Gilbert, a managing director at Thoma Bravo said. "The absurdity of that movie, to some extent, I do think, kind of incorporates some aspect of our job."

While finance is the backbone of the economy and certainly has global implications, what bankers and investors do on a day-to-day basis isn't saving lives, the 35-year-old added.

"I think the fact that you could have a comedy wrapped around the finance world is important, and it always makes me take a step back and think through, sure, I want to win every deal," he said. "Our fiduciary duty at Thoma Bravo is to produce the best returns for LPs, but this job is supposed to be fun. I'm supposed to work with great people. We're supposed to laugh together. I think if people take this job too seriously, that's when burnout and other things happen."

"The Big Short"
the big short
"The Big Short" follows several Wall Street players as they begin to piece together what was happening to the American housing market.

Paramount Pictures

"The Big Short," the movie based on the financial journalist Michael Lewis' book, chronicles how Wall Street helped fuel the US housing crisis in 2008 and the investors who profited from it.

"It's not our day-to-day, but I think it is an OK representation of what happened at the time," said Chi Chen, 34, a portfolio manager at BlackRock. " Maybe it is not all factual, but it is a good one that is representative."

"The Internship"
the internship 1 interns owen wilson vince vaughn google
Starring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaugh, "The Internship" actually shot some scenes at Google's headquarters.

20th Century Fox

Patrick Lenihan, a portfolio manager at JPMorgan Asset Management, said "The Internship," which features two old-school salesmen trying to restart their careers through an internship at Google, reminds him of the importance of having and supporting a diverse team.

"I feel like that team with Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, the rest of them, and how they come together at first, you see there's just a variety of different people that you're like, 'Oh, this is going to fail,'" he said. "But I think a large part of my success is going back to that teamwork, getting the right people in, and ensuring that diversity of opinions."

Books: "Market Wizards"
Cover of Market Wizards by Jack Schwager

Amazon

BlackRock's Chen, who focuses on fixed income, said that to really gain insight into the investing industry, it's best to read the "Market Wizards" book series, which features interviews with top traders.

"A lot of those investing stories for that book series are more from two, three decades ago, when market volatility was much higher. But we have seen a comeback of market volatility since 2020," she said. "So I have always enjoyed that whole series of books."

"Free Food for Millionaires"
Book cover of Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee

Amazon

Elliott, the Bank of America VP, recommends Min Jin Lee's novel "Free Food for Millionaires."

"It's about a Korean woman navigating life who ends up on Wall Street in an admin capacity. But really, it's a story about belonging and identity — about trying to make it in a world and industry you didn't initially know much about," he said.

"To me, it's a lot more humanistic. It gives me a bit more of a personal perspective when I think about my journey on Wall Street. When I think about the people — and understanding people is so much of this job — I go back to 'Free Food for Millionaires.'"

"The Man Who Solved the Market"
Cover of "The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution"

Amazon

There's no fictional piece of media Bridgewater's Blake Cecil has found to reflect life in finance; he said shows and movies "feel quite distant" from his day-to-day.

A biography of the late hedge-fund billionaire Jim Simons, "The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution," reflects how the deputy chief investment officer and his colleagues approached challenges.

"It resonated with my experience of working with people who are using algorithms to solve problems that often hadn't been asked before," Cecil said.

"The Inner Game of Tennis"
Cover of The Inner Game of Tennis

Amazon

Harrison DiGia, a vice president at General Atlantic, had another book recommendation: "The Inner Game of Tennis" by W. Timothy Gallwey.

"This book is all about the mental game and trusting your intuition and yourself. You use practice and your preparation before a competition so that when the time is right, or you have a big opportunity, you're ready, and your mental game is as strong as it can be," DiGia, 31, said.

"When I think about investing, a lot of it is setting yourself up to get that big opportunity and making sure you're prepared and can have a clear mind when that pressure situation comes. I'm a huge tennis fan, so I think about this when I'm on the tennis court, but I think about it in a professional setting as well."

"Unreasonable Hospitality"
Book cover for Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara

Amazon

In the book "Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect" by Will Guidara, the co-owner and general manager of Eleven Madison Park describes how he manages his business, his customer-service style, and the things he'd do at Eleven Madison Park to go above and beyond.

Craig Kolwicz, an investment banker at Moelis, said the "unreasonable hospitality" described in the book (such as having an employee run out to get a hot dog for a customer who you overheard saying they hadn't had one in New York yet) isn't dissimilar to the type of service that could differentiate an investment banker.

"It depicts a restaurant that's an extremely expensive restaurant where there's an extremely discerning clientele base. They could go to all these other really fancy, really nice three-Michelin-star restaurants in New York or in the world," the 35-year-old managing director said.

"How do you differentiate yourself? There's a lot of investment bankers out there and there's a lot of really smart clients and folks that we work with all the time — and how do we get them to stay with us? How do we get them to hire us on the next deal? It's some of the stuff that we do," he said. For example, he'd recently flown to Los Angeles for an 11:30 a.m. pitch meeting and flown back.

"It's like hospitality, but it's kind of an unreasonable client customer service to do something like that," Kolwicz said.

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Blackstone's Steve Schwarzman was a trade negotiator for Donald Trump's first term. Here's what it took to get the president to a deal.

28 November 2024 at 01:37
Three men  in suits sit side-by-side
From L: Donald Trump, Steve Schwarzman, and Chris Liddell

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

  • Donald Trump said he would impose 10% to 25% tariffs on goods imported from Canada and China.
  • Blackstone's Steve Schwarzman was a trade negotiator for Trump during his first term.
  • In his book, he sheds light on what it took to get Trump, Trudeau, and others to the negotiating table.

Donald Trump has retaken the White House, and hefty trade taxes are back on the table, including tariffs of up to 25% on goods imported from Canada and Mexico and up to 10% on products from China.

In an effort to gain insight into how Trump's tariff agenda might play out, Business Insider turned to Blackstone cofounder and CEO Steve Schwarzman, who served as a behind-the-scenes trade negotiator for the Trump White House during his first term. Schwarzman declined to comment for this article but described his experiences as a trade advisor during the first Trump White House in his 2019 book, "What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence," published by Simon & Schuster.

In the book, he said he was tapped as a trade negotiator because he the trust of members of Trump's inner circle and connections to foreign leaders like China's Xi Jinping. Indeed, Schwarzman traveled to China eight times on behalf of the Trump administration, he said.

He described his meetings with Xi and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to help them understand Trump's motivations, as well as his discussions with Trump on the dangers of taking on too many trade deals at once. He suggested a key to getting the various parties to the negotiating table, including Trump, involved stressing the political risks of not cutting a deal.

The billionaire businessman also described his experiences advising US Presidents George H.W. Bush and Barack Obama. Schwarzman, a Republican, said he is open to helping any US president, regardless of party, if he thinks it will help his country.

"When you take up any challenge laid down in Washington, you can never be certain of the outcome," he said. "But whether you succeed or fail, if the goal is to help your country, it is almost always worth doing."

Schwarzman, who declined an official role with the first Trump White House, declined to comment on whether he has been asked to advise Trump in his second term in office.

Schwarzman's relationship with Trump has had its ups and downs. After his book was published, the billionaire businessman distanced himself from Trump following the capitol riots in 2020, issuing a statement condemning the rioters and supporting the results of the election that removed Trump from office. During the Republican primaries for the 2024 election, the Blackstone CEO issued a statement suggesting he would not support Trump before ultimately backing him during the general election.

Here are the top stories from Schwarzman's book about his years working as a business advisor to Donald Trump, as well as Presidents Barack Obama and George H. W. Bush. The excerpts below are pulled directly from his 2019 autobiography.

Schwarzman's connections in the White House and abroad helped him snag the role.
Men sitting around the Oval Office with Donald Trump
Steve Mnuchin during Trump's first term in the White House

SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

With the President's support, I became involved in trade talks between the United States and China, and the United States, Canada, and Mexico for a simple reason: I knew the people on all sides and they trusted me. Aside from the president, I have known Steve Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, for years. We have apartments in the same building in New York and are close, personal friends. I have known Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, for just as long. …

I had met then party secretary Xi Jinping, the current president of China, in 2007, and knew many of the members of the Standing Committee and the State Council. I met the Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto, in 2015, and he had endowed two Schwarzman Scholarships for students from Mexico. His finance minister, Luis Videgaray Caso, often called me or came by to talk whenever he was in New York. And on the Canadian side, I had known the foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, since she was a journalist for the Financial Times. She had covered Blackstone, and I had always found her to be smart and well intentioned.

Schwarzman warned Trump that his trade wars could backfire.
Cargo containers with the US and China flags
Concept photo for China-USA trade war conflict

Yaorusheng/Getty Images

The president had fired trade salvos at China and Europe, and even within the White House, there was concern that the administration was taking on too much. At the president's request, I met with him to offer my advice on the situation. We met in the private quarters of the White House. When the president arrived, I told him that the way I saw it, the United States was now fighting a multifront trade war with Asia, Europe, and the Americas. America's flanks were exposed, and as important as America is, we are only 23 percent of the global economy; give the remaining 77 percent time, and they would figure out a way to band together and make us miserable.

When Trump refused to meet with Canada's Justin Trudeau, Schwarzman stepped in to help.
Justin Trudeau
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2017.

REUTERS/Trish Badger

Trade talks had once again stalled. The prime minister said Canada could not offer any more concessions and wanted to close out the talks. But the president refused a private meeting with the prime minister at the General Assembly. The White House had gone quiet. Prime Minister Trudeau thought a meeting with US CEOs might foster a better understanding of US business priorities and provide him with new ideas on how to progress negotiations. We held the meeting in my conference room at Blackstone.

Schwarzman urged Trudeau to do a trade deal with Trump.
A panel of people on a stage
From L: Christine Lagarde, Justin Trudeau, Mark Rutte, Laurence Fink and Stephen Schwarzman in 2017

John Moore/Getty Images

I gave him my view on what it would take to successfully negotiate a deal and told him that the Americans wanted the Canadians to put their terms on paper. The prime minister said he was worried the Americans would leak them and use them against him. I told him that I did deals for a living and the moment had come for him to stop agonizing. If he refused to meet the US demands of a deal, Canada would almost certainly go into a recession, and no politician wins reelection in a recession. If he did a deal, at least he'd have a chance at political survival.

He urged Trump to make a deal with Trudeau.
The flags of Canada, the United States, and Mexico
The flags of Canada, the United States, and Mexico

AFP Contributor/AFP via Getty Images

Agreeing to a deal would show the rest of the world that the United States was serious about renegotiating trade deals, not just blowing them up. With the midterm elections approaching, it would also be useful to have a deal as proof of the president's campaign promises to voters, particularly in possible swing states in the Midwest.

He described a stressful 48 hours until there was a deal.
Donald Trump stands in front of a group of people for a photo op
Trump signing the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA)

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

I told him [Trudeau] I was seeing the president that evening at 5:30 and that any deal needed to be signed by midnight on Sunday, which all parties understood.

The prime minister looked at me from the couch. He said it would be tough, but he would do it. When I met with the president that evening, he reaffirmed that in my discussions with the Canadians, I had accurately reflected terms that the United States would accept. I called the Canadians to let them know. It took another forty-eight hours of waiting and pleading from all sides before finally, at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, the Americans received the Canadians' written offer. Over the weekend, the details were worked out between the two countries, and on Monday, October 1, 2018, the president announced a revised NAFTA, the United States— Mexico— Canada Agreement, or USMCA.

Schwarzman also acted as a go-between for Trump and China's Xi Jinping.
Trump and Xi
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at a 2017 event in Beijing

Pool/Getty Images

At lunch, President Xi asked me to talk about newly elected President Trump and his views on China and how he had defeated Hillary Clinton. I explained to him the facts President Trump was dealing with, the economic dislocations suffered by many working and middle-class Americans because of globalization. A study by the Federal Reserve had found that nearly half the country was living paycheck to paycheck, unable to write an emergency check for $ 400. For the first time in American history, millions of people feared they would end up poorer than their parents. Among them were many of the president's voters in the Midwest. The trade deficit made China an easy target, and the strong criticism of China was only likely to get worse.

President Xi told me that if that were the case, he would be prepared to do a major economic reset with the United States. Given he knew that I spoke with the president on a wide variety of issues, including trade, he asked me to tell President Trump that we had spoken and to pass along what he had said. In front of the entire group, he also welcomed my participation on behalf of the administration in these talks, a sign of the trust I enjoyed with the Chinese.

As tensions grew, Schwarzman traveled to China 8 times for Trump.
China Southern's first C919 takes off.
China Southern's first C919 takes off.

Yin Liqin/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images

In the meantime, the White House was ratcheting up its rhetoric, threatening higher tariffs and investigations into Chinese trade practices. China's concerns about a trade war began to grow. Given that the president trusted me, he asked that I continue to be involved by being candid with the Chinese as to the US position. I made eight trips to China in 2018 alone on behalf of the administration, trying to assure China's most senior officials that the president was not looking for a trade war.

Schwarzman guided Xi on how to cut a deal with Trump.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping walks to the podium during a reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on the eve of National Day.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

ADEK BERRY/AFP via Getty Images

He should not assume the Americans would come to a meeting with President Xi prepared with a list of demands. I thought that President Xi should come with his own list, offer five or six substantive proposals, and control the meeting. If our president felt the proposals were compelling and significant enough, he would engage. It was as simple as that. This wasn't the Chinese way, Vice President Wang said, but he liked the idea. Both sides would have a chance to achieve their objectives. This was the way to a deal.

Schwarzman said no to the possibility of a formal role with the Trump White House.
Steve Schwarzman and Donald Trump in a formal meeting.
Schwarzman and Trump hold court during a meeting with executives.

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

There was little time to talk, but he called again a week later, this time asking if I might consider joining his team. I thanked him and told him I was very happy with my life as it was; I didn't want to disrupt it. He told me he thought I'd say that, but also that he needed to hear directly from America's business leaders as he tried to accelerate the economy.

Schwarzman also advised George H.W. Bush, the 41st president and the father of his former classmate at Yale
A woman holding a dog stands next to a man smiling on a green lawn
George and Barbara Bush

Cynthia Johnson/Getty Images

In the early 1990s, I was invited to a dinner at the White House. I was between marriages so I took a date, a magazine writer from New York. During the party, I approached President George H. W. Bush, whom I had met years before when he visited his son George W. at Yale. We stepped aside and talked intently for ten minutes. When I walked back to my date, she asked what on earth we had been talking about. Simple, I told her: I had some ideas for him about the ailing US economy, his biggest problem at the time. World leaders are no different from anyone else. If you talk about what's on their mind and have something to offer, they will listen, Democrats, Republicans, princes, or prime ministers.

Although he was critical of President Obama, he stepped in to help with contentious budget negotiations.
Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Jill Biden, and Joe Biden wave at a crowd.
Barack Obama, his wife Michelle, then-Senator Joe Biden with his wife Jill.

Scott Olson/Getty Images

"I could really use your help," said the president.

If Democrats and Republicans failed to reach an agreement by January 1, they would trigger a set of automatic decreases in spending and increases in taxes embedded in previous budget agreements that would take the country over the so-called fiscal cliff.

"Are you saying you want to hire me to be your investment banker with no compensation?" I said. He laughed, gave me his private number, and said I could call any time of day or night— though preferably not after 11: 00 p.m. I admired him for reaching out to people outside Washington who might help break the logjam.

Schwarzman came back with a deal, but President Obama rejected it.
President Barack Obama in the White House briefing room.
US President Barack Obama makes a statement on his birth certificate at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 27, 2011.

Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

We got to what I thought was a fair offer from the Republican side— $1 trillion over ten years, $ 100 billion, or $ 10 billion a year, shy of the tax increases the Democrats wanted. The president wouldn't accept it. I pleaded with him. Ten billion a year was a rounding error in the federal government's $4 trillion annual budget. The Republicans had started these negotiations refusing to raise taxes at all, and now they were proposing $ 1 trillion of additional revenue by raising taxes, closing loopholes, and ending deductions. There was room here for a deal, but not much, and the window would likely slam shut if the Democrats continued to balk."

You might know about deal making, the president told me, but he knew politics— a fair point from a man fresh from winning his second presidential term. He did not want to start this second term spending precious political capital by pushing a deal he knew he couldn't get his own party to support.

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Marc Rowan is the visionary behind Apollo's private-credit boom. Here's what happens if he leaves for the Trump White House.

20 November 2024 at 01:35
CEO Marc Rowan
Marc Rowan, CEO of Apollo

Arturo Holmes / Getty

  • Apollo CEO Marc Rowan has transformed Apollo since he took over as CEO in 2021.
  • Now, he's being floated as a potential Treasury Secretary under Donald Trump.
  • Here's what could happen to Rowan's vision if he leaves and who might fill his shoes.

Since Marc Rowan took over Apollo Global Management in 2021, he's transformed the firm — sending the stock skyrocketing.

Now, the 62-year-old CEO is being floated as a potential candidate for Treasury Secretary under Donald Trump, raising questions about who could take his place, how his departure could impact the firm's ambitious growth plans, and how Apollo might benefit from the Trump White House.

Business Insider spoke to Chris Kotowski, a stock research analyst who covers Apollo for Oppenheimer. He said Rowan's five-year plan for Apollo, which includes doubling its lending business to $1.2 trillion by 2029, would proceed without him.

"I don't think that the vision changes any time soon if Rowan were to leave," Kotowkski told BI. "While Marc is in many ways the visionary leader, I think that APO is pretty institutionalized now and will get on fine without the founder," he said, referring to the company by its stock ticker.

Contenders to take over the top role, Kotowski said, include Apollo copresidents Scott Kleinman and Jim Zelter, as well as Grant Kvalheim, president of Apollo's insurance arm Athene, which has provided Apollo capital for its burgeoning lending business.

"The most likely outcome, in my view, is that the two copresidents, Scott Kleinman and Jim Zelter, would be made coCEOs," Kotowski told BI.

Representatives for Apollo didn't return a request for comment on Rowan's plans or the firm's succession plans.

Rowan is Apollo's second CEO since the firm was founded in 1990. Founder Leon Black ran the firm as CEO until he stepped down in 2021 amid a cloud over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. An independent investigation ordered by Apollo found Black had paid the convicted sex offender and financier $158 million in fees over the years for financial advice and tax planning (Black has previously told investors "I deeply regret" his involvement with Epstein).

Josh Harris, another founder, was also reportedly in the running for CEO, but Rowan got the job.

Black and Harris, owner of the Washington Commanders and other sports teams, remain large shareholders of Apollo with 7.5% and 6.0% stakes respectively. Rowan, also a founder, owns 6.1%.

Kotowski, however, ruled out any suggestion that either Black or Harris would reenter the picture should Rowan leave.

"Black and Harris are almost certainly not coming back," Kotowski said.

Representatives for both men declined to comment.

Since taking over the top job, Rowan's credit strategy has become the envy of the industry. Apollo's 2022 merger with Athene brought life insurance and retirement capital to Apollo's balance sheet, which it has leveraged to become the world's largest private lender.

This extra capital helped Apollo thrive during the last few years, stepping in to lend to corporate clients while banks and others took a back seat. Apollo has become the leader of an industry boom in private credit, which now makes up $598 billion of the firm's $733 billion of assets under management.

In a presentation to investors in October, Rowan unveiled plans to double down on the firm's lending business. More recently, he explained how the firm plans to attract more insurance dollars, which will fund the lending business, by expanding its annuity products for retirees.

Kleinman has worked at Apollo since 1996, and was named lead partner for private equity at the firm in 2009. Zelter, longtime leader of credit at Apollo, joined the company in 2006 after a long career at Citigroup where he rose to become CIO of alternative investments.

The men were named copresidents in 2018.

Kotowski called Kvalheim, president of Athene and CEO of Athene USA, a "dark horse" candidate, saying his "betting would generally be on Kleinman and Zelter."

Regardless of whether Rowan leaves or not, his vision could be helped by the Trump administration. Rowan often points to Australia's retirement model, which has been open to more private investment for decades and outperforms the American model, as a model that would boost Apollo's growth.

Trump previously opened up some 401(k) investing to private equity in 2020, and Rowan has signaled hope that it could expand further.

"Should we get access to 401(k) through broad-based reform or regulatory change or regulatory encouragement, I believe that would be upside not just for us, but for the entire industry," Rowan said earlier this month.

Of course, if Rowan were to leave, he likely would have to sell his 6.1% share in Apollo, worth nearly $6 billion, and have his assets put into a blind trust. It's unclear what that could do to the stock price, but given Apollo's recent stellar performance, it's not a bad time to divest.

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