On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine talks to Axel Thibon, founder of Wizest, the next generation of investment trading platforms. With his team, Axel aims to make personal investing more accessible, more engaging, and more consistent with today's digital platforms and changing consumer behavior. Today, people think that investing is complicated and intimidating. What if there was a platform to pair novice investors with financial experts?
Before Wizest, Alex worked in banking for over six years. He led and guided 4 M&A/integration projects for banks ranging from $300M to $15B and led strategy and transformation initiatives in Renault Nissan Mitsubishi for nine years, Sabadell United Bank for five years, and has taken all that expertise to Wizest for the last four years. Axel has managed and launched a brand new digital bank from scratch.
Sabine and Axel discuss why we need to make investing simple, the challenges with the current mass market wealth management platforms, how Wizest works, and the target market and sources of success.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
BEST MOMENTS
‘This is a journey that is shared by many of us. When we want to start investing with limited capital, we tend to go with cheap or even free solutions. If you don't have any finance background and don't know what to buy and what to sell, it's tough.’
‘It's not about the service itself, which is about being able to invest or trade, but how the investing happens. So that's what we decided to change with Wizest, which is different from the others because it's not only making it more convenient and accessible, but it is also changing how it is happening.'
‘From there, the user can choose one or several investors they like to build a team. They can build a team that is going to work for them. When I say that when you have $2,000, $5,000, and $10,000 to work with in Wizest, you then work with your team. Your experts help you build your real portfolio. The way you manage your portfolio is not by managing your underlying holdings but by managing your team.’
‘It’s not like setting up a lemonade stand. To be able to launch Wizest, we have to be able to make sure we have a secure solution that is compliant with regulations and that we have the right sort of technical integrations.’
‘When you put the plan in motion, the most important thing most people forget is sticking to the plan. Don't be affected by what is happening today or tomorrow in the market or overreact and be scared because when we look historically over the last hundred years, the markets are always up and down.'
ABOUT THE GUEST
With his team, Axel aims to make personal investing more accessible, more engaging, and more consistent with today's digital platforms and changing consumer behavior. Today, people think that investing is complicated and intimidating. What if there was a platform to pair novice investors with financial experts?
Before Wizest, Alex worked in banking for over six years.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/axel-thibon/
ABOUT WIZEST
Described by Forbes as “far more authentic than Robinhood will ever be," Wizest is the next-generation investment trading platform. Our technology is democratizing access to the stock market so everyone can invest, like the 1%. Build a team of financial experts to invest on your behalf by copying their portfolios in one click. Optimize with performance leaderboards, pick experts you relate to and align with your values, then learn why they make their trades in your news feed. There’s no limit to the expertise at your fingertips!
Wizest aims to democratize the stock market and make investing accessible for everyone. The team believes everyone should be able to invest and achieve their financial goals, regardless of their experience or background.
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ABOUT THE HOST
Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers & accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner.
Twitter: SabineVdL
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