This case features Wealthfront, a Palo Alto California-based financial technology startup. Wealthfront created a fully-automated, low-cost online investment platform targeting the millennial generation. The founders positioned Wealthfront as a disruptive force within the asset management industry. By dramatically lowering the minimum investment required, they sought to democratize access to sophisticated investing. By the fall of 2014, the firm's assets under management (AUM) had surpassed $1.5 billion. CEO Adam Nash contemplates a variety of strategic questions including whether Wealthfront should maintain its focus on the consumer channel or expand into business to business channels in order to increase AUM.
Keywords: asset management; automated investment advisor; millennials; fintech; Customers; Asset Management; Online Technology; Age; Investment; Business Startups; California;
Citation:
Viceira, Luis, and Allison Ciechanover. "The Wealthfront Generation." Harvard Business School Case 216-085, June 2016. (Revised May 2017.) View Details
