Samir Vasavada
@samir_vasavada
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Co-Founder & CEO @viseinc | building the asset manager of the future - enabling personalized portfolios at scale
Manhattan, NY
Joined January 2016
Vise’s growth has been through the roof. Our Platform Assets, which include both Vise’s managed assets for RIAs and assets on the Vise for aggregators platform, have propelled past $3.5B, over 350% growth since the start of this year. Today, we’re excited to unveil Vise for RIA.
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I’m excited to formally announce our $45M Series B financing led by @sequoia. We’re incredibly excited to partner with Ravi Gupta as he joins our board and helps us continue to scale Vise.
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Today I fully realized the best way to solve startup problems is literally just talk to other founders. Someone else probably already solved the problem. Not enough founders do this.
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The hardest money we ever raised was our first $10,000. The hardest employee to hire was #1 . It only gets easier over time.
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I turned down the Thiel fellowship - I needed it when I was 17 & broke living in a bunk room in SF and was rejected. They finally offered it to me after we had raised a bunch of $ and didn’t need it anymore. It’s become more of a prize to young founders who have already made it.
Why are Thiel fellows so successful relative to “30 under 30” people?.
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I’m excited to announce @viseinc’s $14.5 Series A round led by @sequoia. We met a transformational investor in @shaunmmaguire. Together, we’re unlocking a new future for wealth management. @RunikM and I are just getting started.
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This was a fun one.
My conversation with @samir_vasavada is now live. - AI & Machine Learning.- Raising money from Sequoia.- Dreaming Big & Being Bold.- How to operate at elite level.- Best ways to hire & fire. Samir built a $1+ billion business at 22 years old 🤯. WATCH:
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⅓ Exciting news from @viseinc - we closed a $65M Series C at a $1B+ Valuation. This funding will allow us to make even bigger investments faster. We plan to accelerate investments in our platform, hiring new talent + the rollout of new features. 👇.
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Most of these kids don’t actually care about BLM, Palestine [insert social movement] — they’re in search of an identity they don’t have and a deep desire to be accepted by their peers (who also don’t have an identity).
This guy got into Stanford, Princeton, and Yale a few years ago. He went to Yale. These schools are what they want to be.
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We were rejected from YC 5 times: YC approval doesn't mean anything.
I feel bad for most of the companies in YC these days. They think YC's approval means they have a good plan when in reality YC is just investing in anything that moves. 90% of the plans in YC are awful, worse than the median plan I see elsewhere. Shame.
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Sillicon Alley is the new Silicon Valley. Come to NYC to build your company.
Will more venture capital firms relocate to New York?
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(1/7) We tried to scale our company too fast and fell flat on our faces. We recognized these mistakes and underwent a year-long “refounding,” changing our culture and operating model. It was tough, but we’ve become stronger and can serve our clients
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Shayne / Polymarket was my first ever angel investment. It cleaned out my entire bank account at the time (not smart financial decision) and is now bigger than the news. At the time, almost everyone I knew bet against him and he was still crazy enough to believe he could.
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I’ve gotten 300+ emails from growth & other investors, unlikely I can respond, but if you:. 1. Introduce us to a rockstar Full Stack/Frontend engineer .Or .2. Independent Financial Advisor . I’m happy to take 20 mins next week to chat. Thx :).
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The sooner you start, the more you learn. No amount of money can make up for that knowledge opportunity cost.
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@zebulgar Delian, love you but I’d reclassify this from “moving to Miami” to can tentatively attend your event if they so happen to be in Miami that particular weekend for a specific business reason.
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When we were just starting off it was really hard to recruit engineers. We tried everything, too little success. One day we decided to go to Google’s HQ to talk to random people around campus hoping they’d be engineers we could recruit. .
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Work life balance in early stage startups is a fallacy. You have to work *really* hard to win. People who disagree with this tweet just shouldn’t work at an early startup.
Just learned my friend’s company requires people to be in the office . from 9am-1am at least two days a week . I just asked to invest 😬.
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I'm excited to officially announce we've hired former CCO of Blackrock Digital Wealth Shah Hafizi as CCO at Vise:
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We're excited to also announce Niki Sri-Kumar as VP of Product (formerly of Affirm) and Yoonie Kim as VP of People and Talent (formerly of Dropbox)
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In 2020, we focused on the foundation. In 2021, we are focused on scale. Q1 @viseinc highlights.✅ AUM doubled since Dec.✅ Customer base doubled since Dec.✅ Hired best talent from tech/finance.✅ Building our platform + product . This is just the beginning.
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Coolest thing of my day for sure: vise at time square
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I’m convinced being in SF is more distracting than being in NYC and is no longer the best place to build a startup. Everyone chasing hot thing after hot thing fueled by endless hype chasing venture capital. Better to focus on your thing instead of constantly being influenced by.
I say this as a fan of San Francisco: . After seeing many AI startups crash and burn over the past month…. Convinced that many of the best AI companies won’t be based in San Francisco. Too many meetups. Too much money. Too much worrying about competition. When will we learn?.
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Some of the best companies are the most controversial.
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Vise is absolutely crushing it now!! (more exciting updates to come in next few weeks) but for a period in 2022 we had to do a major reset. It was painful. I loved getting the chance to reflect on it and tell the story, the ups and downs of the startup rollercoaster with.
At one point @Samir_Vasavada was the youngest person in history to have a $BN business. The company raised 3 rounds at $125M in just a 6 month period. But everything was not as it seemed…. Today we unpack the real story behind Vise. My 8 key takeaways 👇
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Happy 4th Birthday @viseinc! We’ve come along way since our founding. Excited to see where the next 4 years take us 🚀
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Props to avi for having built all of this with only a few million $ . Impressive.
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We’ve now 3x’d the company during quarantine. Hiring @viseinc is on 🔥Apply below if you’re looking for a job.
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I’ve made a lot of pitch decks, many failed. Lessons below:.
Vise CEO Samir Vasavada and Sequoia's Shaun Maguire break down the art of the pitch by @jordanrcrook.
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@shaunmmaguire It’s what happens when Muslims are 25% of the world’s population and Jews are .2%. scale rules over truth.
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Any great company takes a long time to build - especially ones tackling legacy industries . It’s been 8 years since we started Vise and we still have a long way to go - it puts into perspective the commitment you’re really signing up for when you decide to start a company.
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Getting the best talent is incredibly hard. Although these experiments failed it helped us build a “do whatever it takes” mindset that remains etched in our culture today. If you’re looking for a job with the grittiest team you’ll ever work with apply for a job @viseinc.
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It’s no longer Artificial Intelligence versus Financial Advisors; it’s Financial Advisors empowered by AI. Introducing Vise Intelligence, one of the first advisor-facing implementations of generative AI to supercharge Financial Advisors.
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Delian was one of my first angel investments. Exciting to see the progress :) 🚀🚀.
Excited to announce that we've raised a $42m Series A to build the world's first space factories . Co-led by Khosla Ventures (@SamirKaul1) & Caffeinated Capital (@tonsing). Varda will bring the benefits of space to a much wider population via our products we bring back to Earth!!.
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Seed stage founders saying how great their VCs are means literally nothing. Ask a founder 5-7 years in after the ups downs and everything in between means something.
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This is real loyalty.
After learning today’s news, this is the message I sent to the OpenAI team:
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So unbelievably proud of one of my first investors @zebulgar and good friend. @RunikM and I are excited to join along on the journey and back Varta! Delian is going to CRUSH it!.
Thrilled to announce that we raised a $9m "seed" for @vardaspace co-led by @foundersfund & @Lux_Capital w/ participation from Also Capital @fiftyyears @tonsing @naval @Justin_Mateen. Coverage by Axios here:.
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The key to succeeding as a founder (or early employee) is believing in yourself so much it doesn’t make rational sense. No matter how hard it gets.
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Alongside Sequoia, excited to announce participation from @nikesharora @foundersfund @alexandr_wang @vladtenev @hdubugras @pedroh96 @zoink @HumandotCapital @bling0 Greenoaks Capital, Allen & Co and more!.
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This is a big deal: Envestnet has trillions in distribution.
Today Inflection Points Inc was announced as the bitcoin and crypto education partner for Envestnet (@ENVintel). We are bringing world-class, actionable training to thousands of RIAs & brokerage houses. Bear markets are for building. More to come soon.
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Every successful founder got lucky - luck builds companies just as much as a intelligence and hard work.
Bill Gates got lucky. With an IBM deal he signs in 1980. Here's the hidden truth about the rise of Microsoft:.
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If someone builds (or wants to build) AI led compliance and archiving software I will personally invest and beta launch it with Vise. This is a huge problem in the industry and the incumbents are terrible. DM me.
Damn if only there were a company working on one of the @a16z Tech Ideas for 2025. American Dynamism Point #3 Part Two
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Fundraising over rated . Actually building your business is underrated.
Fundraising is simple; you must go from rejection to rejection with no loss of enthusiasm. Founders, this is a numbers game. Never let your head drop. The next meeting could be the one. Keep going.
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If there’s anything I’ve learned the last few years building. good things takes time . I always have to reminding myself to be patient, keep building and greatness will come. Everything else is noise.
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Hired CEOs will almost always destroy your company 😬.
I literally don’t understand a single thing from this LinkedIn announcement
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I’m convinced people who learn fast are more equipped to be successful in a startup than people with just experience. Bet on slope.
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As a Gen Z and co-founder of @viseinc, it’s frustrating seeing Millennials/Gen Z reduced to cliches. If you think they all invest in Gamestop then you don’t know them. They are too big, too important to get wrong. My thoughts in @FAmagazine.
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Kinda funny how @RunikM and I stumbled onto what could be one of the most disruptive trends in finance at 15. We’re excited to see where this industry goes, it’s just the beginning.
This is why Sequoia staked Vise to a stunning $1B valuation despite just ~$250M of AUM. Because if direct indexing tech becomes the new building block for advisors, it threatens the entire mutual fund & ETF complex that is powered by advisors today. (17/?)
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Now is the best time to start a crypto company . For the first time I’ve ever seen big finance companies universally supportive of adoption.
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The key is you can’t give a fuck . If you care about people judging you being a founder isn’t for you.
Lord I'm glad tech twitter was like 100x smaller a decade ago. When I was a foolish 20-yr old founder making plenty of mistakes. Thank God I didn't have all of Silicon Valley watching and critiquing me back then. .
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They should teach OKRs starting in middle school. Planning is power.
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We’ve doubled the size of the company during quarantine. I thought remote hiring would never work.
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Most people rant and complain about things they can’t control. This is the best way to be miserable. It’s better to just focus on improving the things you can control and you’ll be much happier as a result :) . Happy Friday! Life is too short to be miserable.
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I couldn’t be more excited to announce two huge executive hires @viseinc: our Chief Sales Officer Tyler John and Chief Marketing Officer Christine Tseng.
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Speaking out isn’t enough. We stand with the black community and are taking initiative to make change, both as an organization and in our greater community. Our statement from @viseinc below:
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Great to see @viseinc on BI's promising fintech companies list. Thank you for the nomination @shaunmmaguire
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Great companies don’t just create a product, they start a movement.
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“Micro optimization” — describes most jobs at big companies. Work at a startup!.
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Ravi Gupta is a visionary and wizard-like operator. Really grateful to be great friends and always learn from Ravi. Amazing podcast with the legendary @HarryStebbings
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After a few hours and about 25 failed, awkward conversations security finally kicked us out.
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❤️.
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Tired of your stale engineering job at Google? Join the engineering team at Vise and change finance: .
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Extremely excited to announce Kelly Leydan as our new Chief People Officer @viseinc - Kelly was formerly SVP of People at Shopkeep and VP of People at LearnVest. We couldn’t be more pumped to have her on the leadership team.
The company recently completed a $65 million Series C funding round.
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This backfired, booked out with demos through next month. I guess I’ll be an SDR.
I’ve gotten 300+ emails from growth & other investors, unlikely I can respond, but if you:. 1. Introduce us to a rockstar Full Stack/Frontend engineer .Or .2. Independent Financial Advisor . I’m happy to take 20 mins next week to chat. Thx :).
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Some of the greatest advice I’ve ever received: problems take the important you give to them.
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Henrique and Pedro are building one of the most important companies in fintech. Loved the podcast, give it a listen:.
You’ve likely heard of Brex, which sports a $7.4B valuation despite being just a few years old. I deeply enjoyed this conversation with its co-founder and co-CEO @hdubugras (who’s ~25!). These young entrepreneurs make you want to build something. Enjoy!.
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Please join us in an interview with the Vise team and Howard Marks. Details below
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Kinda insane but I could’ve been on this flight had I flown from Sapporo to Tokyo a day later. Grateful 🙏.
Today’s event in Japan is an important reminder for all of us to respect safety protocols on flights. Those “annoying” requests to put seats in the upright position, etc., allowed the crew to evacuate the plane in 90 seconds and save lives.
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I need someone in the CoS/BizOps role who’s scrappy & hungry. You need to be in the office everyday and willing to learn all aspects of the business. Unbelievable opportunity for future founders. DM me if interested:.
The number of young people that DM me interested in joining my startup in a chief of staff or strategy-related role is absurd.
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Twitter is a better product post Elon-acquisition and only getting better faster. Smaller teams and less layers between the CEO and product execution create better companies and better products.
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More leadership than we’re getting in our current administration….
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Some great companies doing incredible things for advisors on this list. Honored @viseinc has been named as a Disruptors finalist 🎉. We're working to shape the future of investment management and advance our mission of financial freedom for everyone.
Congratulations to all of the Wealthies finalists!.#wealthies #WMIA21.
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Proud of my team @viseinc for delivering on a year long product effort that finally completed over the last few weeks. Nothing beats being in office to celebrate 🎉🚀
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Many of this generations startup founders have been trained to build trust by “association” (i.e tier-1 VC, fancy hires etc) — this was effective, but it isn’t real trust. It’s a false narrative. Trust is built with one simple thing: consistency. We all need to relearn this.
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Proud of the smartest person I know & my cofounder @RunikM for his recent feature in @wealth_mgmt
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Without a doubt @zebulgar - founder first ethos at FF is unquestionable.
Dear startup founders,. What is something specific an investor has done for your company that materially changed your growth trajectory?. Tangible examples please, ie, not “x has had my back” etc. Something they’ve done that has meaningfully increased your odds of success.
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The easiest way to kill a company is to bring in “professional management” . Founders and founding teams win.
1/8 I’m very sad today to see that @Bench has shut down. I’ve avoided speaking publicly about Bench since just over 3 years ago when I was fired from the company I co-founded. I still don’t have a lot of appetite to talk about it tbh, but think at least a short statement is.
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At any company, there are lots of milestones - first employee, product, customer. But there's something special about defining a company's mission and values. At @viseinc , we're on a Mission to create financial freedom for everyone.
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I bet if we made all tech journalists start a company for a year before they decided to cover tech there would be less non-sensical news written about founders. Congrats to the @loom team this is an incredibly positive outcome!.
Loom just sold for $975M cash after about 8 years and raising a total of ~$175M, and TechCrunch thinks the CEO has to “put a positive spin” on the deal because their last round at market peak was at a little higher valuation — this is a home run startup outcome, period
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When I was twelve shortly after launching our first business building apps for small businesses I had my mom drive me around from Apple Store to Apple Store where I would change the tab on every Mac to our website. 0 CAC marketing!!.
Nothing to see here, just opening some tabs at Apple Park in Cupertino 🤣
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If Facebook didn’t remind me of everyone’s birthdays I definitely would have deleted it by now.
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Compounding is a principle I live by, while it applies to business - it also applies to relationships, skills and so many more things. It’s hard to understand in the moment, but if you remind yourself of its power when you’re thinking about giving up it’ll change everything.
If you're committing to a 20 year journey that involves compounding returns. You have to keep in mind throughout the journey that the majority of returns will happen in yeara 17-20. 2004 vs 2024:
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