Serial wealth management entrepreneur Steven D. Lockshin is giving financial backing to a startup company that allows advisers to manage client accounts and social media outreach on their smartphone.
Wealthbox, a client relationship management product for financial advisers owned by Gotham Tech Labs Inc., has won the support of Mr. Lockshin, chairman of Potomac, Md.-based Convergent Wealth Advisors.
“I invested because I believe that John [Rourke, the CEO]'s approach to CRM is significantly better than the more traditional and cumbersome solutions that presently exist,” Mr. Lockshin said. “I expect Wealthbox and their associated products to emerge as leaders in the advisory space when it comes to user experience, which is all that really matters in the end.”
Mr. Lockshin and Michael E. Kitces, partner and director of research at Pinnacle Advisory Group, joined Wealthbox's advisory board this week.
“Both of them are industry veterans and we felt that they will be additive to our company,” said John Rourke, himself a serial entrepreneur and the chief executive of Gotham Tech Labs. “They will help us with our product roadmap and guide us on strategic matters as we grow.”
(See also: Advisers hop on mobile CRM trend)
The amount of Mr. Lockshin's investment was not disclosed, but Mr. Rourke, without giving specifics, described it as “modest but meaningful.”
Mr. Lockshin's sign-off on the product could be seen as a major boost. Mr. Lockshin founded the advisory firm now known as Convergent in 1994. He also founded the outsourced wealth management platform Fortigent, which was sold to
LPL Financial, the largest independent broker-dealer, in 2012. Today, his investments include
Betterment, the online adviser, and AdvicePeriod, an advisory firm that uses Wealthbox.
(Related: Betterment for advisers on its way)
“My new advisory firm has been using Wealthbox since the CRM product launched, and the team loves it,” said Mr. Lockshin in a statement. “Software simplicity is a mixture of art and science and the Gotham Tech Labs teams have mastered it.”
Mr. Rourke said the firm's product is “approaching 2,000 subscribers.”
In addition to the web-based CRM application, Gotham Tech Labs also owns Wealthbase, an app that connects advisers to consumers using algorithms that make matches based on expertise, location and availability.
Mr. Rourke's previous startup, a CRM platform for small businesses called Bantam Live, was acquired in 2011 for $15 million in cash by online marketing company Constant Contact.
