When Mark Gilbert co-founded Zocks three and a half years ago, he saw a simple but transformative opportunity: help financial advisors reclaim time lost to administrative work. “We just started off really with the goal of, with a lot of the breakthroughs that have happened in AI, to take structured data out of conversations and really start to help advisors and firms be more effective,” Gilbert recalled.
That premise — harnessing AI to make the complex human work of financial advice more scalable — has propelled Zocks from a small experiment to one of the most recognized wealthtech technology partners for advisors. The company’s growth has been fueled by timing, technical expertise, and relentless listening to its users.
Gilbert’s path to Zocks ran through the world of enterprise communications at Twilio, where he helped major financial and insurance institutions program customer engagement tools. “Once they would start programming their communications, they would start asking us, 'is there any way to actually see into what's going on in the conversations?'” he told InvestmentNews. That question stuck with him. Combined with the founding team’s experience at Hearsay Systems, a SaaS company serving financial firms, it planted the idea for a more intelligent communication layer built specifically for advisors.
When Zocks began, Gilbert expected progress to unfold gradually. Instead, the rapid rise of large language models (LLMs) accelerated development beyond anyone’s projections. “We could do things by the end of 2022 that we thought were going to take us two to three years,” he said. “It was nine months into the company — and that was really cool.”
Early on, Zocks invited advisors to test ideas before any code was written. “We would literally take a Google Doc and just say, ‘Hey, if we could give you this information from a discussion with your client, is that valuable to you?’” Gilbert said. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Advisors quickly offered more use cases—data entry, form filling, note taking—that shaped the product’s roadmap.
That collaborative spirit continued as Zocks launched its early adopter program in late 2023. “We were trying to get 25 firms on,” Gilbert said. “We ended up with about 250 people in that program in the first six months.” The feedback drove constant refinement, culminating in a full launch in early 2024. “The early adopter program was one of the nicest times for us,” he said. “You can just really focus.”
Zocks’ close partnership model has become one of its most distinctive features. Every customer participates in ongoing “check-ins,” sessions originally designed for product feedback that have evolved into a vital touchpoint. “We literally measure them in our CRM system to make sure everyone is getting checked in,” Gilbert said. “It’s a super valuable source of feedback for us.” The company now conducts dozens — sometimes hundreds — of check-ins each week.
That client discipline keeps Zocks nimble. “One of the big things is not committing to a bunch of large, big projects that totally allocate the team,” Gilbert said. “We tell customers where we’re going, we take their feedback, but we anchor more on the goals.” This agility allows the company to respond rapidly — often pushing updates in days rather than months.
The approach has earned attention from industry leaders. At Osaic’s recent ConnectED conference, CEO Jamie Price singled out Zocks as an example of how firms can move at the speed of innovation. “They were effusive about how fast we implemented,” Gilbert says. “It’s great to see partners like Osaic embracing automation and getting the ideal tech stack together.”
While AI notetaking has become a crowded field, Gilbert sees Zocks’ mission as far broader. “Most other solutions are built by or for one system — like a CRM or meeting app,” he said. “Our idea is that we can do a lot more for the advisor by interconnecting with a lot of different systems.” Zocks integrates across calendars, email, CRMs, planning software, and even broker-dealer platforms, positioning itself “not as a system of record, but a system of work and insight.”
The company’s “no recording” design — processing data securely without saving audio — is another differentiator, especially in wealth management’s compliance-sensitive environment. “It’s still very important for people dealing with high-net-worth clients,” Gilbert said.
As 2025 winds down, Zocks is expanding beyond transcription and summaries into end-to-end workflow automation. “Next year you’re going to see us doing more and more workflows for advisors,” Gilbert said. “If a client emails the advisor, we can already draft replies. Soon we’ll be orchestrating more — account openings, intakes, planning updates — all those things that take a ton of time.”
The goal is simple: help advisors spend their energy where it matters most. “We ask, 'where is the advisor and their team spending time that they don’t want to be? Can we help with that?'” Zocks also aims to surface insights that help advisors serve clients better, all while integrating with existing software rather than replacing it.
Gilbert sees financial professionals becoming more sophisticated about AI every month. “They’re getting more strategic,” he says. “It’s not just, ‘Is this a painkiller?’ anymore. They’re asking how this data fits into their whole business.”
Fresh from the Future Proof Festival conference, Gilbert remains energized about the industry’s trajectory. “It’s a really interesting time,” he said. “RIAs are pushing boundaries in how they operate, and more people than ever want advice.” As advisors evolve beyond AUM-based models toward broader financial life management, Zocks aims to be their enabling infrastructure.
For Gilbert, it’s about keeping pace with the people they serve. “The industry is changing fast,” he says. “Our job is to make sure advisors can keep up — and spend more of their time helping clients.”
Faulty Forms 1099 and account statements reportedly left some Vanguard brokerage customers overpaying or underpaying taxes for over a decade.
The democratization of ETFs cuts both ways
Independent broker-dealers snap up experienced advisors as competition for established practices intensifies.
Derek Flowers, a nearly 30-year veteran, is set to retire in mid-January, handing the reins to the executive who helped lead the bank's regulatory turnaround.
The campaign spans broadcast TV and streaming, as the brokerage faces slowing client net flows and an $8.1 billion advisor team that left to launch an RIA this month.
As AI makes financial information more accessible than ever, Lana Hock explains why human judgment, trust, and empathy remain the qualities clients value most in a financial advisor
Northern Trust’s Ken Lassner shows advisors how to convert volatility into after-tax portfolio gains
