Arch with Ryan Eisenman | E322
Building an operating system for Alts management.
In this episode of Fintech Impact, Jason Pereira interviews Ryan Eisenman, Co-founder and CEO of Arch, a revolutionary platform designed to streamline the handling of alternative investments for advisors and their back offices. Throughout the conversation, they delve deep into the challenges of managing investments in the private markets, how Arch addresses these issues by aggregating and digitizing investment data, and the broader implications for both investors and advisors.
Episode Highlight:
00:10: Jason Pereira opens the episode by introducing Ryan Eisenman of Arch, highlighting the innovative platform that concentrates on simplifying the management of alternative investments by providing a comprehensive solution for both advisors and their clients on back-office operations.
00:33: Ryan Eisenman briefly appreciates being a part of the podcast, leading to a deeper conversation about the genesis of Arch. The discussion lays the foundation, revealing how the pain points of investing in private markets drove the creation of Arch as a digital solution to aggregate and interpret diverse investment documents into a seamless, unified platform.
01:42: The origin story of Arch is further unfolded, emphasizing the crucial challenge private investors face when dealing with various investment portals. Ryan captures the frustration leading to the motivation behind Arch, aiming to eliminate the overwhelming administrative burdens placed on individuals investing in alternatives.
03:25: The conversation highlights the innovative approach Arch takes to address the fragmented nature of alternative investment reporting. By inserting itself as an intermediary, Arch automates the collection and standardization of investment information, improving the investment experience for both advisors and their clients.
05:20: Demonstrating the operational aspect of Arch, Ryan elaborates on how the platform gathers, digitizes, and structures data, ensuring a single source of truth for investment information. This process fundamentally transforms PDFs into actionable insights, directly contributing to more informed investment decisions.
06:29: Eisenman explains Arch's role in providing both a backend database and a client-facing portal, which not only consolidates investment data for advisors but also enhances the visibility for clients regarding their investment performance and overall portfolio health.
07:51: Delving into the collaborative dynamics with other vendors and data partners, Ryan outlines the evolution from initial skepticism to developing symbiotic partnerships that enhance data accessibility and processing, leveraging Arch's growing market presence and scale.
09:40: Addressing the expansion of Arch database, Ryan articulates how new client onboarding serves as a gateway to enriching the platform's investment information repository, thereby streamlining the process for future clients and enhancing the comprehensiveness of Arch service.
10:28: The operational mechanics of onboarding new investments on Arch are laid out, benchmarking the efficiency and scalability of the platform in accommodating a diverse range of private equity positions and alternative investments within a structured timeline.
12:15: The discussion shifts to capturing the reception from advisors and the inherent value proposition Arch introduces to the marketplace, addressing historical challenges in initial client acquisition and emphasizing the transformational impact on both advisors' operational capabilities and client experiences.
15:09: The episode concludes with a forward-looking perspective, where Ryan shares his vision for Arch to evolve into a comprehensive operational framework for managing alternative investments, emphasizing the long-term goal of broadening access to alternative investments for a wider demographic of investors.
Key Points:
The integration of technology in managing alternative investments can significantly alleviate the administrative burdens for both advisors and investors, centralizing and digitizing data for enhanced decision-making.
Establishing partnerships and gaining acceptance from vendors and asset managers is crucial for innovative platforms like Arch to scale and streamline the investment management process in the private market sector.
By focusing on automating the retrieval and structuring of investment data, Arch aims to not only improve the investment management experience but also increase accessibility to alternative investments for a broader audience.
Tweetable Quotes:
"By simplifying the complex, we make alternative investments more accessible and manageable." - Ryan Eisenman
"Transforming customer pain points into empowering experiences drives our innovation at Arch." - Ryan Eisenman
Resources Mentioned:
Facebook – Jason Pereira's Facebook
LinkedIn – Jason Pereira's LinkedIn
Woodgate.com – Sponsor
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-eisenman-21811246/