Leading a Following, Instigating a Movement
Trust is at an all-time low in our country. Consumer confidence in the institutions designed to inform and protect us has eroded, replaced with uncertainty, doubt, and cynicism. We’ve all watched this play out with the government, the media, big tech, and big banks, and with a possible recession looming that will be the first in the lifetimes of GenZers and Millennials. The area I’m particularly concerned about is trusted content to inform our financial lives. Unfortunately, with recent events like meme stock tumults and the crash of FTX, trust in crypto, ironically built on the principle of rejecting the status quo in financial systems, has proven to be just as unreliable as the entities it has aimed to displace. This panic impacts the lives of the consumer, especially the younger generations, forcing them to ask hard questions like Can I trust my neighbor? Can I trust my government? Can I trust where I put my money? Can I trust myself?
We started Follow based on the principle that people turn to others for ideas when they don’t trust themselves and have lost confidence/trust in traditional institutions. And we are building this product based upon a simple belief — portfolios of the future will be portfolios of people’s ideas who they trust.
In times of darkness, when we as people are forced to deal with the trust question, time and time again, we revert to our people whom we follow back to the light.
This is why we are building.
“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” Mahatma Gandhi
I live with five teenagers, and I’ve seen them wrestle through these trust-challenged times. I’m intrigued by their resilience and how they interact with their people and the world around them. They forge these new trust networks and build connections. Their worlds are fluid, and they inspire them through people, not institutions.
I have an extensive (some would say pretentious) cookbook collection, as cooking is one of my favorite pastimes. They sit on a bookshelf in our kitchen, and I am staring at them now as I type. Unfortunately, my partner Patty and I are the only ones who crack them. The voices and ideas in these books are some of the most renowned and established leaders in the industry, and our teenagers are utterly uninterested in what they have to say. But as I look in that same kitchen rotating my head 20 degrees to the right, I see a large pile of dirty dishes from last night’s ultimate cheese sauce experiment instigated by a TikTok post from someone our kids follow and trust.
“Expertise” has been reframed, and what drives these generations to action is different. While I would give my right pinky to have Grant Achatz teach me how to make the ultimate cheese sauce, that opportunity isn’t available to me. Our teenager Andrew made his delicious sauce and was unafraid to do anything but the dishes.
This is who we are building for.
With the rise of Consumer Fintech 1.0 (2015–2021), amazing breakthroughs brought access to many Americans who couldn’t bank, borrow or invest in the traditional system because it didn’t speak to them or rejected them outright. This is real progress as a society.
But in these fascinating times, people have also been harmed and isolated by their devices and emotions. With volatile markets and crypto being anything but enduring, many of the younger generations have yet to progress. Instead, they bought shares on trends and NFTs they didn’t understand. They rode the emotion-driven speculative bubble and today are left with portfolios of things they don’t believe in and look in the mirror unsure of what to do about the losses they have incurred. Do they trust themselves? Who do they turn to?
Like the voices that motivated Andrew to cook, there is a growing universe of well-intentioned and informed, often self-educated voices sharing perspectives on navigating the markets and, more importantly, how to be smart with your money. These voices have grown tremendously through the years. But unfortunately, the industry has yet to be able to embrace these voices and provide a platform to share their ideas while also creating the opportunity to action those ideas for those who trust them.
This is what we are building. — A platform connecting people to people they trust
As we embark on the start of Consumer Fintech 2.0, we need to move beyond increased consumer access and slick user experiences. These are givens in the current landscape — all the old players do this as well as any 1.0 incumbent. However, you need to stand for something more profound. You need humanity. You need a community built on trust.
Our company is called Follow, and it starts with these voices. We call them Leaders. They are leaders in their communities. They dare to put themselves out there. They are willing to be naked on the corner and be measured by the world around them.
We are creating a platform at Follow that connects these Leaders with people who want to follow their ideas, and if the followers want to do more, they can SuperFollow their money moves automatically. These voices aren’t financial advisors, but they do their homework, share their perspectives, and put their money where their mouth is. You can see their holdings represented in our proxy account, their moves, and their performance. Suppose you like what they say and want to make that ultimate cheese sauce. In that case, you can open up an investment account with us and keep your investments proportionally in sync with the account developed by our investment advisor to automatically follow a Leader’s money moves. We charge a simple subscription fee for access to the Leader’s ideas which we share with the Leader, better aligning the interests of all parties. Investment accounts are operated and managed by our affiliated investment adviser which has a fiduciary responsibility to look after your best interests as a client and to help you determine which Leaders align with your interests. That interest alignment between our investment adviser and our clients is our company’s starting point. Unfortunately, too many companies start with this misalignment at inception and we want to get this right on day one.
Our platform creates an opportunity to connect and elevate a diverse set of Leaders’ voices to people who want to Follow their ideas. It’s also a teachable moment where we can educate the customer about the benefits of the diversity of thought, diversification of investment styles, long-term investment thinking — and, more importantly: Action. With a robust offering of voices, we can help restore trust and get the next generation off to the right start for a more secure financial future.
“Money trees are the perfect place for shade and that’s just how I feel” — Kendrick Lamar
We have been building this for a year in stealth mode, and today we are choosing to come out of stealth to inspire more Leaders to join our platform and connect with their Followers.
We are introducing this product to the public in January 2023, and we already have relationships with many top voices. So if you want your voice to be heard and to be a Leader, please reach out to us.
I’d like to thank my team for all the work, passion, and grit to get us to this point and for all the work we will do together in the future to fulfill this promise we all made to each other. I am proud of you, and I hope you derive pride, joy, and inspiration from our collective work.
Every generation says: “You had your chance; now it’s our turn.” Our platform on both sides (Leaders and their Followers) is precisely that. I find hope through the eyes of my teenagers, and the actions they are taking to secure their financial future and want to create that feeling and reality for as many people as possible.
Be nice to each other.
Manning
CEO and Co-Founder
About Follow.
Follow is a platform that connects screened financial voices called Leaders with people who want to Follow their ideas and SuperFollow their money moves. Follow RIA, our affiliated investment advisor automates SuperFollowing for our clients. We charge a simple subscription fee for our customers and share that fee with our Leaders. [For additional information see our Follow’ RIA’s Form CRS, Form ADV Part 2, and other disclosures.]
We are dedicated to helping the next generation make financial progress and build confidence by connecting them to a portfolio of people’s ideas they trust and, if they choose, to SuperFollow them. We own a registered investment advisor regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission to help subscribers automatically follow the money moves via our proprietary proxy accounts creating a simple, automated experience.
We educate our subscribers on the benefits of diversified investing and how to assess and understand their own risk profile.
We are a virtual company and have team members working around the country. Please reach out if you’d learn more about what we are building.
Investing in securities always involves the risk of loss. The Follow app is operated by both Follow RIA, a registered investment adviser, and its publishing affiliate. Subscription services are provided by the publishing affiliate only, and are not provided by Follow RIA. Follow’s leaders and the publishing affiliate do not provide investment advice, and neither are registered investment advisers. Investment advice is being provided solely by Follow RIA. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Past performance does not guarantee future results, and opinions presented herein should not be viewed as an indicator of future performance. For more details, see our Follow’ RIA’s Form CRS, Form ADV Part 2 and other disclosures at FollowInvest.com
