Reflecting on LearnVest
It’s an exciting time for the LearnVest team. Last Wednesday, the company — founded by entrepreneur Alexa Von Tobel — was acquired by the financial services stalwart Northwestern Mutual.
It’s worth stepping back to reflect on the journey and share some thoughts about LearnVest to inspire other entrepreneurs.
Alexa Von Tobel and her team sought to tackle a fundamental problem when they started LearnVest in 2009 — in short, making financial planning understandable and accessible to everyone. And now, by becoming part of Northwestern Mutual, the LearnVest team makes an even larger stride in its mission.
For many Americans, simple things like managing school loans, credit card debt, savings, monthly budgets, and unforeseen expenses can be challenging and stressful. Alexa aimed to address these day-to-day complexities with superior online tools and content that could reach a broad audience, particularly those in most need. And she sought to do this with professional advice an affordable price point that previously had never been done.
Creating a solution is a challenge, but LearnVest succeeded. So what was the biggest key to success?
Immersion and Passion.
A number of us here at Accel first got to know Alexa in 2010 when the firm led the $4.5 million Series A investment round. In the years since, we’ve been consistently impressed with Alexa’s vision and strategic sensibilities.
However, beyond this, we admire her optimism, unstoppable drive, persistence, confidence, and the way she truly immersed herself into the LearnVest mission.
For example, Alexa, upon seeing the need for LearnVest, left Harvard Business School early to found the company. She wrote the New York Times bestseller, “Financially Fearless.” Alexa even went through the intensive training to become a Certified Financial Planner.
Founders are all extraordinary, but we will always be amazed at the level to which Alexa immersed herself to go “above and beyond” to build her company and put it on the path to success.
It took an enormous amount of dedication from the LearnVest team to get to this monumental point. Accel has enjoyed supporting the team over the years and we will continue to look for ways to assist Alexa, Ainslie, Emilia, Kelly, John G., Stephany and the rest of the LearnVest team as they continue to fulfill their founding mission.
