Adam Green, CEO / Co-Founder of YieldX — Democratizing Fixed Income Investing
In today’s episode, I sit down with Adam Green, CEO and co-founder of YieldX.
Full Episode → Spotify | Soundcloud | Apple
Adam’s Background:
Adam Green is a technology innovator, founder and capital markets veteran. He is currently the CEO and co-Founder of YieldX, a breakthrough technology infrastructure that is reimagining fixed income. The company launched in October, 2020 and is helping institutional clients democratize fixed income access, analytics portfolio construction, and optimization capabilities via an API-driven, modular technology platform. Prior to that, Adam was a co-Founder at MoneyLion. Founded in 2013, MoneyLion provides a mobile and financial membership platform that empowers users to take control of their personal finances. In this episode, we cover a range of topics, including:
Co-Founding MoneyLion:
Post Dodd-Frank, Adam and the rest of the MoneyLion co-founding team saw an opportunity in consumer financial services — offering products and services to individuals with below 680 FICO scores, individuals that banks were hamstrung from offering services to. The MoneyLion team used stronger data analytics from non-traditional sources of data to go direct to consumers. The team also aimed to use technology to anticipate what the right product is for consumers, and offer a pathway for additional opportunities based on certain user behaviors.
Building Something New at YieldX:
Adam has always had a passion for building something new, and once MoneyLion had reached scale Adam decided to co-found yet another successful fintech startup. Adam noticed a lack of automation around fixed income and decided to create a digital end-to-end infrastructure around fixed income investing, helping democratize the use of fixed income assets for all types of end-users. Adam dives deeper into each of the key pillars of the business: access, analytics, custody, and core operating systems. Adam hopes that over time YieldX can provide access to an asset class that historically most people and businesses have not had the ability to use.
Using Communication to Navigate Covid:
Adam believes that the decisions the team made early on in the pandemic, including being fiscally conservative, and being very deliberate on product and marketing decisions, defined who YieldX is today. While scaling, Adam relied heavily on frequent communication and incentive alignment with his team to instill the YieldX culture in a remote environment. Furthermore, Adam highlights a few silver linings from operating during the pandemic, including hiring the best talent from around the world, rather than talent concentrated in a few major cities.
Rapid Fire Round:
- Which accomplishment are you most proud of?
- What was your first job (spoiler alert — it involves the spice girls)?
- Last show you binge watched?
- What does success look like for you?
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Anirudh Singh
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About the Author
Anirudh Singh is a first-year MBA Candidate at The Wharton School, where he is part of the Wharton FinTech Podcast team. He has a passion for sports, economic development, venture capital, financial services, and all things FinTech. Don’t hesitate to reach out with questions, comments, feedback, and opportunities at singhan@wharton.upenn.edu.
