Brian Barnes is the CEO and Founder of M1 Finance, a startup making an automated investment tool that lets users put their money to work in a balanced portfolio without the hassle of actually managing it.

Just a few years after graduating from Stanford, Brian raised $9 million and moved back to Chicago to build the platform. 

In This Episode You Will Learn:

• The motivation behind Brian starting M1 Finance
• How Brian went about launching a MVP in the heavily regulated finance industry
• How Brian raised $9 million pre-launch 
• The benefits of robo-advisors over all ETFs
• What M1 Finance costs and how they plan to differentiate from other robo-advisors
• How Brian got his first customers
• What Brian has learned about life and business from his mom Brenda Barnes, Former CEO of Pepsi and Sara Lee?
• What the most effective marketing channels have been
• How M1 Finance's message has evolved over time
• How to communicate a relatively complicated product to consumers quickly
• The importance of design in fintech 
• Why Brian moved back to Chicago after going to Stanford and whether he thinks it matters
• Why Chicago has to improve our risk appetite

Selected Links From The Episode:

Favorite Books:

• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas père
• Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst y Robert M. Sapolsky