Screentime: LearnVest’s Founder Thinks the Future of Finance Is on Your Phone
Alexa von Tobel, also the founder and managing partner of Inspired Capital, loads up on crypto apps but keeps it simple for everything else.
Welcome to Screentime, where tech leaders divulge their most personal phone habits.
Inspired Capital partner Alexa von Tobel loves crypto, and the proof is all over her phone. From trading currencies on Gemini to admiring her non-fungible tokens on the POAP app, von Tobel has fully bought into the idea that the financial technology of the future will fit in the palm of your hand. You should take her word for it: She’s been innovating in the sector since 2015, when she sold her financial planning company LearnVest to Northwestern Mutual for $375 million. Since then, she’s launched Inspired, which backs early-stage startups, and raised more than $500 million in investment capital, which the firm has used to invest in more than 30 companies, including digital banking startup Rho and Chief, a private network for women in business. She’s also dipping a toe into the Web3 arena as a founding member of Brit Morin’s women-led NFT project, BFFs.
What apps are on your home screen?
Waze, Amazon and Fitbit, plus a few financial apps like [crypto wallet] MetaMask and [crypto exchange] Gemini.
What are the four in the bottom menu?
Phone, Inbox, Calendar and Affinity, which we use to track all deals at Inspired. It’s literally just a tracker that syncs up with your emails so that you’re aware of companies that you’ve already chatted with.