#StartupsEverywhere: Mical Jeanlys-White, Founder and CEO, WealthMore
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
The Future of Wealth Management, Revolutionizing Wealth Creation
After working in the financial sector for over 20 years, Mical Jeanlys-White founded her own company, WealthMore, a wealth tech with a focus on tackling a key financial barrier—wealth building and management. Her company leverages technology to connect everyday Americans with accessible wealth management services, aiming to provide wealth creation for all. We sat down with her to discuss her journey in raising capital, navigating tax policy, the evolving role of AI, and more.
Tell us about your background. What led you to WealthMore?
Before founding WealthMore, I was a senior executive at JP Morgan, where I focused on improving everyday Americans' understanding of credit. I helped introduce one of the first credit cards to offer a free credit score and worked with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on initiatives to help people manage credit card debt. I also helped build the firm’s “buy now, pay later” platform, designed to assist with larger, emergency purchases. Getting people smarter about debt management was always at the forefront as it’s a big blocker for individuals seeking to gain financial security and grow wealth.
Ultimately, I decided to start WealthMore. I felt that while significant progress had been made in addressing credit issues, the wealth management side was still lacking. Wealth management, an industry that's been around for over a century, still doesn't serve most Americans. Over 70 percent of Americans don’t have access to a wealth advisor, yet those who do build wealth at twice the rate. We have a path to building wealth that works and allows some people to do well, but most Americans don’t benefit from it because the minimum account size required to access these services is often $100,000, $500,000, or even $2.5 million.
Now, we are at a point where people spend most of their prime earning years without the advice they need. More Americans who retired are returning to work because they don’t have enough retirement savings. After working 30 to 40 years, they find themselves in lower-paying jobs just to make ends meet. Now think about the generations coming after, with a high propensity for gig economy work, where people are not getting access to 401Ks and are not building a routine of saving and investing. You can just see how this will snowball into an even bigger problem.
What is the work you all are doing at WealthMore?
We created a digital-first solution for wealth management. The account minimum is only $5,000 to open a welcome account where customers get access to our Wealth Advisors, all of which are certified financial planners. We also offer communities in which we deliver advice at scale and help members succeed individually as communities of wealth builders. For example, customers can join the #homeownership community, #womenwhowealth , #firstgenwealth, or #newinvestors.
We are only three months into the beta, and we found that some of our biggest communities are first-generation wealth builders and new investors. Cash flow management is also a big community, which was a surprise, but likely because consumerism surrounds us.
What has your experience been raising capital for your startup, and how have you navigated that process?
I always look at the absolute dollar amount that goes to women of color. For Black women, it's typically less than $50,000, which is laughable when you consider the costs of building a software solution, or legal and compliance fees alone. We’d never get off the ground.
For us, we were super strategic. We went and spoke with folks who shared our mission, who understood that this was a massive white space opportunity, and also did not have a bias towards female founders because they were raising funds focused on women and/or financial inclusion. It was a bit of finding our own community and making sure that we didn’t allow other folks to own our narrative. But, we are still operating in a space that struggles to identify or come to terms with women as technologists and innovators.
How do you approach tax planning and consider using the tax code to help grow your startup?
As a startup or a small business owner, you want to put your business in the best position to attract talent, but it can be hard to do. We looked into the Affordable Care Act for small business owners, thinking we could benefit from it, but our employees had to be below a certain income. This would be great if our employees were gig employees or had lower salaries. But it doesn’t work for a startup trying to employ people working on AI and machine learning.
It would also be helpful if there were an easier way to access R&D credits. Most startups are not generating revenue in the early days but need these credits. We even looked at things like the Small Business Innovation Research grant (SBIR). We went through that whole process and we didn't get funding. It was arduous, complicated, and outdated. The process is far from the typical process of raising capital for a venture backable business. We went through months of effort to get a form letter saying no. There was no opportunity for a presentation or Q&A. The program seems tailored to grants for academic research versus startups building tech forward thinking solutions.
How have you approached AI for your startup?
We needed to look at our business model to see where AI could create efficiencies for us to keep costs low and allow us to help people at scale. The big myth in financial services is that you need to be brick and mortar, and because it's expensive, you can only serve people who are already rich. Our premise is that technology can help. We can reach far more people without keeping the design to target only already rich people.
We can leverage AI to reach out to 500 people in a quality way, versus just 120, which is the traditional benchmark. People who do have financial advisors only really talk to them once a quarter or once a year. But, customers are looking for an accountability element. Hence, we looked at AI from the perspective of serving more as an accountability coach giving the nudge and reminders that customers need to stay on track.
Are there any local, state, or federal startup issues that you think should receive more attention from policymakers?
I keep a visual on my phone—showing that in the last twenty years, the capital for women founders has essentially stayed at 2 percent. However, you see there are a lot of new fund managers that are coming into the space attempting to do more and ensure the equitable distribution of capital. When addressing the issue, we can look at accredited investors and say there were unintended consequences that kept smaller investors out. But, when you step back and look at the absolute dollars, it's clear these are small amounts compared to the trillion-dollar machine that drives the broader economy.
These trillions of dollars are managed by fund managers who oversee pools of assets representing diverse populations, yet they aren't deploying those assets to diverse fund managers. Women make up 51 percent of that population. My investment dollars are in those pools yet the capital is not being deployed to women. I would put my energy into holding those folks accountable for where their dollars are going.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
Engine works to ensure that policymakers look for insight from the startup ecosystem when they are considering programs and legislation that affect entrepreneurs. Together, our voice is louder and more effective. Many of our lawmakers do not have first-hand experience with the country's thriving startup ecosystem, so it’s our job to amplify that perspective. To nominate a person, company, or organization to be featured in our #StartupsEverywhere series, email advocacy@engine.is.
