#327: Eric Satz of Alto, on Reimagining Retirement Investing, Failing Fast, and Redefining Luck

Eric Satz is the founder and CEO of Alto Solutions. Alto is the leading platform that empowers everyday investors to diversify their IRAs by investing in alternative assets such as private equity, venture capital, real estate, loans, and cryptocurrency. Offering traditional, Roth, SEP and Crypto IRAs, Alto is bringing alternative investments to the mainstream. Everyday investors can now easily and cost-effectively access their retirement savings to invest in assets once reserved solely for high-net-worth individuals. Investors can use their Alto IRA to invest in opportunities from their own private network or participate in deals offered by Bitwise, DiversyFund, Fundr, Masterworks, Republic, Vint, and numerous other investment platform partners. Launched in 2018 and growing fast, the Nashville-based firm is on a mission to empower people to own their financial futures by achieving true asset diversification in their retirement account portfolios.

Prior to founding Alto, Eric worked in investment banking at DLJ/Credit Suisse and co-founded several companies, including: Currenex, an FX trading solution sold to State Street for more than $550M, Plumgood Food, and VC firm Tennessee Community Ventures. He served on the Board of Tennessee Valley Authority from August 2015 to January 2019. After years in New York City and San Francisco, Eric and family moved to his wife’s hometown of Nashville to raise their kids. Nowadays, his pastimes include skiing, soccer, yoga, and all too often hoping this will finally be the year for the ‘Canes and Dolphins.

Topics Covered by Eric Satz in this Episode

• What Alto Solutions is
• Alto’s origin story and how Eric began to execute on the idea
• Why Eric decided this was a problem he had to solve
• Early unexpected hurdles and getting Alto off the ground
• The UX and investment process with Alto
• Partnering with Angel List
• Shifting their customer acquisition strategy
• How the evolution of different asset classes has affected Alto
• The importance of leveraging storytelling
• Lessons Eric has learned founding multiple companies
• How Eric evaluates investments

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