Smart Humans with Slava Rubin

In this episode of Smart Humans, Slava Rubin interviews Harold Hofer, co-founder and CEO of Alture Funds.Harold Hofer was a crowdfunding pioneer when he launched Rich Uncles in 2012, featuring the first digitally delivered investment offering available to non-accredited, non-millionaire investors. Through its NYSE listing in 2019 (NYSE: MDV), Rich Uncles grew to thousands of investors and hundreds of millions of dollars of real estate acquired and managed.Harold brings this pioneering knowledge and experience to Alture Funds. Alture Funds offers self-managed investment capital the opportunity to purchase shares in large, existing alternative investment funds that historically limited capital raising to "human" wealth managers. For the first time, these Alts are now available on a digital platform dedicated to connecting digital native, self-managed investors with large, legacy Alts sponsors, starting with $2,500.Harold attended UCLA, where he holds undergraduate, Masters (Economics) and Juris Doctor degrees.

Louisa Klouda is the CEO and Founder of Fenchurch Legal, and is responsible for overseeing all business operations. Louisa founded Fenchurch Legal in 2020 after an interest in the litigation finance market sparked an idea to apply a secured lending model to litigation finance. She discovered a market largely dominated by funders focusing on high-value, complex cases such as class actions, however, there was a lack of support for smaller claims. This insight led to the creation of Fenchurch Legal. Before launching Fenchurch Legal, Louisa operated the broking and dealing desk for a corporate brokerage and finance firm in London. In this role, she gained extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, and investment product structuring.

Charles Clinton is the CEO and co-founder of EquityMultiple, an online platform that enables individuals to invest in institutional-grade commercial real estate. Before launching EquityMultiple in 2015, Charles was a real estate attorney at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York City, where he advised major private equity clients such as Blackstone and KKR on transactions exceeding $10 billion, including Blackstone’s acquisitions of the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Motel 6, and Hilton’s restructuring ahead of its IPO. Charles earned his JD and Business Law Certificate from Berkeley Law and holds a BA from Amherst College, where he captained the swimming and water polo teams. He is FINRA Series 7 and 66 certified and resides in New York City with his wife and two daughters.

Alan Feld is the founder and managing partner of Vintage Investment Partners. Prior to founding Vintage, Alan Feld was a General Partner at Israel Seed Partners and at Vertex Ventures. Prior to Vertex, Alan was the Managing Director of Evergreen Capital Markets/Robertson Stephens Israel. Alan received an MBA from York University in Toronto, an L.L.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and a B.A. in Commerce and Finance from the University of Toronto.

Kyle Reidhead is Co-Owner & Head of Research at Milk Road, a leading crypto investing media company, and Founder of Impact3, a crypto-native marketing agency helping top protocols and brands in crypto grow.

Vincent founder Slava Rubin and Sacra co-founder Jan-Erik Asplund did a deep dive into Glean, the multi-billion dollar AI startup helping to companies get the most out of their enterprise data. They looked at Glean’s growth trajectory, the competitive landscape and a possible IPO timeline.

Kenny Rose is the founder and CEO of FranShares, the first platform to package income-producing franchise assets into diversified, SEC-regulated funds for everyday investors. A Certified Franchise Executive (CFE) and former franchise broker, Kenny worked with over 600 franchise brands in more than 100 industries. Kenny’s views on franchising have been featured in Business Insider, Forbes, ABC, The Hustle, American Express, the Amazon feature book, “More Than Just French Fries,” and other publications worldwide, in total reaching over 300 million people throughout the world, making him a sought-after voice for RIAs, family offices, and institutions seeking durable, inflation-hedged cash flow.

Vincent founder Slava Rubin and Sacra co-founder Jan-Erik Asplund looked at Neuralink, the Elon Musk-founded neurotechnology company. They talked about the company’s growth, strengths, challenges, IPO prospects, and much more.

Jim McCann is an entrepreneur, author, and philanthropist, renowned for transforming a single flower shop into the billion-dollar omni-channel retailer, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM. His entrepreneurial journey began with a deep belief in the importance of social connections, which inspired him to create a company dedicated to helping people build meaningful relationships.The company’s portfolio includes well-known brands such as Harry & David®, PersonalizationMall.com®, Cheryl’s Cookies®, The Popcorn Factory®, Things Remembered®, and SmartGift Inc., along with its newest additions, Card Isle®, an innovative greeting card company, and Scharffen Berger®, a premium chocolate company.Jim is also dedicated to philanthropy, with a particular focus on supporting individuals with developmental disabilities. He founded Smile Farms, Inc. a not-for-profit organization in 2015 that provides meaningful work opportunities for people with disabilities. In addition to his role as Founder and Chairman of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc., Jim serves as Chairman of Worth Media Group. He also holds various other positions, including Vice-Chairman and Lead Independent Director for International Game Technology PLC, and serves on several private and not-for-profit boards.

Nate Helbach is the founder and chief executive officer of Neutral. While studying finance and sustainability at Harvard Extension School, Nate developed the framework of what is now Neutral, which redefines conventional development strategies and mitigates the harmful effects of the built environment on our ecosystem. Nate founded Neutral based on this thesis in 2020 and continuously seeks to evolve and innovate new sustainable and regenerative development methods to rejuvenate our built environment. He leads financing, capital markets, accounting, investments, product development, and construction oversight of the company's low-, mid-, and high-rise developments.