TechTalk: Empowering Shareholders: Startup Helps Fiduciaries Redefine Corporate Governance for Public Equities

Alan Reid

Thanks so much, Janina. Great to be here.

Janina Teoxon

All right, so let's begin. In two to three sentences, Alan, explain iconik for our audience.

Alan Reid

Sure. iconik leverages influence, utilizing an age-old technology we know as proxy voting to have influence in corporate America.

Janina Teoxon

Amazing work, and what a revolutionary technology platform that's helping to build shareholder influence. And for sure, Alan, iconik was built for a reason, and most of the times I see that founders and entrepreneurs build their companies, technologies, and platforms because they saw a specific problem that needed to be solved. So, for you, Alan, what is the specific problem that iconik is now solving?

Alan Reid

Well, I'm glad you asked. What we're doing really changes the infrastructure that existed for years and really gives investors that access to management. For large investors, whether that's the old Benjamin Graham or whether that's Warren Buffett, they have access to management, but most individuals never felt like they had access. So what we do is, we allow folks to have their values respected in corporate America. Backing up, really, this infrastructure was one that has been historically paper-based and on mainframes, I like to say old iron. As you described, we're really a tech layer that sits in between and empowers institutions, foundations, advisors, and asset managers to have new handles and access to communicate amongst themselves.

Janina Teoxon

Oh, that's amazing, and I can see how the redistribution of decision-making influence from corporate managers to shareholders can transform markets, and your approach is really impactful. So, Alan, let's talk about the technology that you have built. How exactly is iconik's technology accelerating the solution?

Alan Reid

What we did is, we allow people to step back and represent their values. Historically, proxy voting has been something people have approached with a blank piece of paper. So, it goes back to ERISA, prudent “man” person rule, which really suggests that a fiduciary needs to step back and think about what a prudent person would do given no information. What we know is that whether it's a pension plan, whether it's a mission-based foundation, whether it's individual, they already have their own values and their own opinions, and those are valid for them individually. So, what we do is we poll those, we allow people to group together. So, it could be in groups like NCPPR, which is an anti-woke group. It could be with Sierra Club, which is focused on environmental issues. It could be any host of individual groups that an individual might associate with in shared values. And so, in that way, we can design and architect an infrastructure that allows everybody, whether it's a foundation or an individual, to vote with those entities or to design their own model.

Janina Teoxon

Well, that's fantastic to hear, and your emphasis on leveraging shareholder influence by aligning their voting power with their values, I thought is noteworthy, and it's great to see such effective advancements being made in this field. So, Alan, you have an impressive track record of building a successful mutual fund company and guiding family offices, startups, et cetera, but can you tell me, has there been a pivotal moment along the way that has influenced where you're at today?

Alan Reid

Well, I look back, and let's talk about influence a little bit, and then let me talk about an example. With influence, I really think it's helpful for us to step back and look. I walk into a restaurant with a billionaire, nobody knows. I walk into a restaurant with somebody who's a top influencer, everybody knows, right? Right. So, as we start to think about what's actually valuable today, I'm going to assert that money is not valuable unless you use it to apply, and so a lot of the things you had mentioned as you think about them, there's an opportunity here for those who use the technology right, not different than any other industry, to actually have outsized influence because others haven't picked it up. And so that's really what we avail people, is that opportunity, as I say, to leverage influence through groups, through applications, so really cool on that front. And it kind of goes back to, I've spent 30 plus years in industry, I was at three firms twice, so never burn the bridge, but I don't know that anybody would call me patient either. And I'm always asking, why are we doing it this way? Or, can't we, you know, and the answer is typically in industry, it's how we always do it.

And how we always have done it is never a good answer, in my opinion. So early days, I was at a large asset manager, still one of the probably top 10, 15 in the world. And there was a new little firm in San Francisco. And I was the sort of the junior person on this team of 100 plus relationship people. And so they're like, you can't have any big accounts, go call on someone else. Well, I started calling on this little firm in San Francisco. Before they knew it, I had 90% of the business. Some people may have heard of them, Charles Schwab, but it wasn't a company that anybody was aware of, and they had a whole new model. And so the business itself was focused on all the old names, all the big brokerage firms, and didn't see this change coming. And that's what I find over and over again, is the great opportunity for entrepreneurs is that corporate America doesn't always want to take a chance. And there's great opportunity for those people who just have their eyes open and a little creativity.

Janina Teoxon

Right. Yeah. So thanks for giving more information, enlightening me about, you know, what iconik does and what can it do for the shareholders. And, you know, you touched upon the influence, how important to leverage the influence. And you mentioned about like, you are going to create a specific infrastructure for them right? So can you talk a little bit about the technology or the platform that could actually help with the vision and mission of iconik?

Alan Reid

So we have about over 60,000 people already signed up on our platform. We've voted over six billion dollars worth of votes this year. So as we start to see it, it's alive and functioning. And what we do, like no one else, is not only do we implement the vote based on the client's input, but we also report back so people understand that their vote was counted and how different areas responded, whether they won or lost isn't always the bottom line. Again, it's about influence. So with a with a 30 percent vote, every corporation is going to notice.

Janina Teoxon

Right. That's good. That's really impressive. So I'll go back to my question earlier about like you having an impressive track record, because for sure our listeners would love to hear if you've ever had a pivotal moment that has influenced where you're at today.

Alan Reid

So I think the pivotal moment was early in my career when I noticed that corporations, especially the one I was working for, weren't anxious to talk about new business or new ideas. And so in looking at it, what I found was a great opportunity for me as a young professional to start calling on the on areas that nobody had an interest. For me, that was Charles Schwab. And the opportunity was, soon, became 90 percent of our overall business, which Charles Schwab became the business that I had built. But it was that I had a different twist on it and was focused and understood the evolution. And I think this is what I see over and over again. Even my days at Dean Witter and Morgan Stanley and at Forward. At Forward, we created something I called liquid alts, and people didn't know what I was talking about. But today, it's part of many conversations of most asset allocations. But it's really about looking at a market opportunity that hasn't been naturalized and implementing it. And so for me, that's the exciting part about what we're doing here, is that there's an area, proxy voting, that has always been a pain for most people in a back office. And in truth, it's a back office asset that hasn't been realized. And that's really what we're dealing with, is realizing this great opportunity that really drives all of corporate governance for public companies.

Janina Teoxon

Right. That's good. And that's incredible. It seemed like after hearing you say about like when you were young, a young professional, it seemed like it's to be more creative, to be more innovative, right? Like innovation is really important these days. So thanks for sharing that. It appears that really, that seems to have propelled you forward, and you've built, I'm impressed that you built on that experience. And I'm curious to know, this is going to be my last question for you, Alan, what were some of the key lessons you've learned when you were a young professional that still guide you today?

Alan Reid

I think the first one is take chances. I always like to do what everybody else doesn't do. So status quo is not okay, in my opinion. And if you feel, and if you have something that you love, go and spend time. I know that I've spent time on things that may never have gone anywhere, but those that really do, then I can, I've spent more time. So my suggestion to young professionals is do the work you're assigned and then go to where you really are intrigued and dig in. And I promise you'll find new opportunities.

Janina Teoxon

Right. That's really insightful. And I like that. Take chances, right? And do what you love, because you'll never know what might come out of that. It's really your passion, right? If you're passionate about something, do it. So Alan, thank you for taking the time to have a conversation with me today about yourself, about iconik. It's a great pleasure to have you today.

Alan Reid

Janina, thanks so much. And thanks to EisnerAmper. Really appreciate all that you guys do and bring to the industry itself. It's always wonderful to be able to participate in your events, and I look forward to talking again.

Janina Teoxon

All right. And thanks to our listeners for tuning into TechTalk, the entrepreneurs and innovators who turned to EisnerAmper for audit, tax, advisory, and outsourcing solutions to help propel their business forward. Subscribe to the EisnerAmper podcast to listen to more TechTalk episodes or visit www.eisneramper.com for more tech news you can use.