What is the objective of this year in review?

To energize our audience and their alignment to eradicate wealth inequality by sharing our firm’s achievements, lessons, and expectations. 

We aim to revolutionize financial well-being by providing expert, relatable advice to ambitious clients. Our vision is to keep building a team of diverse advisors who leverage our world class wealth management platform & back office to create financial success for their clients. 

Achievements

• We have worked with over 600 clients since inception across financial planning, investment management, and business advisory services
• We have built a team of 5 advisors that have a diverse range of expertise from cash flow planning to executing investment policy to structuring an early-stage capital raise
• Our services continue to find traction and we successfully launched a new service, business advisory, finding market fit since its launch 12 months ago

Lessons

• Client feedback loops are vital for a successful engagement. We have had positive feedback from our clients, with a strong (73) net promoter score. However, we have heard challenging feedback too, as a recent example a client felt like we were cross-selling our services. We use the challenging feedback to improve and hope our clients continue to feel comfortable providing us with feedback.
• We must think big. Ambition from both us and our clients drives positive feedback and results. Even bigger, we can positively impact the wealth gap issue with expert advice. 

Expectations

• We will continue to team up with advisors across all three service lines. Diversity of thought, experience, and background will fuel our continuous improvement.
• We will celebrate success – both with our clients and our teammates. We had a number of milestones achieved on both fronts over the last 12 months and expect to continue to share them with our community. 

Today, we pause to reflect on our journey, celebrate our achievements, and look ahead to an ambitious and impactful future. To all our clients, teammates, mentors, partners, and stakeholders, your trust and partnership make this journey possible. Our success is a living testament to our foundational commitments: to consistently measure and deliver exceptional client outcomes, to make a meaningful dent in the racial and gender-based wealth inequalities through attracting value-aligned advisors, and to remain unwavering in our focus on continuous improvement.

As we celebrate our 4-year anniversary at Zenith, it’s humbling and rewarding to see how far we’ve come together. Today, we pause to reflect on our journey, celebrate our achievements, and look ahead to an ambitious and impactful future. Our success is a living testament to our foundational commitments: to consistently measure and deliver exceptional client outcomes, to make a meaningful dent in the racial and gender-based wealth inequalities through attracting value-aligned advisors, and to remain unwavering in our focus on continuous improvement.

Firm Progress

Our vision for being the premier wealth management firm for intentional, diverse, and ambitious clients has been made possible through hard work, dedication, and a commitment to innovation.

This year, we achieved significant revenue milestones. We reached $100,000 in monthly income in July, propelling us toward our goal of more than doubling last year’s revenue. This upward trajectory also put us on the cusp of our first profitable month since our seed funding round, a clear indicator that our growth initiatives are yielding returns.

We have expanded our client base to include not only individuals and families but also a growing set of value-aligned institutions such as foundations, endowments, and nonprofits, as well as early-stage startups and small businesses. This diverse clientele speaks volumes about our ability to offer versatile and high-impact financial solutions.

Pipeline Ahead

We have significant momentum across all service lines 

Financial Planning: 29 Opportunities, $70,900 in annual fees

Investment Management: 48 Opportunities, $1,086,746 in annual fees

Fractional CFO: 13 Opportunities, $345,000 in annual fees

This brings us to a grand total of 90 opportunities with an annual fee potential of $1,502,646.

Additionally, while we can’t mention specifics, we are making strategic acquisitions to further consolidate our position and expand our reach. We are committed to aligning ourselves with partners who share our mission and vision, even as we navigate the complexities and challenges that come with such expansions.

Celebrating Our People

Our team is the backbone of Zenith. This year, several individuals have distinguished themselves in extraordinary ways:

• Chelsea Ransom-Cooper: As our first partner and the leader of our financial planning department, Chelsea has been instrumental from day one in shaping Zenith’s ethos and vision.
• Partheev Shah: Partheev continues to shape our strategy and operations, improving our internal systems and spearheading our mergers and acquisitions strategy.
• Adrienne Davis & Fahmin Fardous: A year into their roles, both have excelled in providing expert advice in estate planning, tax planning, and diverse financial planning perspectives.
• Lucas Vining: Having risen to lead our business advisory services, Lucas has been a catalyst in its momentum, setting us up for a stellar 2023.
• Raeonna Jefferson: Raeonna’s potential for leadership is clear. Her efficiency and effectiveness in operations have significantly contributed to our growth.
• Marcus Coleman: A welcome addition to our investment management team, Marcus has simplified complex tasks related to portfolio management operations and research.
• Sarah Shields: Sarah has been a game-changer in elevating our brand, driving our social media and online presence, and securing press placements and content generation.

The Road Ahead

We are poised for a future that looks brighter than ever. We expect to double our advisor headcount from 5 to 10 in 2024 while maintaining our revenue growth. We are also taking our community building to new heights, leveraging our influence to address societal issues like wealth inequality proactively.

To all our clients, teammates, mentors, partners, and stakeholders, your trust and partnership make this journey possible. Your success is our success, and we’re just getting started. Here’s to the next year of impact and opportunity, and to the long-term journey to eliminate wealth inequality by delivering high-quality investments and advice.