Alexa von Tobel on Her Entrepreneurial Journey and The Future of Fintech

We recently hosted a lunch and learn with Alexa von Tobel for Village Global founders, Network Leaders, and friends of the firm in San Francisco. Alexa was interviewed by Anne Dwane, partner and co-founder of Village Global.

Alexa is the founder of LearnVest, which was acquired by Northwestern Mutual for a reported $250M after having raised $75M in venture capital. She is also the New York Times bestselling author of Financially Fearless: The LearnVest Program for Taking Control of Your Money, and Financially Forward: How To Use Today’s Digital Tools To Earn More, Save Better, and Spend Smarter.

She explained what it was like starting a company in the thick of the financial crisis and shepherding it to one of the biggest fintech acquisitions of the decade. She also covered some of the emerging trends in personal finance, walked through how she thinks about early-stage investing, and talked about what the future of fintech holds for entrepreneurs.

“Starting LearnVest was pretty terrifying. I was a solo founder. We had no venture funding. I had to seed it out of my own savings in 2008 at a time when people were literally hiding their money under their mattresses.”

Watch the full video below or check out more photos from the day here.