In a nutshell: Intrinio makes financial data easy to integrate for innovators in the finance and investing space that are building apps, tools, and algorithms.
Financial data feeds (like stock prices, fundamentals, and more) are extremely expensive and often come with terrible developer tools and support. This makes it inaccessible to innovators, founders, and developers who need to integrate data feeds in order to build and execute upon their vision. Intrinio has reinvented the supply chain for financial data, and developed a business model that makes data fast, easy, quality, and fun.
Amar: Rachel is truly impressive, who would have thought a successful fintech could emerge from Wisconcin (no offence)! Whilst she may not have started with a mission to build out a data platform, she saw first-hand the challenges of start-ups needing access to financial data, which major incumbents were reluctant to provide (or at least not at a viable price).
Amar: Can you tell us about your background and how you became a founder?
Rachel: I studied finance and entrepreneurship in college before meeting my co-founder. We decided to start working on an app that would make valuing stocks easier. We both taught ourselves how to program and built a proof of concept, but our app required a lot of data and the large vendors quoted us $70k+/month. That was the birth of Intrinio. We decided there had to be a better way to source and deliver data efficiently to make it affordable and easy to use. Since we were pivoting into a Data-as-a-Service business (not traditional SaaS), there were several years of building our technology and minimum-viable-corpus before we were able to launch.
Amar: What do you most enjoy about being an entrepreneur?
Rachel: This is a toss up between choosing who I get to work with (assembling a GREAT team I love to grind with) and getting to break rules – all of the time.
Amar: What keeps you motivated?
Rachel: My team, and the customers we serve. Watching apps, platforms, software, tools, and funds come alive on top of our data reminds me that data is the catalyst to change in financial services.
Amar: What do you worry about when it comes to work?
Rachel: One of my chief concerns is typically striking the balance between innovation and listening to customers. This is easier than it is at most companies because our customers are brilliant innovators themselves, but they don’t always know what they are looking for. Sometimes our team has to take the lead and push the envelope for them, but often we spend a lot of time listening and letting them direct what we build.
Amar: What’s your biggest business learning?
Rachel: There’s been enough failures and lessons to write several books, but staying focused and not following the shiny pennies is very important. Opportunities, partners, product ideas, new markets and more – will always be thrown at you. It takes discipline to say “no” when you are an ambitious founder, but it’s critical. Success in entrepreneurship requires laser focus and dedication to a single course/path.
Amar: What advice would you give new and aspiring entrepreneurs?
Rachel: The roller coaster is going to go down at some point, and the moment in which you want to throw in the towel is often right before it rises again. Learn to ride the waves resiliently. Remember your mission. How you respond to “no” or a crisis or a failure is what defines you, and it’s often the only thing you can control.
Amar: Tell us something most people don’t know about you…
Rachel: I rowed crew in college – and getting on an erg still gives me nightmares!
Amar: What is the most important quality to possess as a leader?
Rachel: Listening skills
Amar: Have there been any positives to come out of the upheaval of the last two years for you or your business?
Rachel: Absolutely. The environment has made our team resilient and very creative. We’ve learned to stay focused, get back to basics, and simplify.
For more information on Intrinio, visit intrinio.com. If you’d like your company to feature in the Argella Spotlight Series or find out more about how Argella advises and advances growing tech businesses, get in touch at info@argella.co.uk.
