Jon Stein
person on 2 shows · 19 statements across 2 episodes · said 43 times in 6 episodes since 2017
Top Founders 43 
How I Built This
On the record as a speaker too: Jon Stein across every show, appearances and statements → this page counts the times other people say the name.
Mentions by year, every show
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Top Founders 43
2018 2 mentions in 1 episode
2017 41 mentions in 5 episodes 8 per episode
- 670: Betterment Vs. Vanguard, Betterment Passes 200,000 Investors, $8B in AUM with CEO Jon Stein
- 671: Predicting The Future of FInTech with Steve McLaughlin, CEO at FT Partners
- 669: How to Do First Real Estate Deal at 18 Years Old, Now $400k/mo In Rental Income with Best Seller Dean Graziosi
- 728: With $24m Raised, Why is He Buildling FinTech On Back of Advisors?
- 685: He Loved A Product, So Acquired Whole Business with Doc Signing Signix CEO Jay Jumper
- every mention in 2017, scene by scene →
every mention on every show, scene by scene, with the transcript →
19 statements about Jon Stein, every show
Betterment Manages Over $60 Billion for More Than One Million Americans
“That's right. Even, even more than that today. And we manage money for over a million Americans.”
Founders Should Master One Growth Channel at a Time Before Expanding
“I've seen firsthand at Betterment and at other companies that I've advised over the years, how too many simultaneous growth paths can dilute focus, even if they're all promising and maybe they're all things you want to do in the long run. I think that you can …”
Harden Furniture Went Bankrupt Due to Debt and Foreign Competition
“The company doesn't exist anymore. My family furniture company, partly because they took on debt and partly it was due to foreign competition. But ultimately, you know, went, went under they couldn't service the debt payments.”
Craft Businesses Must Target 80% Profit Margins to Safely Fund Expansion
“A general rule of thumb that I'd love to see is, is 80% might be profit. 20% might be cost of goods, right? So if you think about what you'd have to do to your prices to get there, then you would have room to rent space and hire people and expand confidently.”
Stein: People Will Not Make Rational Decisions Left to Their Own Devices
“Despite our best intentions, we're highly likely to make mistakes. We let our emotions get in the way. And in fact, we will not make rational decisions if left to our own devices.”
Stein: Finance Initially Seemed Unexciting Because It Just Helps the Rich
“Finance was just like, ah, you know, it's like helping rich people get richer. That doesn't seem that exciting to me.”
Stein: Banking consultants spent six months developing products without customer input
“I found many times that we were working on projects and we could go six months on a product development and never talk to a customer.”
Stein: Managing Personal Investments Is Nearly Impossible for Everyday Savers
“If it was that hard for me, ah, someone who's had all the benefits of, you know, ah, business school, and a degree in economics, and a CFA, and all of these, like, and working in the industry, wow, it must be impossible for the average person to manage their m…”
Stein: Vanguard offered great funds in the mid-2000s but had terrible UI
“Then I looked at investing, and I had a Vanguard account, and another company I have tremendous respect for I had you know, some great Vanguard mutual funds, but the interface was terrible. The experience was just not keeping up”
Stein: Betterment's Target Customer Makes Over $100,000
“We think of our target customer as being someone who's making over a 100,000 dollars. That means they're a professional.”
Stein: Betterment's Tax Management Saves Clients More Than Platform Fees
“We tax manage for you to save you more than you even pay us in fees. In taxes, we give you net positive returns on your investment with us”
Stein: Betterment Was Initially Funded Entirely Out of Co-Founders' Personal Savings
“Eli had saved money as well as a lawyer, and so we funded the business out of our savings.”
Stein: Never Fully Script a Pitch or Major Speech
“I've written and scripted the entire thing, which I would never do again and would not recommend. Never script a speech like this”
Stein: Early Betterment employees took salary cuts and contributed capital for payroll
“And by the way, in that time, we're asking our employees to reduce their salaries and even contribute capital. To buy more equity, to pay themselves. So we were buying time as best we could until we could raise some capital.”
Stein: Betterment expected $18B to $20B in AUM by late 2018
“Yeah, we expect to be in the ballpark of 18 to twenty billion by the end of 2018.”
Stein: Founders should create early co-founder buyout provisions
“One thing that we did right was in the early days we created provisions around buyouts, and I'm so happy we did that, and when people ask for advice, I always tell them to do this”
Stein: Betterment co-founders agreed to reduce their initial equal 33% equity stakes
“I had to come back to them and say, I don't think we did this right, and I want to renegotiate our split here. And that was tough, but you know, ultimately they were they agreed that that, that they should take smaller shares.”
Jon Stein: I do not want to leave my children an inheritance
“They'll probably someday accuse me of wrongdoing for saying this, but I don't want them to have an inheritance. I don't want to set them up where they don't have to work, because I think work is part of happiness.”