Meet The Disruptors: Jordan Wexler Of EarlyBird On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Lead with inspired curiosity.
Hire people smarter than you.
Don’t shy away from the uncomfortable conversations.
Find the biggest problem and tackle it.
Always learn from your users.
As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jordan Wexler.
CEO, Jordan Wexler, is a serial entrepreneur, who built and sold his first company at 24-years-old. Prior to EarlyBird, Jordan served as COO at a global software development firm called Agility.io
Jordan is a loving uncle to two beautiful children and a godparent of twins. It was when he welcomed these children into the world and showered them with gifts that he first saw the core problem EarlyBird needed to solve — that there was no simple and meaningful way to gift a financial asset or invest in the children we love most.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I have always been entrepreneurial, as I love finding problems and working on solutions. Prior to starting EarlyBird, I had already founded two businesses, but this was the first idea that I knew deep down would truly have the impact that we are going to have.
It all started when my baby niece, Isadora, was born. I was head over heels in love, and I found myself wasting hundreds of dollars on the most ridiculous stuff that she would never use or grow out of. In wanting to make a bigger impact on her life, I grew frustrated by all of the wasteful gifts, and instead, decided to start the Jordo Fun Fund. I committed to putting away $500 every year into an assortment of ETFs that would grow as she grows older. The challenge I faced was that there was no easy and meaningful way to do this. I really had to hack together a solution to make it work — and that is when everything clicked and the journey with EarlyBird began. Sometimes it takes just a tiny spark in your everyday life to change your entire trajectory.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
The wealth inequality gap has never been larger as the rich keep getting richer and the middle class and lower class are left behind. Most American adults live paycheck-to-paycheck and are financially anxious. Just over half consider themselves financially literate, and the jury is split on where to go for solid financial advice: A professional advisor? A family member? A spouse or trusted friend? The Internet?
Almost a third of millennials have overdrawn their checking accounts at least once, and over 80% have one or more forms of long-term debt. This has to change.
Historically, large-scale financial institutions have catered to the wealthy and restricted easy access to fundamental wealth creation tools like investing in the stock market. Over the past decade, fintech platforms have been disrupting this intentional exclusion, and now we are seeing the boom of the retail investor. This is a great step forward, but making true generational wealth takes time, and if we want to change the world for the better, we have to start from day one.
That’s where EarlyBird comes in. We’re on a mission to make generational wealth a reality for ALL American families, starting at the earliest age. With EarlyBird, parents, family and friends can collectively invest in the kids they love — even before birth! Alongside the child’s growing nest egg, a time capsule of love is created — with photos, videos, and special messages that preserve the most meaningful moments and celebrate the child’s milestones as they grow. Today, this intersection of financial capital, emotional capital, and community has inspired over 50k families to start their investing journeys with EarlyBird.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
As any great startup, we have made a fair share of mistakes, but that is the key to success. Fail fast, learn, pivot, and grow.
One early mistake that we made was going all-in on an opportunity to be on the Ellen Show back when we first launched. Long story short, we worked for months to be able to make an appearance and had an amazing campaign all planned out, but had to pivot at the last minute due to new advertising regulations that the SEC had just passed at the time. We ended up being able to collaborate in a different way, which was ultimately a big win for EarlyBird, but we did learn a lesson: You can never predict what’s going to happen, so don’t put all of your chips on one bet. That said, roll with the punches, since there is often an alternative solution if you have the resilience to discover it!
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
My co-founder, Caleb, and I are extremely lucky to be supported by an amazing community of mentors. We don’t shy away from asking for help and have made sure to surround ourselves with a network of resources whose expertise and experience we can rely on to help guide us in every vertical.
One tangible example of their impact came when we founded the company. All startups have to get started somehow, and generally that is by raising a friends and family financing round. At EarlyBird, we looked to raise $500k to get off the ground. Of course, at that time, all we had was an idea and the extreme unwavering passion to solve this problem. It takes a lot of trust and belief in the founders to raise money early on — and along those lines, the majority of our raise ended up coming from mentors that we had cultivated over the past 10 years of our professional lives. These mentor-investors now continue to guide us forward.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
Disruption without purpose can cause chaos. Disruption with clarity, vision, and a mission for improving the world has historically been the way that humanity has continued to push forward.
At EarlyBird, we aren’t looking to disrupt how people invest their money, as that is a system that has proven to work and ‘withstood the test of time’. We are looking to disrupt how large-scale financial institutions offer their services, so that ALL American families have equal access to the tools of wealth creation.
Generally, when people set out to disrupt an industry, it primarily involves creating more access for people to engage and take ownership. I genuinely believe this is a powerful approach to creating progress.
Can you share five of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
- Lead with inspired curiosity.
- Hire people smarter than you.
- Don’t shy away from the uncomfortable conversations.
- Find the biggest problem and tackle it.
- Always learn from your users.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
We want EarlyBird to be in the household of every American family. It’s our goal to ensure that every child is fully invested in a modern, holistic portfolio that encourages dollar cost-averaging and guarantees that no child gets financially left behind. This financial freedom will create endless opportunities for kids whose dreams and outcomes might otherwise be restricted.
Earlier this year, we added crypto as an addition to our offering — and as we learn from our customers and collaborate with incredible partners like BlackRock and Gemini, we’ll continue to find ways to evolve and support the youngest generation of investors.
Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
This is considered to be one of the most foundational books on early-stage startups and how to approach your business in an agile, iterative way. The concept of build, measure, learn might sound simple, but when put into practice can change the entire way we operate and approach innovation. Almost no one gets anything right on the first go. It takes continuous cycles of learning and breaking to finally carve the path forward that solves the problem you are working on.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“If you’re not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.”
– Reid Hoffman
With EarlyBird being a product-driven company, this has been a critical phrase for our team to live by. Most of us are naturally perfectionists who strive to deliver a flawless experience. Unfortunately, delivering value is a lot more complicated than we think. It is so important to get something out fast and early, so that we can receive direct user feedback and learn in an efficient manner. Until a real person is engaged with your product, everyone is still operating under hypotheses and assumptions.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
The movement that I deeply believe in is the one that I have committed my life to — and that is fighting to ensure that the next generation grows up financially literate and financially empowered, so that they can truly experience financial freedom.
How can our readers follow you online?
- EarlyBird Website — https://www.getearlybird.io
- Personal Linkedin — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-wexler/
- Personal Twitter — https://twitter.com/jordan_wexler
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Meet The Disruptors: Jordan Wexler Of EarlyBird On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
