Full Transcript
Jason Kirby: Everyone, welcome to today's show. Today we have Ryan Eisenman joining us from ArchLab, founder and CEO. Thanks for joining us, Ryan.
Ryan Eisenman: Jason, thanks for having me. Really appreciate the chance to be here.
Jason Kirby: I'm excited to have you, and we've gotten to know each other a little over the last year or two and what you're doing at Arch. It'd be great for the audience to know more about you and Arch. Can you give the audience some background?
Ryan Eisenman: Yeah, absolutely. We're building software that helps investors manage their investments, very specifically focused on private market investments. The reason is twofold. One, more people are investing in private markets today than ever—venture, private equity, hedge funds, real estate, credit funds, and other strategies—so the market is bigger but tools haven't kept pace. And two, if you invest in public markets, you don't need us; there are plenty of solutions where you can log into a Fidelity or Morgan Stanley account and see everything in one place. But in private markets, information is spread across the internet in different fund portals. We do the unsexy work of aggregating those documents and that data, and then display it in a single portal so you can understand everything you own, how it's performing, and make informed decisions.
Jason Kirby: I know it's valuable because I deal with the opposite side. As an LP in a few funds that aren't using this tech—and I’m not using it myself—it’s painful to get quarterly reports (often on the previous quarter) and then read 45‑page documents when I just want a summary. For larger family offices and institutional investors leveraging you, I imagine it's a very nice‑to‑have. Walk us through how you got here. Why did you start Arch, and what was that journey like?
Ryan Eisenman: My dad was a financial advisor, so I saw these problems with him and his clients. There was a big delta between what existed and what should exist. I met my co‑founders, Jason and Joel—one was a private investor who'd sold a company to Facebook and was doing lots of LP investing—and he was pulling his hair out tracking K‑1s, understanding ownership, and monitoring capital calls and distributions. We realized it was taxing for individuals and for firms supporting them. Investment advisors are now our biggest client segment; they used to staff whole back‑office teams for this, which is a huge operational cost. As the market expands, that becomes unsustainable and can even keep people from investing in great funds. We can reduce pain, improve quality of life, and provide better data for better decisions—that’s the journey we're on.
Jason Kirby: What were the early days like? You recently raised a sizable Series A in a gloomy market, but you've been working on this about six years. How did you get initial capital, and can you unpack the fundraising journey?
Ryan Eisenman: We're on the quest to be an overnight success—20 years in the making. We're six years into that quest. Early days: three co‑founders, one advisor, and a venture fund that put about $500k into the business in early 2018. We operated lean for the first three years, trying to sell product, even giving it away to get clients on and understand what they needed to be successful. We took a highly iterative approach: be lean, find product‑market fit, then invest when the business takes off. Our inflection point was late 2020 into 2021, when clients started to pay enough that we could hire and cover salaries from revenue. We then raised $5M from Calf Ventures and others to level up, invest a bit in sales/marketing, but especially product and client service.
Jason Kirby: So it took two to three years to start monetizing. What scale were you at when you started monetizing and raised that initial $5M?
Ryan Eisenman: We had ~15 to 20 real customers, paying roughly $150k in total ARR, with about $1B in assets on the platform. We were growing double digits month‑over‑month, starting to see more repeatability in the sales cycle, and could forecast getting from a couple hundred thousand dollars to $1M+ in revenue. That’s when we could go out with a clear vision—traction, smart team, big market—and found great VCs who believed in us and still do today.
Jason Kirby: How did you find those VCs? How hard was it to get in front of the right ones who pulled the trigger?
Ryan Eisenman: It took hustle. We recommend finding the right warm introductions at the right moment. Everyone has limited time, so they quickly decide signal vs. noise. Routes through trusted relationships matter. We found people we trusted—and whom investors trusted—got them on board, and they made warm intros. We worked the network outward until we found the right investors. We were initially going to raise a smaller round without the eventual lead, but after we met them, everything clicked; they convinced us to raise more and create room, which changed the round and our trajectory.
Jason Kirby: Good problem to have when people ask you to carve out more space—hopefully with fair terms. This was 2021 when you closed?
Ryan Eisenman: Yep, exactly. We went out at the very beginning of 2021.
Jason Kirby: Good timing. When raising, how much time did you spend, and what was the volume—identifying intros, getting meetings, timeline, volume?
Ryan Eisenman: We sprinted. You're not raising—and then you're raising. We sometimes had 16 conversations a day, 30‑minute increments, back‑to‑back, all on Zoom (peak COVID). My routine was pitch VCs, eat healthy, exercise, sleep—repeat. Each conversation led to a yes, a no, or a customer. As a customer‑obsessed person, I love when a pitch turns into solving problems. Our business grew alongside the pitch process; it was a great way to connect and grow in parallel.
Jason Kirby: How many VCs or investors did you end up speaking with?
Ryan Eisenman: Probably a couple hundred.
Jason Kirby: Since some could convert to customers, a no can still be a win. What drove the flat‑out noes? What were people hung up on?
Ryan Eisenman: Investors look for different things. Some have a specific thesis—different parts of fintech, traction levels, stage. You need the right people at the right stage, then the right investor among them. Many told us: interesting, we get the problem, but we invest later; let's build a relationship. We always invest in those long‑term relationships. Sometimes someone doesn't become a customer but becomes a massive advocate—one pre‑seed fund invested earlier than our stage but introduced us to ten customers. There's a karma game in startups and venture: treat each other well and you’ll find ways to help each other down the road. We’ve sent founders to VCs we didn’t work with; we like contributing to the ecosystem.
Jason Kirby: We don’t hear enough about the pay‑it‑forward mindset. When investors said “we invest later,” later just happened—you raised your Series A. Did any of those earlier conversations come back around, or did you need new intros for the A?
Ryan Eisenman: Definitely. When raising our Series A, we revisited some of those seed‑round and in‑between conversations. Some joined the round; others made introductions. Everything compounds—work then, work between rounds, and relationship‑building makes each round a little easier. We also know a lot more now about navigating the process and who’s the right fit for us.
Jason Kirby: How much did you raise in this round, and what was the business inflection point that told you it was time to go raise a sizable Series A in this market?
Ryan Eisenman: We raised $20M. A lot was working: team growth driven by customer traction; moving up‑market into B2B with bigger ACVs; a first true enterprise client—a bulge‑bracket U.S. bank. I’d shifted from ops to sales, then hired great AEs, showing repeatability and scalability. We’d also made significant product innovations that preview what’s next for the business.
Jason Kirby: Early on you had a very manual process. With today’s AI, is it now predominantly automated? What innovations have you made on product?
Ryan Eisenman: Predominantly automated. Our iterative focus was first to deeply understand processes by doing them manually—be in the customer’s seat. After mapping “how you get a K‑1 end‑to‑end from Sequoia Capital to an accountant,” we automated steps in order of impact. We’re not done—if there’s still a human in the loop (e.g., confirming a wire or keying K‑1 data into accounting), our mission isn’t complete. There’s a lot more to build to make clients’ and service providers’ lives easier.
Jason Kirby: That product and customer focus is what many VCs look for—and you’re clearly doing it. For fun: what were some difficult parts—fundraising or building—that kept you up at night?
Ryan Eisenman: In this recent process, we weren't raising when we raised. We were thinking about it—good time, recent inflection—starting to craft our story. Then we got a couple preemptive offers; offers expire, so that kicked off our process fast. It was a scramble to pull a deck, resources, pitches, decide how much to raise and sell. Three weeks of little sleep and soul‑searching. But we love the learning: every nonstop pitch cycle teaches you how others see your business at scale and what to build next.
Jason Kirby: Those preemptive offers came from folks monitoring you and staying updated. Were you sending updates?
Ryan Eisenman: Semi‑quarterly—we aim to be more consistent.
Jason Kirby: Did you take any preemptive offers that kicked off the process, or did you shop for better terms?
Ryan Eisenman: One preemptive offer was from a group of client‑investors—successful operators/investors. One was part of a pilot at a large bank and loved what we were doing, then spoke with the group (some of our earliest contacts). They asked: what if we became customers, invested, and helped you build what should exist? They’re awesome partners; they came in as part of the round.
Jason Kirby: Great. Preemptive, and they still won allocation. When you shopped the process, how did follow‑ups work—who set them up, what cadence, what access to the data room?
Ryan Eisenman: Get to a yes/no quickly; maybes linger. If someone has a free option, they'll wait. Make it clear: the train is leaving; we’re raising this round; are we the right partners for each other? That prevents spinning wheels on non‑starters. After a first 30‑minute chat, you usually know if there’s interest. Then you share data, they dig in, return with questions, and you supply more to help them decide.
Jason Kirby: When they’re engaged, what did responsiveness look like?
Ryan Eisenman: Daily questions and touch points when digging in. Remember it’s mutual: you’re also choosing partners. We ran references, assessed brand and value‑add, and how they’d behave on a board seat.
Jason Kirby: What tools or methods did you use to track the process and run references to validate who belongs on your cap table or board?
Ryan Eisenman: Trusted people in the industry—friends who’d worked with those firms. Ask about reputation and how they treat companies. People are candid. You also learn in conversation what a firm’s superpower is and how they can help you succeed.
Jason Kirby: Warm intros and relationships are a common theme. How did you build that robust network so you could move quickly?
Ryan Eisenman: Consistency and investing in others. We love making introductions for founders and for investors seeking companies. Staying top‑of‑mind by providing value builds strong relationships—hosting events, bringing people together. Many doors are easier to open for others than for yourself, and vice versa. Progress in tech (and beyond) is collaborative when you help others reach their goals and they help you reach yours.
Jason Kirby: You’ve been working on Arch about six years. Is this your first company?
Ryan Eisenman: Besides a car wash business and a lemonade stand—yes, first company.
Jason Kirby: Was your community‑building something you started with Arch, or earlier in your career and college?
Ryan Eisenman: It’s something I enjoy and have done a long time—hosting dinners for friends, a tech conference tied to a business/tech fellowship in Israel. Entrepreneurship is connecting dots—seeing where 1 + 1 = 3. We’ll continue to do more of that.
Jason Kirby: That’s great inspiration for founders to build community early. From here, what’s next for Arch?
Ryan Eisenman: We’re just getting started—and we want to say that again in two and five years. There’s a lot to build and many customers we haven’t met yet. With fresh capital and a hungry team, we’ll build more product, serve more clients, automate more, and build things people haven’t seen before. We think of it as a Maslow’s hierarchy: save time at the base, deliver clean usable data, then provide insights, decisions, actions, outcomes. We’re just getting started on the top of the pyramid.
Jason Kirby: The private markets are massive; VC is just a sliver. Given your exposure across asset classes, how does venture compare?
Ryan Eisenman: Venture is smaller than real estate and private equity, and likely smaller than credit and hedge funds. Still, it’s important and interconnected: venture companies need private credit, become PE‑backed, and buy real estate. A big shift: companies stay private longer, and more capital is allocated via alternative managers vs. public markets. Structures and access are evolving toward “retail‑plus,” letting more people invest in alternatives—even esoteric assets like collectibles and music catalogs. In our space (advisors), there’s liquidity and consolidation—PE buying stakes in RIAs—enabling more independent operations with modern tooling across ops, billing, trading, and reporting, without Fortune‑500 infrastructure.
Jason Kirby: Interesting—especially consolidation in the advisor space. Founders talk about “dry powder” they don’t see. How are you seeing capital allocation shifts among LPs/advisors?
Ryan Eisenman: Access is expanding. Platforms like CAIS and iCapital help people who don’t yet have alts (or have a few) buy more, with education and feeder structures that turn $5–$50M minimums into $2–$20k checks. As democratization expands—there are dozens if not hundreds of players—there’s a growing need to consolidate information into a single workflow and view (our problem space). Data quality is improving, enabling better performance understanding, liquidity options, and decision‑making—changes we expect to accelerate in the next 6–12 months.
Jason Kirby: Lower back‑office friction makes small checks worthwhile for advisors, improving access. I’m curious how broad access affects returns over time. We’ll see. Anything else you want listeners to know, and where can they learn more?
Ryan Eisenman: Our website is archarch.co. We’re proud of the Twitter handle @gotK1s—we want to make K‑1s easier, not a dirty word at tax time. We’re on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Jason Kirby: Anything else about Arch the audience should know?
Ryan Eisenman: We’re hiring across engineering, operations, and sales. If you want to work for an ambitious NYC company that loves working together in‑office, find job links on our site. If you don’t see a role, send a note—we’re always adding new ones.
Jason Kirby: Great position to be in. Huge congrats on the round, and thanks for being on the show—we’ll include links in the show notes.
Ryan Eisenman: Thanks, Jason.
Jason Kirby: I'm going to hit stop.
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