MutualFundWire.com: Where Has RunMoney Run To?

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Thursday, April 19, 2001

Where Has RunMoney Run To?

With fresh cash and a new chief sales officer, RunMoney has learned some new moves and has put on its dancing shoes. Mellon Ventures just ponied up the second half of its $5 million total investment, and RunMoney hired Keith E. Gregg to expand the firm's revamped marketing effort. Why the shift to B2B?

"The identification was the fact that we had set up a whole business around investors and what we weren't getting was that kind of call," said Stuart Rockett, manager of communications for RunMoney. "We were finding that three-quarters of the calls were from financial services saying, 'How do we start this up for ourselves?'"

Rockett explained that RunMoney about-faced its business model late last year, dropping the effort to herd in retail investors for a service the San Diego firm discovered was truly in demand.

"I think that's a natural progression that's happening in that space," said Gabe Burczyk, president and chief executive officer of WrapManager. The San Francisco-based firm provides retail investors with access to money managers through its online service. "We've had inquiries from all the financial intermediaries that are out there."

Where RunMoney has fled the retail arena, however, WrapManager remains firmly seated in its direct-to-consumer space. How does Burczyk explain his firm's success?

"We're getting a lot of business from the referral side of the marketplace," said Burczyk. "Where you can get a competent, complete consulting process that isn't in your face at a fairly-priced point of entry. People are demanding that. People want to find firms they can trust, get the information they want, move and get on with their lives. That's what our business is all about."

Gregg, formerly executive vice president and chief marketing officer at financeware.com, recently assumed the newly-created position of executive vice president and chief sales officer. Prior to financeware.com, Gregg has been vice president, director of the registered investment advisor and wrap fee programs at GE Financial Assurance. What's he up to at RunMoney?

"I'm in the midst of building a rather unique delivery system with practice management and business development coupled with cutting edge products," said Gregg. "It will also have some ETFs, a mutual fund wrap account product, and some folios. It's a matter of time and execution. We will launch multiple products by year end."

Not another folio product! Gregg added, however, that RunMoney probably won't develop its own folios.

"RunMoney is entertaining some strategic partnerships with folio-type companies to include that as part of that offering," he said.

Gregg said that a large insurer will be debuting the firm's wrap product later this year, declining to offer additional details.

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