Compound
Summer 2019AcquiredCompound is a wealth manager for people who work at tech companies.
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Compound is a wealth manager for people who work at tech companies.
Explore the risks and possibilities with a prompt for ChatGPT, Claude, or your agent.
Compound built wealth management for technology workers whose compensation and assets did not fit a simple brokerage account. Software brought equity, investments, documents, and advisers into one place. Jordan Gonen and Jacob Schein founded the San Francisco company in 2019 and joined YC S19. [1]
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Its independent startup chapter ended in a September 2023 merger with Alternativ Wealth. The combined business, Compound Planning, continued the software and advisory service. It announced $5 billion in assets under management as of January 31, 2026. This is a merger and operating-model story; the available record does not establish a shutdown, insolvency, or investor loss. [7] [14]
A startup employee may own options but lack cash to exercise them. A founder may have a large paper stake while facing tax, insurance, and estate questions. Compound’s founding idea was to make those connected decisions easier to understand.
Gonen had worked at Inside, RealtyShares, and Cultivation Capital. Schein’s background included Scaphold and Pluot. Their experience combined technology and financial services. A later founder interview describes gathering information across accounts, equity systems, and documents, then using that complete picture with human advisers. [19] [5]
The August 5, 2019 Launch HN post offered equity forecasts and free consultations. Gonen wrote: “There is no one-size-fits-all solution.” The team was seeking feedback while testing the service, not selling a fully autonomous adviser. An April 2020 hiring post already described equity, tax forecasting, and financial organization. Public activity therefore preceded the broader January 2022 launch. [2] [20]
| Date | Event | What it establishes |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Founded; YC S19; Launch HN | Equity compensation is an early entry point. [1] [2] |
| February 2020 | Advisory services begin | A regulated service develops alongside software. [4] |
| January 2022 | $25 million Series B; $37 million raised in total | Greenoaks and Lachy Groom lead the announced round. [3] |
| November 2022 | Alternative-investment access | Qualified clients get human-underwritten opportunities and administration. [12] |
| January–June 2023 | Equity modeling, Caplight research, official Carta integration | The dashboard becomes an operating tool for complex assets. [9] [11] [10] |
| September 2023 | Alternativ Wealth merger | The combined business reports about $1.1 billion AUM. [7] |
| February 2025 | Integrated tax filing | Dashboard workflows extend into partner-delivered services. [13] |
| April 2026 | $5 billion AUM announcement | The measure dates to January 31, 2026. [14] |
| July 2026 | CompoundAI launches inside AdvisorHQ | AI prepares work; advisers review service requests before submission. [15] |
Compound combined a financial record with a service team. Clients could see assets and liabilities, keep documents, connect employer equity, and discuss decisions with financial and tax advisers. The hard product problem was collecting a usable picture before anyone could give informed guidance. Sacra’s interview describes both manual entry and integrations with Carta and Shareworks, plus a document vault for items such as K-1s. [5]
Equity modeling added scenarios for exercises, departures, liquidity events, and other changes. It used company equity data and worked with advisers. The official Carta integration subsequently brought equity and private investments into the dashboard through Carta’s API. Caplight powered secondary-market research on private companies; this supplied market context rather than a guaranteed executable price. [9] [10] [11]
Alternative investing added curated private funds, capital-call administration, and K-1 management. Eligibility restrictions and human underwriting remained part of the service. The platform’s breadth mattered: equity decisions affected cash, taxes, diversification, and later investment management. [12]
The first audience was technology founders, employees, and investors with complex compensation. Content, consultations, community launch posts, and investor relationships gave Compound routes to that audience. These are observable distribution choices; their acquisition costs and conversion rates are not public. [2] [3] [20]
The market was already shared with specialists and financial advisers. Today Secfi offers equity-planning tools and wealth services. Harness helps people find advisers and supports equity-related tax planning. Keystone Global Partners serves founders and other ultra-high-net-worth clients. Those alternatives differ in access, scope, and delivery; none establishes an empty market for an AI equity app. [17] [18] [21]
Compound Planning itself is now a direct comparator. Its 2026 CompoundAI release links assistance to existing client records and adviser operations. A rebuild must demonstrate a narrower useful job rather than claim that new models make professional wealth management obsolete. [15]
The original adviser’s March 2022 brochure describes project fees and recurring fixed fees. Planning plus investment management used four service tiers ranging from $1,000 to $30,000 annually, negotiated by complexity and circumstances. On March 23, 2022, it managed $185,983,834 on a discretionary basis and $16,872,595 on a non-discretionary basis. Fixed pricing did not mean it lacked an investment-management business. [4]
Gonen’s October 2022 Sacra interview also rejected the interviewer’s suggested $2,000 monthly starting price. He described lower entry pricing and varied service needs. Those statements describe an offering, not average revenue per customer. [5]
The January funding announcement named Greenoaks, Lachy Groom, Egon Durban, Sam Bankman-Fried, YC, XYZ, SciFi, and Day One Ventures, among others. It also listed executives from firms including Coinbase, Goldman Sachs, Meta, Stripe, Brex, Plaid, Adobe, Notion, AngelList, Eventbrite, Affirm, Polychain, Paradigm, Blend, Quora, Vise, Carta, and Point. These are announced investors and individuals’ affiliations, not customer contracts or custody relationships. [3]
The 2025 dashboard tax service used april, Track CPA, and WhyBlu under separate service arrangements. [13]
The successor’s March 26, 2026 Form CRS describes mostly recurring asset-based fees, generally 0.2%–2.0% annually, plus project or hourly arrangements. It also discloses incentives involving affiliated or compensated service relationships, including tax coordination. The business model evolved; current terms should not be applied backward to calculate hypothetical 2022 revenue. [16]
In January 2022, contemporaneous reporting described 50 employees and ten full-time advisers. The founder reported “hundreds” of clients or users and declined a specific count or AUM figure. That wording cannot support a precise adviser-to-client ratio. [6]
The September 2023 merger announcement reports about $1.1 billion in combined AUM and more than 50 employees nationwide. It does not allocate assets between the two firms. By December 31, 2024, the company reported $2.8 billion AUM. In April 2026, it announced $5 billion as of January 31, with 24 advisers and more than 700 clients added since January 2025. These are company-reported operating measures. AUM growth includes acquisition and organic growth and is not investment performance, revenue, or profit. [7] [13] [14]
The strongest explanation is that software and adviser distribution became complementary parts of a larger wealth manager. The merger paired Compound’s platform with Alternativ’s advisory business. Christian Haigh became CEO; Gonen’s announcement emphasized bringing the two teams together. The transaction price, financing terms, profitability, retention, and investor proceeds remain undisclosed in the observed record. [7] [8]
Human service created operating obligations: accurate records, qualified judgement, relationships, and execution. Software could reduce preparation work without eliminating those obligations. Gonen put the decision problem plainly: “not doing anything is still a choice and has consequences.” That insight explains why a chart alone was not the product. [5]
The current sequel supports this interpretation. CompoundAI drafts service requests for actions already agreed with clients and leaves advisers to review and submit them. It expands operational assistance within a professional service. It does not demonstrate that autonomous tax or investment recommendations have become safe or commercially necessary. [15]