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Published Jul 24, 2024

#138 The Exit: Selling LearnVest for $375 Million

Alexa Von Tobel delves into the dramatic and strategic journey of selling LearnVest to Northwestern Mutual for $375 million, highlighting the challenges and triumphs from founding the financial education platform to overcoming acquisition hurdles, and ultimately channeling her entrepreneurial spirit into Inspired Capital.
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  • Inspiration

    was driven to start LearnVest by personal experiences and a glaring market need. After her father's unexpected death, she witnessed her mother struggle with family finances, which ignited her passion for personal finance. This realization deepened during her college years when she found a lack of accessible financial education resources online 1. Alexa's determination to solve this problem led her to write a business plan for LearnVest while working at Morgan Stanley and eventually dropping out of Harvard to pursue her vision 2.

    When you're 90, you regret not what you do, you regret what you don't do. And it's really that simple.

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    Challenges

    Starting LearnVest was fraught with challenges, from dropping out of Harvard to securing initial funding. Alexa faced skepticism about her fintech idea, which was ahead of its time, and struggled to attract investors in a market that didn't yet understand the concept of online financial management 3. Despite numerous rejections, she persevered, eventually raising $1.1 million in a pre-seed round after nine months of relentless pitching 4.

    Find the five smartest people you know and let them shred your company.

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    First Wins

    LearnVest's initial successes included a pivotal presentation at TechCrunch 50 and the launch of their first product. Despite initial skepticism, Alexa's pitch received a standing ovation, validating her vision 5. The launch of LearnVest's boot camps for money management attracted thousands of users, leading to significant media coverage and investor interest. Alexa's strategic choice of investors who aligned with her mission further propelled the company's growth 6.

    When we opened our first product, which was January 1, new year, new you, and we launched these boot camps for your money where you could go online. They were free to take, and daily candy wrote about us. And thousands upon thousands of people signed up.

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