Thicket Ventures.

Justin first started Thicket Ventures as his vehicle for angel investments. Seed investments included Robinhood, Angellist, Fonzi AI and Major League Pickleball. He named it “Thicket” for the personal family meaning it has. Today Thicket Ventures is a group of entrepreneurs and operators partnering with corporate partners to seed outstanding fintech companies together.

Before forming Thicket, Justin was the co-founder and CEO of Vestorly, the first content marketing platform to leverage artificial intelligence for the financial services industry. As CEO of Vestorly from 2012 to 2018, Justin conceived and designed the Vestorly software platform, raised $12 million in venture capital, recruited engineering, data science, sales and marketing talent, and built a Software-as-a-Service revenue model that grew 752% in its last 3 years. Customers included financial institutions such as BNY Mellon, Pershing, MetLife, TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab, Northern Trust, Jefferies, Goldman Sachs, and others. In 2018 Justin led the company to profitability and a coveted position on the Inc. 5000 list before exiting, and assisted Vestorly in corporate development as a Strategic Advisor in 2020-2022 to facilitate the company’s acquisition by FMG.

Before Vestorly, Justin was founder and CEO of AdvisorLeap, a digital marketing and sales operations firm which serviced fast-growing wealth management firms with digital content marketing strategy, lead generation processes, and sales operations implementation. Prior to AdvisorLeap, Justin started at Fisher Investments where he was initially exposed to the wealth management industry and digital content marketing and raised over $60 million in assets under management for the firm.

Justin has been featured on the “30 under 30” list by Investment Advisor Magazine (not Forbes…), the “10 to Watch” by Wealth Management Magazine, and has been a featured speaker on technology at financial services industry conferences such as Pershing INSITE, MarketCounsel, XYPN Live and the Tiburon CEO Summit. His expertise is featured in the award-winning documentary on artificial intelligence “ Do You Trust this Computer” directed by Chris Paine, and he is a contributor to the book Data-Driven Marketing with Artificial Intelligence by Magnus Unemyr.

To serve Thicket’s portfolio companies, Justin leverages 15 years of experience as a tech startup CEO and venture investor with a background in software product ideation, practical applications of AI, competitive strategy, marketing, business development, capital raising, corporate governance and corporate development.

Justin earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Hampden-Sydney College as a Patrick Henry Honors scholar. He splits his time between New York City and the Rocky Mountains where he’s an avid snowboarder and fisherman.

Amy is a seasoned financial services professional with over 30 years of experience, specializing in driving innovative transformations in wealth management and technology. Throughout her career, she has held significant roles at industry-leading firms such as SS+C, Barclays, and Blackrock. At Robertson Stephens, Amy successfully launched their RIA and led the charge in enhancing the technology platform and advisor experience. She later joined Focus Financial Partners, where she played a key role in managing over 40 M&A transactions and optimizing the partner firm's technology infrastructure, resulting in substantial AUM growth and efficiencies. As one of the visionaries and Chief Experience Officer of Focus's global corporate RIA, Connectus Wealth Advisers, Amy executed on numerous global M&A transactions, introduced innovative technology solutions, and achieved impressive AUM growth to $13 billion in less than three years. Amy sat on Addepar's client advisory board and is the Founder of Aureus Advantage, a wealth technology transformation company. She is known for her passion for making connections, being outdoors, and creating win-win outcomes.

Amy's strategic leadership at Thicket Ventures leverages her expertise in evaluating groundbreaking wealth management technologies, managing complex M&A initiatives, and supporting portfolio companies in achieving remarkable growth milestones.

Dani Fava currently serves as Chief Strategy Officer at Carson Wealth, a $65 Billion AUM wealth management firm with over 500 advisors. Prior to Carson, Dani was the Group Head of Product Innovation at Envestnet, leading the acceleration and implementation of the company's strategic vision with a focus on leveraging Artificial Intelligence to enhance financial services accessibility. Dani also serves on the board of Vast Assembly, an AI driven marketing platform for the financial services industry.

With over 20 years of experience in wealth management and technology, Dani utilizes her expertise to assist Thicket Ventures in assessing and accelerating portfolio companies. In her role as a Venture Partner at Thicket Ventures, she actively contributes to the support and growth of innovative startups becoming the foundational architecture of the financial services industry.

Previously, Dani was the Director of Institutional Innovation at TD Ameritrade, where she played a key role in enabling financial advisors to provide essential advice in a rapidly evolving marketplace.

Her industry contributions have been recognized with several accolades, including being named to FinTech Magazine’s Top 100 Women in Finance in 2021, InvestmentNews’ Women to Watch in 2020, ThinkAdvisor’s 2020 IA25, and Top Women in WealthTech by 2019.