Alexa von Tobel

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Profile

Alexa von Tobel, CFP® is the founder and CEO of LearnVest.com, and the New York Times- Bestselling Author of Financially Fearless. Alexa launched LearnVest in 2009 with the goal of making financial planning affordable, accessible and even delightful. Since then she has raised over $72 million in financing from Accel Partners, American Express Ventures, and others.

Alexa serves as an inaugural member of the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship (PAGE), and she was selected as a 2011 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, named to the Ernst & Young Entrepreneurial Winning Women Class of 2011, honored as a 2012 Fortune Most Powerful Women Entrepreneur, and named a Scholar at the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival. She has been included on a variety of lists such as: Vanity Fair’s 2011 Next Establishment; Fortune’s “40 Under 40: Ones to Watch”; Business Insider’s Silicon Alley 100; Inc. Magazine’s 30 Under 30; Businessweek’s “Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs”; and Marie Claire’s “Women on Top.”

Since launching LearnVest, Alexa has been widely quoted as a personal finance expert and entrepreneur in top tier business and consumer outlets. She is a columnist for Cosmopolitan and Inc. Magazine and hosts a weekly radio show on SiriusXM, “Financially Fearless with Alexa von Tobel.”

Alexa has spoken at nationally renowned events and conferences including TEDxWallStreet, SXSW, Inc.’s GrowCo Conference, NY Ideas Festival, Fast Company’s Innovation Uncensored, and Maria Shriver’s Women’s Conference.

Originally from Florida, Alexa received an A.B. in Psychology at Harvard College. Upon graduation, she worked as a trader at Morgan Stanley on their Proprietary Trading Desk before leaving to serve as Head of Business Development at Drop.io, a venture backed startup in NYC. She enrolled in Harvard Business School in the fall of 2008, but took a formal leave of absence shortly after to launch LearnVest.

Companies and Investments

LearnVest (founder and CEO)

Lessons Learned

I do my workouts in the morning, and often I'll take someone from my team. The person I'm meeting with can pick the class, whether it's a spin or barre class, or going for a power walk. It's hard to run and talk--I haven't mastered that yet.

Do you find inner peace--and most productive hours--in the first slice of the day?

Since the beginning of LearnVest, I've never left the office for food. I eat the same thing every single day [an apple, almonds, yogurt, a salad...], and I never sit still to eat a meal. My ultimate goal is to create operating systems for myself that allow me to think as little as possible about the silly decisions you can make all day long--like what to eat or where we should meet--so I can focus on making real decisions. Because mental energy is a finite quantity. You can only spend so much time on the really critical decisions that move your company forward. A lot of people default to 30 minutes or an hour for meetings, but sometimes you don't need that much time. I always have hour-long meetings that end 15 minutes early, so I have these weird blocks of time that aren't enough to do something that requires deep thought. So I'll typically schedule meetings in 15-minute increments. That's helped me immensely. I also don't worship my schedule. It's really easy to let your calendar start dictating what happens, as opposed to you dictating what's important for the company.

I don't worry about canceling meetings and moving things around. I wouldn't say you should rip apart your week every day, but just because you scheduled something three weeks ago doesn't mean it's the most important thing this week.

Inspiring Quotes

“	All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.	”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

“	When everyone zigs, zag. Life is all about trying to get somewhere first.	”
—Pierpaolo Maniglio

“	Buy stock in a business so good that an idiot can run it because sooner or later, one will.	”
—Warren Buffet

Alexa von Tobel's Quotes

“	Moving fast is key, but there will be ups & downs. Be sure to find time to step back & evaluate progress/adjust accordingly	”
—Alexa von Tobel

“	I’m lucky to have many trusted advisors. I reached out to people who had been there, done that.	”
—Alexa von Tobel

“	Find people that are passionate about your mission and what you’re building!	”
—Alexa von Tobel

“	Find people that have both experience AND passion! Experience w/out passion won’t get you where you need to be.	”
—Alexa von Tobel

“	Dream big, because no one else will dream big for you	”
—Alexa von Tobel

Mentors

Alex Sprayberry, Warren Buffet, Richard Branson, Pierpaolo Maniglio, Janet Hanson

Technical

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