Industry Stalwarts Join Snappy Kraken Board
Increased fundraising and experienced leadership provides the marketing tech firm with a stronger base, its CEO says.
Three new members with strong industry experience and accomplishments have been named to the board of directors of Snappy Kraken, a marketing technology firm that helps advisors automate their marketing and business processes.
Marty Bicknell, CEO and president of Mariner Wealth Advisors; Aaron Klein, CEO of Riskalyze; and Thad Langford, general partner of Flyover Capital have joined the board of five. Snappy Kraken CEO Robert Sofia noted that “their complimentary perspectives and breadth of experiences in growing wealth management and fintech companies will give us an enormous advantage.”
Sofia told ThinkAdvisor that the new members will immediately bring heft to the board. For example, Bicknell, as head of one of the largest RIAs in the country, brings “leadership, mentorship and understanding and depth” that will help the firm grow.
“These industry luminaries and leaders will bring a wealth of knowledge, distribution expertise and executive leadership to the platform, helping Snappy fuel their next level of growth and success, all sparked by Snappy’s participation in the ScratchWorks accelerator,” Timothy Welsh, president, CEO and founder of Nexus Strategy, an industry consultant, told ThinkAdvisor.
Bicknell founded Mariner Wealth Advisors with seven others in 2006. Both he and Langford’s Flyover Capital were participants in several rounds of funding for Snappy Kraken.
Flyover’s Langford will be essential with “capital raises and exits,” noted Sofia. Langford said in a statement that Sofia “and his team have changed the game in marketing for financial firms. They are innovative and nimble, and uniquely positioned to be one of the technology success stories located outside of the traditional tech hubs.”
Klein, as co-founder and CEO of Riskalyze, which serves thousands of financial advisors with its risk platforms, also can help Snappy Kraken achieve its three-year goal of serving more than 20,000 clients, said Sofia. According to Klein, “Advisors have historically struggled to be successful marketers, and I’ve been deeply impressed with Robert’s (Sofia) vision for transforming how they can increase the reach of their advice.”
In August, Snappy Kraken received $3.5 million in funding — led by Bicknell — as part of a seed round of investment in its marketing automation platform. In March 2018 Snappy Kraken received a ScratchWorks investment of $100,000, which Sofia said was important “in developing relationships.”
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