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Meet Addepar is a brand new series where we meet the people at the heart of our success — those who challenge us to consistently deliver excellent outcomes for our clients.
In this blog, we speak to Phil Senseny, Senior Director and Head of Trading at Addepar. Phil has years of experience in building trading software and is also a fierce advocate for our clients. He believes a good product manager has to ask themselves two critical questions: what is the best way to build the technology and what is the best way to experience it?
Could you tell us a little bit about your journey into the product management field?
I was a very tech-savvy, curious kid growing up. I built my own little 386 megahertz processor computer when I was eight years old. I studied math at Penn State and when I graduated, my curiosity about technology led me to working in software quality assurance, where I honed my skills in identifying gaps in product requirements. My attention to detail caught the eye of a product manager, who invited me to step into a similar role. I went on to lead product management for trading and ultimately the entire front office suite for the banking wealth management arm.
What motivated you to join Addepar?
A colleague showed me a demo of Addepar and I began to imagine what trading could look like built on top of such a flexible platform. What brought me to Addepar was that core platform, the data architecture and the flexibility — alongside the attributes analysis, views and reporting. I completely support the decision to build trading native to the platform.
How does Addepar data embedded in Trading help our clients?
There are a number of reasons, but they mostly boil down to making it easier for our clients to quickly see what they need to do – they can have their first cup of coffee in the morning and know immediately what needs their attention. Clients can be taken directly to portfolios that require action and can have full confidence in the data they’re being shown. We want our clients to be so efficient that they spend less time on the platform and more of their time with their clients.
What are some of the risks and disadvantages of a third-party trading solution?
Without a native solution, like Addepar Trading, clients will manage multiple technology vendors. This can be expensive, risky and time-consuming. We’re seeing our clients move towards consolidating their vendors onto a single platform. It reduces — or even eliminates — that integration overhead of reconciling and managing multiple data sets. This normalizes data and increases operational simplicity, meaning clients experience enhanced efficiency and confidence.
How important is it to you that our company is so committed to R&D?
We’re very focused on innovation and providing the tools our clients need to succeed in an increasingly complex financial landscape. You actually see resourcing and hiring strategies focused on that – finding the right talent for the right job in our R&D org.
We sought out feedback from 1,000+ clients in the process of building Trading. How important is that client feedback loop in your role?
It was helpful at the beginning for us to really appreciate where we should start, and we continuously engage with clients to learn and adapt our roadmap. When I speak with clients, I’m hoping to learn from them — it’s so important in this job. I’m continuously learning by engaging with our clients, reading user research, going to conferences, and educating myself on current events and technologies in the market.
In what ways can technology transform the way our clients do business?
Our clients are not just buying software, they’re buying Addepar excellence. They're buying our technology, our implementation team, our sales team, our experience — and the learnings and best practices that we bring to the table as industry experts. Our clients are transforming their businesses through technology and operational improvements, and we can help them on both fronts.
What do you want to share with prospective clients and clients about working here?
Wealth management is a unique space within fintech and financial services that is focused on relationships. Our clients are dealing with people, real individuals that need their support, insights and advice. This human-centric approach has been instrumental in Addepar's own evolution and success. The emphasis on understanding client needs allows us to develop products that address their specific challenges.
What makes Addepar’s culture so unique?
Our tagline is “Altogether better” and it exemplifies our culture. We have really smart individual talent, but it's the diverse experiences and different types of talent here that — when you blend them together — creates something exponentially larger.