Dakotah: Product is one of the most important roles in a tech organization. Good product leaders have to manage complex relationships between stakeholders — engineers, designers, legal, marketing, company executives, and our users. Doing so requires more than just an ability to strategize and communicate requirements, it also requires extremely high EQ.When we undertook the search to find a Director of Product, we made sure to cast a wide net. We interviewed candidates from competitors, incumbents, and even from non-finance related consumer internet companies. While we had a slate of strong candidates, Gabe easily stood out from the crowd. He was not only a strategic thinker who I knew could help co-create the future along with me, but he was also the culture carrier we needed for this role. Gabe’s spirit and enthusiasm has become a visceral aspect of the culture here at Poolit. That in conjunction with his adept ability to push our product forward has multiplied our capacity and capabilities as an organization.Another fun fact about Gabe is that I’ve known him since I was a freshman in college. I’ll never forget staying up late studying for Goldman investment banking interviews together or the late nights we spent as junior bankers building models and putting together presentations. When Gabe left Goldman he went on to SmartAsset to pursue his passion for democratizing access to complex financial tools to ensure positive outcomes for people. We continue to share the same grit we had all those years ago as we push toward our new goal: ensuring everyone has access to blue-chip alternative investment opportunities in a seamless mobile-first format.
Gabe’s Interview What did you do before joining Poolit?
Gabe: Before joining Poolit, I was on the Product team at SmartAsset for over 4.5+ years, helping build tools, calculators, and content to help people navigate life’s big personal finance decisions. Before SmartAsset, I did investment banking at Goldman Sachs for a little over a year after college. I studied Finance and Entrepreneurship at The University of Texas at Austin (Hook ’Em) before moving to New York City to start full time.
How did you hear about Poolit?
Gabe: Poolit’s CEO & Founder Dakotah Rice and I first met during the summer of our freshman year in college at Goldman Sachs Undergraduate Camp. After two summer internships together and becoming roommates in NYC after college, I became close friends with him and realized that the sky was the limit for him. I saw on LinkedIn in early 2022 that he started Poolit and I reached out to congratulate him. I was eager to learn more about how he started it and hear about how it was going so far, so we were able to connect in May.
Why did you decide to join Poolit?
Gabe: When I first heard Poolit’s vision of expanding access of premier financial products and investment opportunities to every individual globally, I was instantly excited to get involved and help in any way possible to make this vision become true. Also, I always wanted to join a small startup in order to get that experience of building something from the ground up, so that was a big selling point. After chatting with Dakotah and learning more about Matt Binder (Poolit CTO), I had no doubt that this startup was going places due to their amazing and strong leadership. Matt was incredibly bullish on the idea and was incredibly sharp when I first met him via video chat, so it just made me that much more excited to potentially join. Overall, I have so much confidence and trust in Dakotah to lead this team to success since he is extremely passionate, has a relentless work ethic, and is truly a visionary.
First impressions of the team?
Gabe: So far, I have been nothing but impressed by the team here at Poolit. I joined last week alongside Evan M (Chief Growth and Impact Officer) and James Leo (Chief of Staff and Head of Operations), who have been awesome teammates to say the least. The design team is so talented and amazing to work with and the Tech team is awesome. It is super exciting to really see how motivated and passionate the team is about making our vision of widespread access to premier alternative investment opportunities a reality. I can’t wait for us to grow even more and see what we accomplish together!
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