This month marks the launch of a brand new sequence of interviews with firms that not too long ago made their debuts on the Finovate stage. I had an incredible alternative earlier this month to meet up with numerous firms demoing at FinovateSpring in San Diego, and am wanting ahead to introducing our weblog readers to those progressive fintechs!
First up, we checked in with Joe Steuter, Accomplice and Chief of Shopper Technique with Intention.ly. Based in 2021 and headquartered in King of Prussia, Intention.ly is a progress consultancy and advertising and marketing company for monetary providers firms. At FinovateSpring this 12 months, Intention.y demoed its Advisor Model Builder platform that allows breakaway advisors, fast-evolving corporations, and buying enterprises to construct skilled, high-impact grand identities and model tales.
What downside does Intention.ly remedy and who does it remedy it for?
Joe Steuter: Intention.ly helps monetary providers corporations develop by fixing one of many {industry}’s most persistent challenges: model differentiation. Past that, the problem of differentiation with velocity to market and considerate measurement to hint ROI to advertising and marketing efforts. Advisors, RIAs, enterprises, fintechs, financial institution managers, insurance coverage reps, and asset managers are all competing in a market that may really feel like a sea of sameness, the place corporations typically sound alike, look alike, and battle to obviously articulate why they’re completely different.
That downside turns into particularly acute for monetary advisors and advisor enterprises. Constructing a robust model has historically required a protracted, labor-intensive course of with an out of doors companion that won’t deeply perceive the monetary providers {industry}. The choice is usually a quick, templated web site construct or model message that saves time however leaves corporations wanting, sounding, and positioning themselves like everybody else.
Advisor Model Builder (ABB) was created by Intention.ly to eradicate that tradeoff. It provides advisors and enterprises a quicker, smarter approach to construct genuine, differentiated manufacturers grounded in who they’re, who they serve, and why they matter.
Extra broadly, Intention.ly solves progress challenges for monetary providers firms by combining technique, model, advertising and marketing, know-how, content material, and execution. We assist corporations transfer from ambiguity to readability, from disconnected advertising and marketing efforts to cohesive progress techniques, and from generic positioning to a model presence that may truly assist enterprise improvement.
How does Intention.ly remedy this downside higher than different firms?
Steuter: Intention.ly solves this downside in a different way as a result of we mix deep monetary providers experience with know-how, inventive technique, and execution. We’re not a generalist company studying the {industry} from the skin. Our staff has spent many years constructing manufacturers, shaping narratives, and serving to monetary providers corporations differentiate in a extremely complicated, extremely regulated, and sometimes extremely commoditized market.
Advisor Model Builder, which was the expertise proven to the gang at FinovateSpring 2026, is a robust instance of how we method innovation. The standard branding course of can take months and even years, particularly when a number of stakeholders, decision-makers, and rounds of discovery are concerned. ABB condenses that course of right into a guided, AI-backed expertise that may construct a model basis in weeks.
However velocity is simply a part of the story. ABB is not only an automatic template. It combines guided discovery, industry-specific intelligence, AI-assisted model improvement, and human experience from strategists, writers, designers, and entrepreneurs. The result’s quicker, however nonetheless substantive.
The platform captures the advisor’s genuine story, creates messaging and visible id, builds a cohesive model information, generates belongings, and extends that basis into digital presence and web site route.
That mixture of executional velocity with actually differentiated campaigns and messaging is the place our staff stands out. We assist corporations transfer quicker with out sacrificing authenticity, high quality, or differentiation. And in an {industry} that’s evolving at a quicker tempo than ever earlier than, this couldn’t be extra essential to a agency’s progress.Â
Who’re Intention.ly’s main prospects? How do you attain them?
Steuter: Intention.ly’s main prospects are growth-minded monetary providers corporations. That features impartial RIAs, breakaway advisors, hybrid corporations, broker-dealers, custodians, asset managers, fintechs, banks, massive insurance coverage firms, and progressive enterprises that assist advisor communities.
With Advisor Model Builder particularly, we’re fixing for each particular person advisor corporations and the enterprises that serve them. For an advisor or breakaway staff, ABB offers a quicker path to a reputable, differentiated model, full with messaging, visible id, model belongings, and web site route. For bigger enterprises, ABB creates a scalable approach to assist many advisors with out forcing each agency via a gradual, customized, one-off branding course of.
We attain our prospects via a mixture of relationships, {industry} presence, referrals, thought management, partnerships, occasions, and direct engagement with corporations which can be actively making an attempt to develop. As a result of Intention.ly is deeply embedded within the monetary {industry}, lots of our conversations start with belief and shared context.
The corporations that come to us are often going through a transition level: launching, rebranding, going impartial, coming into a brand new market, scaling advisor assist, or making an attempt to create a extra fashionable progress engine. Our worth helps them transfer from intention to execution with readability, velocity, and confidence.
Are you able to inform us a few favourite implementation of your know-how, or a very priceless partnership expertise?
Steuter: One current instance is Brick by Brick Wealth Administration, a agency transferring from a big wirehouse atmosphere into the impartial house. That form of transition requires rather more than a brand new identify or emblem. The staff wanted to create an entire model id, make clear its worth proposition, reframe the worth they dropped at purchasers, develop a differentiated story, and launch a digital presence that would assist the subsequent stage of the enterprise.
By means of Advisor Model Builder, we helped convey that work collectively in roughly six weeks. The method began with the idea for the agency’s identify and advanced right into a full model story, visible id, messaging system, model belongings, and web site presence.
What made the implementation particular was the steadiness between velocity and authenticity. Brick by Brick wanted to maneuver shortly, however additionally they wanted a model that felt actual, private, and credible. ABB allowed us to seize the agency’s underlying story and translate it into one thing polished, differentiated, and usable.
That’s precisely the form of second Advisor Model Builder was constructed for. We’ve taken greater than 25 corporations of each measurement via this method, and it typically works most successfully when advisors have to make a serious enterprise transfer, however they can not afford to spend months caught in an id disaster. They want a model that provides them readability, confidence, and momentum.
What in your background gave you the boldness to reply to this problem?
Steuter: My confidence comes from the staff I encompass myself with and the greater than 20 years I’ve spent serving to monetary providers corporations and startups inform their story. Collectively, as a corporation, our confidence comes from having spent many years contained in the monetary providers {industry}, working immediately on the identical challenges our purchasers face. Our CEO, Kelly Waltrich, constructed the agency to reply to the problem she noticed as most prevalent in monetary providers: a scarcity of purpose-led technique and progress pushed by disciplined execution and measurable objectives. Each member of our staff carries that very same in depth {industry} expertise the place they’re drawing on years of getting constructed manufacturers, formed messaging, led advertising and marketing methods, supported advisor progress, launched campaigns, guided corporations via transitions, and helped monetary providers firms inform extra compelling tales.
Advisor Model Builder is only one product of that have. We have now seen firsthand how tough it may be for advisors to distinguish themselves. Many corporations have a strong story, however they battle to articulate it. Others know they want a extra fashionable model, however the conventional course of feels too gradual, too costly, or too disconnected from the realities of their enterprise.
Over time, we noticed the identical sample time and again: advisors wanted each strategic depth and velocity. They wanted {industry} experience, not generic branding workout routines. They wanted a course of that would uncover what made them completely different and switch it into messaging, design, belongings, and a digital presence.
We weren’t ranging from idea. We had been translating years of actual monetary providers brand-building expertise right into a extra scalable, technology-enabled course of.
You latterly opened new places of work in Omaha, Nebraska. How does the opening of a Midwest hub drive Intention.ly’s mission?
Steuter: Opening a Midwest hub in Omaha is an strategic step in Intention.ly’s progress and mission. It was additionally a really private endeavor for me, as I stay in Omaha and perceive simply how a lot of a monetary hub town is to this {industry}. Omaha has a deep connection to monetary providers, wealth administration, fintech, and advisor platforms, and it provides us a robust presence in a market with distinctive {industry} expertise.
Our mission is to assist monetary providers corporations develop with extra readability, intention, and affect. To do this nicely, we have to keep near the corporations, advisors, platforms, and other people shaping the way forward for the {industry}. Omaha provides us one other middle of gravity for that work, situated in the midst of all over the place.Â
It additionally displays a perception I’ve at all times held: innovation in monetary providers just isn’t restricted to the coasts. A number of the most vital firms, platforms, and advisor communities in our house have been constructed proper right here. Having a hub that’s centrally situated permits us to deepen relationships, broaden our staff, and assist purchasers from a spot that understands the advisor ecosystem.
You demoed at FinovateSpring in Might of this 12 months. How was the expertise?
Steuter: FinovateSpring was an incredible expertise as a result of it gave us the chance to point out Advisor Model Builder in motion to a wholly new nook of the {industry}. The convention introduced collectively corporations in accounting, banking, credit score unions, non-public capital, insurance coverage tech, and different sectors exterior our regular realm of publicity (wealth administration). Branding can really feel summary when described conceptually, however the demo allowed us to stroll the viewers via the precise expertise: guided discovery, AI-assisted model improvement, messaging, visible id, model belongings, and web site route.
The format was particularly priceless as a result of ABB is designed to resolve a really particular stress available in the market. We had been capable of reveal that there’s a higher path—one that gives velocity with out shedding substance.
The demo additionally helped us inform the broader Intention.ly story. We’re a branding and advertising and marketing progress engine design agency with many years of monetary providers expertise, and ABB represents how we’re turning that experience into scalable know-how.
The conversations after the demo had been energizing. The suggestions strengthened what we already believed: advisor differentiation is an actual downside, enterprises want scalable methods to assist it, and the market is prepared for options that mix AI with human experience.
What are your objectives for Intention.ly?
Steuter: Our objective is to turn out to be the main advertising and marketing and progress companion for the {industry}’s prime 100 firms. We need to assist bold corporations construct stronger manufacturers, clearer methods, higher advertising and marketing techniques, and simpler paths to sustainable progress.
For Advisor Model Builder, our objective is to alter the equation round advisor model improvement. We imagine advisors shouldn’t have to decide on between a protracted, costly branding engagement and a generic template that makes them look and sound like everybody else. ABB provides them another choice: a guided, AI-backed, human-refined course of that creates a differentiated model basis in weeks.
On the enterprise stage, our objective is to make differentiated branding scalable—fairly a contradiction historically. Giant wealth administration organizations want methods to assist many advisors effectively, however with out stripping away individuality. ABB provides enterprises a framework for serving to advisors present up with extra readability, consistency, and authenticity.
Extra broadly, Intention.ly is targeted on serving to monetary providers corporations spend much less time caught in id, messaging, and execution challenges, and extra time incomes new enterprise. Stronger manufacturers create extra confidence. Extra confidence creates higher progress conversations. And higher progress conversations create stronger corporations and better-served purchasers.
That’s the work we need to preserve main.
Picture by Aditya Siva on Unsplash
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