OneVest CEO Amar Ahluwalia on Revolutionizing Wealth Management & ‘Brilliant Execution’

“There are no brilliant ideas. Only brilliant execution.”

Zak Kokosa, Pascha Hao and Rob Keith

March 5, 2025

After leading OneVest’s Series B fundraise, investors Zak Kokosa, Pascha Hao, and Rob Keith sat down with CEO Amar Ahluwalia to discuss why he started OneVest alongside co-founders Jakob Pizzera and Nathan Di Lucca, his vision for the future of wealth management, lessons for fellow entrepreneurs, and much more. The following is a transcript of their conversation, lightly edited for clarity and style.

Zak Kokosa: What inspired you to start OneVest?

Amar Ahluwalia: Jakob, Nathan, and myself have all spent well over a decade across traditional financial services and fintech witnessing countless problems and opportunities on a daily basis. During the pandemic, we started talking about how wealth management technology is broken and legacy, and hasn’t caught up with other industries from an innovation perspective.

This eventually inspired us to create a company that could revolutionize the wealth management industry. We saw how modern technology has been able to transform other industries, and we wanted to do the same for wealth management.

Pascha Hao: What problem is OneVest aiming to solve, and how has your vision evolved over time?

Amar Ahluwalia: Financial institutions delivering wealth management to investors currently use a mix of dozens of legacy vendors, with Excel spreadsheets holding things together in the background. This means they’re often not able to enhance client and advisor experiences but have been incurring ever increasing costs. OneVest is addressing this problem by offering an operating system for wealth management. We started out primarily positioning OneVest as a full-suite solution – which it still is. However, we’ve found real power in our modular infrastructure. Larger firms may not be in the position for a full technology overhaul. With OneVest, they can replace what needs immediate replacement (such as Onboarding or a Client Portal), before expanding to other opportunity areas.

Over time, we’ve been able to build a company that now counts large financial institutions like Westwood Wealth Management, DriveWealth and ATB as customers. We’ve scaled to over 80 employees and counting, and have expanded our operations from Canada into the U.S.

Rob Keith: Why is the OneVest team uniquely qualified to modernize wealth management?

Amar Ahluwalia: Each of us brings unique and relevant experience to the table. I have extensive experience within financial services, fintech, asset management and capital markets. Prior to OneVest, I was on the executive and leadership teams at Coast Capital, OnDeck, and IHS Markit. Jakob worked across strategy, product, and operations at technology pioneers Shopify and Element AI, and used to be a derivatives trader at a global investment bank in a prior life. Nathan held several software engineering leadership roles at Kudos, Donesafe, and Workible. With our mix of financial services and technology experience, we understand where the wealth management industry is today, and where it can go with the right technology.

Zak Kokosa: Why did the OneVest team decide to partner with Salesforce Ventures for your recent fundraise?

Amar Ahluwalia: OneVest has experienced massive growth since our founding in 2021. To help facilitate that growth, we were seeking partners who understand the enterprise SaaS space and who would give us the freedom to innovate and be an industry leader.

We first learned about Salesforce Ventures through our network in the tech and financial services sectors, and through our partnership discussions with Salesforce. Your reputation for supporting innovative enterprise SaaS companies made you an attractive partner. We were also impressed by your team’s deep understanding of the financial services industry globally, and your collaborative approach and strategic insights that aligned well with our vision.

Ultimately we chose Salesforce Ventures to lead our round because we wanted an investor that also felt like a partner. As part of our due diligence process, we got to meet several individuals across the business and it solidified our view that the entire team deeply understands what we’re building and what we’re trying to achieve.

Pascha Hao: How do you see OneVest benefitting from partnering with Salesforce Ventures?

Amar Ahluwalia: We like that Salesforce Ventures has a “patient capital” approach, with a long-term vision in mind. That appeals to us because building an enduring business in enterprise SaaS in a highly regulated environment like financial services takes a long time and sustained support.

We see Salesforce Ventures playing a pivotal role in our long-term growth via strategic guidance, industry connections, and resources that extend beyond financial investment. Your support in driving partnership alignment with the broader Salesforce team will help us scale our platform and reach new markets. OneVest already has an integration with Salesforce CRM to enhance our client and advisor experiences. However, the current iteration only scratches the surfaces of what could be possible when Salesforce Ventures and OneVest work together to bring innovative solutions to our sector. By collaborating on product innovation and GTM efforts globally — we think OneVest and Salesforce can benefit tremendously.

Rob Keith: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received as a founder?

Amar Ahluwalia: Stay focused. Avoid shiny objects.

Zak Kokosa: If you were starting OneVest from scratch today, what would you do differently?

Amar Ahluwalia: Expand to the U.S. sooner, or build the company there from the start.

Pascha Hao: What’s something you’ve changed your mind on since starting OneVest?

Amar Ahluwalia: There are no (few) brilliant ideas. Only brilliant execution.

Rob Keith: What’s the most controversial opinion you have about building a business?

Amar Ahluwalia: You don’t need to say yes to every growth opportunity — sometimes the best decisions are the ones where you walk away.

Zak Kokosa: What lessons have you learned from this fundraising journey?

Amar Ahluwalia: Build relationships early, be transparent about your challenges, and focus on investors who bring more than just money to the table.

Pascha Hao: As you think about the future of OneVest, what excites you the most?

Amar Ahluwalia: We are excited for the company’s growth and expansion into new global markets while building an enduring market leader in the wealth management technology space. The industry is moving toward digitization, hyper-personalization, and automation. OneVest aims to lead this evolution by providing a platform that integrates cutting-edge technology with user-centric design, making wealth management more efficient. As AI continues to become a force across all industries, we will lead the way with an AI-enabled platform that allows firms and their advisors to deliver the best possible experience to clients.

And Salesforce Ventures will be instrumental to all our future plans — providing strategic insights, connecting us with key players, and helping us leverage their ecosystem to scale faster and smarter.

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