The Wealth Manager for Rich Geeks

During his days as a venture capitalist, Andy Rachleff spent much of his time listening to young entrepreneurs explain why their startups were going to hit it big. Now he’s the one doing the pitching. As chief executive of Wealthfront, an online-only financial advisory firm, Rachleff has stood in front of crowds of employees at Facebook, LinkedIn, and other companies to sell his financial management services. “We add very little value, and we price accordingly,” he tells them.

That anti-pitch is tailor-made for Silicon Valley tech workers, especially the newly rich and soon-to-be-rich who work at companies about to go public. Rachleff, 53, figures that tech IPOs will create $500 billion in new wealth by 2016, and $100 billion of that will go to rank-and-file employees. Financial advice is a tricky sell in the Valley. The place is full of Ph.D.s with problem-solving skills, an unusually strong aversion to fees, and no clue what to do with their money. “The common refrain we get from people at companies that are going public is, ‘How do we get those suits out of our lobby. We can’t stand those f - - - ing guys,’ ” Rachleff says.