This Conshy startup tells financial advisors how much their business is worth

The financial advisory industry is aging. Financial advisors looking to retire are selling their client portfolios, also known as their “books of business,” and younger advisors are scooping them up.
Gladstone Analytics, a two-year-old software startup in Conshohocken, wants to make that transition easier.

Gladstone’s software puts a price on a financial advisor’s book of business by looking at several factors, like a customer’s distance to the financial advisor (which can determine if the customer will come back), age and length of the customer relationship. In the past, a financial advisor would have to pay an investment bank to do this kind of data crunching, said managing director Michael Morsell. That’s what inspired the startup, which spun out of Conshohocken financial advisory consulting firm Gladstone Associates. Gladstone Associates was getting overwhelmed by requests for this type of service and couldn’t handle it all.
“It’s a much more sophisticated way to value someone’s business,” Morsell said of Gladstone’s software.
The software, which Morsell said is the first of its kind, was built by Eli Gassert, the startup’s CTO and former CEO of DreamIt startup Yunno. President Owen Dahl, who also runs a financial advisory consulting firm, is the startup’s subject matter expert.
Its customers include independent financial advisors. The company charges an annual fee that starts at $795 for independent advisors and varies for enterprise customers. Gladstone expects more than $2 million in revenue in 2015, Morsell said.
The next step is building out a credit portal on the software, so the company’s customers can borrow money and buy books of business. Morsell said the company sees this is a natural next step.
Before joining Gladstone, Morsell, 35, of Haverford, had management stints at Center City content marketing company Brand.com and financial software company eMoney Advisor, which is across the street from Gladstone Analytics. He’s also an advisor to DreamIt real estate startup Kwelia. The Philadelphia native went to LaSalle High School in Wyndmoor, Pa., and got his MBA at St. Joseph’s.