We’re Alto, a self-directed IRA platform on a mission to provide everyday Americans the same investment opportunities long favored by wealthy and institutional investors.
It used to be that if you wanted to invest in startups or other private investments with an IRA, you were pretty much on your own. Then you had to pay a custodian to execute the paperwork you likely spent weeks completing—if you could find a custodian willing to consider it.
That was the situation Alto founder and CEO Eric Satz was in nearly a decade ago. At the time, he was managing a venture capital fund and wanted to personally invest in a business alongside the fund. But it wasn’t until he noticed his IRA statement lying on the kitchen counter that he wondered, “Can I use my IRA funds to make this investment?” The answer was yes, but the process was anything but easy. Buried in a mountain of paperwork, with little guidance, he realized just how inequitable alternative investing was and set out on a mission to make it accessible for all.
Eric found investing in alternatives with his IRA to be a long, tedious process that took months.
With Alto, it can now take just minutes.
At Alto, Eric “connects the dots that are hard to see,” thanks to his years of experience across financial services and entrepreneurship. He kicked off his career as an investment banker for Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, and Credit Suisse First Boston. He also co-founded Currenex, which he sold for ~ $550m, and Tennessee Community Ventures, a venture capital firm.
As the host of The Altogether Show, he conducts interviews with untraditional entrepreneurs in candid conversations that cover the ways money shapes our lives and informs our choices. Eric has been an entrepreneur himself for more than 20 years; the “adrenaline rush that comes from creating something real out of thin air” is what keeps him going. And with Alto, he’s doing just that.
Scott is a specialist in the global financial services industry, with new responsibilities as President of Alto Securities’ parent company. Before joining Alto, he was the CEO of Securitize Markets, where he launched a leading capital raising platform and Alternative Trading System (ATS) in the digital asset security industry.
His primary focus was providing investors access to alternative investments and providing issuers with an all-in-one digital solution to raise capital and offer shareholder liquidity. His initial exposure to private markets came from his time at Carta, where he was CEO of Carta Securities and head of the enterprise client segment. Harrigan also held executive roles at Merrill Lynch and Computershare.
Since Alto’s earliest days, Andrea has been an integral part of the mission to empower individual investors with a financially freer, alternative future. While she currently serves as Chief People Officer, she has previously worked in other critical functions, most notably as Chief Operating Officer. In her current days leading people strategy, Andrea works tirelessly to design a culture of excellence embodied by every team member at Alto, creating a company that inspires personal growth, rewards talent and effort alike, and where our team is proud to work. She thrives when providing leadership and thought partnership alike to both people leaders and individual contributors, and supports projects across every corner of the business critical to Alto’s current success and future plans.
Prior to Alto, Andrea worked in several healthcare companies in senior-executive leadership roles around Nashville before co-founding her own, Ampersand Health. There, she served as COO and helped build an organization of over 100 team members launching primary and urgent care clinics that served Medicare and Medicaid members in inner-city Philadelphia. It was ten years ago with Ampersand Health that Andrea first ventured into the exciting world of startups, and there’s been no looking back; the opportunity to impact countless lives at scale by innovating old systems and outdated technology has her completely hooked.
Outside of work, Andrea finds joy in reading, cooking and traveling with her husband and sons.
Our work, and the spectacular team members who carry it out, are guided by three key ideas.
