Betterment is our sixth Inspiring Action Brand of the Week. Past winners have been Shinola, Bonobos, Everlane, Casper and ThePointsGuy.

Investing Made Better

Make a quick visit to Betterment’s mission page and you’re greeted with the following:

“We created a company. It changed an industry.”

It’s a bold and direct statement chock-full of pride. And guess what? It should be.

Why? Because here’s the thing: it’s the absolute and undeniable truth, and if wealth managers everywhere haven’t realized this yet, they will very, very soon. The financial investment industry is on the cusp of a revolution, and Betterment Is leading that charge.

Similar to the way AirBnB wedged its way to the top of the hospitality landscape, or how Uber flipped the script on transportation, Betterment is using smarter technology to outduel its competitors.

And like AirBnB and Uber, Betterment isn’t your cute little trendy start-up competing for its fifteen minutes of Silicon Valley sunshine. It’s an absolute force. Based in New York City, Betterment has the mecca of finance grasped in its hands, and it’s not loosening its grip anytime soon.

Through its simple, yet beautiful user-friendly design, Betterment is snatching customers at a rapid pace. It’s the largest, fastest-growing automated investing service out there, and grew it’s AUM (assets under management) from 1.1 billion to 3.5 billion in this past year alone.

That type of uncanny, jaw-dropping growth is the reason financial managers and wealth advisors should be shaking in their boots. Betterment isn’t just influencing behaviors, it’s redirecting them. They’re puppeteering a shift in culture, one where managing your wealth can be as easy as scrolling through your iPhone. And while the suits on Wall Street can kick back in their leather chairs for the time-being, they may not want to get too comfortable. Betterment is knocking on their door, and if their influence continues to grow at the staggering pace it is, that door won’t just be opened, it will be blown off the hinges.

But don’t get it twisted, Betterment wasn’t created to put financial advisors out of work or to lead an assault on an industry riddled with corruption.

It was created for you. It was created for me. It was created so that normal everyday people had a better option. With Betterment, it’s always been about the customer.

It all started with an inspiring idea – an inspiring idea that CEO Jon Stein then put to action.

“Friends and family asked me, ‘What should I do with my money?’ There were no good answers – so I set out to build one.”

So why Betterment?

Because managing your finances is hard, and they make it easy. It sounds so simplistic, but simplicity is Betterment’s favorite instrument, and they play it better than anyone else. It’s what sets them apart from imitators and its why Quartz dubbed them “The Apple Of Finance”. Stated eloquently in their mission statement, they “built an experience that replaces confusion with delight and uncertainty with control”.

Let’s face it. Finance is confusing. It’s a textbook of complex acronyms that only get more complex when expanded to their true meaning. It’s daunting and causes headaches.

Yet, it’s absolutely necessary. It cannot be ignored, and up until just a few years ago, there was no alternative.

Betterment uses an algorithm that implements financial advice that is widely agreed upon. That means no in-person counseling. No conflict of interest. It’s all executed online. It’s quite literally a well-oiled machine.

“You’re trusting somebody, but why? Especially when you can do the same thing with a massively scalable platform like ours” says Stein.

It also means that it’s cheaper for you and me. It’s not nearly as expensive as the typical cost of a traditional financial advisor, which leaves both you and me with more money to invest. Without the overhead of traditional brick and mortar establishments, they can afford to charge less for its services, which again, means more money for you and me.

Their customers include everyone from the old to the young and from the rich to the poor. Their approach to managing money is fundamentally democratic.

However, Betterment has established quite the kinship with millennials. This should come as no surprise, seeing as the tech-savvy generation would be the most likely to trust a website over a human advisor. And then, of course, you have the beautiful and unprecedented luxury of accessibility. How many young professionals in their mid-twenties do you know who have financial advisors?

Now they all can – on their laptop or in their pocket, on the subway or at the ball game. It’s a simpler, more painless way to save and earn a lot more over time. It’s also simpler, more painless way to start today.

That’s why Betterment is our Inspiring Action Brand of the Week.

-James Nieman, Integrated Marketing Manager

Ah, mid-March. Spring is in the air, Q1 is nearly over, and it’s time – once again – for the Technorati masses to make their annual pilgrimage to Austin, Texas, for SXSW!

This is my fifth year attending South By (as it’s lovingly called by the locals), and I’m here to share some of the hard-earned lessons I’ve picked up over the years:

Make Sure You Attend the Keynotes

Although the networking and creative ideation are arguably the best parts of SXSW, make sure you attend the keynotes, if nothing else. They tend to feature the biggest, most impactful names in their respective industries, and will likely inspire you with their passion and insight.

Be Discerning with Your Swag

You’re going to pick up a lot of branded knickknacks this week, especially at the trade show. After having finally thrown out a handful of branded key chains from SXSW 2011, though, I can tell you that it’s important to really consider whether or not you really need that extra koozie  or coaster you’re being handed. In other words, only take the swag you’ll actually use – like earphones, pens, and spare phone chargers.

It’s OK to Go Offline

It’s easy to get swept up in the interactive madness, but it’s OK to disconnect from your phone every once in a while…especially when listening to the speakers. That’s the only way to ensure you’re actually being present and soaking everything in.

If It Sounds Awesome, the Wait Will Be 4+ Hours

Of course you want to see that free Snoop Dogg concert, go to the Mashable House to meet Grumpy Cat, and make your own 3D-printed Oreos! Those activities sound like a ton of fun! However, everyone else at the festival agrees with your excitement, and started lining up about two hours ago. So if you have your heart set on attending a specific, high-profile event, get there early and be ready to wait.

Bring Spare Chargers and a Cord Splitter

The ABCs of SXSW = “Always Be Charging.” Chances are, after all of the tweeting, Instagramming, and Snapchatting you’ll be doing, your battery will run out around 2pm. In order to avoid being tethered – literally – to the wall during the speakers’ keynotes, bring a few spare chargers with you to last throughout the day. As a backup, it’s a good idea to bring a cord splitter or a surge protector (worst-case scenario) so you can approach an occupied outlet with a creative way to get in on the charging-your-device action.

–Rebecca Weiser, Media Director, Proove Accountable Media

Especially at the beginning of relationships, while you are earning the trust and the admiration that will smooth the inevitable bumps down the road. While you are figuring everything out, and laying the groundwork for success. Get on more planes. Provide more options. Ask more questions. See the factory, meet the workers, go to the research, talk to the sales force, get a demonstration, sample the product, talk to a board member, brainstorm with the client. Over communicate. Over collaborate. Over deliver. Time and energy invested in relationships pays us back in better work, business and results. Oh, yeah, and better relationships too.

At DiMassimo Goldstein, we put our values in a document we call “The DIGO Standard.” It doesn’t just hang on the walls and sit on our desks and desktops. We use it every day. People who visit often ask for a copy. Here’s yours, and you didn’t even have to ask.