A San Clemente-based company has created a website that connects advisers in related financial professions to each other and to consumers.
FinancialAdvisors.com is the brainchild of certified financial planner Jim Eckel. It includes real estate, finance, loan, insurance and tax advisers.
“It’s the first one that allows advisers in different financial categories to interact with each other,” Eckel said. “So many advisory directories just list them, and that’s it. And that’s why they have a very poor response. No one knows they’re there.”
It’s also a way for listed advisers to network and get answers from each other. For example, if a real estate adviser can’t answer a client’s tax question, they can ask a tax specialist included in the directory.
The site is offering advisers a complementary profile listing to try it out, Eckel said. It will reach out to businesses that sell products and services supporting the financial advisory profession once it reaches a critical mass of listed advisers.
“We intend to set it up as a commerce site,” Eckel said.
Streamlined Conference Calls
An Irvine telecom company has released a free service for hosting and participating in conference calls.
YouMail now provides users with their own virtual conference “room” to host calls by tapping a button on their mobile apps. The service is designed to eliminate the use of random phone numbers and access codes dedicated for conference calls, negating the need for email or text communication among attendees in advance.
Participants call the host’s cellphone number and press 8 when they hear the greeting.
YouMail’s new features also take on other common conference call concerns, according to Chief Executive Alex Quilici. They include automatic identification, announcement of participants when they enter and exit a call, and providing an automatic summary of each call that describes who participated and for how long.
A recording of the conference call is also available for premium users. Its premium plans range from $5 to $50 per month.
YouMail’s original app provides a call management system with an automated, virtual receptionist for handling, routing and responding to calls.
The system, which also includes visual voicemail, was named the Best Mobile Utility App of 2015 at the eighth annual Mobile Excellence Awards in January, produced by Los Angeles-based Axis PR & Entertainment.
YouMail was founded in 2007. It’s received $20 million in funding from investors that include San Bruno-based VantagePoint Capital Partners, Santa Monica-based Wavemaker Ventures, and Tech Coast Angels, a group of five angel investor networks across Southern California.
UCI Spinout
A firm that’s developed technology to manufacture “micro” devices for sensing, controlling and affecting the physical world has spun out of the University of California-Irvine.
Integra Devices has a corporate office in Newport Beach and a technical office at UCI. Its goal is to supply devices to companies engaged in the Internet of Things realm, in which everyday objects are connected through a network, allowing them to send and receive data.
James Spoto is chief executive; UCI professor Mark Bachman is chief technical officer; and Paul Dhillon is executive vice president, handling sales and marketing. The founders have amassed more than 15 years of research experience at UC Irvine. ​
Mentor Holds Office Hours
One of the mentors at California State University-Fullerton’s incubator in Placentia will hold office hours this month to help startup founders.
Dave Kinnear is a business adviser, mentor and executive leader coach. He plans and facilitates, through his affiliation with San Diego-based Vistage International, peer advisory boards of business owners, corporate presidents, general managers and chief executives who want to improve their leadership skills.
Kinnear’s office hours will be 5 p.m. to 8 pm. on Aug. 25 at the incubator at 120 S. Bradford Ave. in Placentia.
Bits & Pieces
Irvine-based startup SetSchedule has a new director of finance, Richard Chenel, a veteran of the finance and venture capital industry. The owner of Irvington, N.Y.-based Conduit Advisory Group Inc. will lead SetSchedule into its $3 million Series A raise, working with its team on financial analysis and assisting with financial planning in order to grow sales and increase profitability, according to the company. SetSchedule is a tech-based marketing firm that connects real estate agents with homeowners, buyers and investors. … More than 100 teens from eight states and four countries recently wrapped up the fifth annual Teen Entrepreneur Academy hosted by Concordia University Irvine’s School of Business. … Cal State University-Fullerton is recruiting businesses that want to grow with the help of students at its Mihaylo College of Business. The students, with the guidance of professors and mentors, create a consulting report that outlines key recommendations to achieve each client’s business goals and objectives. Fees begin at $995 for a semester-long engagement with a student team. The teams typically work 150-plus hours on the projects. To learn more, contact Charlesetta Medina at cymedina@fullerton.edu.
