Ben Weiss

Bio:

Ben Weiss is the Vice President of Business Development at StockTwits, leading the New York office, and focused on StockTwits API, StockTwits Marketplace, Corporate Services and Institutional Sales. Additionally, Ben works with Social Leverage LLC, in building a portfolio of early-stage Social Media and FinTech companies. Prior to StockTwits, Ben was an Associate at Greylock Partners in Israel, focused on financial technology deals in Israel and Europe, including investment in Wonga and Payoneer. Ben also founded FinTechIsrael, a local meetup group focused on FinTech in Tel Aviv. Prior to Greylock, Ben worked at both Opera Solutions and MMG Partners, management consultancies focused on the financial sector, primarily capital markets and consumer finance. Benholds a BSc from Cornell University in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering as well as an MBA from INSEAD.

• Title: VP Business Development, StockTwits
• Age: 29
• Location: Upper West Side
• Contact: about.me, @weissben

How did you get involved in StockTwits?

I met Howard Lindzon, CEO and Founder of StockTwits, via Twitter in late 2009, when I was looking at startups in the financial technology space for Greylock. After a few exchanges on Twitter, we caught up by phone and I convinced him to come to Tel Aviv with his wife (for the first time in 25 years) to meet startups nearby.

After a week with Howard and Ellen, I realized that I wanted to work with him on his grand vision for StockTwits, as the primary communication channel for public financial discourse. The rest is history...

How long did you live in Israel? What brought you to NYC? What is one thing from Israel that you wish existed in NY?

Following 25 years in New York, I moved to Singapore for a year to get my MBA at INSEAD (and subsequently meet my wife). Following school, I got the opportunity to go to work for Greylock Partners in Israel, and couldn't pass that up - I spent the next 2 years getting energized by the relentless startup community that is inherent in the 'Startup Nation'. I returned to New York to lead the NY office of StockTwits and help build the business here.

One thing I really miss from Israel was the authentic middle eastern markets (souks) across the country, with all kinds of remarkable colors, smells, flavors, and personalities. I used to go every Friday with my wife, and we both truly miss that here - sadly, while the farmer's markets are great, they have a very different feel...

You are a fairly avid blogger about finance, social media, technology, and venture investing. Where do you usually go for your FinTech news? Have you read any books recently that you would suggest for others interested in the FinTech scene?

I am an avid reader of 80+ news sources and social media on any given day, but my go-to sources are definitely:

• Roger Ehrenberg's InformationArbitrage.com (and related content on Quora, Twitter, etc) - Big Data and Capital Markets
• Howard Lindzon's blog - howardlindzon.com
• Scott Loftesness at Glenbrook's PaymentsNews.com and PaymentsViews.com - Payments
• Brett King's Bank 2.0 - Retail Banking
• NetBanker.com - Payments and Retail Banking
• Wall Street & Technology - Capital markets
• Bank Systems & Tech - Capital Markets and Retail Banking

As for books, I recently read Brett King's Bank 2.0 which was quite strong. I've also enjoyed key insights from the general startup/tech scene recently, including Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky, Tape Sucks by Frank Slootman, Behind the Cloud by Marc Benioff, and Tony Hsieh's Delivering Happiness.