Over the past three years, William and Annie Hockey have been quietly building Column, a chartered bank that aims to make it easier for other companies to launch financial products.
, he left his executive job, although he stayed on Plaid’s board of directors.
Prior to starting Column, Annie Hockey worked in marketing at tech startups, got a Stanford MBA and was a consultant at Bain, where she helped private equity firms do due diligence on retail companies they wanted to acquire. At Column she leads the regulatory, legal and human resources parts of the business. She says her consulting experience taught her financial modeling and how to learn new industries quickly.
They’re taking an unusual approach to funding their San Francisco startup. “We haven't raised venture money, and we probably never will,” William says. “The hyper-growth, raise lots of money, hire as many people as possible [approach] … I don’t think that’s the right style for something like this.” Some federal regulations also make it difficult for VC firms to invest in chartered banks, because the investors can then be required to comply with various bank regulations.