What ToltIQ's co-founder - a former KKR CIO - says founders must never do when selling AI to financial services buyers | Ed Brandman
Fintech Builders · 2026-05-22 · 27 min
Episode notes
Ed Brandman spent decades in global financial services before retiring in 2018. His last chapter before stepping away was at KKR - where he joined when the firm had just 390 people and left having helped build it into one of the most recognizable names in alternative assets. Five years later, a conversation with his son (now his co-founder) about the due diligence process pulled him back. That became ToltIQ , an AI-native platform built specifically for private markets. In this episode of BUILDERS, Ed breaks down a GTM that ran entirely on referrals for two-plus years, how a deliberate industry-first hiring policy replaced a sales team, and what founders consistently get wrong when trying to sell AI to financial services buyers who are already overwhelmed.
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