YCharts Innovation & Technology Culture

YCharts, a leading investment research and client engagement platform trusted by financial professionals across North America, earned multiple recognitions in the 2026 T3/Inside Information Software Survey.

YCharts was recognized as a Software All Star in five categories: Investment Data/Analytics, Portfolio Design Solutions, Proposal Generation & Client Onboarding, Portfolio Management/Reporting, and Economic Analysis & Stress Testing. The designation highlights solutions with category-leading market penetration and ratings above 8.0, achieved by only a small fraction of the more than 800 products included in the survey.

The survey identifies YCharts as the market share leader in Portfolio Design Solutions, where the platform earned an 8.25 rating in its category debut.

YCharts also expanded its presence across additional advisor workflows, with its first appearance in Portfolio Management/Reporting and Proposal Generation & Client Onboarding. In the proposal category, YCharts ranked among the top solutions by market share and earned the highest average user rating of 8.29.

Across the six categories where YCharts was evaluated, the platform ranked among the top tools advisors are considering and earned elite advisor satisfaction ratings. These results point to growing demand as firms evaluate new advisor technology platforms and highlight consistently positive feedback from advisors.

“Advisors need technology that connects research, portfolio construction, and client communication,” said Caleb Eplett, Chief Product Officer at YCharts. “This recognition reflects how YCharts is expanding beyond investment analysis to support the full advisor workflow, helping advisors move more efficiently from market insights to portfolio decisions and client recommendations.”

While YCharts has long been known for its investment data and analytics capabilities, the platform has evolved to support a broader range of advisor workflows. Financial advisors rely on YCharts not only for market analysis and portfolio research, but also for developing proposals, visualizing strategies, and delivering clearer client communications.

YCharts is also investing in artificial intelligence to help firms scale research and client engagement across teams. AI-powered capabilities enable advisors to surface insights faster and move more efficiently from research to recommendations.

To learn more about how YCharts supports the full advisor workflow, visit the YCharts website or contact [email protected].

About YCharts

YCharts is a leading investment research and client engagement platform that empowers wealth managers to make data-driven decisions and strengthen client relationships. With intuitive tools, comprehensive market data, and AI-powered capabilities, YCharts simplifies investment analysis, risk profiling, and proposal creation. Integrations with portfolio management systems, Excel, and single sign-on support efficient firm-wide adoption. Advisors rely on YCharts to streamline their day-to-day and deliver better client outcomes.

In this episode, I had the opportunity to speak with Sean Brown, President and CEO of investment research tool YCharts. Sean and I talked about what YCharts does, the future of fintech, and the importance of communication. 

How going with the flow often leads to opportunities

Sean and I began our chat with how he got into finance and his first job in this arena. This was a great place to start because, as you’ll hear in the episode, Sean didn’t know that he was interviewing for a computer programming job — not the financial analyst job that he imagined. When Sean realized he wasn’t going to be applying his finance degree in his first job, he went to his dad for advice. “Well, you are where you are. Make the best of it and see how you do,” his dad said. Sean has used that bit of sage wisdom to guide him through the rest of his career.  

Being open to change and being on the lookout for opportunities: Sean and I both agreed that this attitude is essential when starting your career, and especially when getting into the finance space. You may have a plan that doesn’t go the way you expect, but you can still find joy and success along the way. It’s kind of how Sean was able to make his way into finance from tech. Someone noticed his tech skills and background in finance, and made the smart decision to put him into financial services clients. Sean eventually left the sunshine and warmth of San Francisco to begin his startup career in Chicago. And ultimately, he joined the board at YCharts in 2016.

Why it’s crucial for advisors to have good communication skills

One of the YCharts founders said that there’s a real need to turn data into insights in the financial services space, and one of the best ways to do that is through pictures. Though that’s one of the things that YCharts does best, there’s a lot more to the company than visualizing data. As Sean put it, YCharts is a “prospect and client communication company that masks itself as an investment research platform.” 

YChart’s tools help people make better investment decisions, yes, but they also empower advisors to communicate with their clients better. And that’s what Sean is exceptionally passionate about: communication and its effects on advisor-client relationship. The old model of sending out quarterly or monthly statements and meeting over dinner once a year isn’t enough to create an adequate relationship, Sean said. 

Just like any other relationship, you need to put in the work and time to understand the other person’s needs. YCharts did a survey about client communication (which we linked in the show notes below) and found that clients of wealth advisors felt that communication was insufficient, poor quality, or simply not happening often enough. This is a problem, sure, but it’s also an opportunity for advisors to better themselves. 

Before a recession hits, or before technological advancements are able to replicate what human advisors do, we need to step up communications, Sean said. In addition, advisors should know their value, know their niche. Understand what they’re bringing to the profession. When you know your value proposition and you have good communication skills, then you’re ready to work with YCharts and put those skills to good use.

Where the future of fintech is heading

Sean spoke about the future of fintech and what he hopes to see in the years to come. The finance profession is lagging behind when it comes to using tech to solve business problems. It’ll be exciting to see new technology crop up that can make our lives as financial advisors easier, whether that’s through streamlining workflows, tailoring portfolios, communicating with clients efficiently, and so on.

That’s why we need young professionals to go for their dreams, Sean said. If you have a great fintech idea but you’re not sure how to put it into action, or if it’s the right time to do it, just go for it. “There’s no time like the present to make your idea real,” Sean said. 

He pointed out that data today is cheap and commoditized. Amazon Web Services ensures that you don’t need to invest in expensive equipment. You don’t even need to start a company or deplete your life’s savings in order to try your idea out. The time is now. And if you need a little guidance on making your idea a reality, hit Sean up on LinkedIn or Twitter.

“I'd love to help you realize your goals because again, especially if it's in the financial services space, we have a long way to go,” Sean said. “it's going to take a lot of bright people with a lot of great ideas for us to get where we need to be in 10 years.”

YCharts is adding a suite of private markets benchmarks from Hamilton Lane to its platform, a move aimed at giving advisors more consistent ways to analyze and explain private investments alongside traditional holdings. The integration arrives as more RIAs and broker-dealer reps look to private markets as a key differentiator in their practices and a growing piece of client portfolios.

The new benchmarks are built from Hamilton Lane’s proprietary fund- and deal-level data, based on limited partner cash flows from around the world. Rather than relying on ad hoc or one-off performance figures, advisors using YCharts’ Professional license will be able to draw on standardized performance series across private equity, private credit and private real assets, broken down by strategy, vintage year and geography.

“YCharts is focused on helping advisors make more informed, confident decisions for their clients,” said Caleb Eplett, chief product officer at YCharts. “With the addition of Hamilton Lane benchmarks, we’re giving advisors the context they need to understand and explain private markets investments within client portfolios.”

For many wealth firms, private funds are still modeled through proxy tickers or blended portfolios that only approximate underlying exposures. YCharts said the Hamilton Lane data is meant to serve as a more relevant comparison point for those proxies, so advisors can stress-test diversification, compare performance, and show clients where a private allocation fits within a broader plan.

Hamilton Lane’s benchmarks are already used by institutions, general partners, advisors and researchers to measure performance and spot trends across the asset class. Griff Norville, head of technology solutions at Hamilton Lane, said the firm is “excited to partner with YCharts to make our proprietary private markets benchmark data more accessible to financial advisors,” adding that broader access is part of its push to support investor education in private markets.

The launch follows a broader industry push to build tools that bridge public and private assets. Morningstar and PitchBook last year rolled out the Morningstar PitchBook US Modern Market 100 Index, which combines 90 large US-listed companies with 10 late-stage, venture-backed private companies in a single benchmark. That effort is similarly framed as a way to put public and private holdings on the same footing for performance measurement and potential product development.

Advisor demand appears to be there. A November survey of 400 advisors from AssetMark found that 91% view access to private markets as critical for differentiation, while 68% of those not yet using private investments planned to add them within a year. Nearly 60% of that group said they would consider switching firms to gain access, highlighting how central private markets have become to competition among platforms.

“Advisors are signaling that private markets are no longer an optional service – they’re a strategic necessity,” said Michael Kim, CEO of AssetMark.