Zocks Used the Dream Experience Method to Secure a $13.8 Million Funding Boost

Zocks, a US-based startup founded in 2022 by Mark Gilbert and Ákos Ratku, has set out to change the financial advisory landscape by streamlining day-to-day operations through AI-driven automation. Rather than offering a generic AI-powered assistant, the company has built an enterprise-ready platform specifically designed to support financial advisors in managing workflows, extracting insights from client conversations, and seamlessly integrating with existing fintech ecosystems.

Since launching in early 2024, Zocks has gained significant traction, onboarding over 1,000 advisory firms and securing partnerships with major fintech platforms such as Wealthbox, Redtail, and Practifi. A recent $13.8 million Series A funding round, led by Motive Ventures with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners and other investors, is set to propel the company’s next phase of expansion. The new capital will be used to refine its AI capabilities, expand its team, and explore European market entry.

One of the key elements that sets Zocks apart is its AI-driven approach to client intelligence. Unlike traditional AI notetakers that simply transcribe conversations, Zocks analyzes them, builds detailed client profiles, and automates action items. Advisors can rely on the system to:

• Capture client interactions and synthesize information across multiple touchpoints
• Identify and auto-fill forms for key action items
• Automate time-intensive workflows such as email responses and account applications
• Integrate directly with CRM systems while ensuring data privacy
• Standardize client data capture across an entire organization

The efficiency gains are notable, with advisors saving an average of 45 minutes per client meeting, allowing them to focus more on strategic planning rather than administrative tasks.

The Founders’ Journey and the Shift to AI

Zocks co-founder and CEO Mark Gilbert has had a career spanning large tech firms, including Microsoft and Hearsay Systems. His experience in enterprise software shaped his perspective on building AI-powered tools that genuinely solve user problems. Reflecting on the challenges of launching an AI startup, Gilbert remarked, “I think it’s always the best and worst time to start something.”

While the company officially launched after ChatGPT had already begun reshaping public perception of AI, Zocks had been in development months earlier, initially working with models like BERT and early OpenAI technology. The arrival of ChatGPT, however, dramatically accelerated the company’s trajectory. “We got to a million of revenue very quickly,” Gilbert said. However, this rapid growth required an equally swift adaptation in strategy. Initially focused on capital efficiency, Zocks had to pivot towards faster deployment to seize the moment. “I wish we had done that sooner, to be blunt,” he admitted.

A key decision that helped Zocks maintain focus was its deliberate choice to concentrate on financial advisors rather than trying to build a general-purpose AI tool. “Even if you have a general-purpose technology, figure out who it’s most helpful for and stay very focused on that,” Gilbert advised.

The Philosophy Behind Zocks’ AI Approach

One of the methods that Zocks uses internally, originally popularized by Airbnb, is designing the “dream experience” for the user. Gilbert explains that instead of getting caught up in the complexities of the technology, they ask: what would be the ideal experience for a financial advisor?

“The dream experience for me is that I probably have someone join this meeting, and they know my business really well, they know the client really well, and they’re just writing everything down that’s there. They’re kind of compressing it into the things that really matter. I walk out of that meeting and they’re like, ‘Yep, that’s the information you need. I put it in your backend business systems as you need it, and I’ve already scheduled the three follow-ups that need to happen.’”

Gilbert acknowledges that this is a challenging scenario to achieve entirely through AI, but Zocks takes this ideal experience and implements as much of it as possible with technology. “The better product may not fully automate everything, but if it reduces multiple hours of work into minutes, that’s a significant win.”

This philosophy informs Zocks’ broader approach to AI-driven client intelligence. The platform is built to adapt to financial advisors’ workflows, ensuring accurate, structured, and actionable data across meetings, phone calls, emails, and CRM systems. Key features include:

• Advanced Speech-to-Text Processing: Ensuring the highest word accuracy rate, even in noisy environments.
• Speaker Diarization: Separating voices and accurately attributing notes to speakers in multi-speaker meetings.
• Financial-Specific Language Processing: Recognizing proper nouns, industry terms, and alphanumeric identifiers.
• Automated Task Management: Identifying and assigning action items without manual input.
• Hallucination-Free AI: Fact-based notes with a focus on compliance and accuracy.

Preparing for the Future

As AI competition intensifies, Gilbert believes startups must clearly articulate their value without relying on buzzwords. “You need to tell me what your company does and what value it has without ever using the phrase AI,” he said, arguing that understanding the core user problem is more important than emphasizing the technology itself.

With its new funding, the company plans to refine its AI agents, introduce new analytics tools, and expand its go-to-market strategy, with European expansion on the horizon. Gilbert remains optimistic about AI’s potential, particularly in the realm of reasoning models. He sees value in AI not as a decision-maker but as a tool for surfacing insights. “Almost always, all it’s doing is telling you where to start,” he said.