2025 Finalists for Best New Tech: Impruve Coins "AI Steward" Model
2025 Finalists for Best New Tech: Impruve Coins "AI Steward" Model
At XYPN Live 2025, Impruve earned a spot among the best in wealth tech, competing in the annual AdviceTech Competition, a live pitch competition judged by some of the sharpest minds in the industry, including XYPN Executive Chairman Michael Kitces, Craig Iskowitz of Ezra Group, and Senior Technology Editor of WealthManagement.com Davis Janowski. To even make the stage, Impruve had to stand out from more than two dozen submissions evaluated for their potential to help advisors serve clients, run more efficient practices, or grow their reach.
The talk itself opened with a striking challenge: per MIT research, 95% of generative AI pilots are currently failing. Rather than dismissing the stat, CEO Mike Shannon used it to reframe the conversation, pointing out that the firms beating those odds aren't waiting for vendors to hand them ready-made solutions. They're showing up with their own systems, constraints, and goals and asking what's possible.
Shannon's core argument: the traditional choice between SaaS software vendors and expensive strategy consultants is a false one. AI stewardship is the middle ground, malleable core technology paired with boutique consulting that goes deep rather than wide.
He drove the point home with a sharp analogy to the early electrical era. The lightbulb was the first killer app, dazzling, then commoditized. AI notetakers are today's equivalent. The real opportunity isn't the lightbulb; it's wiring the whole house.
Impruve didn't show up to XYPN as just another vendor in the AI feature arms race. They showed up with a new category and made a compelling case for why the RIA space needs it.
