123: Devon Drew, From Sales Exec at a Trillion Dollar Asset Manager to Founder of Tech-Enabled Sales Platform AssetLink on Why Fund Distribution Needs Disruption

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Billion Dollar Backstory

Stacy Havener

132 episodes

3 days ago

Host Stacy Havener brings you the storytelling tips, sales strategies, behavioral secrets, and inspirational stories that help YOU turn your words into dollars. Learn from sales and marketing experts. Meet finance and investment leaders, founders and fund managers who have made it, and the ones on the rise. Because there are people behind the portfolios. Their stories matter. So does yours. Presented by: Ultimus Fund Solutions // www.ultimusfundsolutions.com GemCap // www.geminicapital.ie @stacyhavener // www.billiondollarbackstory.com

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123: Devon Drew, From Sales Exec at a Trillion Dollar Asset Manager to Founder of Tech-Enabled Sales Platform AssetLink on Why Fund Distribution Needs Disruption

Billion Dollar Backstory

54 minutes

2 months ago

123: Devon Drew, From Sales Exec at a Trillion Dollar Asset Manager to Founder of Tech-Enabled Sales Platform AssetLink on Why Fund Distribution Needs Disruption

You know those Wall Street movies where young, hungry salespeople make 500 dials a day?

That was real life for Devon Drew.

He built his career in distribution at some of the biggest asset managers in the world—including Vanguard—before walking away from it all to launch AssetLink, a tech platform designed to disrupt how fund distribution gets done.

Because Devon realized something: the model wasn’t just archaic, it was broken.

Now, he’s putting powerful tools in the hands of fund managers who’ve been overlooked for too long and giving wholesalers a way to work smarter, not harder.

In this episode, Stacy and Devon discuss:

What it’s really like to go from Wall Street to founder life
Why the old-school “spray and pray” sales model needs to go
How AssetLink is making sales teams more efficient (and more human)
What Silicon Valley taught Devon about innovation (and what Wall Street can learn from it)
His experience with Google’s accelerator program and what it means to build “tomorrow, today”

More About Devon:

Devon Drew is the Founder & CEO of AssetLink, an AI-powered platform modernizing fund distribution.

With 18+ years in asset management and over $30B raised, his career spans major players like:

Merrill Lynch & J.P. Morgan Chase (Financial Advisor)
Fred Alger & American Century (VP, Wealth Management Sales)
Vanguard ($10T AUM, Sr. Exec in Broker/Dealer Sales)

In 2021, Devon founded DFD Partners, the early version of what would become AssetLink, a tool built to help under-resourced managers compete and win in distribution.

Drew has been recognized for his innovative work, receiving several accolades, including:

• Top 25 Founders of 2025 by Founders Square

• 2025 AWD Pioneer Award

• Top 10 to Watch in 2024 by wealthmanagement.com

• Finalist for the Wealthies Award in 2023, 2024 & 2025

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Ops shouldn’t be.
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