10 Must-Reads + Electrifying Wall Street, Weed Funds and More

An OZY original series examines the innovators moving markets across the globe.

In the financial world, great fortunes are built on a tiny edge, and the whims of the market can humble just about anyone. In the spirit of adventure — and yes, humility — we’re spotlighting innovators who are changing the way people interact with the financial sector. Whether you’re interested in real estate, launching an initial public offering, buying weed stocks or even owning your own bank, these folks are taking your money on a ride. Hop in.

Iseult “Izzy” Conlin, 32, is bringing a tech-friendly sensibility and fresh style to corporate bond trading.

She made her first play on the stock market in 2005 with an investment in 1-800-PetMeds, a direct-to-consumer pet prescription business. Then just 17, Conlin was impressed with the company’s savvy approach to the real-world problem of access to animal health care. Essentially, it was Uber for pet meds, pre-Uber. “I thought that was genius,” she says. By 2017, she had a five-time return on her investment.

Conlin credits her early market acumen to her “nerdy love of math” — plus her mother’s insistence on financial literacy. Being one step ahead of the pack has been a hallmark of her career. Conlin, 32, has spent the past decade on Wall Street advocating for deeper integration of tech to modernize the corporate bond market.

Any idiot can be a blue chip investor. But it takes audacity to double down on alcohol, tobacco and marijuana, as Dan Ahrens has.

Getting ahold of AdvisorShares’ Chief Operating Officer Dan Ahrens was a bitch. Not Beyoncé hard, but the dude is busy and for good reason. On April 16, just in time for 4/20, Ahrens had done what seemed like a pothead’s fever dream: He announced the public trading of AdvisorShares Pure Cannabis ETF with its totally genius ticker symbol: YOLO.

The YOLO ETF, or exchange-traded fund, is the first listed, actively managed American fund expressly focused on making your money grow via investing in cannabis equity securities. Which means it went through a full, regular approval process with the Securities and Exchange Commission and was preapproved by its custodian bank, the Bank of New York Mellon. Something that can’t exactly be said about its nearest competing fund, ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF, which must blindly follow an index.