Connexus Capital

By Paul T. Williams, Jr., Partner

The Situation

Founded in 2017 by William T. Whitaker and Karan Gill, Connexus Capital is a promising enterprise services consultancy & financial technology (“FinTech”) company that helps businesses eliminate cost, mitigate risk, and optimize processes at scale.

Bold. Creative. Disruptive. Their detailed business plan gave me confidence in their ability to deliver transformative technology solutions to the banking and financial services industry. It involved blockchain, but did so in the right way. I ‘got it’.

Like any startup, and certainly one in FinTech, they needed legal guidance. But they also needed support in growing their network of investors, key industry influencers and clients.

Our Game-Plan

My goal was to match a business use case from my own experience in the financial services industry with personal contacts from my network.

While President and CEO of the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, I was first-hand witness to the firestorm unleashed when the SEC adopted dramatic changes to Rule 15c2, requiring new levels of transparency and disclosure in municipal bonds. I felt Connexus’ proprietary technology solutions could not only address these objectives for municipal bond issuers, but solve them. Based on my experience, however, government procurement regulations would prohibit speedy engagement or implementation.

So, we focused on private sector applications. While Vice Chair of a boutique investment bank on Wall Street, I managed to secure a prized allocation of shares in Blackstone’s initial IPO. My research on that deal opened the door for me to the world of private finance. Through a personal relationship, I was able to set up a meeting with a key executive in a global top five asset management/private equity firm for Connexus.

Our Services

Our contact at the asset management firm was intrigued by the Connexus team, and in particular their proprietary platform. In our first meeting, I identified and helped facilitate an ever-deeper conversation about one of the most opaque areas of finance that is desperately in need of a solution, one that Connexus could provide. After several additional meetings over the course of several months, Connexus was on the verge of inking its first contract with a Fortune 100 company.

My partners and I rolled up our sleeves to negotiate and draft a comprehensive technology services agreement for Connexus, detailing out the scope of work, timelines, and obligations of all parties, including licensing rights to algorithms and other proprietary material, getting it all done in record time.

Of course, there was a happy ending to this story. The Connexus team delivered its new product to a Fortune 100 financial institution on time and on budget, delivering a technology solution that revolutionized a key internal business process.

It all started because, at BHW, we think and work on our clients’ behalf — making our clients business, our business.

Connexus Capital

By Paul T. Williams, Jr., Partner

The Situation

Founded in 2017 by William T. Whitaker and Karan Gill, Connexus Capital is a promising enterprise services consultancy & financial technology (“FinTech”) company that helps businesses eliminate cost, mitigate risk, and optimize processes at scale.

Bold. Creative. Disruptive. Their detailed business plan gave me confidence in their ability to deliver transformative technology solutions to the banking and financial services industry. It involved blockchain, but did so in the right way. I ‘got it’.

Like any startup, and certainly one in FinTech, they needed legal guidance. But they also needed support in growing their network of investors, key industry influencers and clients.

Our Game-Plan

My goal was to match a business use case from my own experience in the financial services industry with personal contacts from my network.

While President and CEO of the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, I was first-hand witness to the firestorm unleashed when the SEC adopted dramatic changes to Rule 15c2, requiring new levels of transparency and disclosure in municipal bonds. I felt Connexus’ proprietary technology solutions could not only address these objectives for municipal bond issuers, but solve them. Based on my experience, however, government procurement regulations would prohibit speedy engagement or implementation.

So, we focused on private sector applications. While Vice Chair of a boutique investment bank on Wall Street, I managed to secure a prized allocation of shares in Blackstone’s initial IPO. My research on that deal opened the door for me to the world of private finance. Through a personal relationship, I was able to set up a meeting with a key executive in a global top five asset management/private equity firm for Connexus.

Our Services

Our contact at the asset management firm was intrigued by the Connexus team, and in particular their proprietary platform. In our first meeting, I identified and helped facilitate an ever-deeper conversation about one of the most opaque areas of finance that is desperately in need of a solution, one that Connexus could provide. After several additional meetings over the course of several months, Connexus was on the verge of inking its first contract with a Fortune 100 company.

My partners and I rolled up our sleeves to negotiate and draft a comprehensive technology services agreement for Connexus, detailing out the scope of work, timelines, and obligations of all parties, including licensing rights to algorithms and other proprietary material, getting it all done in record time.

Of course, there was a happy ending to this story. The Connexus team delivered its new product to a Fortune 100 financial institution on time and on budget, delivering a technology solution that revolutionized a key internal business process.

It all started because, at BHW, we think and work on our clients’ behalf — making our clients business, our business.