Sunny Ray sits down with Daryl Young, founder and CEO of Carmeck, a broker dealer platform that lets people send stocks as gifts as easily as an online gift card. Daryl traces the idea back fifteen years to building his wedding registry in San Francisco, where he wished he could register for stocks instead of linens and toaster ovens. He shares his path through accounting, a Mandarin minor at UCSB, CPA and CFP credentials, and years at large firms before going solo. The conversation moves through his views on the widening wealth gap, a surreal story about surviving a false incoming missile alert in Hawaii, and the grueling thirty month regulatory approval process required to launch Carmeck. Daryl explains the company name as a blend of karma and equity, describes using stock based wish lists and leaderboards to teach financial literacy to students, and offers a provocative theory that AI will eventually flatten investment returns for everyone. He closes with his five year vision of Carmeck as a wealth building tool used and loved by millions.
A wedding registry gone wrong sparked an idea to let people gift stocks instead of stuff.
What is Carmeck and what's the story behind it?
Carmeck is a broker dealer investing platform that lets people send stocks as gifts as easily as sending an online gift certificate. The idea hit me fifteen years ago in San Francisco while building my wedding registry and zapping china, linens, and toaster ovens. I thought, why can't I register for stocks instead. Back then I wanted to receive stocks as gifts. Now, married with a kid, I see myself as a giver of gifts, but the core concept stayed the same.
You survived an incoming missile alert in Hawaii. What's that about?
We were on vacation in Honolulu with our young son at a coffee shop when everyone's phones blew up with an incoming missile alert. There was eerie silence, not chaos, just people thinking if this is real we have ten minutes to live. It turned out to be a mistake, but I kept the screenshots. People, myself included, did not react the way I expected.
What was young Daryl like before finance ever crossed your mind?
I was about as average as you can be academically and athletically. My main activity was scouting, and I made it all the way to Eagle Scout, which I'm very proud of. My son is a scout now and I hope he reaches Eagle too. Honestly, aside from scouting, I really was just an average kid.
The regulators made you build most of it before they'd even watch a demo. What was that like?
Painful. It's like erecting a skyscraper, showing the commission your blueprints, and being told to just build it first and they'll inspect it later. I went through a thirty month approval process and had to get a one of a kind legal opinion from a top tier firm so FINRA and the SEC would approve Carmeck as an investing platform. The whole time I didn't know if I'd ever be allowed to operate.
You call it finte, not fintech. What's the difference and why does it matter?
It relates to how there's a shortage of financial literacy, which is only taught in about thirty states. We believe the best way to get people, especially young people, interested is with real money. So when we looked at the word fintech, we realized inserting an a turns it into finte, which we thought was cheeky and fun.
If AI really does flatten returns for everyone, what's left to compete on?
We're not quite there yet, but I hope people end up leading better lives because they'll have more time for what matters to them. Like autonomous vehicles, not everyone will take the AI driven route, some will still want to do it themselves. For those who do, you get a competitive return, no better or worse than your neighbor, and you get to go take your kid to soccer instead.
Five years out, what does winning look like for Carmeck?
Winning is millions of people using it, loving it, and thinking of it as a wealth transfer and wealth building tool for the next generation, along with the financial literacy that comes from having a seat at the table. Honestly, if I end up living an average life driving a used car but millions of people use and love Carmeck, I'm good with that.
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