The TAMP landscape continues to evolve rapidly, with advisors seeking technology partners that can provide both flexibility and efficiency. While established players dominate market share, newer platforms are emerging to challenge the status quo with modern technology and advisor-centric approaches. Among these contenders, Amplify Platform stands out with its ideal combination of modern infrastructure and advisor-focused design.
In an interview with The Wealth Advisor’s Scott Martin, Vickie Lewin, Chief Growth Officer at Amplify, discussed how the platform blends the agility of a startup with the stability of an established firm, creating a potentially compelling option for RIAs seeking a comprehensive yet nimble technology partner.
Modern Architecture Enabling Rapid Innovation
Unlike legacy platforms built through acquisitions over decades, Amplify was developed from the ground up with modern technology. The result is a platform that can adapt quickly to advisor needs without the burden of inherited systems.
“One of the big advantages Amplify has is how fast we can deploy things and how easily we can integrate with other things,” Lewin says.
This home-grown technical foundation enables Amplify to move with significantly more agility than larger competitors. As Lewin describes it: “We’re like a little speedboat running around in the ocean, zipping all around, and we’re able to maneuver just so much more quickly than the bigger firms can.”
Advisors experience the benefits of modern architecture through rapid implementation of new features, seamless integrations with existing systems, and dramatically reduced technology friction in their daily operations. The platform’s contemporary design enables a level of responsiveness that legacy systems simply cannot match, giving advisors a competitive edge in serving clients and potentially growing their business.
Built by Advisors for Advisors
Amplify Platform’s origin story provides a fundamental advantage—it was created by advisors solving their own problems rather than technologists imagining what advisors might need. The platform emerged organically from advisory experience. In 2019, CEO Aaron Brodt developed Amplify for his own use rather than as a commercial product.
“Aaron built it for his firm. He built it for his advisors. He didn’t imagine that he was building something for other firms,” Lewin says. “Everything was built through that lens.”
The development approach manifests in practical ways across the platform, particularly in portfolio management capabilities and user experience—where the interface is intentionally designed to mirror the simplicity users expect from consumer technology.
“The system is built to be like an Apple where it doesn’t need a user’s manual or eight hours of training to learn how to use it. It’s very intuitive,” Lewin notes.
Its advisor-centric foundation gives Amplify a practical advantage in designing features that solve real problems practitioners face rather than theoretical issues conceived by technologists who might not have direct advisory experience.
Unified Experience Across Management Styles
A key differentiator for Amplify is its ability to provide a seamless experience for advisors regardless of whether they’re managing portfolios themselves or leveraging third-party managers.
Lewin highlights the platform’s unified approach as a particular strength. Unlike competitors with separate systems for different management styles, Amplify offers a single entry point where “you’re doing it all through the same experience.”
She contrasts Amplify’s integrated approach with those of competitors, which often operate disconnected systems. Many platforms that began with model marketplaces and later added advisor-directed options created “different experiences, different doors,” Lewin explains. “They don’t all coordinate and connect, and it does on our system.”
The integrated method particularly benefits advisors who employ hybrid management strategies, allowing them to oversee some assets directly while delegating others to specialized managers, all through a consistent interface and workflow.
Streamlined Account Opening Process
Account opening remains a significant friction point for many advisory firms. Amplify has focused on removing barriers by creating a comprehensive digital onboarding system that incorporates all necessary documentation in a single workflow.
Amplify prioritizes making account opening fast, seamless, and error-free. Lewin points out a key distinction in Amplify’s approach: While many platforms offer digital onboarding, they often cover only their own paperwork, leaving advisors to handle firm-specific documentation separately—creating inefficiency and potential for errors.
Amplify’s solution combines all requirements into a single experience, eliminating repetitive paperwork and multiple signing sessions. “We incorporate and customize not only the paperwork the custodian requires but also the paperwork that the RIA entity would require,” Lewin says. “We put that all into one package that goes out to the client one time, one experience.”
This streamlined process reduces administrative overhead and accelerates the transition from prospect to client, allowing advisors to begin adding value more quickly for new relationships.
Multi-Custodial Framework
Increasingly, advisory firms operate across multiple custodial platforms to meet diverse client needs. Amplify’s architecture supports custodial flexibility with connections to major industry players.
Multi-custodial capability represents a core strength for the platform. “Our major area of focus is the RIA. It is an RIA that perhaps is multi-custodial because that is one of the features of our platform that our clients are drawn to,” Lewin notes, adding that Amplify works with Schwab, Fidelity, Pershing, PAS, Axos, and Goldman Sachs. This breadth of custodial relationships ensures advisors can potentially work with virtually any client without being limited by platform constraints.
Amplify’s custodial framework allows firms to work with clients’ preferred custodians while maintaining consistent processes and operations across their entire business, simplifying compliance and reporting while providing versatility to reflect client preferences.
Growth Momentum and Recognition
Though newer to the TAMP landscape, Amplify has already gained industry recognition, winning the Think Advisor Luminary Award and being nominated for a Wealthy Award in the “All in One” platform category alongside industry giants.
“Little bitty Amplify with, at the time, 25 employees in the same category of a Wealthy nomination with companies that have thousands of employees,” Lewin says. “I was really proud of that.”
The platform continues to expand rapidly, with 20 new hires since Lewin joined in mid-2024. This growth reflects both market demand and the company’s ambitions.
Lewin describes Amplify Platform as occupying a unique position between startup and established player. “We’re a startup because we’re imagining and implementing procedures and processes and new capabilities and a marketing department and a marketing plan,” she notes. “But we’re not a startup because we are in beautiful offices in Scottsdale, Arizona, near the airport. We have $20 billion in assets under management and growing. We support about 15 enterprises, 2,000 advisors today.”
The combination of financial stability and innovation culture positions Amplify to continue gaining market share as advisors seek alternatives to legacy platforms.
Looking Forward
Amplify stands out in the TAMP landscape as a modern alternative built from an advisor’s perspective. Its technology foundation enables rapid development and deployment of new features, while its comprehensive approach integrates portfolio management, model marketplaces, and operational tools in a single interface.
“We will always be on the quest to be perfect, recognizing that is an impossible endeavor,” Lewin acknowledges while indicating the company’s commitment to continuous improvement.
For RIAs seeking technology partners, Amplify offers a rare combination that brings together the stability of an established platform with the agility and innovation typically associated with startups. As competition in the advisor technology space intensifies, platforms such as Amplify that prioritize advisor experience while embracing modern technology architecture are positioned to challenge the dominance of legacy systems.
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