Originally posted on Apple Podcasts
Jenny Just is a visionary powerhouse and one of the few self-made female billionaires in the United States. From the days of cutting her teeth on the trading floor in Chicago to now running a fintech empire, she has started and/or turned around more than fifteen companies. She has also made hundreds of private investments, including in such companies as Webull, Stash, QuantumScape, and Thrasio.
Jenny co-founded PEAK6 in 1997 with $1.5M in seed capital as a proprietary options trading firm and since then has grown it into a multibillion-dollar financial services and technology giant housing the next generation of products & service brands including PEAK6 Capital Management, PEAK6 Strategic Capital, Apex Fintech Solutions, Apex Crypto, PEAK6 InsurTech, Evil Geniuses, and Zogo.
With a true knack for unearthing talent and opportunities, Jenny looks for underfunded and underappreciated sectors to transform into high-growth businesses. Her passion specifically lies in finding opportunities for women to succeed at every table — from the classroom, to the conference room, to the poker room, to the boardroom.
This passion led her to launch Poker Power in 2020, a woman-led company that teaches poker to all who identify as female, and by extension, teaches women strategic thinking, capital allocation, and decision-making skills. Additionally, Jenny has created programs to help women advance their careers in trading, fintech, and technology. She founded the Women’s Trading Experience and Women’s Technology Experience programs in order to create a path for more women in fintech.
Finally, Jenny created Fintech In Action (FIA), a coalition of action-oriented corporations to accelerate progress, innovation, and opportunity in fintech and finance for Black students and professionals. FIA seeks to tangibly increase the pipeline of Black professionals for careers in fintech and finance and affect long-term change through equitable hiring, promotion, and talent retention.
