About PEAK6 – Our Origin Story and Our Founders

Our Origin Story

In the early nineties, Jenny Just and Matt Hulsizer worked for a well-known trading firm in Chicago, O’Connor and Associates. In their mid-twenties, they were both selected to work on an over-the-counter equity derivative business for a pivotal Swiss Bank and O’Connor partnership. They were fortunate enough to work alongside the legendary Clay Struve, one of the best risk managers in the world, where they learned the invaluable lessons that shaped their savvy outlooks to this day.Eventually, O’Connor and Associates moved the business to the East Coast. Chicagoans through and through, Jenny and Matt were determined to stay. They pitched the executive team on opening a new line of business, which, of course, would be based in Chicago. They received a resounding no. Jenny and Matt looked at each other and uttered the phrase that would define their trajectory into entrepreneurship, “There’s a better way.” They left O'Connor and Associates soon after.

The Shared Vision

Early on, the duos' ideas percolated on what they were going to do. Fear didn’t factor into their decision. They weren’t surrounded by the ubiquitous stories of failure everyone sees today.PEAK6 started as a proprietary equity options trading firm — and still operates that way 25+ years later. Their original vision didn’t include the powerhouse of a holding company PEAK6 has become. Jenny and Matt built a team. Money made from the trading business fueled PEAK6’s other ventures.From a chicken-cleaning business to a ferris wheel to an oil field, some of Jenny and Matt's ventures didn't come to fruition, but they learned from each decision. Concurrently, the markets started to change. PEAK6 built a hedge fund and a retail broker-dealer, OptionsHouse.

The Defining Moment

The pivotal point came in the form of a phone call from the CEO of Penson Financial Services, the custodian and clearing firm for OptionsHouse. Penson was operating at a significant loss and was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. FINRA and the SEC were pushing for a sale and tens of millions of dollars were needed in the business within two weeks. The fate of OptionsHouse rested with Penson. Recognizing the opportunity before them, Jenny and Matt acquired what became Apex Fintech Solutions from Penson and saved OptionsHouse in the process.The only goal: Anything that didn’t serve OptionsHouse had to go. Redundant employees were let go, as well as two-thirds of Penson's customers. At the same time, new technology was being developed: account-opening technology that would better serve PEAK6 and our OptionsHouse customers. This made us the only company with new technology that wasn't outdated and over 30 years old. Disruptive brokerage firms like Robinhood, Wealthfront, and Betterment soon signed on with PEAK6.After that, PEAK6's identity changed.We became the technology company that enabled disruptors to disrupt.We follow opportunities, not the status quo.

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We're not defined by one industry or market.

Jenny Just
Co-Founder & Managing Partner, PEAK6 Investments

Meet Our Transformative Founders

For more than 25 years, Co-Founders Jenny Just and Matt Hulsizer have been transforming outdated sectors, industries, ideas, and modalities into spaces filled with energy and opportunity for innovation.

Jenny and Matt have taken the fiercely competitive manual trading pits at the Chicago Board of Trade and turned them into collaborative digital spaces. Together, the PEAK6 team builds industry-leading companies like PEAK6 Capital Management, esports team Evil Geniuses, and Apex Fintech Solutions. While ideas and innovation come from every level of the company, it’s our leaders, Jenny and Matt, that hold the space for ideas to grow and thrive.

Jenny Just

Co-Founder & Managing Partner, PEAK6 Investments

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.

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, Team Focus Insurance Group, We Insure, 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 with her daughter Juliette, 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 including the Women’s Trading Experience and Women’s Technology Experience. She currently serves on the Women and Public Policy Board at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Jenny’s remarkable success has earned her a number of accolades, including being named to Forbes’ list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women, Forbes 50 over 50 and Worth’s Groundbreaking Women. She was also the recipient of the Women’s Poker Association’s Industry Innovation Recognition Award and received a Tony Award for her involvement in Memphis the Musical.

Matt Hulsizer

Co-Founder & Managing Partner, PEAK6 Investments

Matthew Hulsizer is co-founder and managing partner of PEAK6 Investments, a Chicago-based financial services and technology firm. He started PEAK6 in 1997 as a proprietary options trading firm — PEAK6 Capital Management. Since then, Hulsizer and his co-founder have turned PEAK6 into a multi-billion-dollar firm with a diversified portfolio of businesses. Today, PEAK6’s core businesses include PEAK6 Capital Management, PEAK6 Strategic Capital, Apex Fintech Solutions, Team Focus Insurance Group, We Insure, Evil Geniuses, Zogo, and Poker Power.

Hulsizer has a knack for discovering underfunded and undervalued opportunities with potential to transform the future. While sports are his passion, spotting and coaching up-and-coming talent is his calling. Through his investment prowess and mentorship, he has helped budding investors and founders build impressive businesses from fruition to completion. Hulsizer and his co-founder have created, turned around, or invested in more than 200 companies — from options trading and clearing firms to professional sports teams and consumer products — over the past two decades. Beyond financials, Hulsizer shares a Tony award for co-producing the hit musical “Memphis” and is the co-chair of the women’s soccer team in Monaco.

What we do best is change.

Matt Hulsizer
Co-Founder & Managing Partner, PEAK6 Investments

Locations

Headquartered in the Chicago Board of Trade, PEAK6 has offices and collaborators all around the world. Our roots are in trading, but our options-thinking approach allows everyone a seat at the table when it comes to PEAK6’s success. At our core, we’re innovators, investors, collaborators, and amplifiers of progressive technology solutions.

Work With Us

Opportunity means following a spark of an idea, grinding through nailing the details, throwing the creative spaghetti at the wall to find out what sticks. Opportunities are abundant at PEAK6. Are you ready to find yours?

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About PEAK6 – Our Origin Story and Our Founders - PEAK6 (2024)

Meet Our Transformative Founders

Locations

Work With Us