I’m headed West to go East.

Leaving Spokane, I’m flying to Seattle for a late connection, then catching the 11 p.m. red eye back home to Charleston—just in time to dive into a full day of meetings.

Looking out the window, the Cascades stretch beneath me, dusted with light smoke and wrapped in cloud layers. It’s a view worth pausing for.

The past two days in Idaho and Washington have been filled with conversations with fast-growing advisory firms. These firms are working through complexity, seeking simplicity, and laying foundations that will allow them to truly process and scale their success.

It’s been a tremendous month. Watching so many things come to life has been energizing, and it’s a reminder that none of this happens in one giant leap. It’s built out of moments—moments that stack, compound, and eventually transform into momentum.

This week, I’m reflecting on the idea of what really gives us momentum.

Here’s this week’s Rising Tide.

1. Momentum Isn’t Magic. It’s Moments.

2. Next Mile: Inside the Growth Engines of America's Top RIAs 🎧

3. Milemarker Lands 4 ThinkAdvisor Luminary Nominations

4. The Can’t Miss Revenue Optimization Workshop

5. Release Notes: Milemarker’s Build Your Own Adventure Release

6. Wealth Management’s Data Workshop: From Chaos to Clarity

7. Milemarker On the Road ✈️

Momentum Isn’t Magic. It’s Moments.

Every start begins with a cold start.

I grew up on the northern edge of the Great Plains. Winters in North Dakota weren’t just cold—they were brutal. The kind of cold where you could throw a pot of boiling water into the January air and watch it crystallize before it hit the ground. Forty below, wind cutting through you, and a daily question hanging over your head: will the car start today?

You never really knew. Engines froze solid. Fuel lines froze too—choking out the very thing that was supposed to spark life. That’s why people plugged in block heaters, hoping to keep engines just warm enough to have a fighting chance. Sometimes you’d turn the key and pray the engine would turn over, because once it did, you had something priceless: momentum.

That’s what building anything feels like. Starting a company. Building wealth. Launching a new project. The first spark takes faith. The first turn of the engine takes persistence. And once it moves, it’s easier to keep it moving—but never effortless.

Here’s what I realized recently: inside the word momentum is another word—moment.

That isn’t just coincidence. In Latin, momentum meant both “movement” and “a brief instant.” A moment of weight that tips the balance. And in Greek, the word was kinesis—motion, change, transformation. It’s where we get “kinetic energy.” Momentum isn’t just movement. It’s energy stored and released. It’s the frozen fuel line finally opening, the engine firing, the car rolling out into the road.

Momentum isn’t one giant leap. It’s stitched together from moments—the late nights, the tiny wins, the setbacks that force you to learn, the conversations that change your path.

If you ignore the moments, you miss the story.

And it’s not just business. Life is a series of these moments too—kids leaving for university, weddings, funerals, the chapters that mark time passing. They matter. They deserve to be acknowledged.

As leaders, as builders, as people serving others, our job is to recognize those moments. To call them out. To honor them. Because when moments compound, they don’t just create motion—they create momentum.

So here’s to the moments you’ll make today. Stack enough of them, and you won’t just move forward—you’ll move with kinetic energy. You’ll change lives.

Happy Saturday. Go make some great moments.

Rising Tide is written by Jud Mackrill. Have thoughts on this week's edition? Hit reply—I read every response.

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On the Pod: Inside the Growth Engines of America's Top RIAs

Episode 111: On this week’s episode, Kyle Van Pelt sits down with Ian Wenik, Editor at Citywire and one of the sharpest reporters covering the RIA space.

While many firms rely on market performance to maintain their numbers, Ian sheds light on what truly differentiates the fastest-growing RIAs. From niche strategies and referral networks to the big M&A moves reshaping the industry, Ian shares insights from Citywire's 50 Growers Across America and why organic growth is the real differentiator. He also unpacks the pressures of private equity ownership, the challenges of succession, and what the endgame looks like for mega firms.

(00:00) - Intro

(01:46) - Ian's money moment

(04:01) - What sets the fastest-growing RIAs apart

(07:55) - The future of inorganic growth and M&A trends

(10:45) - The challenges of the IPO market for large RIAs

(17:15) - Why Ian compares the industry to a fancy beach house

(22:06) - Innovative growth programs and strategies

(24:19) - Challenges for America's fastest-growing RIAs

(25:47) - Ian's thoughts about trends and the  future of the industry

(31:17) - Ian's Milemarker Minute

⚡️Bookmarks

Milemarker Lands 4 ThinkAdvisor Luminary Nominations

This past week, ThinkAdvisor revealed their awards nominees—and we’re honored to be recognized in four categories:

• Industry Disruptor of the Year

• CTO of the Year – Kailash Duraiswami

• Thought Leader of the Year – Kyle Van Pelt

• CEO of the Year – Jud Mackrill

We’re proud to see our team’s work acknowledged on this stage. These nominations are a testament to the innovation, leadership, and impact we’re building together.

Congratulations as well to all of the other nominees—we’re excited to celebrate with many of you in New York this December at the awards ceremony.

Revenue Optimization Workshop

RIAs know fee billing is stressful. Calculating and collecting is hard enough, but documenting, analyzing, and aligning those fees with firm goals adds another layer of complexity.

Join us on Tuesday, September 30th at 11:30 ET for this powerful conversation on how to untangle this complexity and optimize your revenue. 

In this webinar, you’ll discover how to:

• Take control of your most critical revenue metrics

• Eliminate inefficiencies and data silos

• Align your revenue operations with growth goals

You’ll hear from:

• Lacey Shrum, Founder & CEO of Smart Kx

• Jud Mackrill, Co-Founder of Milemarker

• Jessica Perez, VP of Growth at Milemarker

Don’t let preventable inefficiencies hold back your revenue—reserve your spot today and take the first step toward more confident, growth-aligned revenue operations. (Can’t make it live? Respond to this email and I will make sure you get the recording)

Milemarker’s Build Your Own Adventure Release Notes

We just rolled out our latest Milemarker update—“Build Your Own Adventure.” It gives you more control and flexibility over your workflows, letting you customize your path through the platform like never before. Think smarter decision-trees, tailored logic, and fine-tuned configuration to match how you work.

Stay tuned—this one is a game-changer.

Read the release notes here:

Wealth Management’s Data Workshop: From Chaos to Clarity

Drowning in data but struggling to make it work for you?

Let’s fix that—together.

🗓️ Tuesday, November 11 | 1:00–4:30 PM MST
📍 Candy Factory | Denver, CO
💵 $99 per seat

Save 100% by using the code “Milemarker” at checkout. 

Join Milemarker’s CTO and Lead Data Scientist for a half-day, hands-on workshop built for RIAs and broker-dealers who are ready to cut through the noise, prepare for AI, and scale with confidence.

You’ll discover how to:

• Unlock your warehouse + data lake so your team can trust and use firm-wide data.

• Simplify integrations and streamline connections across your tech stack

• Apply AI tools like OCR and natural language to your existing systems

• Deliver insights to advisors, execs, and compliance—without bottlenecks

If you’re ready to turn data chaos into clarity and build a scalable, high-performing firm…

Reserve your seat now

Milemarker on the Road
Catch my team on the road at the following events or cities:

1. October 1-2 - Charleston, SC

2. October 3-8 - Salt Lake City, UT

3. October 28-29 - Boston, MA

4. October 30-Nov 1 - Lincoln, NE

5. November 2-7 - Denver, CO

6. November 13 - Baltimore, MD

If you’re in any of those cities and would like to arrange a meeting time, please reply to this email, and we’ll schedule something on the calendar.

Jud Mackrill