Richard Hecker

Richie Hecker is a New York City–based entrepreneur, investor, and turnaround operator who describes himself as having spent roughly 25 years working at "the fusion of innovation and government." He earned a B.S. in Finance from Binghamton University (2006), where he was recognized with PwC honors and served as a cost-accounting teaching assistant. He began building companies early: in 2000 he founded ClickZen Worldwide, a multi-million-dollar interactive ad agency and email house, and in 2003 launched ZenFinancial, a lead-generation and call-center outsourcing firm for financial services (with offices in New York and New Delhi) that was sold in 2005.

Since then he has founded, invested in, and/or acquired more than a dozen companies. His best-known operational feat was leading the acquisition of Bebo — once the world's #3 social network — from AOL and returning it to profitability within six months. He has taken a company public and led acquisitions of distressed technology assets that once served more than 100 million users and carried combined market caps of roughly $1.5 billion. He also founded inSparq (a social-sharing widget and analytics platform for e-commerce, later associated with Adiant) and has held roles as Managing Director of Stockton Equity LLC.

Today Hecker runs Traction + Scale LLC, a holding company and consulting/corporate-finance shop that invests in and helps grow "transformative" companies through strategic marketing and finance transactions. He is active in New York's tech and policy ecosystem: he founded and produced NYC Entrepreneur Week (convening ~70 groups and influencers to build the local tech industry) and, as a "Partner of New York City," led production of the inaugural NYC Crypto Summit, held at Gracie Mansion on May 20, 2025. He has advised governments and Fortune 100 companies on innovation and has been cited as a technology advisor connected to Berkshire Hathaway.

Hecker is also a prolific commentator, writing op-eds and contributing to Observer, TechCrunch, and WSJ Accelerators, with coverage/bylines across the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fox News, HuffPost, New York Post, CoinDesk, and American Banker (he cites over 1.5 billion earned-media impressions).

• Invests as an angel / early-stage backer, with a self-described stage-agnostic appetite through his equity vehicles (Traction + Scale, Stockton Equity).
• Concentrates in areas matching his operating background: digital media, direct and viral marketing, e-commerce, fintech, and increasingly crypto/blockchain and supply chain.
• Favors companies where his hands-on skills apply — turnarounds, distressed or under-monetized assets, and growth-marketing challenges — reflecting his "company turnaround magician" self-description and the Bebo playbook.
• Blends investing with strategic marketing and corporate-finance execution; he tends to back companies he can also help scale operationally rather than passively write checks.
• Values founders plugged into (or buildable within) the New York tech, fintech, and crypto-policy ecosystem he actively convenes.