OUR STORY
Solid State was born out of shared values, shared success, and a shared vision between its founders.
We believe the most successful RIA model is one built on collaboration—not just the expertise of the people who operate the RIA and BD side of the business, but the direct input and partnership of the independent advisors it serves.
Many firms have one of those two elements. Very few have real alignment of both, with the core focus always remaining on doing right by the client.
Our founders became close friends through the industry, and the idea that would become Solid State was born out of a shared vision of what a firm built the right way could actually look like.
The conversation that built Solid State
Different experiences and vantage points. A shared belief in doing better.
Early conversations turn into clarity around what a firm built the right way could be.
A commitment to building it together.
No shortcuts.
No compromises.
Built from shared conviction to serve independent advisors for the long term.
Alignment on values, the impact they want to make, and their purpose becomes the foundation.
OUR FOUNDERS
The people behind Solid State
Soliman Popal
CO-FOUNDER, CEO
Soliman’s path to Solid State started long before he entered financial services. Growing up around his father’s small appliance business, he learned a lesson that has shaped every business decision since: people want to do business with the people they want to do business with. Not flash, not gimmicks — just doing right by people, because they’re people first and clients second.
That philosophy carried him through a career spent on the institutional side of independent advice, where he spent over a decade building and overseeing an OSJ platform supporting more than 300 independent advisors and nearly $35 billion in assets under management. In that role, he saw firsthand what advisors need to thrive — and just as often, what gets in their way.
Solid State exists because of that experience. Soliman co-founded the firm on the belief that advisors deserve a partner that combines real operating discipline with a genuine understanding of what it’s like to run a practice — not a firm built from only one side of the table. As Co-Founder and CEO, he leads with the same principle his father taught him: be the type of person people want to do business with. That’s the standard Solid State holds itself to with every advisor it serves.
Sam Sharples
CO-FOUNDER
Sam's path into financial services started with a question he couldn't answer. His sister had just started a small business and came to him with questions about retirement accounts. He was in engineering school at the time and the conversation changed his direction entirely. He switched to business finance, got licensed his senior year, and went to work.
As a 24-year-old new graduate, Sam had a lot to learn about financial planning. Building a practice started with a single honest sentence: I don't know, but I'll find out. Twelve years later he knows considerably more, but the ethos hasn't changed. He's still an advisor first, with clients of his own.
Along the way he noticed how much of his day went to things that had nothing to do with clients. Fighting with technology. Training staff on inefficient systems. Working around tools that should have been working for him. Which raised a question: if he could build the platform himself, what would it look like? That question led to a conversation with Soliman, and their shared vision for Solid State.
Technology, operations, and service — the things every advisor needs to run a business — have to work the right way, every time. That's the platform Sam set out to build as Co-Founder, and the one advisors can build their own practice on.
WHY SOLID STATE
Two kinds of expertise, one firm.
01
Operator-led Expertise
Deep experience across compliance, custody, infrastructure, economics, and the systems required to run and scale an independent advisory platform.
02
Advisor-led Expertise
Firsthand understanding of what it takes to build a practice, serve clients, make day-to-day decisions, and protect an advisor’s independence.
BUILT FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE DESK
Our leadership combines deep platform operating expertise with firsthand advisory experience, so decisions around economics, technology, service, and culture are grounded in both perspectives.
OUR FOUNDATION
The principles that guide every decision we make
To be the most valuable strategic partner to independent advisors—empowering them to grow faster, operate more efficiently, and build enduring enterprise value without compromising their independence.
MISSION
We earn that partnership through disciplined servant leadership, proactive and high-conviction guidance, and a platform intentionally built to remove friction—so advisors can focus on what matters most: their clients, their growth, and their independence.
VALUES
VISION
We are stewards of the advisors and clients they serve. We act with integrity, think long-term, and hold ourselves accountable to the outcomes we help create. We partner with professionals who take ownership of their craft and honor the trust placed in them by their clients.
Built with advisors.
Calibrated by them.
Permanent and rotating advisor members who help calibrate where the firm goes next.
The collaboration between platform operators and advisor-members isn’t lip service—it’s a standing commitment.
The Advisor Council, made up of a mix of permanent and rotating members, meets on a regular basis to raise what advisors are seeing in their own businesses, shape how the firm can better support them, and help calibrate where Solid State is headed—so the platform stays built for the advisors and clients it exists to serve.
Council
Council