Revolutionizing Bond Markets with Jonathan Birnbaum, Founder of OpenYield

The Longest View with Dez Fleming

Desmond Fleming welcomes Jonathan Birnbaum, founder of OpenYield. On the first episode of The Longest View, Jonathan shares his journey from Morgan Stanley trading floors to building a modern bond marketplace. Drawing from his experience in fixed income trading and fintech venture investors backing, he discusses how OpenYield is democratizing access to bond markets through technology. The conversation covers the massive $8.3 trillion fixed income market, the challenges of bond market fragmentation, and how new York venture firms are supporting infrastructure innovation. Jonathan explains why bond investing offers compelling risk-adjusted returns in today's yield environment and how his platform serves retail brokerages, asset managers, and institutional clients seeking better liquidity and pricing transparency.

Key Takeaways:

• The fixed income market ($8.3T issuance) is 60x larger than equity markets but remains largely inaccessible to retail investors
• Three key catalysts enabled OpenYield: return of meaningful interest rates, improved market maker algorithms, and new fintech infrastructure
• Investment grade bonds offer equity-like returns (6-8%) with significantly lower risk due to capital structure seniority
• Bond markets remain fragmented and voice-driven, creating opportunities for electronic marketplace disruption
• Cold outreach and maximizing surface area remain critical for early-stage founder success

Jonathan's story illustrates how deep domain expertise combined with technological innovation can disrupt massive, traditional markets. OpenYield represents the evolution of fixed income trading from relationship-driven, voice-based systems to transparent, electronic marketplaces that benefit all participants through better pricing and accessibility.