Americans have been on edge this week as the stock market reacted to new tariffs from the Trump administration announced on April 2 and in effect Wednesday.
It’s made an “always challenging” environment for founders and investors of small and emerging businesses “harder,” Jenny Just, co-founder of financial firm Peak6 Investments, said at CNBC’s 2025 Changemakers summit Tuesday.
Just, who got her start as an options trader in Chicago, co-founded the trading, investing and fintech firm in 1997; she has a hedge fund, a range of investments and is one of America’s richest self-made women.
“Every comment out of the news changes the market one way or another, which really is whipsawing CEOs,” Just said when asked for her thoughts on the fundraising landscape in today’s uncertain economy. “The private markets will tend to follow and get really worried.”
In the four trading sessions following the announcement of new tariffs, the Dow lost more than 4,500 points, the S&P 500 sustained a 12% loss, and the Nasdaq Composite was down more than 13%,— losses not seen since the pandemic.
“I find it to be an unfortunate time, I’m sorry to say,” Just said. To emerging founders, she added, “save your money, and try and do it by yourself as long as you can.”
Just and her partner, Matt Hulsizer, launched Peak6 by raising $1.5 million in seed funding, “and we never raised again. We self-funded everything we did,” she said. She acknowledged that doing so is “highly unusual” and doesn’t work for every business.
“But it is an opportunity to be curious and think about how to do and solve problems differently,” Just said, with particular focus on the long-term.
Stocks rose Wednesday after President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause in some of the “reciprocal” tariffs, dropping new tariff rates to 10% for most countries and encouraging more trade negotiations.
