Founder-led. Desk-trained. Independent.
Options and risk expertise for investors who need the real thing. Not a product. Not a pitch. Just the work.
Julian Lippa
Founder
12 years on exotic options desks at a tier-one investment bank. Derivative pricing and lifecycle risk management, structured products, multi-asset derivatives, systematic strategies, portfolio construction, tail hedging. I've sat on the other side of every structure your bank is pitching you right now.
Before the desk, I did a BBA/BMath double degree (Wilfrid Laurier and University of Waterloo), then an MMath in Computational Mathematics at Waterloo. The math background is why I build the pricing models and scenario engines myself, not just use someone else's.
I started Verio Labs because the people who actually need this kind of work, family offices, advisors, anyone with real capital on the line, can't easily get it. Banks bundle it with products they need to sell. Independent advisors know allocation but not derivatives. So the expertise stays locked inside trading floors.
Now I pair that desk experience with modern tooling. The work that used to take a traditional full-time team months, we can deliver in weeks. Same standard though: does it work when it matters?
I also publish educational tools and practitioner guides. I think giving away the thinking is the best way to show you can think.
There's a gap in how investors access derivatives expertise.
Your prime broker handles execution. Your RIA handles allocation and planning. But when it comes to evaluating a trade structure, stress-testing a hedge, or telling you whether that structured note from your bank is actually worth it? Nobody in the room does that for you. Banks do it for their hedge fund clients. Not for you.
That's the work I do. Evaluate structures before capital is committed. Run the scenarios. Give you a second opinion from someone who understands how the pricing works because I used to set it.
Completely independent. Aligned with your interests because I don't have any other interests to align with.
What we believe
Principles that guide the work.
Convexity is a budget, not a vibe
Protection costs money. The question is how much, when, and under what rules. If your hedge program doesn't have a budget and a monetization plan, it's a hope, not a strategy.
If it can't be monitored, it's not a program
A strategy without a monitoring cadence is a one-time trade. Drift happens. Markets move. The program needs to know when it's off-track and what to do about it.
Complexity has to earn its place
A three-leg structure that saves 10bps over a simple put isn't worth the operational risk. We default to the simplest approach that solves the problem, and only add complexity when the numbers justify it.
The backtest is a diagnostic, not a promise
Historical analysis tells you how a strategy would have behaved. It doesn't tell you how it will behave. We use backtests to stress-test assumptions, not to sell confidence.
No financial products to sell. No bank inventory to push. No commission structures.
Verio Labs is fully independent. We don't sell financial products, manage assets, or execute trades. Our revenue comes from consulting engagements, period.
We don't have referral arrangements with brokers or data vendors. If we recommend a tool or service, it's because we think it's the right fit, not because we're compensated for the referral.
This independence is intentional. Our only incentive is to be right, to be efficient, and to add value.