Welcome to April, Financial Wellness month!
In a recent conversation with a #fintech #founder, we discussed the #financialwellness industry. I was asked what are the characteristics of a successful platform, so as a typical Sesame Street Graduate, "Today I bring you the Letter E!"
Education. One of the platform goals should be to educate the user. I encourage founders to throw away the jargon and test learnings by behavior change, not just knowledge.
Experience. Go back to the empathy lesson of design-thinking: how do you want the user to feel? Too often I see finwell platforms that are so professorial that users feel intimidated.
Empowered. Merriam-Webster's definition is so strong; there's no need to elaborate: 'having the knowledge, confidence, means or ability to do things or make decisions for oneself.'
Equality. A great Financial Wellness program also embraces Financial Inclusion as a basic human right. The pursuit of happiness means being able to afford happiness.
EBITDA. Ha! I shocked you with this one. Actually, it's one of my pet peeves. Too many people feel that if you are a purpose-driven organization, you're not allowed to also focus on profitability.