Nugget of the week - Having a crystal clear value proposition with Chris from Chime

Bank On It

About this nugget:

This nugget was pulled from episode 169 from an interview with Chris Britt, co founder and CEO of Chime. This nugget is on having a crystal clear value proposition.

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No matter the stage of a company, nailing the value proposition is hard. Whether it's at startup or growth stage it's difficult, the only thing that evolves is the scope of the challenge.

Regardless, the challenge for founders falls under about three main points.

1. Does it resonate?
2. Can we deliver a best in class experience?
3. Does it attract customers to drive the right consumer habits?

These are very basic points, but nailing the nuances of them is where the real challenge is. Details are often missed and there’s a failure to predict future outcomes on one, two or three of these points, since companies early in life are focused on getting a relative-size customer base. This causes strategic holes and issues down the road, every short-term choice has unintended long-term consequences, but that is the cost of building something new. When there's no other choice, changing the value proposition or messaging down the road works well.

A simple problem to evolve towards. Simple, but not easy.

During our interview back in November 2018, Chris shared a moment when he realized consumers assumed Chime was only a rewards program. Which as we know it’s a bank. Yes, they have great rewards, but consumers thought that's all they had. This causes a problem because rewards seekers are not sticky customers and in order to invest in deeper relationships, Chime needed consumers to open payroll deposit accounts.

They realized this problem when they asked their customers the question. “Why don’t you move your checking account over to us”? The answer they received surprised them.

Chris shared in this clip how they responded.

What is a nugget of the week?:

The host John Siracusa has recorded over 280 episodes as the host of the Bank On It & Before the A fintech podcasts where he interviews founders building the future of fintech and the VCS/Angels who fund them.

With each interview there’s this wow moment when the person interviewed has shared something really special, unique or a reminder on how founders or investors should think. So, here we are delivering those moments to you in the form of a bite sized nugget.

About Chris Britt:

He is the co-founder & CEO of Chime. Before Chime, Chris was the Chief Product Officer and SVP, Corporate Development at Green Dot. Prior to that, Chris held roles as a senior product leader at Visa and as one of the first executives at ComScore.

About the host:

John, is the host of the ‘Bank On It’ podcast recorded onsite in Wall Street at OpenFin, and 'Before the A' podcast recorded onsite in Flat Iron at Barclays/Techstars Rise NYC. He’s a highly sought after fintech, VC and financial services industry enthusiast and connector. He’s in the center of the fintech ecosystem, keeping current with the ever-innovating industry. Stay in the fintech know by subscribing to ‘Bank On It’, ‘Before the A’