Big Fish Little Fish

Problem Statement

We are simplifying the process of working towards financial goals for young early professionals so that people with limited resources and time can focus on financial goals without being overwhelmed.

Problem Background  

The customer is early professionals who oftentimes have limited financial resources and need to be very agile in their goals. Financial advice can also be varied by who you follow  and oftentimes the solutions proposed involve apps that track every dollar and create millions of sinking funds which can be overwhelming to start with. If there are too many financial goals like many other areas little can actually be accomplished. 

 With high inflation and the effects of the covid-19 pandemic the need to be focused on financial goals is super important. Also, with the advent of Tik Tok a large community of people has formed trying to build a financial community. 

Research Insights & User Pain Points

I watch a lot of Finance Tik Toks and Youtube videos and through watching the videos and reading/interacting with others I have noticed a few pain points. Also, due to the limited time of this project, I mainly focused on validating what I found in these videos by asking friends who are early professionals about their struggles with finances and life after college.

Many of us were struggling to figure out a way to figure out how to move out. They also kept mentioning how finances are really difficult and for the most part did not seem to use any specific form of budget or progress tracking towards goals. They mentioned how most of them are a little restrictive and can be very confusing. They also mentioned how they really do not have a ton of extra money to throw towards goals.

Solution Explanation

My solution focuses on creating a simple and engaging financial progress tracker with game-like elements. This addresses the pain points of my target market because many of them are overwhelmed and could really use a simple tracker that doesn’t try to make it confusing by adding skins or power ups and things. It also aims to be more interesting to use than an excel sheet or other finance apps to track your budget.  Keeping this in mind and based on my research and talks with friends, I decided to focus on the following features: 

1. A main portal styled as an “aquarium” that is where your fish are and grow as you add money towards your goals which grow your fish
2. A section to set and edit your big goal. You would also be able to reflect on your goal and put why you want to reach the goal. 
3. A similar section to set and edit your small goal. You would also have the same reflection 
4. An area to set optional buckets for smaller goals that aren’t as big of a priority. These could then be  switched out easily with your small goal if needed and would allow you to start with some leftover change in these buckets so that it doesn’t feel like you are starting from the beginning. This would operate similarly to a “round up” feature when adding to your first two goals so that change can go towards these smaller goals. This is designed to provide options for customers that might want sinking funds.
5. A section where you can set a budget and then input your transactions. This is a feature common on many finance apps that eventually we will need but I would like it to be more manual and “locks” your aquarium so that you have to intentionally look at it. A lot of similar apps tend to auto load transactions in and it can get messy with multiple cards and accounts attached which can make users overwhelmed and not use the product.

Future Steps

I am planning to continue to build a portfolio that showcases that I can think like a product manager. I do not think I will actually create this product because I have limited technology knowledge but I am considering other ways to show skills in products like e-commerce or a blog to include alongside my portfolio. I also plan to network within my current company to try to figure out how I can pivot into the Product Management side of our business.

Lastly, my goal is to be at the end of 2023 make the transition to product in my own company or switch to another company in EdTech or Entertainment.