About American Financial Instability

TLDR: I am looking to identify/source Series A startups and investors whom I may want to work for, who are interested in tackling this issue. If you have ideas please reach out.

I set out for Washington, D.C. in 2007 armed with a one-way JetBlue ticket, a couple freshly purchased business suits, and the idealistic belief that by shaping technology policy I could influence the direction of the tech sector in a way that I never could as a content marketer for MySpace.

But when I arrived in Washington, I faced a rude awakening. Not only did I quickly learn Congress had little interest in a startup-marketer who worked for MyFace (yes, this is how a Member of Congress referred to my then most-recent employer), but it was also years behind in focusing on the issues most important to scaling social media and ad-tech companies. And all the issues I thought I was an expert in — based on the laws I read in my spare-time, the tech-policy bloggers I religiously followed, and binders full of position papers about various policy topics — did not make me smarter than the average Hill staffer. Not even close.

Over the next 11 years, I built a career that allowed me to fully explore the different ways that laws and government perceptions would impact tech companies of all stripes. From repositioning legacy technology brands as fresh and innovative, to developing community-driven campaigns to kill harmful copyright legislation, to providing guidelines that would shape how U.S. and world leaders would prepare for an autonomous future, I was able to capture a wealth of experience while knowing I was making a difference.

But at the end of those 11 years, I saw the limits of driving and shaping policy. I saw how government intervention was a blunt force instrument that could never be tailored enough to individually meet a person’s nuanced needs. I grew tired of relying on the channels of government relations and media to relay a message in the hopes it would reach the right audience. I grew frustrated with ideating but not building. I wanted to take a product to market and build something that directly met users’ needs. I wanted to directly connect with individuals and understand what is preventing them from leading their best life.

And so, for the past 6 months, I have been exploring what I believe is the biggest challenge we face as a country in terms of helping more people feel secure in their lives and place in our country’s social fabric: improving individual financial stability.

According to a recent Gallup Survey, only 49% percent of Americans feel good about their current financial status, and 50% believe their finances are getting worse. Another survey showed 69% of workers admit to being stressed about their finances. Other reports suggest healthcare-related costs and loss of income are two of the biggest causes for individuals filing for bankruptcy. The CFPB found 43 million Americans have overdue medical debt on their credit reports.

It doesn’t have to be this way. While the tech sector is great at building — it’s hard to know who is building market-changing solutions to address the lack of individual financial security. A person can’t exactly go on to CB Insights or Crunchbase and look up “individual financial security” and get a list of 100 companies back.

Additionally, products that on their face don’t seem to be fixing these problems — actually are. A product that helps people schedule their doctors appointments quickly and reliably can drive down the cost of care simply by making it easier for people to take preventative health measures. An infrastructure solution that allows more small businesses and nonprofits to avail themselves of data insights can allow these companies to scale more rapidly than if they are relying upon hunches and best guesses. A product that allows community banks to update their technical capabilities can enable more people in economically disadvantaged regions to access capital that otherwise would be off-limits.

While mission-based has long been a buzz-word bouncing around the startup echo chambers, not everyone’s mission is the same. And that’s okay! The world has plenty of existing problems that need to be solved. Additionally, some missions, such as addressing U.S financial stability requires market innovation across several sectors. But just because they involve these sectors — doesn’t mean that everyone working within these industries is vested in solving U.S. financial stability.

Admittedly, some issues cannot be changed by new business models and new markets. Further, there are some issues I am just not that passionate about. This doesn’t make these issues any less valid — it just means that someone else is probably out there thinking about them.The four areas listed below are those which I am most personally excited about exploring further and identifying like minded founders and investors for.

Future of Work: this can be anything from gig work (platform/marketplace companies), to staffing platforms, to HR software, skills training, to portable benefits.

Healthcare: not only is there a split between biotech and healthtech, but within healthtech you have platforms, marketplaces, digital therapeutics, alternative therapeutics, and wearables. That’s only to name a few.

Emergency Expenses: while this can include insurance products, this also involves lost wages due to catastrophic events, financial products that enable people to save more easily, environmental monitoring products to allow people to evacuate with enough notice, to tech-enabled contractors that help people rebuild quickly and affordably.

Cost of Living: in addition to healthcare costs (which warrant their own bucket) — and other areas of deep interest to many (housing, city planning), there are many other necessary expenses that impede financial stability. These include food, elder care, childcare, retirement, illiteracy related to household finances.

(The full list can be found here)

Over the course of the next few weeks, I will dive deeper into each of these four areas and illustrate how I think changes to the market can improve the outlook for U.S. financial stability. My goal in sharing these thoughts here are two-fold:

(1) To increase my understanding of the market forces at play, and create a more robust cross-industry dialogue around ways the market can better address U.S. financial stability.

(2) To identify companies that I may want to work for. Do you know of a Series A or late-stage Seed with traction, addressing one or more of these issues? Have you heard of a platform or marketplace company whose product at scale has the ability to directly impact the financial outlook for more American workers? Is there an Investor who should be on my radar who is actively investing in these types of companies? Tips and suggestions are welcome.