Introduction
With the advent of smartphones, many industries have had to adapt their services to fit the mobile mold — including the financial industry. There are tons of apps that focus on everything from digital banking to budgeting to crypto trading. With so many to choose from, it can be difficult to get a full picture of one’s financial health.
Fierce aims to solve this problem by combining multiple financial services into one super app. Fierce’s app acts as a one-stop shop that allows users to check their bank accounts, trade stocks, handle mortgages, and more. We interviewed Fierce founder and CEO Robert Cornish to learn about how the company stands out in the fintech space.
Note: This interview was conducted over phone and email. It has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
In your own words, how would you describe your company?
Fierce aims to provide a one-stop shop for all financial needs by bringing together the best of fintech into one elegant, easy-to-use financial super app. With a customer-focused approach and a mission-driven team focused on empowering users to take charge of their finances with confidence, Fierce offers FDIC-insured checking accounts with industry-leading annual percentage yield (APY), a no-fee debit card, fractional-shares stock trading with passive yield, regulated crypto trading, wealth tracking, and 24/7 live customer support. This is just the beginning, as we plan to launch several additional innovative products later this year within the app, including a rewards credit card and access to insurance, personal loans, mortgages, and more.
Who is on your team and how did you come together?
The majority of the management team has worked together for more than 20 years, following each other from previous startups and large corporations. The fact that we work so well together and have complete confidence in one another allows us to move quickly and efficiently. Without this, there is no way we could have built and achieved so much in such a short period of time. It’s these strong relationships and the combined extensive experience that are key aspects of what differentiates us from others.
Who is your closest competitor, and how do you differentiate?
While we see our offering as unique and do not see a true direct competitor when we look at our longer-term vision, there are offerings that started as a single product and then have tried to convert legacy systems and interfaces to be a super app. Fierce was designed and built from the ground up to be a financial super app with the ability to quickly plug and play the best of fintech infrastructure into its seamless app. This allows us to differentiate both on our product set and also the ease of use. We also differentiate ourselves on our customer focus. Every product and design decision is based on a human-centered approach toward our customers. We follow this through with amazing 24/7 live customer support via chat, phone, and email to always be there for our customers.
What is your marketing strategy?
We look to leverage a multi-channel marketing strategy that includes paid, affiliate, referral, and organic. Our experience has shown that you need to continually test small amounts across all channels and leverage data to quickly move marketing dollars toward areas with the best results at any given time. We have been able to achieve a very low cost of acquiring customers by following this methodology.
If we talk again in 12 months, what milestones will you have achieved?
We will have seen incredible growth as additional products and features of financial super apps become available and their value is more widely known. Fierce will be recognized as the best financial super app in the U.S. and we will announce plans to launch in other countries.
What is the biggest lesson that you learned in your journey as an entrepreneur?
Throughout my multiple startups, and especially with Fierce, you realize that it is really all about having the right people and relationships — treat both with great respect.
As you think about the business five to 10 years down the road, what do you see exit opportunities looking like? Have you set any future goals for the company?
We see IPO and merger and acquisition exit opportunities for our business in the coming years as super apps experience massive growth and legacy businesses fear missing out. Having gone through these different options in the past, each comes with pros and cons. In the end, our company is focused on providing the best financial offerings for our customers and the greatest value for our investors, so we will use that to guide our decisions. Having said this, because of my past experience running technology for NYSE, it would be great to ring the bell for a Fierce IPO!
We look forward to seeing where Robert and his team take the company. Fierce is currently raising on Republic.
