MEET CRISSI COLE
FOUNDER OF
PENNY FINANCE
www.penny-finance.com
THE INTERVIEW
Written by Boston Women’s Market
BWM: What is your go-to Podcast or book of the moment?
Crissi Cole: Contagious by Jonah Berger; recommend for all business owners as it dives into the psychology behind why people buy things, and how ideas are adopted. A good reminder that just because we think our way of approaching and solving a problem in the world makes sense, that won’t always work, there is so much else at play.
BWM: Can you tell us a bit about what led you to the launch of Penny Finance? What was your aHa moment?
Crissi: When one of my colleagues at work was crying in a conference room because she didn’t know how to file her taxes (even though she was the most badass, whip-smart young woman) I knew I needed to build a platform to demystify finance and investing specifically for women. (Reminder – we worked at Goldman Sachs, the mecca of finance, surrounded by arguably the best financial resources– and I still spent so much of my 10 years there teaching my women co-workers and friends how to invest their 401ks, how to pay down their student loans, and make the #s work).
BWM: Our Members are often just beginning to grow their business and are interested in learning from other successful founders. Can you share a few key pieces of insight or learnings you have acquired from concept to launch?
Crissi: Start with the problem. Be absolutely crazy obsessed with the problem and understanding why the products or services in the world do not solve that problem.
Take that problem and marry it with what you are uniquely good at. Ask yourself why am I the best person to lead and pioneer this new business, new product or new service. That will be your differentiator. Then figure out who your target market is – and it can’t be everyone. Hone in super specifically and triple-confirm that demographic is a large enough market for you to thrive in. (P.S. Even at scale you may still reach less than 1% of people in that market!)
Finally, don’t build in a bubble. Take the least amount of time and money to create a prototype or proof of concept -- then show it to as many people as possible before going big. I wish I spent less time coding with my developers and put a not-as-good beta product out in the world earlier. Versions 1, 2, 3 or even 4 aren’t going to be the winners.
Be okay with not having “the perfect thing” and accept the feedback and criticisms with open arms. Your business isn’t for you, it is for your target market. Listen to them and let them guide you.
BWM: The pandemic has affected us all in very unique ways. How has the pandemic impacted your business? What are the positives you’ve been able to take-away?
Crissi: Luckily, since we are a digital tech product, we have been able to source talent from everywhere to build the Penny dream team (the 13 people building Penny are from 3 countries and 7 cities). Before COVID, I do not think that would have been as natural or acceptable. On the flip side, I do think the digital world is saturated with content and products, making it hard to differentiate your brand. I would loveee to sit in a room full of women, but that also has its limits in terms of scale and reach!
COVID has truly taught us to build the most resilient, recession proof and scalable businesses from anywhere for anyone.
BWM: Are there any financial planning mistakes you commonly see small business owners make when first diving into their small business planning?
Crissi: #1 is always underestimating the upfront costs of building a business as well as the recurring costs to doing business. 30% of business fail because they run out of money. I find many business owners, especially women, avoid the numbers and financials.
Every small business owner has to get comfortable with the financial piece of the business. This is hard – we were never taught any of this in school!
My dream is for women business owners to look at their P&L every week (with confidence), and not just to look forward at what next month will cost them but to look back at what last month afforded them. Did those marketing activations pay off? Are you spending much more on payroll than you estimated? This allows you to be in control of your business, plan ahead, and make smart decisions about your business.
BWM: We think the stories of failure are just as important as the stories of success. Can you talk about a time that you failed in an entrepreneurial venture or objective? How did you face and overcome this failure? What was the lesson learned?
Crissi: I pitched 70+ investors in venture capital last summer (a couple months after we launched our beta app). I didn’t get one yes. Not one. I was crushed. Looking back, that was a major blessing, and not a major failure.
I had spent 2ish months of countless hours and energy on this first attempt at fundraising when I really should have been 100% focused on learning from our beta launch, tweaking the beta app, building our marketing tech stack, understanding the themes of where our customers were coming from. Instead, I thought we could super-charge the business before we had the metrics– nope!
Slow down, sequence it out, and remember you can’t build a business overnight.
And who knows – you might learn that you can fund your business without investors (like we did) if you focus on getting the product right, first!
BWM: How have you continued to manage the growth of your business while also finding time and ways to invest in yourself?
Crissi: I got pregnant! Lol, just kidding. Well, sort of. Year 1 of Penny, I was all business, all the time. I didn’t have any other big priorities in my life, and that felt very unbalanced. It is almost impossible to shut your mind off when you are a business owner. I am always always always thinking about Penny and the opportunities ahead, and I know every business owner struggles with this.
But, I was blessed to get pregnant in Year 2 of Penny, which totally shifted my mindset and gave me serious perspective and that extra push I needed to focus on my personal life. Any day I have an ultrasound, I take a half-day for a self-care baby day. I work out in the morning 2x a week, and close my computer at 6pm every day to make dinner with my husband. I have a no work policy on Saturdays to allow my brain to recharge.
Oh, and I read a non-business book about something I am interested in, in the bath tub of course, a few nights a week.
These little things helped me come back to reality and focus on myself, and see the bigger picture (it is not the end of the world if there is a tech bug or you don’t respond to that 1 email…)
BWM: Do you have a favorite go-to business tool or resource you can recommend to our community?
Crissi: I can’t live without Google Analytics. I know that is such a boring standard answer, but it is my magnifying glass into my business. Spend time to learn it and set it up correctly.
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