I recently caught up with Mike Ferrari, one of the founders of West Des Moines-based SmartyPig. Silicon Prairie News first interviewed Mike in December 2008, and a lot has changed for the online banking startup in the last year: they licensed their brand in Australia through their partner Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ), received outside direct investment from McCombs Enterprises, and brought on a new CEO, Bob Weinschenk.
For those keeping track, Mike told me that in their nearly 18 months of operation, SmartyPig has taken in $250 million in deposits from its members and from that nearly $60 million has been redeemed. They’ve grown to a staff of 16 full-time employees in their suburban offices and have customers all over the United States.
Mike and I talked a lot about the Des Moines area and why a successful company like SmartyPig chooses to not only start up here but to maintain this city as their home. “It’s all right here for us, there’s really no reason to move,” Mike said. “The creative talent is here, the web development talent is here – for us it’s a no brainer to keep going where we started and continue to grow the business in Des Moines.”
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Despite the fact that world renowned financial institutions, such as Wells Fargo and Principal Financial Group, have such large footholds in our city, Mike and I talked about the low profile that Des Moines maintains on the national radar. “I think it is interesting as we go about the country and we’re talking to people and presenting SmartyPig and they hear that we’re in the Midwest or that we’re located in Des Moines, it really comes as a surprise. I don’t think that people really truly realize the technology hub that we have here in Des Moines through certainly the financial industry and the insurance industry and all the resources that come together here.”
How does that financial industry look at the success that SmartyPig has had emerging here in Des Moines? “I have to imagine that for some of these other entities that are out there and they look at SmartyPig and see that we’re doing it in the Midwest, it doesn’t necessarily have to occur in Silicon Valley or New York or Texas or in Philly. I think good ideas can stem anywhere and can be grown from just about anywhere. Hopefully, it’s a testament to hard work and a willingness to stay grounded in your roots and where you grew up.”
In the video below, Mike and I talk briefly about an upcoming announcement of new SmartyPig features. Those features were announced last week and include new retail redemption partners in Barnes and Noble, GameStop and The Gap as well as a 100% increase in the “cash boost” incentive that users can receive when redeeming met savings goals through SmartyPig’s retail partners. The full press announcement is available here: Savvy Shoppers Earn up to 12 Percent in Cash Incentives.
Check out video below to learn more about SmartyPig, Mike’s thoughts on the technology community in Des Moines and how you can help this startup continue to succeed.
Here’s a video on creating a savings goal from the How it Works page of their website. This provides a nice introduction to the utility of SmartyPig.
