Building a successful financial product is like constructing a house: a flashy facade might attract attention, but without a solid foundation, it won't stand the test of time. Many promising apps and services soar in popularity only to collapse under the weight of too many features, internal politics, or misplaced priorities. In this Q&A, we explore the common pitfalls of feature-first development, the power of a true Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and the concept of bedrock—the core functionality that makes a product indispensable. Whether you're a startup founder or a product manager at a bank, these insights will help you build something users love and stick with. Click below to jump to any question.
Why do many promising financial products fizzle out despite early success?
It's a pattern seen across industries, but especially in finance: a product launches with excitement, gains traction for a few weeks or months, then fades into obscurity. The root cause is often feature bloat. Teams get caught up in the rush to add more capabilities—hoping each new feature will cement user loyalty. But this approach ignores a fundamental truth: users don't need a hundred bells and whistles; they need a simple, reliable solution to a real problem. When complexity mounts, maintenance costs skyrocket, and the product becomes a confusing “feature salad” that nobody loves. Without a clear, focused value proposition, even the hottest app can't sustain long-term engagement.
What is the biggest pitfall of feature-first development?
The feature-first mindset prioritizes adding new functionalities over understanding what users truly need. In financial products, this is especially dangerous because security, compliance, and user trust are paramount. Teams often ask, “What if I add just one more thing to solve this specific problem?”—but this leads to roadblocks when security teams (the “narcs,” as the author jokes) reject a feature, or when a popular feature breaks under unforeseen complexity. The result: wasted resources, a bloated product, and frustrated users. Instead of asking “what can we add?” product builders should ask “what can we remove?”—a principle championed by thought leaders like Jason Fried. Stripping away non-essentials forces you to focus on the minimum viable value that keeps users coming back.
How do internal politics sabotage financial product design?
In many organizations, product roadmaps become a battlefield for competing internal departments. Marketing wants a flashy notification system; compliance demands extra verification steps; the CEO loves a particular analytics dashboard. The result is a product that tries to please everyone inside the company but serves no one outside it. Instead of a streamlined experience designed for the customer, you get a “mixed bag” of features that reflect office politics. For example, a banking app might include a currency converter, a budgeting tool, and a rewards program—all added to satisfy different teams—while users simply want a fast, secure way to check their balance. This misalignment leads to confusion, low adoption, and ultimately, product death.
What is the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and why does it matter?
The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) concept, popularized by Eric Ries and echoed in Jason Fried’s Getting Real, is a product with just enough features to deliver value and engage early adopters. It’s not about building a cheap, half-baked thing; it’s about identifying the core problem your product solves and solving it exceptionally well. For financial products, the MVP might be a simple savings tracker rather than a full suite of investment tools. The beauty of an MVP is that it forces discipline: you must resist the “Columbo Effect”—the temptation to add “just one more thing.” By launching a lean product, you gather real feedback faster, reduce development risk, and lay a foundation you can iterate on.
What is the “bedrock” concept and how does it create stickiness?
Bedrock is the term this article uses for the single most valuable, stable, and timeless feature of your product. Think of it as the foundation upon which everything else is built. In retail banking, for instance, the bedrock is the regular servicing journey—the everyday actions like checking balances, transferring money, and paying bills. People open a current account rarely, but they interact with it daily. If that core experience is fast, reliable, and intuitive, users will stick with you even if you lack flashy add-ons. Bedrock features are not exciting, but they are essential. Bonus features come and go; bedrock stays. By identifying and perfecting your bedrock, you create a product that users rely on—and that’s the key to long-term retention.
How can product builders resist the “Columbo Effect”?
The “Columbo Effect” gets its name from the detective who always had “just one more thing” to ask. In product development, it’s the incessant urge to add features during the design phase. To resist this, embrace ruthless prioritization. Create a clear, written definition of your product’s core value proposition. Every new feature request must pass a simple test: “Does this directly support our bedrock?” If not, defer it. Use techniques like MVP thinking to launch with the absolute minimum. Also, involve security and compliance teams early, so you don’t build features they’ll later reject. Remember: saying “no” to a feature can be more valuable than saying “yes” to ten. It takes courage, but that courage is what separates enduring products from flash-in-the-pan failures.
Why are regular servicing journeys crucial in banking apps?
In financial products, the everyday tasks—checking an account balance, transferring money, paying a bill—may seem mundane, but they are the bedrock of user engagement. A user might sign up for a banking app once, but they interact with these core functions several times a week. If even one of these journeys is clunky or slow, users will quickly switch to a competitor. Moreover, these daily interactions build trust and habit. Once a user feels that your app reliably handles their routine needs, they are more likely to consider your advanced features (like loans or investments). The lesson: optimize the boring stuff first. A smooth transfer experience is worth more than a dozen novel tools nobody uses. Build your foundation solidly, and the rest can follow.