Turning a Banana into Gold. . .

The world is filled with possibilities. Every day I wake up excited about what is going to happen (or not happen). Growing up with two entrepreneurial parents, there were highs and low, but there was always opportunity.

Living in New York City, you often encounter people on the street asking for food and/or money. Sometimes I start my day with an extra banana in my bag. This week, as I entered the subway there was a guy asking for money so I offered him a banana instead.  His response was “I only eat apples and oranges.” The first thing that ran through my mind was “So what man, just say thank you and take it. Consider this banana is an opportunity.” For example, you can sell it for more than you got it for, trade it for something you like, give it to someone else. . .Not to mention the lost profits he experienced from all the people around me who had their hands in their pockets ready give a little coin, but then decided to put their hands back in their pockets.

There are so many things that are totally out of our control. The key is embracing the things that you can control. Once in a while something comes along that allows you to turn that banana into gold.  It’s just a matter of thinking about the possibilities. Think outside the box (or banana), who knows what can come of it.

Lisa, Founder & CEO
www.kiboo.com
www.facebook.com/kiboo
@kiboomoney

Happy New Year

Happy Holidays From The Kiboo Team

The New About Kiboo Chart

I’m an 81 on the Millennial Scale of 100. How Millennial Are You?

Because Kiboo is a GenY/Millennial focused Bank 3.0 start-up, I am a GenXer living in a GenY world. I couldn’t resist taking the Pew Research Center Millennial quiz to see where I fell in the spectrum.

The survey questions/answers are yet another confirmation about what we are doing at Kiboo and that there needs to be a new banking platform geared specifically to young people.  The face of the matter is that what’s important to a young person is not the same as the older generations.  This is precisely why traditional banks seem antiquated to most people.  Some of Kiboo’s core values that differentiate us from the rest are: (1) while money is important, it can’t buy happiness; (2) access, control and security are key elements to choosing a bank relationship; (3) honesty is the foundation to building a trusted relationship; (4) you don’t have to be rich to make a difference; and (5) knowledge is power.

The Pew Research Center Millennial quiz is a 14 question interactive quiz that rates how “millennial” you are based on a scale of 0 to 100.  Click here to take the quiz for yourself.  It only takes a few minutes and it’s kind of fun.

Some of the more interesting questions cut right to the heart of the matter: How important is being successful in a high-paying career or profession to you personally?; Do you think more people of different races marrying each other is a. . .; and How important is living a very religious life to you personally?

Just to get a benchmark, I had a few other people take the quiz.  My 23 year old niece and her friend scored a 78 and 87, respectively.  I also had my mom take it just for kicks.  I thought should would score pretty high because she plays video games, texts, has a Facebook page and her devices of choice are iPhone and iPad.  She scored a 21.  Here are my results.

Being a GenXer scoring an 81 makes me think that Kiboo has rubbed off on me, or maybe it’s the reverse. . .

The Story of Kiboo’s Name

When you are naming and branding a new company it means a lot, especially when it comes to brining an innovative idea to banking and financial services.

People ask me all the time: Where did the name Kiboo come from?  Well, here’s the story…

Nearly 4 years ago I decided to create a company that would change the way young people interact with their money.  When it came down to it, the idea was so big that putting the word bank near it made it feel small.

I guess Sir Richard Branson was feeling the same way when he asked his followers on Twitter and in his blog what he should name the new Virgin bank and whether it should include the word “bank” at all.

The Virgin brand is arguably one of the best brands in the world so whether Atlantic Airways, Megastore, Mobile, or Money follows the Virgin name, it’s hard to miss.

I, on the other hand, didn’t have the luxury of an established brand behind me and I spent close to a year tossing around names.  When it came down to it no word in the English dictionary existed that described Kiboo.  I had to find a name that was totally unique.  Like a Google or Yahoo.

It got to the point where, my friends didn’t want to be around me because all I did was badger them to help me think of a name of my new company that was going to change the world.  Then one day, my buddy Jon couldn’t sleep and he started emailing me variations of acronyms at 2am.  From there, we moved some words around and came up the name KIBOO.  At the time, Kiboo was a solution for kids and acronym stood for Kids Internet Banking Operations Online.  But over time as we built the technology, completed product development and numerous focus groups the idea of Kiboo grew and grew beyond just kids.  Now it’s just Kiboo, plain and simple.  We use Know Your Money as our tagline so that people will at least know that it’s an innovative company all about your money.

And that’s the story of how Kiboo got its name.  The End.

If it was just about the money we would be watching ball right now.

As a business owner and entrepreneur, I have one focus: Kiboo.  Everything I do is to support the success of the company and my team.  Decisions about a new hire, a contract, a partnership—all of them are carefully weighed and balanced and rarely made solely on financial cost. Sure, I’ve walked away from deals because they were just too rich, but I’ve also overpaid for things because their value to the company was greater than the cost to our budget.

These experiences have left me wondering why the NBA and players can’t get a deal done. If it really were just about cash, we’d all be watching pro-ball right now.

Businesses like the NBA are lucrative on a gigantic scale.  There’s no doubt about that.  But there’s also passion at work: the owners are fiercely protective of their teams and investments. Players demand the support of their management. And, of course, there are the fans. I’m one of them.

At the age of 5, my older brother put a basketball in my hands.  He was 11 and I wanted to be just like him.  He let me follow him around all I liked, as long as we agreed on one rule: we did what he wanted to do.  Since basketball was his thing, it became mine too.  Shooting the J was all that mattered to him and, with a little time, to me.  On the court or on TV, I was happiest hanging out with my brother and the Knicks.

Once, I wrote a fan letter to Bill Cartwright (okay, it was 1982).  To my surprise, he wrote back and sent an autographed photo. That sealed it for me: basketball wasn’t just about the money.  It was about the love of the game and for the people who play it.

These days, aside from occasionally schooling my nieces and nephews playing HORSE, I don’t spend time on the court.  But what really bothers me is how little I watch my old favorites play.  Sure, I’m busy.  But the bigger reason is because professional basketball lost its sparkle for me when it became more about the individual player, big business, and the commercialization of the franchise.  So went the game.  So went my passion for it.

Given where the NBA is today just confirms why I’m no longer a defense junky and a dunk fanatic.  Both sides—owners and players—are responsible for the current state of the game.  And that leaves fans like me with plenty of blame and still no ball.

If it was just about the mutual love the game and how to split up $4 Billion, we could all be watching the season right now.  But clearly that’s not the case.  Maybe to get back on track, we need to press the reset button and get in touch again with what makes basketball the greatest sport in the world.

If we can—and by we I mean everyone who touches the game, from player to spectator, and owner to fan—we might just see a resurgence of real passion for the sport, the teams, and the meaning of great b-ball.

BTD-Bank Transfer Day

BTD Nov. 5th

I love the idea that people are starting to realize they have choices.  All the buzz of BTD may have lost some of its sizzle since Bank of America (and others) announced they are no longer charging a $5 debit card fee.  Regardless, the bottom line is people just want to feel like they are not being screwed.  They want control, convenience and access to their money, period.

Also, credit unions are not the only choice.  There are more and more alternatives hitting the market (including Kiboo).  Banking alternatives like PerkStreet Financial, BankSimple (not yet launched), MovenBank (not yet launched), and SmartyPig (saving goals only), just to name a few.

I just hope once masses of people make the switch to their local credit union, they are not wildly disappointed.  Credit Unions come in all different shapes and sizes so you better do your homework before you make the switch.  If you are ready to make the move, the FearLess Revolution blog posted a good field guide to closing your account.

At the time of writing this post the BTD Facebook fan page shows 85,800 people “attending”, 17,546 “maybe”, and 555,854 “awaiting reply”.  50,104 “not attending”.

Sneak Preview of Kiboo Know Your Money (KY$) Infographics

Kiboo KY$ Infographic Icon

Let’s face it, information is coming at us from every direction and it’s getting harder and harder to keep up.  Attention spans are getting shorter and shorter as technology forces us to become a multitasking society to keep up with the pace of the world.

Kiboo is of the philosophy that people just want to know what they need to know.  This means presenting information in an easy, less time consuming and more memorable way. Infographics serve a specific purpose and are a great way to cut out the text heavy noise and add a little color/graphics to make the information visually pleasing.  Usually infographics are data driven with statistics and comparisons.  Good ones will not only be easy on the eyes, but will force the viewer to think about a subject matter from a new perspective.

Kiboo is introducing infographics to complement our KY$ articles.  We began creating original infographics for two primary reasons: (1) to help the reader of a KY$ article absorb important information that he/she may not have drawn out on their own; and (2) to use data and stats to show the reader in a visual way how they fit into the bigger picture.

When I started Kiboo, Know Your Money was a way to fill the need for financial articles focused on teens, young adults and their parents.  Gradually, the content of the articles evolved from money oriented to life oriented.  We then moved into developing short videos to accompany the articles and are now extending the content into infographics.  Here’s a sneak preview of one our original infographics on how to earn money while in school.

Kiboo KY$ Infographic Make Money at School

The Fee War Saga Continues (Part 2)

This ad was on the cover of the Wall Street Journal today.  All I can say is before you switch know the facts!  Read more in CNN Money and check out the video.