I'm joining NerdWallet!

Big news!

Today is my last day with Visa and I’ll be joining NerdWallet this coming Monday.

NerdWallet is based in downtown SF (at Market and 5^th) so we’re not moving. Phew! They’re a financial adviser start-up aiming to help consumers make sense of the complicated (and increasingly more complicated) range of financial decisions we all have to work through – from credit card choices to auto loans to mortgages to investments and everything in between.

An official description:

NerdWallet provides transparent personal finance advice for consumers. Our data-driven tools offer clear information that help people make smarter decisions about their personal finances, travel plans, health care costs, retirement savings, and higher education expenses.We're the nerdy friend you can count on and trust, no matter your money question. We create user-friendly tools, crunch numbers and give you all the results, unfiltered. Across banking, credit cards, education, health care, insurance, investments, mortgages, shopping and travel, we offer data-driven tools and impartial information to help you make solid decisions about the money you work hard to earn. In short, we do the homework so you don't have to.

It has just over 200 employees, has been operating for a few years, and has been profitable ("boot strapped"). They just completed their first round of funding earlier this year for $64M.

I'll be joining their Credit Cards team where I'll be doing content/product strategy - improving NW's credit cards products (card comparison tool and informational content) by driving/publishing consumer-focused research on credit card-related trends and optimizing the content for demographics, use cases, etc (testing new article formats, exploring new content presentation methods like video, interactive modules, etc.). For a good example of what NerdWallet does, here's its credit card comparison tool.

It'll be a big change from what I've been doing at Visa but I'm really excited. Visa's been a great place for me - building great relationships, expanding on my skill sets, and building up my confidence. I've loved my team at Visa - to the point that I referenced my team many times throughout the NW interview process because I'm so not looking forward to leaving them. I've built some deep and awesome friendships at Visa.

So why the change? Lots of little reasons... 

• I'm excited by the prospect of directly impacting a business and product. I've wanted to get closer to product since soon after joining Visa - I want to be able to impact something directly, especially in the consumer-facing world. Visa is doing a lot of great things for financial inclusion and such, but most of its solutions are sold into banks which hold the direct consumer relationships. 
• That said, I did find a niche within Visa that would have been a great fit (mobile payments) but wouldn't be able to pursue an opportunity there for 6-12+ months for tenure reasons
• I believe in and am excited by NerdWallet's mission - to simplify consumers' financial decisions and lives - among other things, to be the Financial Adviser for the 99% who can't afford traditional advisers
• To this point, there have been a few articles recently highlighting the shifting landscape in consumers' relationships with banks. NerdWallet is poised to win in that disruption. The shattering financial services landscape (start-ups which are tearing bank's businesses apart). The Unbundling of Finance - as consumers use financial products from an increasingly large number of banks, they'll need a tool to keep track of it all. And how banks relationship with consumers is falling apart.
• Literally no financial risk to do so - NerdWallet has improved us from both a cash and equity perspective. During the interview process, I just wanted to ensure that they "made me whole" on cash as we literally could not afford to live in the Bay Area on a lower salary than what I'm making at Visa - so the fact that they exceeded that base was cream on the cake
• I'm excited to be in an "evangelist" role - I won't be selling but I will be able to stand on soap boxes to help others
• They're fun
• Free meals
• I was able to negotiate my base salary offer up a bit even though I told them I was 100% satisfied with the original offer. After the offer exceeded my expectations I did some reading on NerdWallet about the importance of always negotiating - that offers can always be better. I told my recruiter that I was happy with the offer but I just had to ask, in order to be a good "Nerd" - she laughed and was able to bump up the base
• My interview process involved a lot of "nerding out" moments where we explored random topics for the fun of it. That's me. Case in point, my interview with the COO mostly consisted of a discussion of my undergrad capstone paper: US & Japanese economic relations leading up to Pearl Harbor. Great discussion
• This isn't really important but it is - they have a very cool office
• I'm in SF so why not try the start-up thing? "When in Rome"

I wasn't actively looking for a new role - a friend from Visa, who left for NerdWallet last summer, contacted me in April and asked if I'd be interested in learning about a role on his team. I shrugged and said sure so visited the office for an informational chat. I was impressed by the office and people but didn't "catch the vision" - I didn't see where NerdWallet could win in the future nor did I get a clear picture of what kind of career path the role would put me on. I even got to the point where I wrote an email to the recruiter and my friend basically saying "thanks but no thanks" - but couldn't get myself to hit send. I decided I might as well give them the chance to respond to my doubts so scrubbed the email and requested another chat. That next visit was great, they set me up with several additional people at NerdWallet who were able to resolve my concerns - so I decided to pursue interviews. The interview conversations really sold me on the company.

Heidi and I are very excited for this new opportunity!