January 16, 2013 by Danny Schreiber
Des Moines Extending the reach of its goal-based online saving bank, SmartyPig today will introduce OneClick, a feature that lets users start saving for a product on any ecommerce website. Whether it's saving for a television on Amazon or a treadmill on Walmart.com, SmartyPig no longer requires its users to return to its website to start a new goal. … read more
December 5, 2012 by Danny Schreiber
West Des Moines One week after a partnership announcement with a U.S. financial firm, West Des Moines-based Social Money makes headlines in India on another front: its social, goal-based savings platform went live today with the country's largest private sector bank. ICICI Bank is using Social Money's enterprise product … read more
November 27, 2012 by Danny Schreiber
West Des Moines Social Money today announced it's preparing for the launch of a new product, CorePro, with a new partner, The Bancorp, Inc., the holding company behind a financial firm that offers banking services and products. CorePro is a savings account … read more
October 16, 2012 by Michael Stacy
Des Moines As SmartyPig approached its fifth birthday, company brass took a hard look at what the Des Moines-based startup had become. There was, without question, plenty to celebrate for the goal-based, social savings company. "We had this really great, kick-ass brand," said Michael Ferrari, who co-founded the company in 2007. "We had global industry recognition. … read more
September 17, 2012 by Michael Stacy
Des Moines The second Iowa Startup Fair concludes Tuesday with the Innovation Expo in Coralville. That daylong event will cap off an 11-day, statewide effort to connect Iowa's startup community with the state's broader business community. A big piece of that effort took place last Tuesday at StartupCity Des Moines and Dwolla headquarters. There, 33 startups … read more
July 12, 2012 by Geoff Wood
Des Moines Last December, I wrote a post asking “Who’s the No. 2 startup in Des Moines?” In that post, I shared the results of an informal (and unscientific) poll that I conducted around the community to seek out which companies were the "top startups." While Dwolla was a unanimous selection at No. 1, there was no consensus on No. 2 or even what makes for a "top startup." The folks I talked to clearly felt like Dwolla was doing the correct things to be at the top even though most people didn't necessarily have a concrete opinion on what those "things" were. It seemed it was Dwolla and then everyone else. Fast forward to today, and progress within the local startup scene has helped bring greater clarity to the question I posed in December. Rather than defaulting to one company to characterize the startup … read more
June 22, 2012 by Guest Contributor
Des Moines (Guest post by Michael Ferrari.) Sure the idea was mine, but to bring my idea to life, I needed help. This may or may not hold true for everyone starting a company. And more power to you, if you can design, build and launch your product on your own. Aaron Patzer, founder of Mint.com, once told me that he basically locked himself in a room for months and coded the first rev of Mint all by himself. God bless him. But if you aren't a programmer (like me), chances are you won't get far with your idea until you bring on some help. Be it a business partner, outsourcing or hiring. I'm a firm believer that if you want to be taken seriously with a product, especially an online financial product where people will be entrusting you with their money, branding and design … read more
June 11, 2012 by Michael Stacy
San Francisco We've covered Social Money and its GoalSaver product fairly frequently in recent months, but when Social Money co-founder Michael Ferrari and president Scott McCormack stepped on stage last month at Finovate Spring 2012 in San Francisco, they provided another spin on GoalSaver, a white-label social savings product offered by the West Des Moines-based company. GoalSaver, McCormack … read more
May 8, 2012 by Michael Stacy
West Des Moines Silicon Prairie News: What's the CliffsNotes version of the story of how a college English major becomes marketing director for a financial tech company? | Sarah Foss: Once I discovered I couldn't support my shopping habit by being a writer, I went into what all young twenty-something gals do for lucrative means – sales. I quickly discovered my talents lied more in promotion and execution, so I hopped on the marketing ladder and here I am today. | SPN: How has your approach to marketing changed since SmartyPig became Social Money and began selling GoalSaver as a white label solution? | SF: Built inside of Social Money's primary product, GoalSaver, is a B2C … read more
April 30, 2012 by Michael Stacy
West Des Moines Social Money today announced plans to more than double its workspace and workforce this summer. The company, which makes products for goal-based, social savings, currently has 30 employees. Most are based in Social Money's West Des Moines headquarters. The company said in a release that it plans to hire close to 35 additional employees, both in Iowa and abroad, for jobs that include web development, engineering, project … read more
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