We’ve excited to share with you our updated product roadmap. Since we shared our public roadmap in January 2020 a lot has changed, and so we felt like the time was now right to update our product roadmap and share this with our community.
How did we get here?
When we launched our transparent product roadmap for the US in January 2020, we had no idea of what was just around the corner for our team, the company, or the world. Just like everyone else, we’ve all had to adapt to a changing world over the last 12+ months. National lockdowns, travel restrictions (hard for a team split across the US and the UK!) and working from home all posed unique challenges.
Unfortunately for the US team that meant that we didn’t make as much progress as we would have liked on our product roadmap. We're really sorry about that, and we understand that the lack of new features and updates has been disappointing. Thanks for sticking with us!
However, we feel positive about 2021 – we’ve been really busy and have already made some great progress. Our new CEO Carol Nelson joined the team, we opened up hiring for a number of new roles and we’ve welcomed many new customers from the waitlist! 👋
We felt like the time was now right to reset and update our product roadmap to ensure that we are headed in the right direction.
What have we done?
We always said that we’d build Monzo out in the open, with transparency and constant communication with our customers. And we want to ensure that we are building products that solve your problems.
So we’ve been listening, both to our current customers and to everyday Americans (who aren’t yet customers). If you were one of the people who kindly gave your time to speak with us -- thank you -- your honesty and generosity with your time was so important in this process ❤️
What did we discover?
Our research confirmed that many of you are already actively managing your finances, but you wished it was easier. Some of you told us about the amount of effort you put in to do simple things like ensure you pay your bills on time or set a reliable budget. And we realised that while there are a huge range of existing and new products you could choose from, none really solved all of your problems.
We carried out research into how non-Monzo customers bank today, and asked them about everyday aspects of managing their money. Our findings confirmed that for too many Americans, banking is difficult and stressful, and what they really need is pragmatic, easy support on the everyday tasks. In particular Americans find that everyday objectives such as setting a weekly/monthly budget or building an emergency fund are the hardest to achieve with their current tools. And we found that the top priority for many are ensuring they have enough money to pay for bills and living expenses and avoiding making decisions or "mistakes" that might incur a fee from their bank.
Explaining our roadmap
Our 2021 roadmap has two focus areas. First, we know we need to build additional functionality that will allow you to get day to day banking tasks done - things like ACH payments or Plaid. Second, we want to launch a series of tools that will help you better manage your money. Some will be features we already have in the UK, while others will be brand new for the US market.
By the end of 2021 our ambition is that you can use Monzo for all of your everyday banking needs, while also giving you better visibility and control than you’ve ever had before over your money and spending.
That’s why our roadmap contains a mixture of “fundamentals” such as ACH, Plaid and support for checks, combined with useful tools that you won’t find elsewhere, such as recurring payment controls, advanced goals and pots, budgeting, and salary sorter.
We want to know your thoughts. Do you think we’re missing something? Which of these are the most important to you?
Let us know what you think on our community forum, add your comments to the roadmap or watch this space - we’re organizing some informal (virtual) get-togethers in order to share more with you live and answer your questions.