Piera Bretton

💳 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 Monzo Bank 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥? When we were working on the Monzo Bank x Revolut Subscription blog at WhiteSight, the story that unfolded was sooo much more than just features. It was about philosophy. Somewhere along the way, banking stopped being a utility and started acting like a brand. The question shifted from 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴? to 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘥? The numbers set the stage: 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐲, 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭. Investors stopped cheering user counts and started asking tougher questions - 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒏? Lending was risky, interchange too thin. So, fintechs started looking somewhere new: 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭. And that’s where Monzo Bank found its rhythm. It didn’t chase global lifestyles like Revolut. It chased the 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐝𝐚𝐲. Greggs, Trainline, Uber - familiar names, daily moments. The Extra, Perks, and Max tiers weren’t designed to dazzle, but to embed. It became about "owning more moments." Revolut, meanwhile, keeps its gaze outward - building a lifestyle suite that follows you across borders. It’s the global traveler; Monzo is the local confidant. The infographic tells that tension visually - 2 fintechs converging on the same idea from opposite ends. 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. Both are betting that the future of banking won’t be limited to deposits or loans, but also belonging and billing for it monthly. 💡 𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠, 𝐰𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐤: - How subscriptions became fintech’s new growth engine. - Why Monzo’s 2024 relaunch turned everyday utility into emotional loyalty. - How Revolut’s global stack scales ambition through lifestyle design. - The real economics behind banking-as-a-membership. - And one question that keeps echoing - 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭? _______________ 📊 Read the full story: Banking-as-a-Membership: Subscription Playbook of Monzo and Revolut 👉 https://lnkd.in/giY6BbXx #monzo #revolut

100

2 Comments

I’m pleased to share that Keyzy has secured £130 million in PropCo funding from Crayon Partners to expand our rent-to-own platform across Greater London. When Simon Groll and I founded Keyzy in 2021, it was clear the system was no longer working. House prices were rising much faster than wages, first-time buyers were being pushed into their 40s, and essential workers and young professionals were increasingly locked out of homeownership. We knew a more accessible, realistic path was needed. This new funding will enable us to acquire more than 250 additional homes by 2027, supporting hundreds more aspiring homeowners. Through Keyzy, residents can convert their rent into a deposit and purchase their home in as little as two years, rather than the 14 years it typically takes to save for a London property. But what matters most to us is seeing this impact become real. Our first cohort of residents is now transitioning from renting to owning—the very outcome we set out to make possible. These are key workers, families—people who had been told that homeownership was beyond reach. They are now buying the homes they live in, using the rent they have already paid. For any young professional or key worker who has been told that owning a home in the UK is unrealistic: there is another way. We are building it so that more people can move from renting to owning with confidence and clarity. Here’s to breaking the rent cycle and opening up homeownership to those who deserve a fair opportunity. 🏡 #Keyzy #PropTech #Homeownership #RentToOwn #UKProperty #FirstTimeBuyers

99

7 Comments

What we can learn from Monzo Bank’s acquisition of Habito Monzo’s acquisition of Habito is a quietly important fintech moment — and not for the reasons most headlines will focus on. Habito built a strong consumer brand, high trust scores, FCA-regulated capability and brokered over £12bn of mortgages. That’s no small achievement. But the real lesson isn’t about product quality. It’s about where value ultimately accrues. After almost a decade, Habito remained a sub-£6m revenue business with limited operating leverage. That’s not an execution failure — it’s a reflection of the economics of standalone digital advice and brokerage. Mortgage advice is: • regulated • operationally complex • human-heavy • low margin on a per-transaction basis Technology can improve the experience and reduce friction — but on its own, it doesn’t magically turn brokerage into a venture-scale business. Where this does change is inside a large distribution platform. For Monzo, Habito isn’t a business line — it’s infrastructure: • near-zero customer acquisition cost • embedded into an existing customer relationship • part of a lifetime financial stack, not a one-off transaction This pattern keeps repeating across fintech: ❌ Standalone digital advice is hard to scale profitably ✅ Embedded advice inside banks, platforms and employers works ❌ UX alone doesn’t fix unit economics ✅ Distribution and context matter more than features None of this diminishes what Habito built. But it does underline a broader truth for founders and investors alike: In regulated financial services, technology creates most value when it’s embedded — not when it’s standalone. Curious how others see this — especially founders building advice, guidance or “AI-first” financial products today. #Fintech #EmbeddedFinance #DigitalAdvice #Monzo #Habito #FintechLessons #Startups

144

5 Comments

📌 Create Clarity with a One-Slide Product Summary 📌   Features often mean different things to different stakeholders. That ambiguity slows teams down.   In this How I PM episode, Adam Race, Head of Product at ITV, shares how he uses a single slide to create clarity around what a feature is, where it appears, its current status, and the metric it is meant to move. His approach helps: 1. Reduce stakeholder confusion 2. Keep updates lightweight and shareable 3. Anchor conversations in outcomes, not interpretations 🎥 Watch now: https://lnkd.in/eirn6Qzu   #ProductManagement #Agile #TeamAlignment #Leadership #HowIPM

1

1 Comment