A checking account at Rabobank, a business account at Bunq, an investor account, and a crypto account. It is increasingly normal to use different financial products with different financial service providers. “We want people to have insight and control over their financial situation,” said Flow‘s co-CEO and co-founder Daan van Klinken.
Van Klinken and his associate noticed that many people around them were experiencing headaches from their financial situation. They worked for a while on an app in which users can link their bank accounts to gain insight into what they spend. There, they noticed that many customers experienced a wow moment when they saw what they were spending their money on. At the same time, they also saw that people stopped opening the app after three months.
‘Tesla without a steering wheel’
Van Klinken: “What did it turn out to be? People are not at all interested in constantly watching their financial behavior. It’s a bit like scales. You’d rather not step on those either if you’ve gained weight.”
Flow does things differently. The app can be linked to all banks, and through artificial intelligence, the young company learns from people’s money behavior. “Now the system is actually still a kind of cruise control with Google maps. Eventually, we want to get to a Tesla without a steering wheel: users are in control and set their own goals, but the system determines how they get there.”
