Episode 190- Teaching Children to be Financial Goal Setters & Starting, Funding and Growing a FinTech Company w/ Tanya Van Court

Jamila Souffrant 0:00

You're listening to the Journey to Launch podcast Teaching Children to be Financial Goal Setters, Plus Starting, Funding, and Growing a FinTech Company with Tanya Van Court .

Intro 0:14

Welcome to the Journey to Launch podcast with your host Jamila Souffrant. As a money expert who walks her talk, she helps brave Journeyers like you get out of debt, save, invest, and build real wealth. Join her on the Journey to Launch to Financial Freedom.

Jamila Souffrant 0:41

Hey, hey, hey journeyers Welcome to the Journey to Launch podcast. If you are completely new around here, I call listeners and people on the journey with me to Financial Freedom and Independence journeyers. So that's what you are right now. And if you are returning journeyer and listener, welcome. Welcome back. I have an exciting conversation for you. I'm sitting down with Tanya van Court, CEO and founder of Goalsetter. Goal setter is a savings and financial literacy app that helps kids and family get better with money. It helps to uniquely engage kids from all backgrounds and understanding how to build wealth, and learn financial language by offering fun quiz based games that are developed using memes and gifts from hip hop artists ,social media influencers, and more. Goal setter is uniquely positioned to really impact the future generation in learning how to handle money. And Tanya I can't wait for you to hear Tanya is has an amazing just background in being able to bring something like this to light to market. Tonya was former Vice President and partner of marketing at Discovery Education, where she launched digital textbooks to schools across the country. She also formerly worked at Nickelodeon, where she led their digital preschool and parenting businesses including Nick jr.com and served as a Vice President of New Media products for ESPN, where she led the launch of ESPN three. Van Court holds two degrees in engineering from Stanford University and three degrees in parenting from her children. Gabrielle, Hendricks, and Maxwell, amen on parenting degrees. Like, can we get double parenting degrees depending on just like this pandemic, like I think we all need more. So I'm really excited for you to hear Tanya's story, how she started Goal Setter, how she came up with the idea and her mission to get our future generations saving and learning about money and really engaged with their finances.

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Hey Journyers, I have a special guest in the rocket chair. I have Tanya van Court, CEO and founder of Goal Setter. And let me just tell you, I've met Tanya in person multiple times. She's just you have such great energy. And I can't wait for my audience to learn more about you what you're doing with your amazing app but also your journey in entrepreneurship being a black woman in tech. I can't wait for them to hear you. So thank you. Welcome to the podcast.

Tanya van Court 4:20

Thank you so much to Jamila. I'm so happy to be here.

Jamila Souffrant 4:24

All right. So you have such a great history in terms of what led you now to where you are with starting and founding an app called Goalsetter. I want you to explain what the app is. And then I want to kind of talk about what led you here, because I'm always like now intrigued by black woman founders, especially in the tech world. So tell us what Goal Setter is.

Tanya van Court 4:43

Sure. So goal setter is a kids and family money app. And it literally is the family money app that will revolutionize your life. We let kids sign up to save for goals big or small, short term or long term or they can just sign up to start saving. So it's your kids first savings account. It's not just your kids first savings account. It comes with financial education and curriculum that is in the form of fun quizzes. So they're all quizzes that are rooted in memes and gifs from social media and influencers and pop culture and hip hop artists, but also cartoon characters, any memes and gifts that your kids are like looking at on their own iPad or iPhone and sniggering because they think they're so funny. We use those to explain key financial literacy concepts. And we have a teen and tween debit card. And our teen and tween debit card is so fantastic, because it has all of our financial literacy quizzes attached to it. So literally, if you set it up this way, your kid's debit card will freeze on Sunday morning, if they haven't taken their financial literacy quiz for the week yet. So we are taking your whole family cash list, but we're doing it in a way that's actually teaching your kids how to be financially responsible, financially independent and financially literate, to know the language of money so that they're not intimidated by it as they become older.

Jamila Souffrant 6:04

Yeah, I love that. You know, as a mom, myself, my kids are young, but you're six, four and two. But I also know that it's never too early to start introducing a concept of money. And it's funny, because as you're talking, what about a couple things about the app, and I'm not like one, it's so important, as the adults to recognize like, the new generation is all about technology, and phones and memes and social media. And so we want them to learn about this very important topic of money we have to do in a way that engages them. So I love that you're purposely doing that with this app.

Tanya van Court 6:39

Well, the funny thing is, you may like you know, most people who start something in the FinTech space, they come from financial services, they come from big banks, they come from, you know, other fintechs. And they say, oh, wow, there's a hole over there, and the kids market, I can go fill that hole in the kid's market. And so, you know, they look at what all the big banks are doing, or you know, what adult FinTech companies are doing. And they apply that to a kid's product. And so we've seen that time and time again, I actually came from Nickelodeon. So I've ran preschool and parenting digital products at Nickelodeon, Nick jr.com, and noggin.com. And then I was at Discovery education, where I lead the launch of digital textbooks throughout the country to help kids with multimodal engaging learning. So everything about my DNA is about how do you get kids to learn in an exciting way. So yes, I have this great FinTech company. That's essentially your kids banking account. But what I care about is that that banking account teaches them that they're learning and having fun while doing it. And that's what I think are special sauces that we've been able to bring to this space that no one else has, because of my background.

Jamila Souffrant 7:47

Yeah, I'm this like you are uniquely positioned like this is to succeed in this space, because of your history. Like you have the receipts, you have the experience to know what works with kids. And now that we're in an age, because here's the thing, too, right? Like, we are going to more cashless system, right. And I had Adam Carroll on the podcast, like a couple weeks ago, and he talked about this invisible money concept is a problem because kids don't understand the real value of money. And he played Monopoly with his kids. And he realized, like their, the way they behaved, because it was fake money, was just like, Wait Is this like, really, like, you're not getting the concepts here. So he actually liked to got money and play with like real money. And their behavior changed, when they saw that it was real money that they were using. And so I like that, although like, you're understanding that people are moving to more technology, and you're introducing kids to just the cashless system, that you're also tying in the learning part of it, right? Because that's what's going to be key because we can't avoid that we're seeing less cash in the world. And our kids don't see as much cash. But we got to figure out ways to integrate the learning of money.

Tanya van Court 8:50

Absolutely. And you know, kids don't understand the value of cash. Because as parents, we don't make them understand the value of cash, we walk into a store and they say, I want that helicopter. And guess what we do, we throw the helicopter into the cart along with our groceries and we buy them the helicopter. And I give that as an example. Because I have a four year old too, along with a 10 year old and a 15 year old but my four year old, we went to the store the other day, same scenario, Mommy, I want that helicopter. I said, That's awesome. Do you have money for that helicopter? And he's like, no. And I said, Okay, well, we have to make sure that you get a job so that you can make money to save for your helicopter. And he said, How many does the helicopter cost mommy? And I said, I'd looked at it and I said the helicopter cost $5. When we got home that day, he asked me what job he could do so that he could make money for his helicopter. Every day since he's been working. He's been. He yesterday emptied out a part of our dishwasher dishwasher so he could earn money towards his helicopter, right? So those are instances where he's not seeing the physical money, but he understands the concept that he needs some money in order to save for something that he wants. And now he understands the concept of working to earn that money. And it's all because what we do at goal setter is about goal orientation. If you want something, whatever you want is just a dream until it's funded. And so you've got to stop dreaming and start funding and recognizing how you can earn that money to get what you want. And that goal orientation, I think, is the the digital replacement for having physical money in your hand, right? You learn the value of money when you have a goal that you're saving towards. And you've got to figure out how to get enough money to reach your goal. That's how you learn the value of it.

Jamila Souffrant 10:39

Right. And it's so interesting, because so many of us have been listening as adults, whether you have kids or not, did not learn it that way. And we are in a home with like, learning along with our kids and not trying to figure out a better way to educate and prepare them for the world. So I want to talk a bit about your history, because you talked about working at these, like amazing companies it seems and you had all this seems like creative, like work that you were doing within bigger companies established companies. So what led you then like, I want to hear like what led you to then leave that behind and want to start out because I know already that starting something in the FinTech space is not easy. So talk to me about that journey.

Tanya van Court 11:22

So Jamila, let you know when you say what led me there, my answer that I want to go to is sheer craziness. But I guess the answer is far more nuanced than that. And the truth of the matter is that I didn't realize how hard it would be to your point, I had started amazing products and businesses. Within the context of larger companies. I was at ESPN, and I launched ESPN three, which was the first digital video player in the cable industry first digital streaming player, I was at Nickelodeon and launched amazing things at Nickelodeon. I was at Cablevision and launched the first Voice over IP service, the first telephone service of any cable company in the country. So I had launched these major products and these major initiatives, and I was like, Well, look, if I can do it in a larger company, for someone else, surely I can do it for myself. And what really led me to that space, though, of even thinking about it, because the truth is, I wasn't thinking about it. Like, I had great jobs in corporate America, I was, I was doing lots of interesting things. What led me to think about it is my daughter was nine, and she said, mommy for my birthday, I really only want two things. And I said, What's that, she said, enough money to save for an investment account, and a bike. And when I looked at her in that moment, I thought, wow, if I can get every kid to say that I can change the world. And I am a black woman, my daughter is, you know, a little caramel colored girl with her two puff ponytails on the side of her head. We live in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn. And you know, the truth of the matter is that I knew the potential for change, if we can get every kid in America, every black kid, every brown kid, every rich kid, every poor kid, to understand about investments by the age of nine, to understand building wealth, and speaking the language of money, by the age of nine, I understood that if we could do that, then we'll have an America that looks very, very different. And so that's what drove me, literally, you know, I tell people all the time, I think I'm a social justice warrior trapped in the body of a business person. And so I'm only feigning to be an entrepreneur in some ways, what I really care deeply about, which is what aligns you know, with my business is getting Goalsetter into the hands of every kid in America, because I know that every kid in America will be better off. If they use our product, period, end of story, they're not just going to learn how to spend with a teen debit card, or a tween debit card, they're going to learn financial education, they're not just going to learn about how to add up the costs of everything when they're in the store. That's one part of it. But they're also going to learn about investing and saving and being goal oriented, and delayed gratification, they're going to learn all of those things, because we put savings and financial education First, we don't put spending first. So that's who we are. And that's why I started this journey to really take care of every kid in America in the same way that I want my kids taken care of.

Jamila Souffrant 14:21

I love that. And you know, at the end of the day money weaves itself in every part of our lives, right. And so the have nots and the people who are typically not in the rooms or have the access for that other people have not that money will solve all our problems, but it's a it's a great way to give people like that foot in the door. Right? And if we have more access more resources, you know, with more money, you know, we can have more resources, we can have just more space and opportunities for our community. So I just think it's wonderful. One that you had the guts to go after it because you know, that's so funny. So many people, even including myself like if you knew what you do now, right before starting your career. You'd be like, Wait, do I really want to do this, like if you had a crystal ball to look forward to how much work it is? So I find too that like, the ignorance of not understanding or knowing how much work it's going to be, is actually like, what is the reason why most people start like businesses.

Tanya van Court 15:14

Completely, I, you know, that crystal ball, I would have been out of the game before I even started, you're 100%, right. It's either that it's a combination, it's, you know, that, that you don't know how much work it will be. But the second part of it is really having a passion around something. If this were a shoe company, I'm not a person who cares about shoes, I definitely, you know, would have closed up shop by day three. But every day that things get hard for me, in this business, I think about what kids will be missing. If I step out of the shoes, I think about, you know, the financial institutions out there that have not served certain communities that have not served certain kids that that just haven't done justice, to really helping kids to become financially smart and financially independent. I mean, we're looking at a nation where we're all suffering from that, right, we have 40% of adults who can't pull together $400 in the case of an emergency. And part of that is because of the infrastructure of the underbelly of our country, and that they're not making enough, but part of it is, you know, about financial education and financial literacy. So we're suffering from that as a society already. And if my company is not successful, I believe that will continue to suffer, I firmly believe that, you know, I have to stand in the shoes, because I'm standing in the shoes on behalf of all of the kids that we're serving.

Jamila Souffrant 16:39

And what a powerful mission when you have that kind of why you're going to succeed. And I want to talk about your journey, too, and how much it does actually take to launch and run a FinTech company the way you have, and even like, going to Shark Tank, right. Because I want to talk about that you also are on Shark Tank I would love to for you just explain that experience. But the things that it takes the money and the time and the connection, I would love for you to go into what your journey has been like.

Tanya van Court 17:06

Yeah, so you know, look, I had a 20 year career in corporate America before I started my fin tech company. And the interesting thing is, I thought I had a lot of connections, and I do have a lot of connections. But your connections as a FinTech founder need to be in so many different spaces. And some of those spaces, I had zero connections, right, you need to have connections to venture capital, you need to have connections to angel investors, you need to have connections to money. And people of color don't often have those connections to people who can write big checks early on, or quite frankly, even later, as your company becomes up and running. You know, so that took a lot. Number two, when you're not getting the same funding as some of your counterparts in the space, what it means is you have to do everything. And so everyone hears about, you know, being a tech founder is hard. Everyone hears about, you know, being a fin tech founder is hard. Now, imagine that you're getting less than 1% of the funding that your counterparts are getting getting. Right. And then your boss, okay, so imagine you run a sales organization and the guy you know, sitting across the hall from you runs a sales organization, your boss gives him 99 resources and gives you one, and after a month comes to you and says, Why aren't your numbers as good as that guy across the hall, you're just not a great sales leader. I mean, that's the kind of nonsense that you literally put up with, because you know, you don't have the same resources as everyone else. So you are constantly underestimated. You're constantly undervalued, you're constantly doubted, but people don't realize that your success is directly related to how much money you get in the beginning, so that you can hire people to do all of the things that need to be done at a startup. And when you don't get that money, literally the hats that I've worn. I mean, you wouldn't even believe the hats that I've worn, I'm sure you wish me luck, because you know, you are an entrepreneur of your own right. But you know, you do everything you write the copy on the website, you do the marketing, you do the accounting, you do that, everything you develop the product, right, I've literally like, created wireframes by drawing what I wanted it to look like on a piece of paper with a pencil and a piece of paper because I'm like, I don't really know the wireframe software. And I don't have time to learn it because I have to do 52 other things. So I'm going to draw what I think this, this app should look like. And then I got to go find a designer to actually design based on my crazy drawing. You're literally doing everything. So it's it's been a journey, where you are tapping into every talent you have ever developed every skill you ever thought you had or have in order to make something come to fruition because people don't come along on your journey until they see you already got a little something that's worth following. Right so you've Got to build that momentum first. And then you'll find that hey, okay, great. I can hire a technical lead, because he sees there's a there there. I can, you know, get into this accelerator program, because they see there's a there there. But a lot of that early work all falls on your shoulders.

Jamila Souffrant 20:18

So take us back, How long ago did you come up with the concept on start process to build this?

Tanya van Court 20:25

Five years ago. Five years ago

Jamila Souffrant 20:27

Five years? Wow. And so yeah, when you first started, so you talked about not knowing really everyone you needed to know and not having the funding. So how did you get through the first I guess, however long it took you to get your first break? And what was your first what you would call a break in this?

Tanya van Court 20:42

Well, you know, it's really funny because for me, there hasn't been a break. There have been 10,000, like small little films that like, Okay, I got over that hill, I've gotten over that hill, it's really been like, you know, walking across a desert, but with, you know, a bunch of hills, where, you know, you get over one Hill and you're like, Okay, great, almost there. Oh, shoot, I got 10 more miles to walk. And I see another Hill in the distance, right? But the crazy thing is that once you get over that hill, it gives you the adrenaline right to keep going, you're like, wow, I did that. Isn't that amazing. So for me, my first hill that I climbed actually was early on, we needed to get or I needed to get it was just I at the time, I needed to get some funding so that we could create what's called a minimally viable product. So a very early version of your product just demonstrate that customers would want this. And so I happen to have gone to Stanford, I went to a Stanford black Alumni Association meeting, we have them every year, it's a retreat. And I had no intention to do this. But there was a panel on technology and the panel on technology was talking about how do we support more black students as they're coming out of Stanford so that they too, can become entrepreneurs. And so I made sure that I was the first one to grab the mic after the panel and quote, unquote, ask a question. But asking a question was not my intention at all, I grabbed the mic. And I said, Hi, everyone, I'm Tanya van Court, I graduated in 93. So here I am, we're talking about students and helping fund students. And I'm like, 20 years at Stanford at this time. And I said, and I'm starting this company, and here's what the company is. And I, if anyone's interested in being an angel investor, I would love to talk to you after this event. And so that was my first elevator pitch, that was my first opportunity to actually get funding from, you know, something other than my bank account. And I had several of my classmates and, you know, friends, invest early on, and that was, you know, that that was a huge vote of confidence to say, these people who I had tremendous respect for these people who were successful in their own right, were willing to invest in me and were willing to invest in this idea and saw there there. So I would say, that's my first big break. And not my just my first big break, but also my first big commitment, right. Because when you take money from people who you love and trust, in my mind, that's equivalent to you know, this mission that I talked about, there is no turning back, then you have to be successful. So that's what's driven me literally driven me, you know, crazy, sometimes at three o'clock in the morning, when I'm like, Oh, my gosh, I have to make this company successful. But you know, that support means a lot,

Picking up on, you had to be brave and bold in that moment to ask for what you needed. And so many of us can learn from that, you know, like, we're afraid to maybe get up and get on the mic, right? There's a panel of someone you want to meet or, you know, you don't even know who's in the room. But if you say this idea, or you say what, what you do and who you are, there's a possibility that that person that can help you get to the next level, or introduce you right to the next person is in that room. So, um, speaking up for yourself, and just give context like, Can you give us an idea of how much it costs to like start a company like this, because and how you prepared? So I'm assuming you were like, left your job by then and was doing this full time? So how on a scale of like, I don't know, how much this costs the starting fund.Yeah. So look, you know, when you launch a minimally viable product, you literally have to put together a prototype of your product. And so you have to have engineers who are building it, you have to pay those engineers, and that could cost anywhere from $25,000 depending on how simple your product or app might be, to a couple $100,000 depending on how complex you're making it. It's, you know, really wise to not spend very much money up front, because you might create something that you know, your the audience says, Oh, we don't really like this. This isn't what we think this isn't what we thought it would be. Or, you know, no, we don't really have an interest in this vision and you have to pivot, but you're absolutely talking about in the 10s of 1000s. dollars, particularly if you are not a person who codes, right? If you're a coder, yourself, then you can go and code all of this yourself, develop the product yourself, etc. But for me, you know, the minimally viable product, it was, you know, it had integration with other products and other platforms, there were API's that had to be built to, I mean, you know, a fin tech product, there's real work there. There's real banking, back end infrastructure. And so that's even more than $200,000. I mean, our minimally viable product was just one small part of what we do today, it was, you know, people can give gifts towards kids goals, give gifts of money towards kids goals, instead of giving them traditional gifts, that was our first part of our product. And we found that people really liked that. And we also found that mom said, but I want more Yes, I hate gift giving on birthdays and holidays, I want people to be able to give money towards my kids goals, check. But I want to be able to save towards my kids goals, too. And I want my kids to have an FDIC insured account. And I want you to do allowance. And I want you to do financial education. And I want you to have a debit card, once my kid hits eight or nine years old, so that they can learn about smart spending, right. So they just started kept adding the requirements. And that's what you do from a minimally viable product perspective, you put together one portion of it. But then you know, you go and you talk to your customers. And you say, what do you think about this? Is this something that you would sign up for? Is this something that you would pay for? Do you want it to do more? Do you want it to do last? Do you want it to do different?

Jamila Souffrant 26:28

Yeah. And so tell us about your Shark Tank experience, because you did get a chance to go pitch this idea, and how well into the process that you started the app that you get to do that, and what was the result?

Tanya van Court 26:41

Oh my gosh, so you know, I applied, but I didn't, you know, from the time of my application to the time of appearance on Shark Tank, I think it was about nine months. I mean, it was, you know, quite a big span of time. So our product, quite frankly, was very, very different than what we pitched on Shark Tank. Because as a FinTech entrepreneur, you're moving and you're building all the time. So it was a, you know, a really different product. But the funny thing, Jamila is when people see me or when people see me speak, they automatically think I'm an extrovert. I'm not, I sit somewhere on the line between introvert and extrovert, I much prefer having these one on one conversations, like the ones you and I are having, because I value individuals and people and contacts and connections. And it lets me get that. So when you put me you know, in front of a group of seven people on national television with Lights, Camera action, all in my face, I'm like, this is the last place I want to be. And people think Wow, so sexy you on Shark Tank, but you know it. For me, it's just another example of one of the things that you do to make your business successful. Period, I mean, Shark Tank was a huge opportunity, a huge opportunity to get Goal Setter in front of America, a huge opportunity to establish even more credibility. But it was, you know, it's pretty scary. You're standing up there, you know, on national television, and you don't know what questions they're gonna ask you, and you have no idea what they're gonna think about your business or your product. So there's a lot of anxiety. But you know, a lot of good things came from it as well.

Jamila Souffrant 28:14

So did they invest? Or what was the outcome of you when you pitch?

Tanya van Court 28:18

Oh, so we did have one offer from Mr. Wonderful to invest. But it wasn't an offer that I felt was right for the company, or good enough based on where the company was at the time and where I saw the company going. And so we passed on the offer. And in fact, you know, at the end of the show, Damon said, Look, Tanya, you're not coming down, he's not going up. What are you going to do? And I, you know, took a deep breath. And I said, Mr. Wonderful. And he said, Yes, Tanya, and I said, You're out. So I put Mr. Wonderful out before he could put me out.

Jamila Souffrant 28:58

I love that I love you know, and that's like, Oh my gosh, whether it's personal life, or you know, and working for someone else, or your business, knowing when to say no to something, even if something's offered to you, and you believe it's under, you know, it's not the value that you know it to be. And you have to have the confidence, even if you don't even know really what the future holds. And what's gonna happen. Like, you're like, I'm gonna turn this down. I don't really have anything else secured. But I just know something in me knows that this is not the right thing to do.

Tanya van Court 29:24

That's right.

Jamila Souffrant 29:25

I feel like we often are faced with those choices. And we, you know, sometimes we do, like, buckle a little bit then to get to the next level. But I think a lot of it is understanding, what are we not going to bend about. You know, because it's, it's not going to be helpful for us. We're going to eventually break right if we bend too much.

Tanya van Court 29:41

Yes, absolutely. And if you bend in the wrong direction, that's exactly right. Right. If you bend in the wrong direction, you know, you bent the way that your body wasn't meant to go, you bent the way that your business wasn't meant to go. And that's the wrong path for you. So you're 100% right. There's a lot of faith on this journey. As you Talk about journeys, right? There's so much faith that, quite frankly, it is really strengthened my faith. Because what I firmly believe is that this is the journey that God put me on. And God did not bring me to this journey to have me stop halfway. There are reasons for everything that happens, and he is going to unfold or she is going to unfold all of the things that need to happen in order for me to complete the journey. And so there are times when, in the beginning of this journey, things didn't go right. And I was like, Oh, my gosh, I'm about to pull out my hair. And now things don't go right. And I just take a deep breath, because I know that sometimes that window is absolutely closing so that a door can open or vice versa. I believe that and I see it happening, right. I see someone say no. And then I see a far better person say yes. And then I go, Wow, what if I had taken that no what that no person had said, Yes, I wouldn't want it that no person that wasn't the right person for me, you got to believe that your mate is out there somewhere. To make the analogy to when we are just finding a loved one or finding a spouse or finding a partner, right. You got to believe and have faith that good things are waiting for you. And you just need to keep walking.

Jamila Souffrant 31:16

I love that is the analogy of like walking through. David journeyer brought this up and walking through a hallway. But if you don't start walking, you won't know the doors are further down, like in a narrow hallway. But you got to start walking.

Tanya van Court 31:30

That's right.

Jamila Souffrant 31:31

Yeah. And I heard I saw this other somewhere I can't remember where but like, you know, sometimes it's the last key on the big key chain that opens the door. Wow. Right. And how many of us give up before like we get to the last key change, we tried 10 we tried 15 keys not working there. 10 more. So I hope that gives further just encouragement for everyone who's on their own unique journey, whatever that is, I do just want to talk about how you continue to like, overcome and grown your platform and you know, gotten more users and gotten more funding, because I think that could be beneficial people to hear. Like how you did get into more rooms and got introduced to the I know you still are trying to get into some right people. But you know, you've made some connections, is there some advice that you can give about how you're able to navigate like a space that you really didn't know anything about? Well, or at least the FinTech side of things, right.

Tanya van Court 32:24

Yeah, for sure. Look, I would say that there have been a couple of pieces to it. The most important thing that you can do when you are embarking upon a new journey, is to make sure that you're informed as much as you can be about the new space that you're walking into. Because while that last key may open the door, if you walk into that room, and you have no idea what you're looking for, then you are literally just kind of fumbling and bumbling and wandering around the room aimlessly, right? The opposite of that is if you research a space, and you become very clear on what your needs are, who you want to get to, what resources are going to propel you to that next milestone, and you can start making those asks specific, and people will help you if they know what you need. People cannot help you. They find it difficult to help you. If you're going to them and saying, Hey, I'm starting a FinTech company. Can you help? Right? That's a big ask. Can you help? Well, sure, I could help if I knew what you needed. Sure, I can help if I knew who you wanted to get to, or where you were going, or what pieces of your puzzle you need filled in. And so that's the first part that I would say, you just need to be incredibly informed and knowledgeable about the newspace that you're on, so that you can get help that you need. The second thing that I would say is, don't be afraid to ask for help. I came from corporate America, where I was often the one who was giving, I was often the one because I was an executive and could you know, make things happen. I was often the one who people came to when they needed support. And that felt good to me because I'm a giver. And so that was within my DNA. And it nourished me. Once I got into the entrepreneurial space, I had to be the one asking for help all the time. And that was really difficult. But you cannot do this entrepreneurial thing, unless you are willing to ask for help, and you're willing to receive it. And it very much is like we talked about earlier Jamila if you want something you know my grandmother used to say if you want something put it out into the universe, and the universe will respond. Right? Well, who is the universe but all those people who are around us all of those people who love us and like us and who've worked with us and who have admired us and who want us to be successful if we put what we want out into our universe, all of those people will respond. But you have to be courageous enough to ask for what you need. Ask for the help you want. And the universe in your universe will respond.

Jamila Souffrant 35:10

Oh, I love that. I love it. All right, Tanya, please let everyone know where they can find more about Goalsetter, how they can sign up what age group it's like you can you know, how young can we get our kids on it? We want to know all the details.

Tanya van Court 35:24

Absolutely. You can sign up for goalsetter on the Google Play Store or on the Apple App Store just search for goals cetera GOALS e TT er all one word. And who can sign up for Goalsetter anyone who has kids of their own or kids in their lives of any age. The truth is we have babies on goal setter. So it is their first savings account. And grandma and auntie and uncle can all give them gold cards instead of gift cards on birthdays and holidays, so that they can start amassing their fortune early. We have five year olds who are taking our fun financial literacy quizzes and learning things like needs versus wants. So they're learning those key financial concepts early. And they're also learning to do allowance, and do chores to get it to earn allowance money. And of course, we have eight year olds and 13 year olds and 16 year olds who have our debit card, the cashola card. And remember, as a parent or even as that fabulous Auntie, you can get your kid our cashola card and set up our rule called learn before you burn, you do that with just one switch. Little simple toggle when you're activating their card. And that means on Sunday morning, that card will freeze. If your kid has not taken their financial literacy quiz for the weekend. And the minute they take the quiz, it's just 10 questions, the card will automatically unfreeze and they can use the card again. But it really is teaching our kids how to save, how to learn about investment, how to learn about financial literacy before they swipe that card.

Jamila Souffrant 36:56

I love it. Okay, I'm gonna go download this for my kids. When I go do that for them. I'm so excited to have them start that and I'm really excited that people got to really hear your journey I am rooting for you, Tanya, I can't wait to see like, where this goes next. Because I really believe in your vision and that more people like more kids should know about this and have our kids start out better than we did financially more equipped for the world.

Tanya van Court 37:21

Absolutely.Thank you, Jamila. Thank you for having me on.

Jamila Souffrant 37:28

Okay, I really hope you enjoyed that episode with Tanja. I have already downloaded the app for my kids, I am so excited to get more into it. My kids are really young. Also, they're six, four and two, my six year old and my four year old are the ones that are really kind of like more excited because they know what's going on. But they're already into their apps, you know, on their iPad, and what an amazing way for them to be learning about money. So I'm really excited to see how they progress and how they get more into connecting their goals and money and saving and all the amazing things that we talk about as adults that we wish we learned when we were kids. So if you enjoyed that episode, let me know tag me on social media on @journeytolaunch on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. I always love seeing your feedback and your takeaways from each episode.

Now it's time for DCU money Tip of the Week. Money lessons for our younger kids are on four and five years old, so continue to help them identify coins and bills, working especially on comparisons and values. For example, the concept that pennies are bigger than dimes, but do not have as much value is one idea that kindergarteners can begin to grasp. Work on also identifying the difference in bills, like a puzzle, find different objects on the bills that make them distinctive even though their color and size are the same. For more tips, check out dcu.org

If you want to check out the episode shownotes that's where you can get links to anything that's mentioned, and even get a transcribed version of this episode that you can read. Go to journeytolaunch.com or click the description of wherever you're listening to this episode. Now you can also still grab your FREE journeyer jumpstart guide by texting, launch to 33777 or go to journeytolaunch.com/jumpstart.

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