Crafting Durable Financial Products: From MVP to Core Value

The Allure and Danger of Feature-Heavy Development

After years building financial products, I've watched countless promising ideas rocket from zero to hero in weeks, only to crash and burn within months. Financial apps are especially vulnerable: users trust us with their hard-earned money, expectations are high, and the market is crowded. It's tempting to throw feature after feature at the wall and hope something sticks. But that approach is a recipe for disaster. Here's why.

Why More Features Usually Means Less Stickiness

When you start a new financial product or migrate legacy paper- or phone-based journeys to digital, it's easy to get carried away with the excitement of building new capabilities. You think, "If I just solve this one extra user problem, they'll love it!" Then you hit a roadblock: security teams push back, usage data shows the feature isn't popular, or unforeseen complexity breaks things. This is where the concept of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) becomes critical.

Jason Fried's book Getting Real and his Rework podcast frequently touch on this idea, even if they don't always use the term MVP. An MVP delivers just enough value to keep users engaged, without becoming overwhelming or hard to maintain. It sounds simple, but it takes a razor-sharp eye, ruthless prioritization, and the courage to say no—especially when someone invokes what I call "the Columbo Effect": "Just one more thing…"

The Internal Politics Problem

Many finance apps end up reflecting the internal politics of the business rather than the needs of real customers. The focus shifts to satisfying competing departments—each wanting their pet feature included—rather than delivering a clear, focused value proposition. The result is a bloated "feature salad": a confusing mix of unrelated capabilities that nobody loves. To avoid this, we need a different approach.

Introducing the Bedrock Concept

How do we build products that are stable, user-friendly, and—most importantly—stick? The answer lies in bedrock: the core element of your product that truly matters to users. It's the fundamental building block that provides lasting value. In retail banking, for example, bedrock is the regular servicing journey—not the fancy new cards or one-time sign-up experiences. People open a current account once in a blue moon, but they check their balance, pay bills, and review transactions every day.

Identifying Your Product's Bedrock

To find your bedrock, ask: "What is the one job my users hire my product to do, day in and day out?" That's your core value proposition. Everything else is either supportive or noise. For a budgeting app, bedrock might be automatic transaction categorization. For a investment platform, it could be clear portfolio performance data. Once you identify it, invest disproportionately in making that experience flawless.

Building a Product That Sticks

Step 1: Ruthless Prioritization

Use MVP thinking to launch only what is essential for the bedrock experience. Resist the urge to add nice-to-haves early on. Jump to prioritization tips.

Step 2: Measure What Matters

Track engagement with your bedrock features first. If users aren't returning to the core job, no amount of bells and whistles will save the product. Use metrics like daily active users, task completion rates, and Net Promoter Score for the core journey.

Step 3: Iterate on Bedrock, Then Add Features

Once your bedrock is rock-solid, you can introduce additional features—but only if they directly support or enhance the core experience. Avoid the trap of "feature parity" with competitors; instead, aim for deep excellence in one area.

Conclusion: Bedrock Over Bloat

The most successful financial products aren't the ones with the most features—they're the ones that users rely on every day without friction. By identifying your product's bedrock, prioritizing it ruthlessly, and resisting internal feature creep, you can build something that actually sticks. Remember: a product that does one thing beautifully will always beat one that does ten things badly.