In this episode
Emily Cisek, Co-Founder and CEO of The Postage, discusses her journey from a small town on the East Coast to starting her own fintech business in Texas. The Postage is a digital legacy and small business succession platform that helps individuals and businesses prepare for the future. Emily explains how the platform works for both individuals and businesses: it allows users to create legally valid wills, record memories, and build deeper relationships with their families and financial institutions. She also discusses the challenges of working with financial institutions and the importance of trust in the financial system.
Key takeaways
- The Postage is a digital legacy and small business succession platform that helps individuals and businesses prepare for the future.
- Users can create legally valid wills, record memories, and build deeper relationships with their families and financial institutions.
- A big challenge is helping financial institutions understand the value of the platform and drive adoption.
- Trust is crucial in the financial system.
- Building trust requires understanding and being there for customers in their micro-moments.
- The smaller players in the industry can differentiate themselves by leveraging technology to build deeper relationships and maintain trust.
Transcript
Rory Holland
Well, Emily, so good to see you.
Emily Cisek
Yeah, so good to see you.
Rory Holland
Emily Cisek, is that pronounced that right?
Emily Cisek
Yep, Cisek
Rory Holland
Emily Cisek with The Postage.
Emily Cisek
Yes.
Rory Holland
You’re in Texas.
Emily Cisek
I am.
Rory Holland
Houston, right?
Emily Cisek
Yep.
Rory Holland
Is that home for you?
Emily Cisek
No, I’m originally from the East Coast, like North of Albany, South Canada, basically. But I’ve been in Texas 12 years now.
Rory Holland
So, small towns where you grew up?
Emily Cisek
Small town, yes.
Rory Holland
North of Albany.
Emily Cisek
Yes, very small.
Rory Holland
So close to the border?
Emily Cisek
It’s like two hours from the border, but yeah, like three hours from Boston, three hours from New York, way up there.
Rory Holland
So, what brought you to Texas?
Emily Cisek
So after I graduated, I went to school in Rhode Island, and the economy was still figuring its way back up North. So I had a family friend that lived in Houston that said, hey, if you want to live with us for six months or whatever, figure it out. And I ended up getting a job at an incubator for startups. Met some founders and started working for a startup. So my whole career has been kind of around doing different versions of startups and all of that and now my own. The last four years. So yeah.
Rory Holland
Awesome. So that was going to be my next question is how did you get into this crazy space of finance and FinTech?
Emily Cisek
Well, interestingly enough, we started as a B2C business and Jason from Alloy Labs reached out to us, basically stalked us on Twitter and said, hey, you need to be selling into banks. So a couple of years ago, met with him and all of that and ended up having a great fit with community banks and credit unions because we can help them drive deposits, build longer term relationships with the next generation and all sorts of stuff. So it’s been really, it’s changed our business dramatically since we started taking on banks and credit unions.
Rory Holland
Tell us a little bit about the postage and then I’d love to hear kind of what that transformation has been.
Emily Cisek
Sure. So, the postage is really a digital legacy and small business succession platform. I started the business after losing three family members in a six-week period and just recognized the variety of tasks. You know, because it was under a microscope of that much loss in such a short time, I just knew I wanted to make it better and make it more like one of my grandmother’s experiences where we get to really celebrate her life and process loss versus a scavenger hunt and that kind of pain point. So yeah, we launched in October of 2020 nationally and really transforming to banks the product itself, while we’re still serving consumers, the banking customers, has evolved. But I think our style and how we sell into banks and credit unions and the value adds in ROI that we can drive for them really has been solidified over the last year. And so after working with financial institutions, we realized really quickly, hey, there’s this opportunity also on the small business side for small business owners who may know they want to pass down their business to their kids, they may know an exit of some sort is in the future, but how do I start preparing for that? And so bridging that, both from the personal and professional, in one platform is really how we’ve evolved over the last few years.
Rory Holland
And so is it, it’s both consumer oriented, so if I want to have some kind of transition plan and maybe tell us a little bit more about that for a consumer and then love to hear a bit more how it’s working for business too.
Emily Cisek
Yeah sure so on the personal side what you can do is actually get coached through what things you need to put together so you can even build a will, a legally valid will on the platform. We organize and drive you through okay here’s the things that are really important for you to share with your family today versus in the future.
Rory Holland
So that so you can actually record memories forward projecting memories for when your kids get married or whatever it may be.
Emily Cisek
Yes. All of that. Yeah. We even have one of the banks in Iowa, one of their customers has captured her, her daughter’s first steps in there and is writing every birthday a message to her so that she can read it when she’s older and what had happened that year and all of that stuff. So it’s really special. And that’s what really drives the engagement and being able to be part of that story with families and banks and credit unions really need to build these deeper relationships that they used to do face to face. And now how do we leverage technology to help families engage with each other, but also engage with financial institutions.
Rory Holland
There’s something, a big social element to this, as well as the financial and the life planning and preparation as well.
Emily Cisek
Exactly.
Rory Holland
So how did you started to consumer? So B2C and it sounds like it’s evolved sort of relationship with alloy labs and Jason and did that open your eyes or was that something you always were thinking about?
Emily Cisek
So we were considering B2B but we didn’t know financial institutions would be the answer. So I actually went through Alloy Labs concept lab program, where they taught me how to sell the banks. Why this could be a huge opportunity both for the banks and credit unions, but also the postage, and so that really got our feet wet. And with, what is there, like 85 banks now in their consortium? I’ve learned so much in the last year and a half and really have launched our first partnerships, have driven ROI and, hit our metrics and succeeded over our metrics. And they have just been critical and that I think in the startup world you don’t always find venture partners and mentors that really mean what they say and show up for you continually and that’s something they’ve really done for me and and the postage.
Rory Holland
Yeah, that’s big. It’s not a lot about Alloy Labs.
Emily Cisek
Yeah, no, it does.
Rory Holland
They’re good people. Yeah, through on their promises.
Emily Cisek
Yeah
Rory Holland
What is what would you say now all the experience you’ve had up to this point, what is like the biggest challenge you’re facing right now as a business and maybe in other ways that you’re doing things?
Emily Cisek
I think probably the biggest challenge, so we just closed on some funding, so that challenge has kind of been.
Rory Holland
Congratulations.
Emily Cisek
Yes, thank you. I think the challenge now is working with financial institutions to really understand the depth of what our platform can bring for them on a shorter term period, but also, you know, a longer term promise. And so the sales cycle with with banks and credit unions.
Rory Holland
It is a week, right?
Emily Cisek
Yeah, I wish, you know, I got my quickest yes in four weeks. But then it was like, oh, now we have to get through the compliance stuff. And yeah, so it’s a it’s a joy. But I actually really enjoy it because the first time with Ameristate, for example, American State Bank, they have three different divisions that had never worked together. So to be the reason their different teams are coming together and doing that, it’s really, I mean, I love it. It’s so exciting to see and watch them grow and innovate and be part of that is really special.
Rory Holland
This seems my perspective only, but a bleep for a lot of banks to be thinking about wills and planning and estates and then adding the social element to it. How are you telling them that story and getting them engaged?
Emily Cisek
Depends who’s in the room, we’ll say. We have an ROI calculator that speaks to some of them, but really it goes back human to human in that experience. And they always had safe deposit boxes. And so with some banks, I said, what was your stickiest product before technology happened? And that was one of them because families would keep them from generation to generation. And so kind of flipping on that, you know, that on its head and bringing a technology that substitutes that plus builds the relationships for them is really, you know, where I start. It depends with the women. I tend to talk about the messages and memories and there’s these light bulbs in the room that go off and that’s really our biggest users. 50 plus women and millennial moms that then invite their spouses in. A lot of times financial institutions will jump to the will because it’s easy to understand it and it’s transactional, but that’s really not what makes the difference in our product and builds these deeper relationships. It’s everything else. So getting them to understand that has been an interesting challenge, especially as I go into banks in the Midwest and I’m a younger female founder and really hitting home those points and the ROI metrics is key when you get to the board level though as well.
Rory Holland
And who is the initial folks that you’re talking to at the banks? Like in particular roles that tend to be most applicable here?
Emily Cisek
It varies by organization depending on their size. Typically, 10 billion. Assets, under management and under. It can range from your head of retail to operations to marketing. When you get bigger than that, it’s typically the product manager or innovation that we’re talking to. But because our platform has so many unique value adds to an organization, we can start in different places. And a lot of times, they’ll think, oh, you should talk to our wealth division, which actually, no, wealth is a beneficiary of what we’re doing, but that’s not who we’re trying to serve primarily. It’s on the retail and the small business side.
Rory Holland
So what is the model? What’s the financial model and relationship look like with the banks?
Emily Cisek
Sure. So they pay an upfront fee, and then it’s per user per engaged user. Yeah. Per month. And they also pay for the first level of family members because the cost that we’re charging them versus what they would have to pay for a postcard or the digital ads, we actually drive marketing acquisition costs down because people are inviting three to five family members to the platform. And we’re going to see that even more as the SMB product rolls out because people will be inviting their business partners, their accountant, and some of those people in the platforms, that’s a way, you know if I’m selling it to the marketing team, that’s the way I talk about it.
Rory Holland
Yeah. Where do you see it going from here when you think about the technology?
Emily Cisek
Spintech is evolving, we’ve got AI coming into the market in a big way, so we’re all kind of figuring that out where that’s gonna fit.
Rory Holland
Where do you see yourself going from here as far as a business and a platform?
Emily Cisek
Yeah, well, first, launching our small business product, that will roll out in the next couple weeks here. We actually are thinking about kind of the next phase of that is rolling in some AI into that where business owners and families can ask questions. It’s like in a closed way, like, what does this document mean? Or why do I need this thing? Why does my bank need this information? Whatever it may be and applying that so it’s more conversational than, oh, I’m just having to fill in all these boxes and I’m having to upload all these things. That way, we can help the small business owners and families be more prepared in a more automated way, I would say.
Rory Holland
Yeah, that’s beautiful. I love it. I love what you’re doing. It’s so interesting.
Emily Cisek
Thank you.
Rory Holland
So for the folks that are listening, what is one thing that they might not know about the postage that you’d like them to know?
I think the one key thing about the postage that is really important; I’ve kind of touched on it already, is this is a platform that can not only grow your deposits and things today, but it has this long tail promise that if the banks and credit unions don’t fulfill these longer term relationships with the wealth transfer, it is important to act now, not five years, 10 years. And what’s interesting, like I said, the women are typically who are the drivers of that network effect and the family connection; two thirds of wealth is actually being transitioned down to women. So, you have to have more relational products to relate to them. And it can’t just be at a transition point. It has to be years before where you’re building that relationship so that you keep those assets under management over time.
Rory Holland
Something you were just saying made me think about this adoption. You know, it’s one thing we see it in fintech all the time where, where, where banks or financial issues that they want fintech, but then the actual implementation and how they deploy it, it doesn’t get utilized. The adoption isn’t there. Is this a challenge you guys are running into at all? Or.
Emily Cisek
So we handle the adoption because my background is, um, in digitally acquiring customers and being part of that, we actually help them market. We build the email templates, we build all of the ads, we are doing all of that adoption, especially in the first six months, to help them kind of drive that. And from there, you know, evolving within the platform, helping them through thinking about how does this fit into all of our things that we’re doing on the marketing side and where, you know, what messaging resonates with what age group and not all of the financial institutions really know for that granular level who their customers are. And so being part of that and understanding that and helping them understand is part of what we do. So it’s not just a vendor relationship, it is a partnership that we’re coming in and telling them and showing them how to drive adoption.
Rory Holland
And how is that? How do you feel like it’s working better since you guys are staying involved in helping roll this out?
Emily Cisek
Yeah, better adoption. Yeah, I absolutely were, on average are seeing 10 to 12 percent. And that’s including banks that had never done different products roll out at all. Of course, we would like to see more. And as we launch new products and those sorts of things. But it’s also not a product that. You know, you wake up on a Tuesday, and you’re gonna sign up for, there at times are life touch points where you realize, oh, I need to start doing that, or oh, it’s the holidays, and I just saw grandma, and I need to start thinking about some of these things. So there’s these natural seasonal spikes that also help drive the adoption.
Rory Holland
That’s really smart. I didn’t know you guys were helping with adoption and implementation. That’s good. You’ve been at this for a bit. You’ve learned a ton. What would you share with other people who might be thinking about getting into FinTech and starting their own business?
Emily Cisek
Goodness. I think the key thing is have a plan, but have be open minded enough for the journey to actually guide you where you need to go. The market will tell you where you need to go, but you have to have, you know, the understanding and to be listening. I think a lot of founders over the past few years, especially because they raise money so easily. Some of those things that they were more focused on spend, spend, spend, not listen to the customer, listen to, you know, Jason who stalks you on Twitter or, you know, and balancing that and understanding what feedback is important and critical to you. But also what feedback to kind of throw away too. I think when I first started, I was very obsessed with being like the perfect founder and like making my investors happy and those sorts of things. And they want the best for you, but you still have to stay true to who you are while balancing that with listening to your customer and really listening, not just, you know, oh, well. We got this feedback, and we should do something.
Rory Holland
That’s great advice. Yeah. Yeah, it’s hard to be being humble and but also staying true to your mission and, your passion and what you want to achieve, but you have to listen and be willing to to move. There’s a lot of very experienced people if you let them help you.
Emily Cisek
Yeah.
Rory Holland
Versus just staying on the path. One last question. And this is around where we are as a society and the the lack of trust that seems to just permeate now our culture here, whether it’s in our country here in the United States or globally, in the systems that govern our world. And because we work in the financial system, trust is so important. And we’ve seen people lose trust in the financial systems when it happened in 07, 08, 09, and then lots of hiccups along the way. How are you seeing, when you think of the postage or just our industry at large, how do you see us doing a better job building trust so we can restore faith in the financial system and what we’re all trying to do?
Emily Cisek
I think it goes back to understanding your customer and being there for them through all the micro moments that they’re going through. Because if you’re able to show up and deliver the postage when it makes, you know, when they go through a transition or you’re able to deliver a loan, a specific loan product, um, when somebody is going through a hard time, it, you have to be open to this greater ecosystem that evolves with your customer and you have to think about them and who, who won’t, they all are, um, because we all have different scenarios and if you show up, in every single way and build these deeper relationships leveraging technology, then that’s how you’re going to win because the big guys aren’t, I mean, they’re thinking about it and I think that’s important, but that’s how the smaller guys are going to be different in the future and maintain their kind of relationships and trust that way. So it just being there in those micro moments for sure.
Rory Holland
Awesome. And how do folks find you, learn more about The Postage?
Emily Cisek
Yeah, they just go to thepostage.com. We have a consumer site, so you can still sign up that way, but then a banking and fintech focused page that gives more information about our partnership.
Rory Holland
Awesome.
Emily Cisek
Yeah.
Rory Holland
Emily Cisek, thank you so much.
Emily Cisek
Yes, thank you.
Rory Holland
Thanks for coming up from Houston.
Emily Cisek
Yes.
Rory Holland
Do you have any big plans for South By?
Emily Cisek
Just this, you know, meeting with people. We have Franklin’s tonight. So that’ll be kind of the big plans. Most of my founder friends live in Austin, so I got to see all of them last night. So yeah, that’s really it.
Rory Holland
Awesome. Well, thank you so much.
Emily Cisek
Yes, thank you.
Rory Holland
Good to chat with you.
Emily Cisek
Yes!
