Extraordinary ideas that only Monzo would try!

Over here, @simonb talked about a challenge that Tom had laid down to the Monzo team. Specifically revenue from “things that are brand new and crazy that nobody else would build”:

So, I was wondering what moon-shots (or just extraordinary ideas) the would you would pitch for if you were working at Monzo?

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A dating app that matches you with other Monzo users based on similar spending patterns i.e. eating / going out / visiting the same sorts of places

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Phone In Pocket

that is all

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This may interest you:

Not sure it’s used anymore now with the new Making Monzo Category here on the forum.

@yen Any idea if this is still in use at all? Seems to have died to me.

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Yeah, I think that’s a bit out of date :frowning:

And I got the sense that Tom’s challenge was for bigger and bolder ideas - a start-up within a startup…

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Totally agree, although it does have the beginings of that within the board.

For example let people :star: merchants, could that then grow into a trip advisor style rating service? Who knows…

Personally I think a decent opportunity to form a startup within a startup would be to follow Starling and offer a banking as a service/platform offering or allow others to use their payment processor.
I have no idea how much work that would be but the system is already there so that’s one step in the right direction :slight_smile:

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Didn’t someone mention on here previously about how cool it would be if merchants had Monzo and you could pay them via Monzo.

That way money isn’t even leaving the Monzo bubble to a certain extent. Maybe work similar to “pay nearby” when stood by the till at a store.

Not sure how that would generate revenue but if Monzo had a huuuuge! Customer base in the future it could work.

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Monzo disrupting payments? Love it. And a revenue generator, too…

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Monzo Flash mob - All Monzo spends at a retailer at a small time period get a % refund/discount
1.3 Million people pushing into Greggs to get a half price pasty :wink:

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I think the prepaid card market is ripe.

I mean, I know monzo started as prepaid & then moved mainstream, but I think there are many folks (I know a few) who prefer to use a prepaid card for separating their cash for specific stuff, giving to their kids etc, and aren’t inclined to take out a separate bank account, either because of mistrust of banks, or concerns about what “the social” will say, or even due to a lack of the kind of documentation Monzo tend to need (i.e. driving licence, passport). Weirdly, the fees are never a concern (even though some prepaid cards charge you for everything under the sun).

If Monzo could create a prepaid version, similar app to what we have now (minus direct debits and whatnot), keep the KYC checks to a minimum (or expand the documents to things these folks might actually have), and have a simple low fee (just to make it worth doing), then I’d imagine that would work.

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I still stand by my belief that a great way to make money would be to offer a premium card (not account). Offer the ability to customise the look/feel of the card that you want and what material (metal pls). Then charging a fee.

Think of it is as how you’d make a pizza, select the toppings (changes) you want, and what base (material) then charge a cost for that. Simple. :eyes:

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Hi Jack,

Yes, you’re right, we’re not using the Extraordinary Ideas board anymore! But do feel free to thread your moonshot ideas here :blush:

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:smirk: (from our #fake-product-ideas channel)

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Amazing. I love :hot_coral_heart: #fake-product-ideas so much.

(Has anything that started fake become a thing?)

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Ooh, I don’t know! But sometimes people make suggestions in #fake-product-ideas that end up going into regular #product-ideas, like showing your credit score in the app or automatically sweeping your leftover balance on payday into a Savings Pot.

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Glow in the dark cards :rofl: Now that would boost the Coral look to a whole new level :boom:

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I’m guessing this fee is a one off? I’d hate to be paying for a pizza 3 months after I received it :grin:

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I think Starling blogged about this once, but it never went anywhere: I’d like a Google Home integration which will tell me my balance and how much I have spent/remaining on my budget for the day, and pay credit card bills or friends etc.

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There is an app that some Uni students created in Iceland from the book of Icelanders.

Effectively, Iceland’s population is so small that going back something like 5 generations everyone was in someway related. So the book of Icelanders list every Icelandic person and their relation.

Some clever sods created an app so that when it is running and you go past someone you are closely related to, it sends out a notification warning you not to sleep with that person…

Monzo could do something like that, but instead of warning us not to sleep with our cousins, notify us that there is a fellow Monzi in the vicinity and we can talk all things Monzo!!!

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It has just struck me: :monzo: Monzo has over three times the number of customers than people living in Iceland. :smiley:

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