I mean there’s been like 4 updates, he did two of them. I’m not holding Jonas to a high standard here! 
@nathanthomson8 I’m quoting you because I wanted to add to a couple of points you made, not because I disagree with you 
Continuing with bundles is an admission of failure of what they set out to produce, in order to chase the money for sure (which is fine). It just feels like there is no strategy - everything is ‘soon’ and they don’t even know what packages to make. Let’s remember that Monzo said that bundles are bad value so they wanted to build something better. And they are now offering bad value bundles.
This was an absolute cop out, but also an insult to Monzo’s engineers and designers. They have GOOD people in the teams - to blame a failure on them is awful. They can only build and design what they are told to build and design.
So here’s where I think I am with Monzo Plus, a summary if you will;
TL;DR As monzo grows, I think it’s reasonable to expect a reduction in direct engagement with their product & leadership teams, so long as we get updates via blog posts on a more regular basis.
- I was, and could be again a plustomer. It was their lack of communication to me as an early adopter that drove my successful request for full cancellation and refund. I think that’s a key point, the communication is the let down here, not the move to pots.
- As an agile product owner, I work in roadmaps and backlogs. So I get their world. But the lesson for monzo here is now you are not a challenger bank you need to consider how you scale trial. In the begininning, open betas for many worked. Now, as you reach the customer base that you have, perhaps this isn’t the right approach.
My personal take on Monzo currently is this;
- They are not an Early doors challenger bank anymore, so I’m ok with not having direct involvement on the forum from the top. However, a blog post from the top around what happened with Monzo plus would be a nice touch.
- I’m ok with the fact that as Monzo grows, the connection they had with the community will wane, and as an investor I’ll move from a someone who has an active involvement in the future of monzo, how the app looks etc to a Informed member.
- I, now, think it’s unreasonable to keep expecting Monzo to engage with the customer base in the way they did, and should instead focus on items such as card QC with smaller focus groups, providing the base for further communication.
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What are they then, how would you define them? Are they not “challenging” the Legacies anymore? (Genuinely interested in how you would define them).
If TSB is a ‘challenger’ bank then I think Monzo is certainly one too. They’ve got significantly less market share. If it’s not one of the ‘big’ banks, it’s a challenger.
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I’ve edited what I said as I really meant “early challenger bank” 
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Ahh I see, wasn’t meant as a challenge (get it 
) I just wondered if there was a new label to be giving out to banks 
Good question. I’d define them as intially a challenger bank, but moving into mainstream more and more as the “legacy” banks catchup
I think it’s probably time for Monzo to do a Starling and close the forum. It’s a different business to when I joined it as Mondo pre-paid and getting involved in the migration to current accounts.
Back then they were in the few tens of thousands of customers. There was proper engagement and I do believe that the community contributed to their success.
They’ve scaled the business to almost three million customers and that’s a fantastic achievement. I don’t think the forum is sustainable or, if it is, I don’t think it is relevant to Monzo product direction. (As I believe Monzo Plus has proved)
This is my personal view. I don’t expect people to agree with it. As per my other posts, I’ve set out to be reasonable and polite.
I’ve also noticed that someone is flagging my (relevant) posts presumably because I’m not one to be suckered into the cuddly, feely, Monzo is your friend type approach. All but one of my posts has since been restored by staff and the one remaining contains nothing controversial. 
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I personally agree with you,
This place, to my mind, will ultimately become an echo chamber
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Surely the views of the forum members can’t be that much different to the rest of Monzo’s customers, can they?!
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This is one ascpect of it yes, but another point they made was agreeing to multiple sets of T&Cs for the likes of insurance being a bad user experience.
I can definitely imagine some customers thinking it would be great to create their own isnurance bundle by buying Travel, Phone and Pet insurance (and more) all at once.
Adding them all to their “basket” before checkout with would be the easy part (like adding custom toppings to a pizza).
But then imagine having to read a set of terms and conditions for each topping that was added, people would get fatigue going through all of the small print before being able to complete the order and would simply give up. It would be easier just to buy a ready made pizza.
Not saying this couldn’t be made simpler but I can absolutely see it being a bottleneck in a modular approch. In the end as a business they have had to make a comercial decision. I’m okay with them initially offering pizzas (bundles) from a set menu, but I do have my fingers crossed for customisation down the line.
They’re certainly not a startup company but have retained the mentality of one - chopping and changing things with seemingly very little serious thought.
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Any concrete date as to when we’re going to be given the option to switch bundles?
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Agreed
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Step backwards and very confusing. No way am i going for the traveller plus at that price and the loss of interest on balances is disappointing to see. Soon as my current monzo plus term has ended. I will revert back to a standard account. Big thumbs down from me.
I agree with the “cuddly feely” part , kind of embarrassing. Monzo has a good product but its not world changing. Its getting more and more confusing though with all these adds on. I will never go to monzo totally. Something to be said for the stability of a high street bank. Without all these gimmicky changes.
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So this forum will become unsustainable as the customer base continues to grow, but also an echo chamber
Glad we cleared that one up
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My point around Echo Chambers was a number of members creating posts with voices that ultimately go no where as no one from Monzo would be there to read and potentially action them
Do not wholly disagree with that, but closing the forum instead of addressing that some way horrifies me personally
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