MVP1 is free for now. A six-question quiz, cards labeled likely fit, stretch or not yet, and a hand-off to the issuer's own preapproval check.

Model considerations:

1. Affiliate/referral
   • Network listings show $10.80 per Chime enrollment, $12 per Self account and $33 per paid Kikoff signup. Student credit cards affiliate payouts are estimated between $50-$100
   • Milo make money through referrals to Sofi, Robinhood, and more
   • Concerns
     • Networks pay only after the issuer validates the account
     • Pay comes in about 60 days
     • Payout can be reduced or reversed afterward. NerdWallet's credit card revenue fell 24% in 2025
   • Affiliate links are in MVP1 but this does not affect the ranking or cards that we show
   • If 10% to 30% of 1,000 users complete a paid action at $11 to $50, that is $1,100 to $15,000 a year. The conversion rate is assumed based on limited public data about Credit Karma’s conversion rate.
2. Ads
   • Frich, a Gen Z money app, charges banks and brands a flat fee and reported approaching $1M in annual revenue with over 100,000 users in 2024. That is under $10 per user per year.
   • Mint was very successful using an ads based model, though it was one of the largest complaints about Mint.
   • Concerns
     • It needs a large audience before anyone buys
     • Paid placement next to a recommendation can cost us the trust
3. Freemium/tiered
   • The core stays free but some features are kept behind a paywall for the 20% that deeply engages and values the product
   • Examples
     • Kikoff charges $5, $20 or $35 a month
     • RocketMoney/Monarch/YNAB charge about $15 a month, though YNAB provides a student 1 year free
   • Concerns
     • None of our ten interviewees has paid for a finance tool
     • Charging a consumer for help improving credit can fall under federal and Massachusetts credit repair law, which we need the law clinic to review.
     • The median freemium app converts 2.1% of installs to paying users within 35 days
   • Though Milo is marketed directly at Gen Z, and has reportedly making 15k MRR with the majority of their users having never paid or used a finance app previously, marketing through UGC on Tiktok
   • 2.1% of 1,000 users at $5 a month is about $1,260 a year
4. B2B credit union partnerships
   • A credit union, bank or university pays to reach users, the users (students/young adults) pay nothing
     • A fee per new account
     • Flat sponsorship
     • Licence
   • In 2024, card issuers paid colleges and alumni groups $20.0M under 133 agreements covering 559,916 open accounts and 51,801 new ones (CFPB)
     • About $36 per open account per year and about $386 per new account
   • Concerns
     • Slow to sell B2B
     • No current usage numbers to show a partner yet
     • A partner must never buy a higher ranking
   • Clerkie started out consumer and has since shifted B2B and consumer
   • If 5% to 10% of 1,000 users open an account with a partner at $200 to $386 each, that is $10,000 to $38,600 a year. The conversion is assumed.

Currently:

• MVP1 is free, with rank-blind affiliate links as a way to learn and initial simple revenue
• Institution-paid looks like the largest opportunity per student, but that likely means a fully different beachhead
• Ads were the revenue model of one of the most beloved budgeting apps (Mint), so there cannot be too much harm in trust to an ads based model

Measuring User ROI:

• We will record each click out to an issuer, then the student's self-reported application, approval and first on-time payment. That gives a cost per approved account to compare with what a partner spends to acquire one today.

Input:

• How would you test a fee tier in an MVP?
• What would a bank or credit union need to see before paying for young cardholders?
• How would risk and compliance view a student product that earns a referral fee?
• Which of these four would you drop first? Which do you think have the most potential?