GoalTeller Success Story

GoalTeller Success story From capital markets and insurance to digital banking and wealth management, financial services have undergone significant transformation through new technologies. India’s adoption rate for fintech-based products stands at 59%, which is the second-highest worldwide. Fintech has been a dominant force in India; it has redefined digital payments, lending, and investments.

India’s fintech segment has expanded by leaps and bounds, and the data around this sector points to a strong growth potential going forward. One of the most prominent fintech startups in India is GoalTeller, a financial planning startup that allows users to build custom financial plan.

GoalTeller – Company Highlights

• Company Name-GoalTeller
• Founder-Vivek Banka
• Sector-Fintech
• Founding Year-2020
• Funding-Bootstrapped
• Website Link-goalteller.com
• Registered Entity Name-Finteller Advisors Pvt Ltd.

GoalTeller – About and How it Works

GoalTeller is a financial planning platform that lets users build financial plans. The result of cutting edge technology that guides the users at every step of their journey, GoalTeller simplifies the process of investment planning. The company is currently refining its platform for rolling out enhanced features. GoalTeller operates in the B2C space and works on a mobile-first approach.

The country’s adoption rate for fintech products stands at 59%, the second-highest pace worldwide, and significantly higher than the global average of 33%, according to an analysis by DataLabs (Source: Inc42).

GoalTeller – Founder

Vivek Banka and Udit Garg founded GoalTeller. Vivek Banka

Vivek has a B.Com (Hons) from St. Xaviers School. He was the Senior Vice President at IIFL Wealth Management Ltd. for six years. In a career spanning over two decades and across financial services firms, Vivek has seen it all. His last venture Altiore Capital was acquired by IIFL Wealth in November 2018. Altiore Capital had a proprietary net worth management platform that focused on analytics and data visualization. Vivek is an avid tennis player, loves to read, and plays online video games in his spare time.

The founding team was gathered through a combination of Udit’s social circle and online hiring portals. The novel idea, the opportunity to join the founding team of an exciting startup, and equity in the business convinced many to become part of the GoalTeller team. The individuals at GoalTeller come from diverse backgrounds: technology, finance, taxation, analytics, and design.

GoalTeller – Name, Logo, and Tagline

People are devoid of guidance on what their financial and life goals should be, and a lot of their assumptions around these goals are misplaced. The name “GoalTeller” was chosen because the platform would act as a coach and guide to users by helping them create and modify their financial planning strategies and goals.

GoalTeller – Vision and Mission

GoalTeller’s vision is to ensure that its users have access to an automated financial plan which considers all possible aspects of their finances, taxation, cash flows, goals, and emotional intelligence.

GoalTeller – Target Market Size

The financial planning industry in India today is largely dominated by traditional wealth management companies, banks, and a few fintech players. Most of these institutions focus on execution rather than planning and advisory. Moreover, the significant presence of a human element in this process could create biases that result in inefficiencies in the advice/financial plan.

The team at GoalTeller believes that unprecedented technological advances are to occur in the next five years; hence, the best approach is a hybrid financial planning solution that combines the power of technology and human instinct.

GoalTeller – Product

The process on GoalTeller’s platform begins with the user answering a set of questions, for instance, about oneself, one’s family, investments, expenses, income, and specific goals. Based on the aforesaid variables, the platform allows the user to simulate various situations, especially if some goals seem hard to fulfill. GoalTeller also suggests potentially optimal solutions while considering various aspects such as taxes, cash flows, etc.

GoalTeller – Business Model

GoalTeller shall function on a freemium model wherein users will have access to certain features at no cost. The comprehensive and much more powerful offering will be available for an annual fee.

GoalTeller – Startup Launch

Having seen the industry for over two decades, the founders of GoalTeller agreed in unison that human biases were to be eradicated in case of financial planning. It was a problem statement that desperately needed attention. But the prominent fintech players in India were busy creating execution platforms and weren’t paying attention to this issue. GoalTeller was conceived as a solution to the above-mentioned pain point.

GoalTeller – Challenges

One of the biggest challenges at GoalTeller was to stitch together a team that shared the same passion and zeal towards the vision of the organization. Thankfully, the network and patience incorporated by the founders helped them build a team that is enviable in terms of experience and expertise.

GoalTeller – Future Plans

The GoalTeller team is targeting web traffic of around 0.5–1 million unique visitors on its website by December 2021. It intends to convert at least 5,000 visitors as paid subscribers.