Recently in Simplifi Category

Here are the news headlines we posted this week on Twitter (follow it here).

DebtGoal raises first round of VC funding - In its first round of institutional funding, DebtGoal raised $2 million. The round was led by Tugboat Ventures, with participation from seed investor New Cycle Capital. To date, DebtGoal has raised a total of $3.1 million. http://bit.ly/bZxzq4

Diversinet awarded two patents - Diversinet was awarded two patents for mobile technology. One patent was awarded for a system that detects and classifies mobile devices, allowing apps to be matched with handsets. The other is for security technology for mobile digital data delivery. http://bit.ly/cDkHOU

Finovate Alums Among Webby Award Honorees - Finovate alumni FiLife, Kapitall, Lending Club, and SimpliFi are among the 12 honorees in the Financial Services category of the 14^th annual Webby Awards. Fifteen percent of Webby nominees received honoree status. The actual Webby awards, presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, will be announced June 14^th. http://bit.ly/cqC9Fa

GreenSherpa holds contest for savings tips - GreenSherpa is hosting a contest for reader-submitted money-saving tips. On April 21, two winning tips will be randomly selected. Winners receive annual subscriptions to GreenSherpa. http://bit.ly/cDakPl

Lending Club raises $24.5 million - Lending Club received $24.5 million in investment funds from Foundation Capital, Morgenthaler Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, and Canaan Partners. The company says it will use the capital for new loan products, new investment tools, and website improvements. http://bit.ly/9zU4lO

Lending Club also recently announced its fourth Twitter contest, in which daily winners will be rewarded for tweeting about the company's ongoing photography contest. Twitter winners will receive shirts, messenger bags, and other products. http://bit.ly/d19g5g

Mint adds new feature to track cash spending - Mint added a new feature that allows users to manually enter spending data. Previously, all transactions had to be automatically uploaded from financial accounts. http://bit.ly/a3EtRb

Monitise reports more than 2 million registered users - Monitise has passed the 2 million registered user mark. The company stated that the increase in users was driven by increased uptake of its smartphone apps. Monitise serves more than 240 banks and financial institutions in the U.S. and U.K. http://bit.ly/cjMh7R

SecondMarket launches asset-backed securities market - SecondMarket, which provides a marketplace for trading in illiquid assets, announced that it launched a market for asset-backed securities. The move adds a ninth asset class to SecondMarket's platform. http://bit.ly/b2GHFc

The company also announced $70 million in private company stock transactions this March, the highest amount that SecondMarket has ever traded in one month. In contrast, the company traded $44 million in private stocks in February. The company reported that 41% of the transactions were Facebook stock trades. http://tcrn.ch/bpcXpQ

SeerGate announces new COO - Jim Fancher has joined SeerGate as its new chief operating officer. Fancher was previously general manager at FIS subsidiary Endpoint Exchange Network and has also served as senior vice president of marketing at VECTORsgi and CEO of Gilson & Associates. http://bit.ly/9FilPo

SmartyPig recognized at Prometheus Awards - SmartyPig was honored Breakout Company of the Year by the Technology Association of Iowa in its fifth annual Prometheus Awards presentation. http://bit.ly/bUi0Hf

ThreatMetrix provides fraud detection for OnlineLabels.com - ThreatMetrix is providing fraud detection for OnlineLabels.com, which produces laser and inkjet-printable labels. The company's online ordering system is automated, making it an easier target for credit card fraud. ThreatMetrix helps the company analyze transactions to detect suspect orders. http://bit.ly/bGRFMl

Transparent Financial Services adds business verification system - Transparent Financial Services, also known as TransFS, added a business-verification system that speeds up the company's submission process. The new system identifies businesses based on their name and ZIP code. http://bit.ly/amDwqf

Zopa honored for innovation - Zopa was recognized by the U.K.'s Nesta, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, in its Open 100 competition, which honors firms for open innovation. Peer-to-peer lender Zopa was awarded in the open business category. http://bit.ly/bs82cL

This is a guest post from John Fishback of 154 Consulting -- the firm that helps us coach the innovative fintech companies selected for Finovate on their demos.

The demo from SimpliFi at FinovateStartup09 (video here) is a great example of a company clearly communicating why their product is important. CEO Brian Link and COO Bill Grizack used their seven minutes to the fullest and showed off the best of Simplfi's features. Their demo never felt rushed, and it made a huge impact on the audience (they were one of the best of show award winners).

Brian and Bill generated that impact by focusing on who they are as a company and why the marketplace needs SimpliFi. You can see evidence of that throughout this demo, but focus on Brian's first minute.

He opens simply:

"Good afternoon. My name is Brian Link and this is Bill Grizack; we're the co-founders of SimpliFi, a free online financial planning and advice service for middle class consumers.

SimpliFi is based in the technology hotbed of Winston-Salem, North Carolina."

Here, SimpliFi clears the first hurdle of any demo: can you say what your product does in a sentence? Brian's simple introduction is the best way to start. We don't need to know more about his background, or Bill's, at least not at this point. That SimpliFi is in Winston-Salem is not "need to know" information, but it is a point of differentiation with many of the day's other presenters.

It's in what comes next that the SimpliFi demo really shines. Brian does what too many demos fail to do at all, let alone right up front. He puts SimpliFi in the context of the industry:

"Before we start the demo I just want to say that I think we can all agree that we've seen some really terrific budgeting and PFM tools demoed here today. In fact, we're going to see another one here in a couple of minutes, Rudder.

These guys are doing some really great work, and I think if it's possible they've actually made budgeting cool again in America.

But with all due respect, we don't think budgeting is the biggest issue for the average American.

We think it's planning."

This is clever positioning. While personal financial management (PFM) dominates the casual observer's understanding of the online financial services space because of major players like Mint and Wesabe, there are many PFM services in the marketplace. It is hard for a new PFM to stand out. Were Brian to open with a statement like "SimpliFi is a budgeting and planning tool. . ." (and indeed, at a later Finovate event, SimpliFi unveiled PFM functionality), the audience could be forgiven for thinking "It's just another PFM."

Instead, Brian groups all PFM services together as addressing the same problem, and then positions SimpliFi as addressing an entirely different problem. If your company or product is often compared to an only superficially similar company or product, this approach can pay huge dividends. Rather than explaining all of the differences in functionality or technology, which may not matter to or resonate with your audience, focusing on the different problem or question you address, or the unique way you do so, can help make your value clear.

By this point in the demo, only seconds in and before we've even begun looking to the screen, we know basically what SimpliFi is. We also understand that SimpliFi is focused on planning, not budgeting. Now we're wondering how important the difference between planning and budgeting is.

Brian tells us, with a stunning statistic:

"Consider this stat: Less than 5 percent of Americans have a written financial plan, but those that do are 250 percent more likely to achieve their goals.

The only difference is having a plan."

We're still under a minute in to the SimpliFi demo, and the audience now knows what SimpliFi is, how it's different, and most importantly, that SimpliFi's approach (planning) is spectacularly successful compared to what 95 percent of us do. That doesn't just seem important; it is important, and it catches the audience's attention for the remainder of the demo.

Brian and Bill do a lot of things well during the remainder of their demo. Note particularly how closely the on-screen navigation matches what Brian is saying. But their job is made easy from this point forward, because we already understand what makes SimpliFi important. All they need show is that their tool works, which they easily do in their time remaining.

By putting Simplfi in the context of the industry and by articulating its importance early, Brian and Bill both helped the audience understand SimpliFi's importance and they made their own work for the rest of the demo easier.

Other companies can learn from SimpliFi's introduction. The constraints of Finovate's special format (fast-paced 7-minute demos rather than long slide presentations) make knowing and explaining clearly why your product matters critically important.

This is a guest post from John Fishback. John is the principal of 154 Consulting and directs 154's Financial Services Product Group, which combines message development and presentation advice services with financial services industry experience to help financial services companies, startups, and vendors develop and market products that speak clearly to customers' needs. He can be reached at john@154consulting.com.

Fast Company Magazine released its annual list of the 50 most innovative companies for the year. In addition to the top 50, the most innovative firms in a wide range of categories, including the financial sector, were named. We are happy to see that five Finovate alumni made the cut.

1. FiLife. Not only was it the first on the finance category list, FiLife was the only finance company to make it on the overall Top 50, joining Facebook, Amazon, Google, and IBM. FiLife was ranked #27, placing it above Microsoft and Twitter. FiLife provides a social site for financial advice and discussion (Finovate2008 video here).

2. Intuit. Runner-up Intuit, with a rich portfolio of products including Quicken, Quickbooks, TurboTax and now Mint.com, was described as "the new leader in online money management." (Finovate2009 video here.)

3. Yodlee. The leading provider of aggregation services to banks and PFMs was cited for its   FinAppStore, announced at Finovate2009 (Finovate2009 video here).

4. Triodos. A Dutch bank that backs organizations that create social, environmental, or cultural value.

5. Enterprise Community Partners. An investment company working to fund affordable housing.

6. Itaú Unibanco. This Brazilian bank is the largest financial conglomerate in the southern hemisphere.

7. Credit.com. Provider of free credit information and advice. The article notes that Credit.com won Finovate2009's Best of Show (Finovate2009 video here).

8. Vancity. Canada's largest credit union and funder of community-benefit initiatives.

9. Simplifi. A personal finance and investment advice website. The article mentions Simplifi scoring Best of Show at FinovateStartup 2009 (FinovateStartup 2009 video here).

10. Vittana. An education-funding startup financed by small donors in the US, Germany, and Sweden, providing the first student loans ever to Peru, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Mongolia, and Vietnam.

Fast Company Lists Ten Most Innovative Financial Companies.

(Note: The article uses a screenshot from Credit.com)