Personal pains can be great teachers. They can also be great business ideas. That is exactly what MBA ’16 candidates Mark Mauleesan and Erick Ko hope they have with Richlii, a financial literacy app that eliminates the boredom of learning financial concepts while imparting users with important life lessons.
It’s a lesson Ko wished he had known prior to his undergraduate years when he used his OSAP, scholarship and bursaries to purchase a sports car. Two months later, he rear-ended a police car and had no insurance. Since then, Ko has worked in education and spent five years in the banking industry. The opportunity to meld those experiences made the idea of Richlii all the more attractive.
Monetizable pain
While the financial crisis of 2008 spotlighted the practices of major financial institutions, personal financial literacy has not improved. Student debt in Canada is estimated to be $15 billion, a number that balloons to $1.2 trillion just south of the border. Then there’s credit card and mortgage debts that continue to weigh heavily on ordinary Canadians further elevating the importance of being financially literate and responsible.
Enter Mauleesan and Ko.
The idea was born during a coffee shop chat between Mauleesan and some friends as they were trying to understand concepts they didn’t learn either at school or at home.
Since last July, Richlii has transformed from a coffee house musing to a data-driven app that leverages the power of gamification and rewards to teach children (and adults) to become more financially savvy. Users can play pre-designed interactive learning modules covering topics like banking, budgeting, investments, taxes, mortgages, credit and others, as virtual dollars are accumulated in their profile. With real financial and social rewards on offer, users will learn basic and even complex financial concepts while actively participating in their financial success.
Fleshing out an idea at Ivey
As a serial entrepreneur completing his MBA, Mauleesan is known for carrying multiple phones and laptops to balance work and school. He has run ventures ranging from graphic design & web development services to online tutoring platforms for various Canadian and American Medical Licensing Examinations.
It was a passion he wanted to build on here.
“When I came to Ivey, I knew that the New Venture Project (NVP) will give us an opportunity to flesh out this idea,” said Mauleesan, who was eager to make full use of all the knowledge that walked the hallways.
After his tough lesson with the sports car, Ko worked in the banking sector and came across many clients who didn’t quite understand the credit products and consequences they were getting into. As no institution wants to lose a sale or an account, financial information was always biased and that’s a problem Ko hopes to address with Richlii.
Connecting through their mutual interest, Mauleesan and Ko also joined the New Venture Creation course to further test their idea. By learning from companies like PayPal, they saw the power of pivoting and went from full scale, classroom sessions to a mobile app. They also understood the importance of interviewing other stakeholders, like educators, financial experts, parents and students, to find out if Richlii was indeed viable.
They were happy with the constructive, and at times harsh, feedback. “There’s a learning experience in everything and we know we can’t satisfy everybody,” said Ko.
The Ivey New Venture Project wraps up with a pitch day similar to Dragons’ Den or Shark Tank, with real entrepreneurs making up the judging panel. The setup is often a first for students and for team Richlii, there was a lot more than grades on the line.
Everything seemed to have gone smoothly as they were nearing the end of their presentation, only to have one of the judges stand up and leave the room. The team was bemused and asked themselves “were we that bad?” Once they left the room, the judge not only congratulated them on the presentation but communicated interest in partnering on the venture.
For Mauleesan and Ko it was a further indicator that they were on the right track.
In the following weeks, Mauleesan and Ko changed up their presentation deck and re-wrote their business plan for an idea that had outgrown the classroom. They sacrificed the traditional MBA Study Trip in December to work at the MaRS Discovery District through Ivey Entrepreneurship’s partnership program and came in second place at the recently concluded IBK Capital – Ivey Business Plan Competition.
Having hired their first Co-op student, Mauleesan and Ko have built the front end of the app and are hoping to test Richlii at Mauleesan’s local church as well as some public and private schools. With more meetings with potential investors and advisors ahead, Mauleesan and Ko are hoping to setup a launching pad for the venture this summer.
Continuing Ivey’s legacy
As the current MBA Co-President of the Ivey Entrepreneurship Club, Mauleesan sees himself as an evangelist for entrepreneurship. “I always tell people, at the root of it all – the success of Ivey was built on the back of entrepreneurs; Ivey alums who excelled in their own industry. You may come here thinking of going into a traditional corporate role but if there’s an inkling of entrepreneurship deep down within you, I would encourage you to explore that a little further because you might have the next billion dollar idea; and Ivey would be the best place to flesh that out.”
Still, there is a reality check that kicks in. Mauleesan is weeks away from being a first-time dad and knows that money is important to deal with student debts and growing responsibilities. Ko’s found a philosophical way to cope with the instability of their journey. “Entrepreneurship for us has been a continuous state of discomfort and we’re learning to get comfortable with it and really embrace it,” said Ko. He wants students to not be afraid of discomfort and going outside their comfort zone, stressing that great things have never come out of comfort zones.