NerdWallet


NerdWallet is an American personal finance company, founded in 2009 by Tim Chen and Jacob Gibson. It offers a website and app that aims to assist users in making personal financial decisions.

History

NerdWallet was founded in August 2009 by Tim Chen and Jacob Gibson, with an initial capital investment of $800. Its first product was a web application that provided comparative information about credit cards. Subsequently, it generated large quantities of content to help boost its search engine results. Website traffic grew quickly in 2010 and, by March 2014, the website had up to 30 million users. The following year, it raised $64 million in its first round of funding, at an estimated valuation of $500 million.
In 2016, the company acquired the retirement planning firm AboutLife and NerdWallet was valued at $520 million. In 2017, company growth slowed, resulting in the layoff of 11 percent of its employees.

Products and services

The company's goal is to provide information that educates users in making financial decisions. They do so by providing both reviews and comparison of different financial products, including credit cards, banking, investing, loans and insurance. Its web site is directed primarily towards Millennials and provides information on credit card selection, college loans, banking, mortgage loans, stock trading and insurance policies.
By May 2015, the company had developed business relationships with eight banks and a dozen insurance companies. In exchange for new customers, affiliated banks pay NerdWallet a success fee. Co-founder Chen reported that the company became profitable by virtue of the fees it earned through matching users with financial products and services.

Administration

Tim Chen is the CEO and co-founder of NerdWallet and board member at the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. The company's "transparent" and "self-critical" management style was reset in 2013, when Chen fired 20% of the workforce and restructured company management into a matrix of communicative leadership.
In March 2014, former LinkedIn VP Dan Yoo replaced co-founder Gibson as chief operating officer and Flo Thinh joined as VP of Talent. By 2015, the company had 200 employees and added Vikram Pandit and James D. Robinson III to its board of advisors.