DEVELOPER SPOTLIGHT
Try a friendlier finance app
Money Coach My Budget Planner
Expense Tracker, Bill Manager
‣ Company: MoneyCoach
‣ Founder: Perjan Duro
‣ Mission: To help people live free of financial worries
‣ App launched: 2016
‣ Team size: 2
‣ Go-to emoji: 💪
Since its 2016 launch, MoneyCoach has helped people save more, reduce debt and – most importantly – stress less about their bank accounts. But its inaugural version had a more humble purpose: to help founder Perjan Duro manage his own money.
“At first, I had to scratch my own itch,” says Duro, who runs the app with his brother, Krist. “But MoneyCoach has changed as my situation has changed.”
We spoke with Duro about the personal story behind the app, working with his brother, and his favourite success stories.
What inspired you to create a money-management app?
When my wife and I moved to Germany in 2013, we arrived with nothing – no jobs, no relatives – so we had to borrow money. To pay it back as soon as possible, I needed a money management app that could handle multiple currencies in real time. The financial landscape was different back there – I couldn’t find anything that worked. So once I began working full-time as a software developer, I started creating the building blocks of MoneyCoach whenever I got the chance.
How is MoneyCoach different to other finance apps?
MoneyCoach relies on not just great design but also a little bit of behavioural psychology. We all love to see our progress, but displaying progress for something you just started is extremely hard – and for a finance app, where you need at least a month of data, it’s nearly impossible. That’s why we try to show your potential savings in the next year based on what you enter during the onboarding. And we use friendly language; we want MoneyCoach to feel like one of your friends talking to you. When things are good, you’ll see our robot mascot, MON3-Y, smiling; when they’re not, he won’t be afraid to hand out a little scolding, just like a friend would do.
MoneyCoach relies on not just great design but also a little bit of behavioural psychology.
—Perjan Duro
What was the reaction like after you launched?
When I first put it on the App Store, MoneyCoach was still a side gig, but it got a great reception and grew to the point that I needed some help. That’s why I started to work with my brother. He handled design, marketing and support, while I took care of the product development and business sides. Now, with SwiftUI, our jobs can intersect, and that helps quite a lot.
What has MoneyCoach taught you about personal finance?
A lot of things our parents didn’t teach us. Many are raised with the dogma that money is bad, that it shouldn’t be what you aim for. But we’ve seen a real shift in the way people think about money: they’re now much more inclined to spend toward a lifestyle rather than save for retirement. They want to enjoy life more. I learned that myself as well.
How have you seen the financial industry change since you started?
We’re seeing a lot of our users come to us in debt, and we want to help people get through that. We are a small team fighting against the Goliath that is the debt industry by motivating people to see the full picture. We want to combine our values with technology.
MoneyCoach is part of the App Store Small Business Program. If you are a developer and would like to learn more about the program, follow the link below.