How Cashco launched a successful POC application within 2 months

Cashco aims to put 1 million Canadians on a path to financial health via inclusive payday lending products and services.

Industry: Fintech

Fractional Roles Filled: CTO, Sr. Fullstack Developer

The Challenge

Cashco was looking to build a proof of concept (POC) for a new fintech spin-off venture called "MoneyUp" to help Canadians access government income when they need it.

Cashco's big goal: Making financial health easy for Canadians.

  • Moneyup was looking for a CTO, supported by a full-stack developer, with FinTech and leadership experience to ramp up to full-time hours over 6 months and develop a POC, MVP, and lead alpha and beta launches in collaboration with MoneyUp and Cashco leadership

  • Cashco hesitated to hire full-time employees (FTEs) as they were unsure if the spin-off company would live beyond 6 months

  • The product innovation process can be unpredictable.

  • Bringing in FTEs to an uncertain situation is full of legal and reputational risks

The solution

Find the right people, the smart way.

With solace, Cashco was able to source, interview, and onboard both fractional CTO and fractional full-stack developers within 3 weeks of initial discussions.

  • Fractional talent started around 24 hours per week and ramped up to 40 hours per week over the first couple of months

  • Fractional talent brought domain expertise and willingness to stay nimble with fluctuating billable hours as required (no minimum hours were outlined in the agreement, only a maximum to ensure alignment on budget and time expectations)

  • Cashco / MoneyUp didn't pay solace for any search fees or associated costs in sourcing and signing fractional talent - only paying their fractional talents' monthly invoices issued through solace

The results

MoneyUp launched its proof-of-concept in 2 months, and released to beta testers in 3, with high praise from both leadership and users.

  • The "MoneyUp" brand is now well on its way to become a success and its own sustainable, independent entity

  • Two very happy full-stack developers thanks to a great experience starting from the interview process through to MVP launch and beyond

  • Engagement is ongoing to date and all parties don't see an end in sight coming soon

  • high quality fractional goes beyond contracting but you're truly a team member - bought-in to outcomes, not just deliverables

"I really appreciated the diligence in getting the [talent] match right, the time spent understanding the use case, the scope of the role, and having all this documented. Neither of these things are very common when you're recruiting people. This made the decision process with solace really transparent, engaging, and gave me a lot of confidence."

Alexandra Nuth

Head of New Ventures

"When you get a high-quality fractional placement it goes beyond contracting. The way I approach it is like 'I'm not just a hired gun. I'm a part of the team. I act like the CTO. I involve myself in so many different aspects of just being a software developer."

Andrew Moss

Fractional CTO (Cashco)

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