Building Financial Products That Endure: From MVP to Bedrock

Over the years, I've watched countless product ideas in the financial sector soar from zero to hero in just weeks, only to crash and burn within months. The stakes are high—people trust us with their hard-earned money, expectations are sky-high, and the market is crowded. It's tempting to pile on features and hope something sticks, but that approach is a fast track to failure. Let's explore why.

Why Feature-Heavy Development Fails

The Allure of Adding More Features

When building a financial product from scratch—or migrating legacy paper or phone-based processes to online banking or mobile apps—it's easy to get swept up in feature creation. You think, "If I add this one more thing to solve a user problem, they'll love me!" But then the security team pushes back, the feature fails to gain traction, or unforeseen complexity breaks it. This is the classic feature-first trap.

The Columbo Effect and Feature Creep

The concept of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is often discussed in books like Jason Fried's Getting Real and his podcast Rework. An MVP delivers just enough value to keep users engaged without overwhelming them or the team. Sounds simple, but it requires a razor-sharp focus and the courage to say no. Yet, the "Columbo Effect"—named after the detective who always had "just one more thing"—keeps piling on requests. This leads to feature creep, diluting the product's core value.

When Internal Politics Shape the Product

Many finance apps end up mirroring the company's internal battles rather than customer needs. Departments compete to add features, resulting in a feature salad—a confusing mix of unrelated functions that satisfy no one. Instead of a clear value proposition, users get a cluttered, unlovable experience. The product becomes a reflection of organizational politics, not user-centric design.

Shifting Focus: From MVP to Bedrock

What Is Bedrock?

Bedrock is the core element of your product that truly matters to users—the fundamental building block that provides value and stays relevant over time. It's the foundation upon which everything else rests. While an MVP gets you started, bedrock ensures long-term stickiness. Rather than asking, "What else can we add?" ask, "What is the one thing users can't live without?"

Applying Bedrock in Retail Banking

In retail banking, the bedrock revolves around regular servicing journeys. Consider a current account: customers open one rarely, but they check it daily. The core value isn't exotic features—it's reliable, fast access to balances, transactions, and simple transfers. These everyday interactions are where loyalty is built. Focus on making that bedrock experience flawless before layering on extras like savings goals or investment tools. Get the foundation right, and users will stick around for the extras.

How to Build Products That Stick

1. Identify your bedrock. What is the single most valuable action users take repeatedly? For a budgeting app, maybe it's instant transaction categorization. For a payment app, it's sending money in under 10 seconds. Strip away everything else and perfect that.
2. Resist the Columbo Effect. When someone says, "Just one more thing," pause. Ask: Does this strengthen the bedrock or add noise? If it's noise, save it for later—or never.
3. Measure stickiness, not features. Track retention, daily active usage, and Net Promoter Score (NPS) for your bedrock feature. If users aren't coming back for the core value, more features won't save you.
4. Align teams around the bedrock. Break down silos. Security, product, and engineering should all know: this is what matters most. Internal politics disappear when everyone is focused on delivering an exceptional bedrock experience.

Building a product that endures isn't about adding everything—it's about discovering the one thing that users will return to every day, and making it rock-solid. Start with a lean MVP, but build toward bedrock. That's how you go from beta to bedrock—and create products people love and rely on.