Hard times

In 2019, the market was volatile. Nervous, many customers started liquidating their investment accounts and moving their money to traditional banks. But those banks offered little value: no interest, opaque terms, high fees. We needed to give our customers a safe place to park their cash, but also make it worth their while.

The pivot

We had a choice to make: build a bank (evidently, very hard) or find a faster way. We chose speed. Instead of becoming a bank, we partnered with other banks and built the Wealthfront Cash Account. This let us launch an ultra-high-interest, $1M-FDIC-insured alternative to traditional checking or savings accounts in months, not years. Free ATM access, fast transfers, and total transparency. No fees. No risk. Just smarter money management.

My role

Because we weren’t a bank, we had to reinvent everything—including what we called the account, and how we explained interest, limits, and transfers. As content lead from inception, I contributed to product strategy, naming, legal reviews, signup flows, email systems, and help docs. I designed the logic-based content systems that scaled across product and email. I also crossed into product design to help redesign the transactions page and streamline how customers moved money. Finally, I ran growth experiments aimed at driving account creation, direct deposit, and referrals.

Impact

The Cash Account changed the company.

• Growth: We moved $1B in the first 6 months.

• Retention: Customers stopped leaving Wealthfront when the market dipped.

• Scale: This became the foundation for Wealthfront’s Self-Driving Money vision.

We stopped being a robo-advisor and became a full service financial platform—leading us to IPO in 2025. On a personal level, it showed me that great design can help move billions of dollars.