We spoke with Qoins co-founders, Nate Washington and Christian Zimmerman, about building an app that helps people pay off their debts faster through financial coaching and automatic payments. Nate and Christian have used Bubble to build, test, iterate, and scale Qoins. Even though they have started to use traditional coding methods to build some parts of the company, the co-founders described the no-code platform as the “backbone of our business.”
What problem does your company solve?
Nate Washington: Qoins is a financial platform that helps people pay off their debt faster through financial coaching. Features such as payroll deductions and round-ups on everyday purchases automate the process of making payments towards one’s debt. Our financial coaches provide each user with a personalized savings plan for reaching their financial goals. Soon, we’ll be releasing new features, such as emergency savings, spending recommendations, and more.
How does your app work?
When someone signs up, we determine which goal they want to accomplish, or which type of debt they’re looking to pay off. From there, they are able to connect their bank accounts directly to the app and choose a saving method, such as rounding up their purchases to the nearest dollar. After that, we automate the entire process of sending out payments on their behalf! We also send out financial tips and videos with advice to current and prospective users.
Tell us a little about your background and how you discovered no-code tools like Bubble.
Back in 2015, I was just getting into the idea of building a company for the first time. I had some previous coding experience, but I hadn’t touched that realm in several years. I wasn’t interested in taking the time to re-learn how to code, just to validate my business idea. That’s when I discovered Bubble, and since then I’ve built several businesses and apps with the no-code platform.
Why did you build your app on Bubble?
Bubble has allowed us to test our initial concept and iterate quickly, and it’s scaled with us even better than we originally imagined. As Qoins has grown, we’ve continued to use Bubble throughout major parts of our business, as it has helped us accomplish things that we’d typically need a larger team of developers to maintain. Even as some parts of our business have transitioned to being built on code, Bubble has continued to serve as the backbone of our business.
What has been your traction or successes so far?
We’ve helped our customers pay off over $12 million of debt so far. In 2018, we raised an angel round of $750,000. Also in 2018, we won a financial technology award that, at the time, was the largest non-equity cash prize for Fintech companies in the entire country.
What are your future plans for your app?
Our goal is to become a household name for finances. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear to many people that they are not as financially stable as they previously thought. To combat this, we want to help people get back to where they were before the crisis. We’re partnering directly with lenders to help our customers get more favorable rates and payback terms.
About Bubble
Bubble is a leader in the no-code movement. Bubble offers a powerful point-and-click web editor and cloud hosting platform that allows users to build fully customizable web applications and workflows, ranging from simple prototypes to complex marketplaces, SaaS products, and more. Over 400,000 users are currently building and launching businesses on Bubble - many have gone on to participate in top accelerator programs, such as Y Combinator, and even raise $365M in venture funding. Bubble is more than just a product. We are a strong community of builders and entrepreneurs that are united by the belief that everyone should be able to create technology.
Do you want your app featured by Bubble? Reach out to us and tell us about your app. In addition to this series, we sometimes select our best apps to showcase on our website.
