Most people think 1776 was the year America became America, and they’re not wrong, but they’re not right either. America is in a state of constant becoming, grounded by a written constitution that was itself composed in 1787. There was a whole decade of planning and putting-into-practice that had to happen before this USA thing started to take off—not unlike millennials’ finances.
Jean Borno, an experienced and award-winning financial planner based in D.C., came up with the name “1787fp” for his new service—an app that will streamline the tracking of finances, investments and payments—because he’s “intrigued by history” and “wanted something a little bit different” in a name. 1787, a linchpin year for the United States, stuck in his mind and became the title of the new company. (The “fp” part stands for “financial planners.”)
Borno, who’s been in financial planning for over fifteen years now and typically works with high net-worth individuals, had the idea to start a financial planning service benefitting millennials when he realized his clients’ adult children needed advising he couldn’t, at that time, provide. “If I got referred to their kids … I wouldn’t be able to work with them because my rates were too high,” he told me.
He created 1787fp as a solution to that problem, explaining the app as both “a more advanced version of mint.com” and in some ways “like Uber,” as he intends it to help “de-marketize financial planning and investment” and bring it to those who haven’t historically had quality access to those services.
“Previously,” he explained, “the wealthy had access to the best investment firms, advisors, and so on.” With the new app, he hopes to offer the exact same tools to the next generation, and with a wider outreach.
He applied to the i.Lab with the idea in January, and since taking part in the accelerator program he’s watched the venture concept evolve somewhat from an SMB (small and midsized business) model with physical offices and lots of people to a more software-based approach. “They’re looking for something that’s going to be built around software,” he said of the support he’s hoping to win from Silicon Valley.
KP (short for Kaweepol Panpheng), who formerly worked as a banker in Bangkok, joined the team shortly before the venture began the i.Lab.
“I was looking for something fun and interesting for the summer,” said the rising second-year MBA student. Both are MBA students, actually, but KP is here on the residential track, while Borno is based in DC and on an executive track that enables him to work on school while remaining in the business world.
The two agree that Darden and the i.Lab make up a great environment in which to learn how to start a company.
“When I first started business school, I thought I’d take my two years and then start a business,” Borno recounted. But he ended up launching 1787fp in his first year as a student, and does not regret it. “There’s no perfect time,” he said, “but I am glad I started. … Creating a new company is a good way to apply knowledge from your MBA classes.”