Whatifi with Jon Cowley | E181
Mapping out planning decisions visually.
In today’s episode, Jason talks to Jon Cowley, founder of Whatifi. It is a visual financial planning software and tool that helps people think through various scenarios in different methodologies than people are accustomed to.
Episode Highlights:
1.00: Jon says Whatifi is a highly visual low code financial scenario builder and projection platform, making it easy for professionals to visually create, calculate, present and share multiple financial scenarios to their clients.
1.46: Jon doesn’t come from a Fintech background; instead, he runs a VFX company. He has created some of the coolest movies and also some of the biggest duds. A lot of these are leveraging technology workflows for Jon.
3.03: Jason points out that most people think spreadsheets are developed for users, but very few people think about using presentation devices.
3.48: Considering the fundamental problems, Jon had built a software that connects all the logics and events.
04.01: Because each step is separate, it is very easy to follow along with the history. Utilizing this simple concept as base, Jon thought, why can’t he apply the same logic in Finance? Whatifi uses the same algorithm and calculates all accounting data.
05.13: So far, Jason has not seen any such concept in the Finance Industry. He says that spreadsheets exist for most financial planning software. He appreciates and says that “What Whatifi has done is very simple and logical.”
06.41: Jon shares excellent real-live scenarios where Whatifi’s algorithm can be used.
07.02: No, thing in our system is just a number, they are the whole set of metadata that is wrapped around, that allows downstream things to adjust accordingly.
08.00: Jon talks about building a roadmap so that every single day the starting point is accurate.
09.14: Jon points out the importance of planning goals.
09.40: Every day at Whatifi Jon’s team updates the baseline to see how they are progressing.
11.52: Jon shares Whatifi’s top 3 value propositions. First is with this framework, you can build scenarios far more quickly than the tools currently available. The second is the ultimate scenario. The third is Visualization.
13.23: Jason says it is not the Visualization, but the Causality is very transparent.
14.01: People who are indecisive and analytical are going to love Whatifi’s tool.
15.07: Jason says so many tools are niche at this moment.
17.19: Whatifi is the most unique decision-making software that Jason has seen so far. He is curious to know about the responses that Jon has received so far.
18.35: Jon says that advisors really like the concept of Whatifi.
20.53: Jon shares, “While we have calculation engine, we also have trigger roadmaps.”
23.30: Jon would like to see more collaboration between FinTech.
25.09: For Jon, the biggest challenge is that they are outsiders who are entering the Fintech world.
3 Key Points:
Jason asks about Jon’s history and how he came across the idea to launch Whatifi.
Listeners learn that nothing in our system is just a number; they are a whole set of metadata.
Whatifi is a calculation engine, and we are using it to build scenarios for people, says Jon.
Tweetable Quotes:
“Metadata gets modified day to day and passed down for calculations.”- Jon Cowley
“No, thing in our system is just a number.” - Jon Cowley
“There has always been a black box aspect to Financial Planning software.” - Jason Pereira
“At the end of the day, it is all math.” - Jason Pereira
Resources Mentioned: