Blooom makes national TV debut
June 19, 2015 | Bobby Burch
Overland Park-based financial tech firm Blooom hopes to seed new growth opportunities after a recent national TV appearance.
Blooom CEO Chris Costello and President Greg Smith hopped onto Fox Business Tuesday to discuss 401(k) management and their company, which created an online 401(k) management tool that’s seen solid early traction.
The tool uses a flower in various growth stages to symbolize the health of one’s 401(k) and offers professional advice on how to allocate funds.
Costello said that the appearance likely will lead to more adoption of Blooom’s product, which already has customers in 48 states.
“The exposure that Fox Business provided us was wonderful,” Costello said. “We are confident that this exposure will lead to a significant number of retirement savers looking into Blooom to fix their 401(k).”
In addition to explaining their company, Costello and Smith discussed with Fox Business a recent report that revealed for the first time in U.S. history, more people withdrew from their 401(k) accounts than those that deposited. Americans withdrew $11.4 billion from their 401(k) accounts in 2013, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“We recognize that middle-class Americans are not being successful in their 401(k)s,” Costello said on Fox Business. “We think advice, education and fancy calculators aren’t going to fix the problem. People need help. People need someone to do it for them.”
To access Blooom’s services, users pay $1 per month for an account less than $20,000, and $15 per month for accounts more than $20,000. Costello said that the platform resonates well with younger people who lack knowledge about their 401(k)s and are more apt to conduct financial transactions online.
“Tens of millions of middle class Americans are going to rely upon their savings, not pensions, to fund the last third of their life,” Costello said. “This (appearance) is more validation that we are solving a problem that affects 10s of millions of Americans.”
Blooom in September beat out more than 60 competitors to claim first place at the annual Finovate conference in New York City. The conference features dozens of financial tech firms hoping to disrupt the finance industry.
2015 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Best in show: Bar K vies for USA Today’s dog bar prize; here’s how a shared love of dogs is pushing expansion
The human-dog bond — and a desire to embrace it at places like Bar K’s innovative bar, restaurant, and dog park experience — is stronger than today’s often partisan and divisive climate, said David Hensley. “It doesn’t matter your political affiliations … where you’re from, your socioeconomic status,” he said. “Everybody loves dogs, and that…
Firm with deep KC ties wins Small Business of the Year thanks to tenacity, hyperlocal focus
Editor’s note: The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce is a non-financial partner of Startland News, which serves as the media partner for the Small Business Superstars program. A decades-long commitment to Kansas City clients — and the belief that rising tides lift all ships — helped propel Walz Tetrick Advertising to the award stage…
How this genre-hopping KC musician is fighting back against digitized entertainment
A former college football star, Keelon Vann often found himself “running on fumes” as he chased his passion on the field — and on key. “I’d be up playing guitar until 3 a.m., which is not a joke, and somehow make it to 5:30 a.m. workouts the next day,” said Vann, a quarterback at Piper High…
New collaboration will help OP startup 3D bioprint, scale its next-gen biotech solution
A Kansas biotech startup’s new manufacturing partner will boost efforts to automate and mass produce Ronawk’s headline-grabbing Bio-Block technology — a platform that has already accelerated medical advancements in tissue therapy. “Collaboration is critical for turning research advances into commercial therapies rapidly. The complexity and diversity of modalities is so big that nobody can do…