How Novo is redefining mobile-first banking for makers and creators

The digital economy has been exploding, driven by a wave of doers and creators who have been redefining frontiers and blazing new trails.

But then, we have an uncomfortable issue in view. Despite the upward trend in freelancers and solopreneurs taking the unbeaten path, banking services for this group have lagged behind, offering less than satisfactory support.

Novo appears to hold just the answer.

Founded over four years ago by Michael Rangel & Tyler McIntyre, Novo is an online, mobile-first bank built to meet the needs of small businesses, entrepreneurs, and solopreneurs in the new digital economy. Essentially, Novo is designed to offer small businesses:

Mobile-first business banking

Novo users can send ACH transfers and mail out checks, receive ACH, domestic, international wires, and even capture paper checks virtually with Novo’s OCR. Novo condenses business banking into one easy-to-use app where users can manage their money A-Z with ease.

Zero fees — account maintenance, ACH, check clearing, etc.

Novo doesn’t charge users for transactions nor do they have any monthly maintenance fees. Part of the reason why this is possible is because they maintain no walk-in branches and as a result, they’re no huge office management costs that get passed on to customers.

Robust integration with the suite of digital tools powering modern businesses

Novo supports notifications on Slack, where most businesses already live; seamless data exports to Xero; and easy international transfers with TransferWise. Also worthy of note is Novo’s Stripe integration that lets users connect their business bank account to Stripe in two steps and visualize their data on a clearer level.

Outstanding, 24/7 customer support

Here’s an experiment you can try on your own.

Send over an email to your local brick and mortar bank, and start counting off the number of days it takes them to reply. Chances are, you’ll be hearing back at the end of the week, the next, or not surprisingly, not at all.

Traditional banks are bogged down with a huge roster of day-to-day tasks that could be easily automated and as a result, have little time to focus on refining the banking process for customers. And you guessed right — that’s why business banking in the Age of Slack & Facebook still looks like something unearthed from 1674.

Novo’s customer success team is only minutes away to connect with customers, pass their needs across to the product team, so their pain points can be resolved ASAP. For reference, I reached out to Michael, Novo’s CEO with a review, and in <4 hours, he’d replied and was ready to put me in touch with Novo’s VP of Product. You can’t beat that.

A non-traditional bank

More than just a snazzy app, integrations with your tool stack, and lower fees, in my opinion, Novo redefines banking from the ground up. Novo takes a view at changing what we know banking to be — from a place where you store money, to a vested partner, committed to helping you succeed in every way possible. That’d be the perfect way to define how Novo’s services fit into modern business.

• with the opportunity to manage your banking right at your fingertips, Novo empowers small businesspeople and solopreneurs to focus on doing, vs. worrying about endless bank visits,
• timely and responsive customer support means issues get resolved faster, and your business can run with less hitches,
• zero fees, because you deserve it. You probably don’t realize, but banking charges trickle up to a nice $700 per year.

Put all that together, and it all fits in: Novo builds out a tech-first bank that empowers creators and doers focus on just that — creating and doing, with the confidence that your finances are in good hands.

Speaking on the inspiration behind Novo, CEO Michael Rangel maintains that Novo was a deliberate effort to redefine business banking and create a solution that works for modern founders.

“Four years ago, Tyler and I took a long, hard look at the industry where we saw innovation setting in on the individual retail side of banking, which wasn’t transitioning over to the business side. We had experienced the problems with small business banking in our own right and decided to take the plunge to solve the huge pain being experienced by millions in the USA. We designed Novo to be powerfully simple. It has all the functionality that businesses need without the complicated fees.”

Looking to see what 21st-century business banking looks like? Check out Novo right here.