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Determined to help people “pull their heads out of the sand” when it comes to financial health, Ostrich is a mobile app that helps people achieve their financial goals based on life milestones. Unlike many other FinTech apps, Ostrich does not  focus on net worth but rather on developing good financial habits by combining innovative “challenges” with the power of social accountability. 

Ostrich co-founder and CEO William Glass spent time with us describing how Ostrich works and how it’s carving out a unique space in FinTech. 

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. 
 
 

Can you give us an overview of Ostrich? 

Ostrich is a financial habit-building app for people who need to build a strong financial foundation. We use social community accountability to make it super easy and fun to get better financially. 

Social accountability is... fun? 

It’s like having a gym buddy. We lean into the psychological benefits of having that accountability, but there are no real negative consequences if you don’t follow through on your challenges.

The whole point is: It doesn’t do any good to shame someone, especially for people who aren’t in a strong financial situation. That’s what some other financial apps out there don’t understand. They give you a big dashboard that displays your net worth — but if you have a negative net worth, that can discourage you from taking positive steps. 

So we remove that component and say, “Let’s just focus on one or two small actions that will help you move the needle.” That can help you build momentum, and over time you can tackle bigger challenges. Ostrich helps guide you there. 

Will you walk us through the experience of using Ostrich? 

When you first sign up, you fill out a short survey that gives you a baseline financial health score — which is different than your net worth. Based on that score, you can filter by things like age or where you live, to see how you compare to other people like you. No one sees anybody else’s individual score, but on aggregate you can see how you compare to other people in Florida, for example. 

Then Ostrich gives you recommendations to improve that score and your finances in tandem. For example, if you don't have an emergency fund, we recommend you open one, and we'll guide you into a challenge with other people who are building up their emergency funds. 

How do these challenges work? 

They’re fun little games, and they include regular check-ins. You can earn experience points and build streaks — essentially things to make it more fun and exciting. You can compete with friends or keep it anonymous. We give you flexibility, but we know that you’re more likely to achieve a goal when you have a social accountability partner and are part of a group of people who are working toward the same goals. We obscure actual dollar amounts so people can participate regardless of their income level. 

For example, Frugal Fall was the very first challenge we tested that went really well. We found a group of people who were unhappy with their spending and wanted to cut back on one piece of spending. People picked what made sense for them — for some it was eating out, for others alcohol or online shopping. Then, every day people noted in the app whether they did or didn’t spend money on that thing, and they could see how others were doing, as well as leave kudos, comments or share what was working or not working. 

What need did you see that led you to co-founding Ostrich? 

Growing up, I saw members of my family file bankruptcy, and my parents’ relationship fell apart due to financial stress. And I saw how money can really control our health, our sense of self-worth and our happiness.  

There are some great products on the market to do things like invest or help pay down debt, but there aren’t any that focus on creating good financial habits. There are so many downstream consequences to good financial habits — health, wealth and happiness — that if we get this right, we will have a big impact on people’s well-being in general. 

Clearly Ostrich can be a great tool for people of any age. What are the specific benefits for people who are 50-plus? 

Ostrich is a great tool for educating others. If you’re 50-plus and in a good financial position yourself, you can help your family get their finances in order without it being, “Let me tell you what to do with your money.” Because Ostrich is social, you can actually work with somebody toward those goals. 

On the other hand, if you’re not in a great financial position, using Ostrich can help alleviate some of the stress that comes with that. Ostrich has a stress slider, so you can answer the question “How financially stressed am I today?” You can track that over time, so you can see how improving your financial health score impacts your stress. 

Do you have anything else you’d like to share? 

We need support in terms of being able to reach as many audiences as possible, and we're bringing on a number of partners to help us do that. If there’s anyone who’s interested in providing better financial outcomes to their communities — beyond just teaching financial literacy — we would love to have a conversation about partnering. People can reach out to me at william@getostrich.com. 

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