Self in 2018 — 2.3 million points increased and $100 million saved

Read my write-ups from 2017 and 2016.

For the last 3 years, I've had this crazy habit of writing a weekly newsletter that I share with our employees and shareholders at Self. I also include a photo and various stats, revenue projections and KPIs. My goal is to keep everyone on the same page — especially as we scale.

Summary of 2018 at Self

• Customers scores up 2.3 million points — our customers increased their credit scores by over 2.3 million points, as calculated via Experian VantageScore 3.0, from 2018 alone
• $100 million in accounts opened — we opened more than $100 million in credit builder accounts just in 2018
• Launched mobile app — designed, built and launched our mobile app in Apple App Store and Google Play
• Grew from 17 to 31 employees — with all employees based in Austin, TX
• Raised $10mm in venture capital — led by Altos Ventures and Silverton Partners. We were so grateful to have Kickstart Seed Fund, Accion Venture Lab and a handful of angel investors

Let's get started and take a closer look at what we accomplished in 2018.

January 2018

Clearly, those are 3 killer New Year resolutions. In January, Gaby and Joanna joined our team.

February 2018

Our engineering team made progress on building our mobile app in React. Colin joined in February.

March 2018

We launched our app in the App Store and Google Play! Will joined and Karthic celebrated his 2nd year at Self.

April 2018

Kelvin Pho, our VP engineering and Brian Vitone, our VP operations, both celebrated their 1 year anniversaries at Self. So lucky to have them on our team.

May 2018

We made some improvements to our app.

June 2018

Brett joined as our Chief Marketing Officer and Kristin, Matthew, Tim, Andy, Ally and Rob joined. We celebrated Reesa's 1-year anniversary.

July 2018

Jeff joined while David, Philip and Kshitija celebrated 1-year anniversaries.

August 2018

Tim got Google Analytics working the right way. Brandon celebrated his 1-year.

September 2018

1 million individual payments processed! James spoke at TechCrunch Disrupt and the CFPB's Credit Visibility Symposium. Kat celebrated her 1-year and Aziz joined. Thanks to Lead Bank for the sweet pen.

October 2018

Happy Halloween. Igor and Austin joined our team and we were included in Fintech 4 Good.

November 2018

We raised $10 million led by Altos Ventures and Silverton Partners. A few great angels, Kickstart Seed Fund and Accion Venture Lab joined in as well. Marketing team crushed November with our best month, ever. Allie, Jorge and Terii joined and we miss Jayadeep (pictured left).

December 2018

You can now open a Credit Builder Account and build credit right inside the app. Huge improvement to our app functionality.

Conclusion

I'm so thankful and frankly, incredibly lucky to have the support from you. Members, our shareholders and our killer team.

• Customers scores up 2.3 million points — our customers increased their credit scores by over 2.3 million points, as calculated via Experian VantageScore 3.0, from 2018 alone
• $100 million in accounts opened — we opened more than $100 million in credit builder accounts just in 2018
• Launched mobile app — designed, built and launched our mobile app in App Store and Google Play
• Grew from 17 to 31 employees — with all employees based in Austin, TX
• Raised $10mm in venture capital — led by from Altos Ventures and Silverton Partners. We were so grateful to have Kickstart Seed Fund, Accion Venture Lab and a handful of angel investors

If you’re interested in helping us help others build credit and save money, then come work with us! Visit our self careers or email us @ careers at self.inc.

About the author

James Garvey is the CEO and co-founder of Self Financial, a venture-backed startup that helps people build credit and save money.