Aaron Froug's goal was to turn the financing world on its head, delivering a "finance app that's everything but finance" while using boundary-pushing companies like Walt Disney World, Apple and Tesla as models.
"The best companies in the world go beyond the expectation of what they could be," Froug said. "So how can we create that in finance? It's taken a long time to build our brand, to figure out who we are, why we're doing this."
It was a big order for the then-24 year old, who started to launch Grifin in 2017, along with his two co-founders, Robin Froug and Bo Starr. The path was paved with the typical sweat and tears familiar in the entrepreneurial journey, but it also garnered national attention from the likes of Startup of the Year and Draper University.
"The entire concept [of investing with bankers is], 'You need us to do this' and there is a barrier where people feel they have to learn," Froug said. "The best way to truly learn is by doing. So, how can we just get people to do it? And then it became, 'What if we redefine what investing and saving meant' and changed what ownership meant and rebuilt the relationships with the consumer and the companies where they shop?"
The app uses patent-pending technology to invest $1 into fractional shares at public companies where the user shops, such as Amazon. For example, for every purchase spent on Amazon, $1 will be invested in Amazon stock. For money spent at non-public companies, $1 will still be deposited into an account that can later be invested in stocks and earn interest in the meantime.
The concept has taken off on both the consumer side and investor side. It won the University of South Florida's Daveler competition in 2017, won the prestigious Draper University Demo Day pitch competition in 2019 and most recently was among the top 15 startups at the 2020 Startups of the Year competition. In that same competition, Grifin took the People's Choice Award for best startup. It is also a member of Tampa innovation hub Embarc Collective.
The accolades, specifically after the Draper University win, allowed the company to springboard to nearly $2 million in funding. It next has an eye on a "large" Series A with an anticipated close by March.
"We were fortunate we had the investors who believed in us, to keep us going, at a time when people were taking a step back and we could put our heads down and accelerate," Froug said. "Covid has accelerated people's willingness to invest outside of traditional areas, and VC firms are understanding successful companies can be built from anywhere. And it would be very cool to raise a large Series A round in Tampa, as a Tampa company."
To become profitable, the Grifin team is exploring partnering with the public companies featured on its app, with a specific eye on Bloomin' Brands in Tampa, the parent company of Outback Steakhouse.
"It would be great to partner with someone literally across the street from us and that will help Tampa, too," Froug said. "We're creating a brand new generation of stockholders in their brand; we want to work with forward-thinking companies who care about their customer."
The company currently employs six full-time people, with the goal to have 25 by the end of next year.
"It literally feels like we're just beginning again; it was about, 'How can we create a product that people absolutely love?'" Froug said. "Now it's, 'How can we be an app that grows itself with a high retention rate and has people wanting to share with friends?' I want to create a profitable company people love and I see such crazy opportunity. No software company dominates the financial services industry. I believe we can."
