Digital Banking Product for Children Under 16: Strategy, MVP and Launch Plan

American Express brings you in as an outside consultant. It wants a proposition that would make it the best bank for kids, and it asks you to do three things: set the strategy, design a product that can be built within six months, and explain how you would take it to market. The client sets two ground rules: 1. "Kids" means anyone younger than 16. Deciding which age range within that span to target is part of your job. 2. The offering has to be genuinely digital. As you work through it, show how you approached the problem and reached your recommendation. The client expects you to cover which product you would recommend and why, which customer segment it is aimed at and why, the product's high-level features and experience, and how you would measure whether it succeeds. ### Clarifying Questions - Which country or countries is this for? Rules on accounts for minors, children's data and marketing to children differ by market. - What is the primary business goal: winning future adult customers, deepening ties with today's cardmember families, or near-term revenue? - Can the product build on American Express's existing banking, card and app infrastructure, and does the six-month window need to include regulatory approvals? - Is the proposition only for families who already hold an American Express product, or open to anyone? ### Part 1 — Strategy and target age bracket Explain why winning children matters to American Express, what position it should aim for in this market, and which age bracket under 16 it should target first. ```hint Age changes the problem Across the under-16 span, who holds the money, whether the child has their own phone, and what the law allows you to offer all change. Compare brackets on those points before choosing. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - A strategic goal for American Express and its reasons to believe it can win against other kids' money options. - A comparison of age brackets on needs, independence, device access, regulation and long-term value. - A clear choice of bracket, with what is left out for now and why. ### Part 2 — The recommended product and its experience Recommend one product for the chosen segment and outline its main features and the experience for each user, keeping it fully digital and buildable within six months. ```hint Two users, one product A child's account is usually opened and funded by a parent. Ask what each of them needs and what a piggy bank, a cash allowance or the parent's own banking app fails to give them. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - The product concept and the specific unmet need it solves for the child and for the parent. - A minimum feature set that fits six months, and what is deliberately cut. - Parental controls, safety and compliance designed into the experience. ### Part 3 — Go-to-market Explain how you would launch the product and win its first customers. ```hint Who you can reach Marketing directly to children is restricted in many places. Think about which existing relationships and moments already put you in front of the parents you need. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - The launch audience and channels, consistent with limits on marketing to minors. - Sequencing from pilot to broad launch, and the hook that drives the first sign-ups. - Any partnerships, and how they support a digital-only offering. ### Part 4 — Measuring success Define how you would tell whether the product is succeeding. ```hint Beyond sign-ups Account openings show interest, not success. Which behavior would show that children are building habits and that families are staying? ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - A north-star metric tied to the strategic goal from Part 1. - Supporting metrics for adoption, engagement and economics, for both parent and child. - Guardrails covering safety, fraud, complaints and cost. ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A visible, structured path from goal to segment, needs, solution options, recommendation and metrics. - Consistency: segment, product, channels and metrics all reinforce one strategy. - Realism about the six-month build and the digital-only rule, including what is cut to fit. - Treatment of the parent and the child as two distinct users with different needs. - Awareness of regulation and safety for minors' accounts, data and marketing. ### Follow-up Questions - A year after launch, many children stop opening the app once the novelty fades. What would you change? - How would your recommendation differ if the product had to be profitable in its first year instead of being a long-term acquisition play? - What would you build in the six months after launch, and how would you decide?