Hardbacon launched in 2017 to target the self-directed investor with some content, but more focus on its app, which connects to bank accounts, so can be used for portfolio tracking. It hoped to have a subscription model, but it was a hard sell during the pandemic since the banks were focused on pivoting to sustain their business and Brault said most individuals didn’t know how to invest in the stock market, which was a problem for the app.
The company has since switched to a lead-generation business, where it has content to attract traffic, but receives referral fees from financial institutions and brokers for the leads it provides. That’s become a more predominant model for those groups, which relied on traditional customer acquisition channels pre-pandemic.
“We’ve tried so many things over the years, and a lot of things have changed,” said Brault. “But we’ve just switched one word in our mission. Before, it was to help people make better investment decisions. Now, it’s to make better financial decisions. So, it’s still the same mission. So, every time we launch a new product or do a new partnership, we ask ourselves the question: ‘does it help people make better financial decisions?’ If the answer is no, then we don’t do it.”
Hardbacon is beefing up its insurance vertical and planning to provide more content for small and medium-sized businesses that don’t have a CFO, so the entrepreneur is making the financial decisions. That includes information on business credit cards, bank accounts, and financing options.
“I’m confident we’ve found a scalable business model, but I still feel we’re at the very beginning,” said Brault. He says Hardbacon is number two in the market, but wants to be number one in Canada before beginning to expand to other countries, both of which he hopes will happen next year.
