How Accrue Savings Disrupted BNPL

Picture this: you're an ambitious entrepreneur with a brilliant idea to transform the world of online shopping. You want to empower consumers to save for their purchases instead of burying them in debt. You've even got a catchy name for it, "Save Now, Pay Later," which turns the idea of BNPL on its head.

Meet Michael Hershfield, the founder of Accrue Savings. Hershfield believed that if merchants genuinely cared about their customers, they needed to offer payment options that didn't rack up debt.

His vision was simple: Embed a free, FDIC-insured savings account at the retailer's checkout, allowing shoppers to save money toward specific purchase goals—incentivizing saving with cash rewards from participating merchants.

The only missing piece of the puzzle? An elite engineering team to kickstart Hershfield's vision to life. That's where A.Team came in, with their expertise in banking technology and a roster of talented product builders. Although Hershfield expanded his team quickly after his seed, A-team were the first engineers and designers in house, and help rapidly get the product up and running.

In the latest episode of Build Different, we look at how Accrue Savings' rise to become one of the hottest apps in fintech.