Nathalia Arcuri has built more than an ecosystem that talks about finance with 25 million Brazilians in an uncomplicated and at the same time highly solid way. She has built an organization driven by values and purpose. Ahead of Me Poupe, which started as a YouTube channel seven years ago, it brings content distributed through websites, social networks, courses, books, TV and radio programs and will now launch an app. “To change people’s financial behavior and make it accessible to 100% of the Brazilian population,” she said. His direct, humorous and editorially independent style appeals to all audiences. With a degree in journalism, she went on to study financial education, behavioral economics, planning in finance, neuroeconomics… she gave up an ascending career in TV and launched Me Poupe. All to play her project of giving “financial freedom to people”. In this interview, she summarized her ideas.
MONEY — You say you started looking at finance at age 7. What’s in Me Poupe’s DNA about this story?
NATHALIA ARCURI — Much. I was born in 1985. So, when I was about 7 years old, it was the height of inflation. I got home and asked my parents if I had money to put in savings accounts and buy a car. My parents said no. They have always been a “grow and show” policy. There I decided that I needed to save my money.
Not every child would react like that…
We need to model a little bit on how parents can talk about money with children. There is a fear of saying no, fear of traumatizing the children. I tell in my first book [Me Poupe!, Editora Sextante, 2018] that the best gift my parents could have given me was that no. They would say, “Was it the best student in the class? She has done no more than her duty.” I wanted a doll, a prize, not an answer like “I’m already paying for school, your obligation is to do well”. But that for me was always positive.
And how did you start dealing with money?
I remember the day when the money kept, in a wallet, in a piggy bank, which for me was a lump of money, was suddenly worthless. Turned into a collectible in my drawer [antes de completar 10 anos, ela viveu sob sete planos econômicos: Cruzado 1 (1986), Cruzado 2 (1986), Bresser (1987), Verão (1989), Collor I (1990), Collor II (1991) e Real (1994)]. Then I had that epiphany, a big decision in my life, and I started taking care of my money. With the real, I started to save what was left of the snack, and on Christmas and birthday, instead of gifts, I asked for money… good rate, right? Would have been the richest child that ever lived [risos].
Is the child of yesterday the entrepreneur of today?
I always did math, even when I went to study journalism. It was very clear in my head how much I needed to buy the car at 18, the first apartment at 23, in cash with a 15% discount…
But for young people, at the time of university, it is necessary to give up many things.
That’s exactly what people have a hard time doing. the trade off [a escolha de algo em detrimento de outra opção]. The trade off of the present in relation to the future. I started to create mental mechanisms to understand how much what I wanted from the present was actually relevant.
Which investment have you never given up?
On education. It has always been essential for me. I never gave up.
This allowed him to dive into the world of finance at a high level, even giving up a good job. How it was?
Earned well, but worked unhappy [fez carreira no SBT e na Record].
Was that when you decided to have a finance program on open TV?
Yup. I thought of a reality show with people in debt becoming investors in four weeks. I suggested it in 2012. They liked the idea so much… but they gave it to someone else to do.
Today you talk to 25 million people. How is this audience divided?
The broadest, YouTube, Instagram and other social networks, is 55% female. In the universe of students, 80% are women. And within courses, we have a much more class A cut. In the Desfudência Journey, which has 85 thousand students, 55% are postgraduates.
Can you measure the effectiveness of courses?
When I created the Jornada da Desfudência, I brought in two researchers from USP to model an impact research. I wanted to measure an increase in income, a decrease in indebtedness, a decrease in related diseases, such as depression, anxiety, headache… I’m crazy about numbers, so I wanted to have this cause & effect thing.
Me Poupe will launch an app in October. What it is?
It comes from our pain. We have very good free content, with much of what is in the paid content. But the average audience has a hard time curating their own content. That’s why we also went to this world of courses. The more I studied behavior, the more I understood that sometimes people have to pay to see value and put it into practice.
What started to exclude part of the population, precisely the ones without money and without training?
Yup. So I need a kind of product that has all this behavior change capability. That it is accessible to 100% of the Brazilian population, or at least to the banked population with internet access.
And what will the app be like?
It’s a journey where we use machine learning and artificial intelligence so that we can personalize interactions. Saying where to get the money from, where to send it, help to think about expenses by categories.
How can I have you by my side all the time?
That. Everything I teach. With the app, the person will no longer need to be financially educated, it will be naturally.
Will you do operations? Like, throw R$100 here at the Treasury, or real estate funds?
The investor will only allow me. He won’t do anything else. It is the law of least effort in a product made to change human life. It will be impactful.
How will the remuneration be made?
We will win if he wins.
Just it?
I am not offering spread products. There will be a card, but there will be no credit function. Let’s work only with the resource that the person has. And it will be a gamified experience, designed to change not only people’s relationship with money but with the entire financial market.
Save me becomes a bank?
It’s better than that, because we’re not going to be a bank. Bank translates into credit products. We will be directly linked to Open Finance. Something that no one in the financial market wants, because they know the risk they run when opening the data. As we will only win if the app user wins, we will be on the person’s side. Transform each into its own bank.
In a LinkedIn post, you say that your company doesn’t want to be a unicorn. “I pressed the F [para isso]… My company would make a profit on D+0 not on D+ God knows when.”
Last year, our revenue was R$80 million and the margin was close to 40%. For this year, the projection is R$ 100 million. Because of investments, this year’s margin should be 16%. In addition to the app, I invested a lot in the staff, in bringing in people of a very high level. I realized that there was a lack of interlocutors [são cerca de 135 colaboradores]. The investment in the app is all ours. We already have 400,000 people on the waiting list, so it will be worth much more at launch, and it’s 100% mine.
What is your decisive question when hiring?
The higher the level, the more evidence that it has already been done. Less and less I look at analytical profiles and more and more at strategic and operational profiles. One question I ask everyone is: “What defines a good day at work for you?”.
Do you plan an IPO?
Today it wouldn’t make sense. I always think things need to make sense. We are defining our plan for 2025, so there may be a need to raise funds from there. But at this point not yet.
This also goes through an obvious point, which are your personal values, right?
Yes, we talk about it all the time. I never allowed even bank sponsorship. This is a selection that we are making. There is a list of impact venture capital, mostly from outside Brazil, that would converge with what I believe.
You recently stated that we live in a country that abuses us very macroeconomically. What needs to change?
We have a culture of immediacy and it’s not just the population. It starts with decision makers and a financial ecosystem as a whole, including for most companies. This culture of immediacy sustains the economy. It’s a systemic problem. Okay, there was deflation in July. But don’t forget that inflation is almost 5% for the year and more than 7% by the end of the year — and I’m not that optimistic. Let’s look at our tax burden. It’s very cool to say that GDP is growing more than others, economic recovery, government cash and everything else when a third of GDP comes from tax revenues. And the higher the prices, the more money comes in. This is short term.
With long-term effects…
Yes, because it is something that erodes the ability to grow.
What led you to create your ecosystem?
At an important moment at the beginning of Me Poupe I saw a report on domestic violence. Most women in this situation cannot get out of the relationship because of financial dependence. I said, “I need to dedicate the rest of my life to making more and more people have this sense of freedom that I have.” And everything I’ve done since has been anchored in that mission.
Have you left your legacy?
I work to leave that legacy of freedom. People are not free until they have control over their financial lives and their own desires. I hear a lot on Me Poupe that we gave people back hope. People who tell us that “I couldn’t dream anymore, now I know I can”. That’s freedom.
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