• sgslo 10 days ago
    Congrats on the release.

    From your footer:

    >> Our income as a business relies on affiliate marketing.

    Regrettably, this kills the trustworthiness of your reviews. I can't trust that you're recommending the best product, only that you're recommending products that earn you money.

    Hey, I get it, you want your site to generate some revenue. Perhaps there's a middle ground? Could you provide more objective analysis on why you're recommending each service?

    • Halimah 9 days ago
      Thank you!

      Also from the homepage: >> Discover what others say about a financial product or service before committing to it. Our Reviews section also gives you a full breakdown of each product or service, answers to FAQs, and alternatives to each product.


      I don't write the reviews. Users do. I only go a step further than Trustpilot by providing a detailed breakdown of the available services and answers to FAQs. I try to make the site as independent and unbiased as possible. In the future, the results of the Reviews pages will inform some of what goes into the "recommendation" tables.

      Currently, I use data from Trustpilot and other reviews sites to select the top picks. I also consider pricing, number of services on offer, availability of mobile and web apps, relevance to the under-35s, etc.

      I hope this makes sense.

    • Halimah 10 days ago
      The average young adult in the UK has to visit about three websites - Money Saving Expert, Reddit, and Trustpilot to find enough information to make a decision on what financial platform to use or product to buy.

      Every year, Google receives about 840,000 queries for "best savings accounts" in the UK alone. And there are many more queries like this. I am building Koody as a hub of information to help young people make smart financial decisions.

      I am aware that the journey ahead is still far, but I am happy with the progress I've made.

      I launched Koody on HN in August last year. Back then, I didn't understand the scale of the problem or how best to solve it. In the last three months, I have overhauled the entire website and watched people actually use it to make decisions.

      I am presenting Koody to HN today to get feedback and suggestions on how to make it better and more useful for the under-35s.

      • fiftyacorn 7 days ago
        Well done on launch

        I think monevator is about the best investing blog for passive investment and Pension advice

      • antiterra 10 days ago
        Doesn't having a hard upper age limit unnecessarily restrict your audience? Does the advice suddenly become irrelevant on your 35th birthday? If you're 34, are these tools waning in effectiveness?
        • Halimah 9 days ago
          No, the advice does not suddenly become irrelevant on your 35th birthday.

          The writing style, presentation and tools recommended are optimised for the younger generation. This does not mean people who are 35+ can't use the service.

          In fact, a little above 60% of the website's traffic comes directly from search engines. Less than 10% of these users make it to the homepage. They have no idea the website is designed for the under-35s, and they use it still.

          The tools are relevant for everyone. It's just much easier to focus on one or two age groups now rather than everyone.

        • mlac 10 days ago
          Any plans to extend it to the US?
          • Halimah 9 days ago
            Yes, very much so. Once I've sufficiently validated the idea in the UK, I plan to extend it to the US.