Podcast #75: Jean Smart of Penelope
On today’s episode, I sat down with Jean Smart, Founder & CEO of Penelope.
Penelope is the retirement savings platform for small businesses & entrepreneurs. Small is the key term; Penelope focuses on the smallest of the small businesses.
Penelope currently serves companies that have no more than 15 employees. A lot of these small firms are local mom-and-pop shops. One of the biggest barriers these companies face is finding and retaining talent.
Penelope offers them a chance to compete. Retirement accounts are one of the top asks from prospective employees. Having the chance to offer retirement savings helps level the playing field.
Jean and I discussed her journey to Penelope, her family’s immigrant journey, how Penelope designs content & education, do-it-yourself investing apps, risky asset classes like crypto, raising capital, and much more.
Episode highlights include:
- Jean’s professional journey to Penelope
- The biggest barriers SMBs face in trying to offer benefits
- Lessons learned from Schwab, TD Ameritrade, and others
- Language and education barriers
- Financial inclusion
- Changing the perception of SMBs
- Crypto
- Raising Capital
- And much more