MyBetterRates — Strategic Plan v2 (2026-07-09)
Section titled “MyBetterRates — Strategic Plan v2 (2026-07-09)”Companion: SWOT-Report (same date). Predecessor idea inventory: Filter+Focus. The 2026-04-03 technical phase plan is preserved and updated in the Product Workstream appendix below.
Mission (unchanged)
Section titled “Mission (unchanged)”Help Canadians Benefit Financially F.A.S.T. from better rates on savings and debts — and fund cancer research with at least 50% of all profits (Cancer50Pledge).
North Star for the next 12 months: 100 delighted users, 1 anchor partnership, first referral revenue flowing — before the Chilton and open-banking windows close.
Situation (July 2026, honest)
Section titled “Situation (July 2026, honest)”Built and running: rate intelligence engine (17 scrapers / 98 products / 43 institutions, daily, tested, anomaly-gated), hassle threshold engine (built, unwired), referral engine (built, test mode), benefit-snapshot widget (live), ops dashboard (live), rates table (live at mbr-site.pages.dev/rates).
Missing: users, revenue, live custom domain, alert delivery, any initiated partnership conversation. All top-ranked relationship rocks (Chilton #6, Wealthsimple #12, brokers #14) untouched since April.
Diagnosis: the constraint is market contact, not product. The plan below is deliberately a subtraction plan.
Core Strategy — three bets, everything else deferred
Section titled “Core Strategy — three bets, everything else deferred”- The Wedge: savings-rate alerts with the personalized “Worth It” threshold and a radically simple offer. One free promise (“We’ll tell you when switching is worth it — fewer than 3 alerts a year”), one paid promise later. Debt-side (mortgage renewal) is wedge #2 once #1 has users.
- The Distribution Bet: partnerships and centres of influence — never ongoing content marketing. Chilton, Wealthsimple, TFF, advisor network, then one WealthCare 50 corporate anchor. One-off media set-pieces (RRSP-season data report, podcast appearances) are allowed; recurring content commitments are not.
- The Mission Brand: Cancer50Pledge as the structurally uncopyable differentiator, launched with Founding Pledgers (Chilton as #1 target) — not as a side project but as the door-opener for every partnership conversation.
Value-migration principle (answer to the AI question): rate information commoditizes; mBR’s durable value = verified live data (sellable to AI assistants as API), trusted execution, distribution relationships, and the pledge. Build accordingly.
The Not-Doing List (explicit, until North Star is hit)
Section titled “The Not-Doing List (explicit, until North Star is hit)”Deferred by default — revisit only at quarterly Filter+Focus refresh:
- Insurance vertical (watch-and-prepare; CSIO rails ~2027)
- Browser extension, Financial IQ Score, Net Worth Thermometer
- Full 1-Click concierge / KYC Stage 3–4 (Stage 1 pre-filled forms only)
- US market, B2B Rate Intelligence API buildout (keep as pitch line only)
- myBetter Sprints / Wizards / Money Minutes as products (ideas bank only)
- Most WealthCare 50 tracks (healthcare, teachers, faith, alumni, pharma) — until ONE anchor corporate/association pilot exists
- New scraper categories (coverage is already ahead of demand)
- myMBR-OS Layer 3+ / CRM implementation / QB Online migration
Rule: anything not in the three rocks below requires displacing something that is.
90-Day Plan (Jul 9 → Oct 9, 2026) — three rocks
Section titled “90-Day Plan (Jul 9 → Oct 9, 2026) — three rocks”Rock 1 — Chilton + partnership sprint (Talbot-led; Claude drafts)
Section titled “Rock 1 — Chilton + partnership sprint (Talbot-led; Claude drafts)”The perishable asset. Target: proposal in Chilton’s hands by end of July.
- Chilton proposal: Cancer50Pledge Founding Signatory #1 + light advisory role framed for a retiring legend (legacy, low time, mission). Include the survival-math story and the GIC-brokerage origin echo (his own first business).
- Wealthsimple affiliate application (also first revenue rail — overlaps Rock 3)
- 3–5 Founding Pledger invites from existing network (Bernie, Jeff, Peacehold founder, …)
- 1 Lunch & Learn pilot booked with a warm corporate contact (W50A seed)
- Kill criterion: if Chilton declines, the pledge launches with whoever is #1 — the program does not wait.
Rock 2 — Minimum public product (Claude-led; Talbot approves)
Section titled “Rock 2 — Minimum public product (Claude-led; Talbot approves)”Make the business visible and contactable. Target: live by end of August.
- Fix the export/deploy “pending” gap in the daily cron — data trust is non-negotiable (day-1 item)
- mybetterrates.com live on the real domain: rate table + benefit snapshot + origin story + Cancer50Pledge + email capture (D1/KV provisioning)
- Wire hassle engine → email alert delivery (Resend/SendGrid) for the free promise
- Recruit mBR Inner Circle: 10–25 real users from personal network; their behavior answers the pricing/threshold/trust questions Joe raised
- Collapse the offer: free Worth-It alerts. Paid tier parked until Inner Circle data justifies a price.
Rock 3 — First revenue proof (Claude-led)
Section titled “Rock 3 — First revenue proof (Claude-led)”- Fintel Connect + Impact.com applications filed (week 1–2)
- Referral engine out of test mode; one live tracked conversion (own/family accounts count)
- Commission → Cancer50Pledge ledger entry demonstrated end-to-end (the story: “first dollar, first donation”)
- Commission the 3 legal opinions (Split-Cart/CRA, guarantee liability, NI 31-103) — cheap insurance that becomes a trust signal
Weekly cadence: every Monday, one sentence per rock in STATUS.md. A week with no Rock 1 movement is a red flag by definition.
12-Month Arc
Section titled “12-Month Arc”| Quarter | Theme | Set-pieces |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | The three rocks above | Chilton proposal; site live; first referral fee |
| Q4 2026 | First 100 users + pledge launch | Cancer50Pledge.ca Phase B with Founding Pledgers wall; TFF conversation + Nov–Dec matching window; prep RRSP-season data report; 2–3 podcast one-offs |
| Q1 2027 | RRSP-season authority moment | ”Canadian Savings Rate Gap Report” pitched to Carrick/Globe; mortgage-renewal wedge live (broker referral MVP: 5–10 certified client-first brokers); first W50A corporate pilot |
| Q2 2027 | Monetization + open-banking readiness | Paid tier priced from Inner Circle data; Stage-2 KYC; open-banking technical positioning; decide on Rate Intelligence API (AI-assistant supply) |
Revenue Model (launch-simple; full model in Revenue-Models)
Section titled “Revenue Model (launch-simple; full model in Revenue-Models)”Now (validate): affiliate referral fees — banking CPA $20–$100, credit cards $50–$300, mortgage leads $30–$150 (CPL), broker channel later ($3k–$7.2k per funded mortgage = the 9x prize). Next (price from data): Guaranteed-Benefit subscription (~$99/yr, guarantee mechanics only after legal opinion). Later: performance-fee concierge (capped $199), W50A PEPM ($3–$5), Rate Intelligence API ($99–$499/mo). Always: ≥50% of profits → Cancer50Pledge, publicly tracked.
Success Metrics & Kill Criteria
Section titled “Success Metrics & Kill Criteria”| Metric | 90-day target | 12-month target |
|---|---|---|
| Partnership conversations initiated | 5+ (Chilton in July) | 1 anchor signed |
| Real users (Inner Circle → public) | 10–25 | 100 delighted |
| Referral revenue | first dollar | recurring monthly |
| Founding Pledgers | 3 | 15+ |
| Data pipeline integrity | export/deploy green daily | unbroken |
Kill/pivot criteria (honesty clause): if by Q1 2027 there are <25 engaged users and zero partnership traction despite executed outreach, the consumer-B2C wedge is wrong — re-center on B2B (W50A / data API) where the founder’s network is strongest. Cheap to test, cheap to admit.
Governance
Section titled “Governance”- Quarterly:
/filter-focus-refreshre-rank; update this plan’s rocks - Weekly: STATUS.md one-liner per rock (Monday)
- Doc hygiene: SWOT-Report and this plan are the strategy SSOT pair; Weaknesses/Threats item files remain as detail; empty Identity stubs (Competitive Analysis, Strengths, Team) retired or filled — no half-documents
- Decision log: continues in Filter+Focus Key Decision Log
Appendix — Product Workstream (updated from 2026-04-03 plan)
Section titled “Appendix — Product Workstream (updated from 2026-04-03 plan)”| Phase | Content | Status |
|---|---|---|
| A — Rate Intelligence | scrapers, SQLite, exports, widget | ✅ complete (expanded 2026-06-18: 98 products/43 institutions) |
| A→B — Live site + alerts | mybetterrates.com, hassle-engine wiring, email delivery, Cancer50Pledge Phase B | 🔶 NOW = Rock 2 |
| B — Action loop | referral engine live, Split-Cart receipts, Stage-1 transfer forms, push notifications | next (Rock 3 starts it) |
| C — Financial intelligence | Financial IQ, Net Worth Thermometer, Concierge v2 | deferred (Not-Doing list) |
| D — Passive surveillance | browser extension | deferred |
Tech decisions unchanged: Python+uv+curl_cffi/Playwright, SQLite insert-only, Astro (site) in monorepo, SvelteKit (apps), Cloudflare Pages, pnpm. Email provider to be selected in Rock 2 (Resend or SendGrid).
Feedback
Section titled “Feedback”- Mission
- use SSOT from D:\FSS\KB\MBR\Strategy\Identity\Mission.md
- Very honest and valuable feedback, highlighting gap on market validation and iterating on minimal viable product. This is one of my weaknesses and high impact area for improvement. See Progress Acceleration
- I agree with the top three biggest rocks as well. However there is additional context that was not fully disclosed that relates to all three of these … the overdue updating of my core business website, talbotstevens.com.