Partnership Led Growth | smallcase I Sumana

Choose your product

Product: smallcase

PMF: Achieved

Type of company: Fintech platform

Industry: Financial services

Primary use case of products: Retail investing on stocks, MFs, ETFs and smallcases (tailor-made by smallcase based on theme or sector)

Understand the problem

Context: Smallcase wants to drive partnerships with IFAs (Independent Financial Advisors) and MFDs (Mutual Fund Distributors) for the distribution of embedded investment and credit products.

Problem statement: Low adoption of smallcase in Mutual Fund investing by retail investors. Objectively, the problem lies with discovery of MF investing with smallcase's existing users who are already buying stocks and smallcases on the platform. Also, acquiring new users who are interested in MFs exclusively.

Goal:

Onboard and engage IFAs and MFDa as key partners contributing to smallcase's user growth (Acquisition)
Enable these partners to upsell users across their offerings (Engagement & Retention)

Litmus test

(Understand if you're ready for a partnership. If yes, provide reasons for it)

Issue at hand	smallcase POV	Partnership required?	To solve
Demand Gap	Struggling to attract investors who have low risk appetite, interested in MF SIP/lump-sum investing	Yes	discovery
Retention Gap	70% of smallcase investors can invest more in MF if they have more learning opportunities to make informed decisions	Yes	retention, upsell
Adoption Gap	First-time investors need reasons to trust smallcase with their investing needs	Yes	discovery, trust

Identify the ICPs to be impacted with partnerships

ICPs	ICP 1	ICP 2	ICP 3
Status	MF investor with other brokerage firms	Not invested yet. Learning mode.	smallcase user but apprehensive to invest more
Age	28-35	22-30	28-40
Gender	All	All	All
Cities	Metro, Tier 2	Metro, Tier 2, 3	Metro, Tier 2, 3
Job Title	Assistant Manager/Manager/Senior Manager	Account Executive/entry level positions	Mid senior, leadership positions
salaries	15-30LPA	8-15LPA	20-50 LPA
employment+work experience	10-15 years, full-time roles	5-8 years, full-time roles	> 10 years, full time roles
Purchases/expensive belongings	car, phone	phone, laptop	car, phone, laptop for kids
Goal	Wealth creation, break into leadership roles	Investing habit formation, promotions in job	Invests, low rise appetite, 1 MF, portfolio of 5 legacy stocks
Daily habits	Newspaper, podcasts, chats with colleagues and boss	podcasts, audiobooks, books, chats with friends and colleagues	podcasts, audiobooks, books, chats with friends and colleagues
Apps on phone	Whatsapp, Slack, Dailyhunt, Groww, smallcase	Whatsapp, Slack, Discord, Spotify, Groww, smallcase	Whatsapp, Slack, Dailyhunt, Groww, smallcase
GTM goal	acquisition	acquisition	retention

ICP 1: Already investing in MFs via other brokerage firms such as Groww. They are not aware of smallcase as a trusted platform for investing.

ICP 2: Learning about MFs and stocks and other investment products. Does not want to risk too much funds while investing for the first time. Has earmarked a sum of money from their monthly salary for investing.

ICP 3: smallcase user but does not trust smallcase to make bolder investments

Identify the right type of partnership

It has already been established that smallcase wants to partner with IFAs and MFDs to distribute embedded investment products.

a. IFAs or Individual Financial Advisors are those who

advise clients on safe and secure investment opportunities
play role in shaping clients' portfolios (mix of MFs, stocks, ETFs, smallcases/ large cap or mid cap or small cap/ high growth investments/tax-saving investments etc)
reports on performance and suggests strategies, tweaks basis new market opportunities
are always abreast of market trends
charges commission from investors

b. MFDs or Mutual Fund Distributors are those who

educations investors about MFs
facilitates transactions and provides ongoing support
gets commissions from the AMCs (Asset Mgmt Companies) and not necessarily investors

Type of partnership - Channel partnership where MFDs and IFAs play the role of consultants to smallcase users.

Identify the right partner

Partner prioritisation framework

Goal alignment

Common goals are educating investors, increasing intent to invest, promoting MFs as a safe and secure investment product

Brand value alignment

- IFAs and MFDs would benefit from smallcase's existing brand value among the youth. Roping in young investors will result in increased recurring revenue as commissions

- Onboarding IFAs and MFDs would position smallcase as a trusted brand

Will this partnership increase the perceived value of smallcase's brand?

- the partnership improves user experience for smallcase users as they get better resources and consultations on platform

- it encourages smallcase users to invest in MFs ( type based on risk appetite and wallet size)

Reaching out to your partner

Factors to consider before selecting partner POC at the partner's end:

POC should have high intent to make the partnership successful. Clearly address the following challenges IFAs are facing and how smallcase could make their lives easier

Challenges faced by IFAs	A. Smallcase is a vertical SaaS tool meant to provide digital solutions to IFAs. Following are the key benefits:
too much operational work	analyse and manage client profiles and portfolios
too many client queries to handle	review investment performance
no consolidation of client information and reports under one roof	safe and secure payment methods
	online application and compliance forms
	B. Features of special access to smallcase's Partner Program:
	access to AMCs
	one-time empanelment to access all AMCs and their investment products. IFAs will be able to sell any mutual fund scheme tailored to the investor's interest.
	no time-consuming process of negotiating commission and brokerage from each AMC individually
	big bucket of investment products to attract a lot of investors
	co-branding activities with smallcase to establish IFA's own brand

Who the right POC is. In case of a MFD, connecting with members from their partnerships team or someone who can get buy-in internally or the leader who is driving revenue for the company would help.
In case of IFA, reaching out to them in person at offline events/conferences would help in establishing a fruitful relationship.
Understand who are smallcase's competitors that the potential partners have already partnered with. Identify gaps in their services towards the IFAs and MFDs and reach out to them targeting those aspects

Plan your GTM

Goal: Partner with IFAs and MFDs to make investing easier and more well-informed for existing users of smallcase(retention is a goal) and acquire new users(acquisition is a goal)

Users:

ICP 1 - MF investor with other brokerage firms

ICP 2 - Not invested yet. Learning mode.

ICP 3 - smallcase user but apprehensive to invest more

Pitch:

Primary pitch by smallcase -- 'Smallcase has partnered with the top 20 MFDs in India (by AUM) together we wish to provide more learning about the market, investment opportunities, risk involved and ways to cut risks all the while creating wealth long-term.'

Channel strategy:

Affiliate programs - IFAs can act as affiliates and promote smallcase's investment products to their own clients. For every new user sent their way, smallcase will give a flat commission/ % of the fees earned to the IFA.
Targeting Blogs and Publicity - Hiring experienced ghostwriters (in the financial space) to write about smallcase's MF offerings in partnership with the top MFDs in India can boost organic traffic to smallcase's website and contribute the SEO goals. Another layer - email newsletter on financial instruments, market trends, guest posts by the onboarded IFAs can eventually result bottom of the funnel conversions since only interested people would sign up for the newsletter

a. Feature this partnership in niche finance blogs to drive interest among people who have an understanding about investing, are already investing or about to invest soon. e.g Money Tap, JagoInvestor, Basunivesh, ApnaPlan, Money Control etc

b. Once niche media outlets and blogs start publishing the story, it will be easier to get attention from big media outlets such as Economic Times, Indian Express and the like.

SEO - easiest way to create your own backlinks is create landing page blogs on key topics searched by people who are searching for finance news and market trends.
Offline events/Speaking engagements - Get in touch with event organizers and find events that will align with our needs i.e amass attention from retail investors, potential investors. Also, rather than telling event organisers what smallcase wants to talk about, best tactic would be to get an understanding of the audience profile at any event and the broad topics that the audience would want to listen to. Tailoring your speech based on that will work the best. If the partner IFA can speak at events or it is something that they do, ensure smallcase partnership is always mentioned.