HerVest

Money made simple, for women taking charge.

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Inspiration

Last year, my mom’s best friend, a homemaker for 20 years, suddenly had to handle her family’s finances after her husband passed away. She didn’t know how to open an online bank account, let alone plan for the future. When she searched for help online, everything felt cold, technical, and intimidating. She told me, “I feel stupid asking these questions — everyone assumes I should already know.”

That conversation hit me hard. No one should feel ashamed to learn how to manage money — especially during life’s most vulnerable moments. So we built HerVest, a safe, judgment-free space where women can grow their financial confidence step by step.

What it does

HerVest is an AI-powered mentor and community that teaches financial basics to women re-entering money decisions — whether after raising a family, a divorce, or becoming widowed.

Personal AI tutor that explains money concepts in plain, friendly language.

Gamified lessons that turn budgeting and saving into interactive challenges.

Anonymous community Q&A so women can ask anything without fear of being judged.

It’s not about fancy investing. It’s about building confidence — because confident women make stronger financial choices.

How we built it

Frontend: React with a mobile-first design to make it accessible anywhere.

Backend: Firebase for rapid prototyping and real-time updates.

AI: GPT-powered chatbot fine-tuned with prompts to speak like a warm mentor, not a textbook.

Gamification: Simple badge and streak system to reward progress.

UI Design: Clean, approachable visuals inspired by community feedback from women’s finance forums.

We spent the first day interviewing potential users online to ensure our tone felt welcoming and human, then rapidly built a clickable prototype and a working chatbot.

Challenges we ran into

Tone was everything. Early on, the chatbot sounded too “robotic.” Women told us it felt cold — so we reworked prompts until it felt like chatting with a trusted friend.

Information overload. Finance is complex. We had to strip lessons down to the essentials without oversimplifying or being inaccurate.

Time pressure. Balancing real user feedback with building fast was tough — but it made our MVP sharper.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We went from idea to a functional prototype in under a week.

Early testers (including two homemakers we spoke to) said: “This is the first time money talk didn’t scare me.”

We built not just an app — but a safe space. That’s rare in finance education.

What we learned

Empathy drives better design. Listening to real stories changed everything about our tone, UI, and feature set.

Simplicity wins. People don’t want jargon — they want clear steps.

Community matters. Learning money skills is easier when you’re not alone.

What’s next for HerVest

Expand modules to cover retirement planning, debt management, and inheritance basics.

Partner with NGOs and women’s empowerment programs to reach real users fast.

Add voice mode for users who prefer learning by listening rather than reading.

Launch beta testing with 100 women in different life stages to refine content and tone.

Our vision is to turn HerVest into the Duolingo of financial confidence for women worldwide — planting knowledge, harvesting independence.

Built With

  • framer-motion
  • lucide-react
  • radix-ui
  • react-18
  • react-hook-form
  • react-query
  • react-router
  • recharts
  • supabase
  • tailwind-css
  • typescript
  • vercel
  • vite
  • zod
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