Hey Nancy

My wife manages a million-dollar operation — our family — with zero salary and 47 open tabs. So we built her an AI CFO disguised as a grandma.

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Inspiration

My co-founder Ron and I are two dads who spent years watching our wives carry the invisible weight of running a family — the schedules, the meal planning, the "did I forget something" anxiety at 2am. We kept saying "just tell me what to do," not realizing that telling us was another job.

That guilt led us to build Hey Nancy — an AI companion designed to lighten the mental load for moms. When we saw Rebecca's brief, it hit close to home. Her followers aren't asking for another budgeting spreadsheet. They're busy mums who are short on time and knowledge, wanting practical help with everyday money decisions — where to shop, what meals actually cost, how to stretch what they have. That's not a finance problem. That's a mental load problem wearing a financial hat.

We realized Nancy — our warm, no-judgment AI grandma — was the perfect fit. Not a calculator. A knowledgeable friend who's already done the research, so mums don't have to.

What We Built

Hey Nancy is an AI chat companion that gives busy mums instant, personalized financial guidance — the way a wise friend would, not the way a banking app would.

Instead of dashboards and pie charts, mums just talk to Nancy:

  • "I need to feed my family of 4 for the week on £50" → Nancy builds a meal plan with a shopping list sorted by store, totaling £47.
  • "Is it cheaper to batch cook or buy ready meals?" → Nancy breaks down the real cost comparison with their family size in mind.
  • "I have £200 saved, what should I do with it?" → Nancy walks them through beginner-friendly options without jargon or judgment.

Nancy remembers context, speaks like a human, and never makes mums feel bad about where they're starting from. She's the help they deserved but never had.

How We Built It

We're an iOS-first team — I bring 15 years of iOS development experience and Ron handles the backend. The app is built natively in Swift and SwiftUI, with the AI conversation powered by Claude's API on the backend.

We intentionally skipped the traditional onboarding flow. No 10-screen setup, no account creation wall. The app opens and you're immediately talking to Nancy. She learns about you through the conversation — family size, goals, biggest money stress — the way a real person would. Your first message is your onboarding.

The conversational UI was a deliberate choice. Rebecca's audience doesn't want to learn another app. They want to ask a question and get an answer. Nancy delivers that.

What We Learned

The biggest lesson was staying disciplined about solving Rebecca's actual brief versus building our dream product. Early on, we went deep on mindset and emotional transformation around money. It felt important. But when we re-read Rebecca's words — "where they should shop, how they could batch cook, what certain meals cost" — we realized her followers need tactical, immediate value first. Trust comes from solving today's problem, not promising tomorrow's transformation.

We also learned that the AI companion model changes everything about engagement. Mums don't "open an app" — they "ask Nancy." That shift from tool to relationship is what makes this sticky.

Challenges

Keeping it simple was the hardest part. The temptation to add meal planners, savings trackers, investment dashboards, and community features was constant. We kept coming back to one question: does this respect a busy mum's time, or does it steal more of it? If it added complexity, it got cut.

Tone was surprisingly difficult. Financial apps tend to sound either clinical ("Your spending exceeded your budget by 12%") or patronizing ("Great job saving £3!"). Nancy needed to sound like a warm, competent friend — never robotic, never condescending. Getting that voice right in the AI prompts took more iteration than any feature.

Balancing saving vs. investing. Rebecca's brief covers both, but they're fundamentally different conversations. A mum asking "how do I feed my kids cheaper" is in a different headspace than one asking "how do I grow my savings." Nancy needed to meet each mum exactly where she is, without assuming.

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