💰Why teaching Gen Alpha about money is a goldmine

Happy New Year!

Welcome back, friends! Two weeks ago y’all voted on our 2024 trend predictions. The winners are in: 

🥇 AI video tools: 53%

🥈 Anything with a human touch: 44% 

Despite the tug-of-war of AI v. too much AI, people seem confident about AI’s evolving role in media.  

To understand where it’s going next, I nerded out with HubSpot’s own media guru, Jonathan Hunt. You’ll learn more about him and his hot take in our latest obsession. 

In today's email…

• Gen Alpha: A new generation of earners need financial education
• Why and how media leaders will make AI work in 2024
• What we’re surfin’, from big tech ideas to Frankenstein's monster

Let’s go!

📈 UP YOUR PRODUCTIVITY

🚀 WHERE TO BUILD NEXT

The business of helping Gen Alpha manage their millions

What was I doing at 12 years old? 

A lot of random things, but definitely not making tech money. 

But 78% of Generation Alpha (born 2010 - 2025) already made bank in the past year, half of whom did it with technology. Some even raked in millions. *Gasp in Millennial*

Source: Google Trends, six-month rolling average. 

Watch out for these young hustlers – from food to fashion to learning, any business that captures Gen Alpha’s mindshare will see huge growth momentum in the years to come. 

The space we see the biggest opportunity in: Financial education. 

Money-making Gen Alphas might still be too young to manage their wallets responsibly, but financial literacy is a top priority for them (and their Millennial parents). 

Banks and startups are already jumping on the trend: 

• Greenlight, a fintech unicorn that offers debit cards to kids, reached $100m ARR as of 2021;
• Capital One’s teen checking account, MONEY, received raving reviews;
• GoHenry, a UK-based banking app for children, was acquired by Acorns last year.

The Commonwealth Bank in Australia built Kit, a gamified pocket money app for kids. Source: WeMoney.

These products are pretty uniform, bundling a kid’s debit card and a banking app with educational resources. So there’s space to build more differentiated services and experiences. A few ideas: 

1. Niche down demographically 

There’ll be 2.2B of Gen Alphas by 2025, which means you’ll find no shortage of subgroups who need specialized financial education: 

♾️ Kids on the spectrum: Optimize the learning experience for different needs, like ADHD, autism, or dyslexia. The neurodivergent population is 5x more likely to become entrepreneurs, so start’em early. 

🎨 Multicultural kids: Varying money attitudes based on race and culture can impact children's financial future. With Gen Alpha being the most racially diverse, consider building specialized education for them and their multicultural families. 

2. Cause-based investment

Gen Alphas are known to be vocal about social and environmental issues. So combine financial ed with causes they care about. 

Changebowl, an Acorns-style investment app, rounds up your spare change and donates to nonprofits of your choosing. 

The company website is no longer active, so you can take that idea and revamp it to teach youngsters about ETFs, charity, and impact investing.

3. Financial mentors for creators

The biggest Gen Alpha earners made their fortune on social media, or gaming platforms like Roblox. The top 10 Roblox creators took home an average of $23m last year (seriously).  

Nearly half of all Roblox users belong to Gen Alpha. Source: Backlinko

With ever-evolving platforms and tech, parents of young creators might not be equipped to offer financial lessons. They’ll need specialized mentoring. 

Build a marketplace that pairs Gen Alpha with vetted, financially savvy Gen Z creators, and offer peer-to-peer tutoring on how to save, spend and grow their wealth smartly. 

Or, design courses on the business side of being a young creator, like how to build a brand, negotiate deals, etc. Use AI to simplify complex subjects and make the experience fun and interactive. 

🔎 OUR LATEST OBSESSION

How media leaders will make AI work in 2024, and why

Just before the holidays I had a fun chat with HubSpot’s VP of Media, Jonathan Hunt. 

He’s a badass who’s led marketing and audience growth for a long list of cool media orgs, from Complex Networks and NatGeo to Vox Media and VICE.

So naturally, I was curious where he sees the media business going in 2024. 

Here’s his take: Using AI in the media will go from gaffes and skepticism to necessity in 2024. This is the year media leaders, creators and operators start to make AI work.

Source: Google Trends, six-month rolling average

He’s onto something. The market size of AI use in media and entertainment reached $19.8B in 2023, a number that’s poised to 5x in 2030. 🤯 

From newsrooms to film studios, the media industry has been adopting AI en masse and feeling its transformative impact firsthand. 

What’s driving the trend

Jonathan sees three forces driving AI to be even more embraced in media orgs this year: 

⚙️ Efficiency

Creating value for consumers is the unchanging rule in the media and entertainment world. If AI can continue to help media creators and operators be more efficient, then it becomes a necessity and less of a threat.

❤️ Personalization

The world around us is already going in a highly personal and curatorial AI direction. It’s evident in our Google search results, inboxes, and what we discover on Netflix. Media companies that make AI personalization work will win audience mindshare, and much more. 

⏳Time

AI may seem like a threat today, but so were data and video, two vital parts of modern media culture. At one point, they were in the same bucket as AI — new and scary. The companies that experimented early got out ahead and, in many cases, still are.

How media leaders will make AI work

Today, media orgs are incorporating AI in different ways, but few have moved past experimentation and truly unlocked AI’s potential to help creators and operators on the ground. 

Continue reading to see three ways media leaders can ensure AI has a real impact on their businesses in 2024, according to Jonathan. 

OPEN TABS

🎢 Wild year: A review of all the crazy AI shenanigans we powered through

🎭 From X: Don’t be a midwit – 3 steps to simplify your goal-setting

🧠 Insight: Big tech ideas in 2024, broken down by Andreessen Horowitz

🎥 Film: A Yorgos Lanthimos interview, because I freakin’ loved Poor Things and watched it twice in a week. Seriously, go watch it.

Got 15 seconds? Please share your feedback by hitting the smileys below. 

25 First Street, 2nd Floor, Cambridge, MA 02141 | USA | 888.482.7768

Never want to hear from us again? Break our hearts and unsubscribe.