XChange Financial Literacy

XChange is an edtech organization revolutionizing digital coursework through interactive microlearning and low-cost, 1-on-1 financial consulting for high school students globally.

XChange started inside a summer program a youth business accelerator called Prequel, where five other teenagers and I, spread across North America and as far as Vietnam, kept circling the same observation on a group call: financial literacy in North America is close to nonexistent, and almost nobody is teaching it. We built XChange to close that gap with low-cost, 1-on-1 financial mentorship and short-form digital courses designed for Gen Z, with every piece of content verified by a certified financial consultant before it went live, since none of us were financial experts, and we knew the credibility cost of getting something wrong as teenagers would be enormous.

Since launch, I secured a US$10,000 equity-free investment from a panel of investors, venture capitalists, and founders, and established strategic partnerships with the official investment groups at Harvard University and Yale University, reached after my co-founder Joyce sent over 300 individually personalized cold emails to investment clubs at the top 300 universities in the country. The platform now connects students with a financial mentor and has reached hundreds more through its short-form courses. I officially launched XChange's web app at TED Vancouver, expanded programming internationally through a partnership with PotentialUEducation in the UK, and collaborated with Vancouver-based organizations to grow local engagement by over 600 interactions.

At BETA Camp 2024, I led a startup team of six in building and pitching XChange to three investors in front of a public audience of 200+, finishing first among 150 students globally, securing the investment, and receiving the leadership award. It was also where one of my advisors first told me, bluntly, that six equal voices with no clear leadership would not survive what came next, and where I was voted in as CEO by my own co-founders.