Featured Guest:

Emily Cisek, Co-Found and CEO, Paige

Emily Cisek is the CEO of The Paige. Paige is a life planning and small business succession platform that enables community banks and credit unions to meet critical member needs and drive growth across business lines (consumer and business). Their secure and easy-to-use platform empowers community bank and credit union members to protect their wealth, wisdom, and small businesses. Paige has a track record of success with numerous financial institutions nationwide, including in IA, MA, MN, TX, WI, and more.

As a TEDx speaker on liminal spaces and transformative journeys, she aims to empower audiences to confidently embrace life’s transitional moments. Emily’s visionary leadership has significantly impacted the fintech industry, cementing her role as a driving force in redefining the future of banking and finance. She is currently recognized as InnovationMap’s 2023-2024 Female Founder of the Year.

Episode Transcript

0:02: Welcome to Social Currency, powered by Sunrise Banks, a podcast about the most innovative change makers in finance, technology, and social impact, and how they, our guests, are dismantling barriers, reshaping their industries, and perhaps even ours too.

0:16: I’m your host, Tyler Seydel.

0:19: And I’m Eric Schurr.

0:20: Here we speak to those driving positive change through social entrepreneurship, from cutting edge technology to creative grassroots efforts.

0:29: Each episode seeks to reveal the stories behind the revolution that is propelling us toward a world of financial inclusivity.

0:38: I’m Tyler Seydel, and I’m Eric Schurr, and today we’re going to be talking about long-term financial planning, the importance of it, and how the one FinTech is making the process easier.

0:49: And our guest today is Emily Cisek.

0:52: She is the co-founder and CEO at Paige, formerly known as the Postage, and they specialize in helping people plan for long-term financial security and securing what matters most to them.

1:05: Emily, of course, has a history in startups, maybe even a serial entrepreneur, has experience in marketing, business development, options, and certainly much more.

1:13: So, Emily, given your background, would love to hear a little bit about how you made your journey from where you were, through your companies, to where you’re today.

1:26: Yeah, absolutely.

1:27: Thanks for having me.

1:28: I grew up in upstate New York and graduated in 2011 and migrated magically to Houston and ended up working for an incubator for startups and met these founders of this energy business that was really revolutionizing the way energy companies interacted with their customers.

1:53: At that time, it was very much door to door, and, and all of these this and so ended up going through an exit at that point.

2:01: And Direct Energy, which was the biggest energy company at the time, acquired us.

2:06: And so there I was as a 23-year-old, faking it so you make it at this really large energy company, doing all of the communication and understanding why people bought.

2:21: How they control their energy consumption and all of that.

2:24: And so what does that have to do with what we’re doing today?

2:27: Well, really, through that process and, and through working with those founders, I ultimately ended up at another business where in the 1st 6 weeks of when I moved to Austin, I ended up losing 3 family members in a 6-week period.

2:44: And because of that, and my experience of understanding families and people and how they plan and think about things, you know, on one hand, I had my two grandmothers.

2:59: One of them had done everything and really thought about every piece, so me and my family could process the loss and really understand, you know, and celebrate her life.

3:13: On the other hand, my other grandmother, you know, there were some scavenger hunts.

3:17: There were some family frustrations.

3:19: And so being the entrepreneur mindset that I had, I compared and contrasted those experiences.

3:26: And, and the third loss in that time frame was my cousin’s 13-month-old.

3:32: And while a 13-month-old doesn’t have assets, and the experience is a little bit different.

3:40: Really Witnessing, you know, my 5-year-old nephew.

3:47: At the funeral, and some of those things, I just was like, man, I know there is an easier way to help families plan.

3:58: To help families communicate on this, and to help them process and ultimately lead to a better, successful, transition.

4:08: And so that was really how the business came about in our original vision, because even if I could make this process 20% better for families, then we were really having an impact on the world.

4:24: So, Emily, it sounds as though it was, it’s really more about the, the social connection as much as it is the documentation arrangement, if you will.

4:34: It is.

4:35: That is core to who I am as a founder, that is core to the culture and organization I’m building, and core to, you know, community banks.

4:48: They’re the cornerstones of the community, and Those relationships that have been cultivated by community banks throughout time, really.

4:59: That is where they also can leverage, you know, our technology, not only to service their customers, but to reinforce that social culture vision that is really having an impact in their communities.

5:15: Well, what I’ll say is you have a very compelling backstory that led to really the friction point or the inflection point where you decided, hey, let’s do something differently.

5:25: And before we get into too much detail, let’s maybe unpack for our audience exactly what Paige does, and what you folks are looking to do, and how you’re looking to change and affect lives.

5:36: Yeah, absolutely.

5:37: So, Paige is a digital legacy and small business succession platform.

5:43: So, in the platform on the personal side, families can collaborate.

5:50: They can build complete wills, documents, and store, passwords and be able to share and control how that information is dispersed.

6:00: But what is really unique about our platform.

6:03: Is we guide them through every step.

6:05: It’s not like a Dropbox where, you know, you have a bunch of things that you have to figure out how to organize, you have to figure out what you need.

6:14: we are guiding families through that process.

6:17: And then,, a social aspect of our, of our platform is the messaging and, and memories piece, which enables families to also capture future emails, future messages,, So that generations from now, those family memories are captured in a single place, and it’s connected to their community bank.

6:39: And that is how, you know, with the aging population of community banks, being able to connect with that next generation and leveraging our tool to help support that, plus meet a very, a very big need for, for the customer, is what we do.

6:55: And then recently, I mentioned the small business succession piece, realized that many of community bank customers and these families we are supporting own family-owned businesses and, and small businesses.

7:10: And so, unpacking how they share that information, how they decide, OK, my son or daughter may take over my business.

7:18: But how do I start communicating about that?

7:20: And how do I build that into my long-term plan?

7:23: which ultimately serves the bank by the bank understanding really where that family business is and their life cycle, how they can better service that, that small business today and in the future when there is a transition, so they can even support through the transition.

7:41: That’s really kind of the overall thesis and, and where we’re going, with Paige.

7:46: Well, I like that because if you haven’t experienced loss, there is so much that you don’t know about the next steps.

7:54: It’s confusing.

7:55: There’s a lot going on, but you’re also caught in an emotional time frame as well.

7:59: So you don’t have a lot of focus and maybe bandwidth for complexity.

8:02: You just want it to be easy, you want it to work, and you wanna keep moving.

8:05: And so I really respect what you folks are looking to bring to market.

8:08: One thing that I found tough, and it was really over the holidays, my wife said, you know, if you wanted to get me a present, you could establish your last will and testament.

8:15: We have a 2-year-old.

8:17: And so it’s to interject what happens if you folks were to pass away, and then what happens with your child in this case.

8:24: Could you maybe provide some suggestions that I may be going out on a limb here, on how you start that conversation?

8:30: Cause I think a lot of folks, when they’re trying to approach that conversation, there’s a natural social friction there when you start talking about death and passing.

8:38: Is there any tips or tricks you could perhaps give to our audience that’s looking to maybe start that conversation with a loved one that just doesn’t know how to approach it?

8:45: Yeah.

8:45: I think there’s two things.

8:46: It’s starting small and coming from a place of empathy and understanding, I think, is key.

8:55: The other piece is what’s great about our software is we actually make it.

9:01: Methodical enough in a way where, you know, we’re making it as simple as possible and even giving points to, hey, you may have never thought about this, but this is how,, you know, it’s not legal advice, but this is how you could handle this and, and discuss it.

9:20: With a, with a loved one.

9:21: And so because you’re able to collaborate in that process directly in the software, it also takes some of that friction out.

9:29: there’s this, this scientific thing called mortality salience.

9:34: And,, like Baylor has done studies, some other,, Organizations have done studies where once a person is able to open up,, and think about this and, and discuss it with their loved ones, they actually are able to live more present and revisit, like, hey, am I actually achieving in my life what I want to do?

9:59: Because it makes them realize, like, wow, our time is, is finite and, you know, life is a liminal space.

10:05: And so how do I achieve whatever it is that I and my core want to achieve.

10:12: And so, it’s really interesting, once they kind of deal with that, they’re able to actually live their life in a more present way.

10:22: So Emily, earlier you talked about the social aspect of, of, of family and transitions, and then you talked a little bit about kind of the practical, the more mechanical, if you will, of assets and wills and testaments and that.

10:38: Not every household has significant assets to track or necessarily, or maybe a business to hand down.

10:45: For families that don’t have significant assets, how does Paige contribute to these households’ financial wellness, and, and I guess more broadly, how does, how do generational transitions, such as the type that that Paige is promoting, how do those contribute to financial wellness?

11:05: Yeah, no, absolutely.

11:07: I first want to say, no matter what number of assets you have, no matter what your situation is, having a plan is critical.

11:18: , it’s critical for you, it’s critical for your family.

11:22: And so that’s really what our platform is about, is enabling people like you, Tyler, and your family, who may not want to go sit down with a lawyer, may not feel like, hey, you know, and You know, I’m also in a place where I don’t have kids yet, but, you know, why do I need a will?

11:44: Well, I need a will because I need to secure the things that I do have and make sure that the loved ones that I leave behind are, are protected.

11:55: And, and frankly, 40%, there’s only 40% of people today that do it, and really the key barriers are, they don’t know how to talk to the family.

12:10: About it, and they don’t know where to start.

12:12: So, if you can eliminate those frictions and Help them understand why no matter who you are, and frankly, that’s what our platform is for.

12:23: Our platform is not for, you know, $5 million and plus liquid, families.

12:30: It’s for families who need accessibility, who need easy access to do this future planning.

12:36: and it’s not just about your will.

12:38: It’s about your passwords.

12:40: It’s about, I don’t know about you, Tyler, or Eric, like, does your spouse know all of your passwords and all of your, like, the security system and all of your bills and all of your accounts.

12:51: , it’s like $30 billion a year goes unclaimed from insurance companies and life insurance because their families don’t even know the account exists.

13:01: I think you were, I think you were sitting around my dining room table last Sunday.

13:06: We were, we, we had this exact discussion last Sunday.

13:09: Yeah.

13:10: And, and that’s what I mean.

13:12: So it doesn’t matter whether you’re a young family or, maybe you are wealthy, but does your wife, does your kids, does your oldest daughter, who is most likely to be your executor, know where all of that stuff is?

13:30: Probably not.

13:32: And so how do we make it seamless, connected, and, accessible for whoever you are, and wherever you are for that, that long-term planning that ultimately helps you set your goals along the way, depending on where you are in your journey.

13:53: One thing that you captured there, and I was starting to laugh, is really around, does your wife know all the passwords?

13:59: We’ve had this conversation.

14:00: I am prolific.

14:01: , in, in the cryptocurrency space, prolific.

14:04: So she’s worried about private keys, all these things.

14:07: We actually put a puzzle, wrote the keys on the back of it, took the puzzle part and put it back in the box.

14:12: That is our, that apparently is our future state financial planning solution.

14:15: Hey, what happens when you lose that puzzle?

14:17: That puzzle’s been lost already, right?

14:19: So, and at the end of the day, nobody wants to put together every puzzle you have in your kid’s room to figure this thing out, right?

14:24: And so, that really resonates with me in a very strong, very strong way.

14:29: Can you walk us through perhaps a key moment in Paige’s journey so far, that really made you especially proud or perhaps taught you a big lesson?

14:40: I think I will start with Something that I never expected to happen.

14:46: , I never expected that.

14:50: Millennial moms would be our biggest audience.

14:56: And so, or one of the biggest audiences.

14:58: I expected Generation X, I expected Baby Boomers, but Millennial moms, that piece, was really interesting to me.

15:07: And I’ll go and talk about an American state bank in Iowa.

15:12: They were one of our first banks.

15:13: , on the platform and using it with the customers.

15:17: What ended up happening is their employees, their, and in their community.

15:25: What actually got those millennial moms or the the folks in the platform.

15:31: Was not just the methodical pieces.

15:34: It was them starting to use the platform as a place to connect with their families.

15:42: And what I mean by that is, you know, it’s not a social media tool, but it is a place where these really special memories can be captured and shared.

15:53: , and one example was Tamara was one of their customers.

15:58: She captured her daughter’s first steps and uploaded the video to the platform and told the story to that community, like, hey, this is a way this platform can be used outside of the methodical.

16:17: And so that family and social aspect actually drives the collaboration.

16:23: And to me, that is the stuff that It is extremely meaningful.

16:30: And that is what caused, well, it wasn’t around, hey, this long-term financial planning, that was the first step into them doing the other pieces and inviting in other family members and inviting in and opening up that conversation.

16:45: They ultimately completed their will, or they ultimately completed these, more logistical pieces.

16:51: And, and since that audience is really most likely, like I said before, 85% are the oldest daughter, who is the executor, which is an audience that I think the financial industry has struggled in the past to build these really strong relationships with.

17:11: So when those transitions happen.

17:13: , assets stay with that community bank.

17:17: I am really proud and excited and can’t wait to see how that piece and that audience evolves and really grows up with the platform.

17:29: Thanks, Emily.

17:30: This is, this has been great, and, and I love the I love the the use, the, the evolution of the platform, and the fact that your product is actually flexible enough to allow people to express themselves, as well as providing that guided journey to get their life in order.

17:45: That’s really exciting.

17:47: As a shifting gears for a second, as a serial entrepreneur, I, I, I talking to many of them, they’re really driven, and work is work is their life.

17:57: What drives you outside of, outside of work?

18:01: Sure.

18:01: , Goodness.

18:07: I mean, that’s the response I get mostly with serial entrepreneurs.

18:11: It’s, it’s, it’s.

18:12: Yeah, it’s a struggle, and I think because my business is so personal and Is driven by this personal experience and family and legacy.

18:24: Like every day I looked in my office, I have a picture of me and my two grandmothers and Ryland right next to my desk, so that I look at and think about, you know, wow, like, what have I done out of their legacy?

18:39: And People sometimes I tell the story of why I started my business, and a lot of times they say sorry, or they react and, and I say to them, look, there’s nothing to be sorry about.

18:52: What is There’s nothing better than being able to point to, like, I did this because of you.

19:00: I am carrying on your legacy.

19:03: And that’s the goosebump moments that that keeps me going.

19:07: , And you know, my family.

19:11: And I also have been just driven in my life, like, since a, you know, in kindergarten, I always felt a little different and a little driven towards doing things differently.

19:23: , and so I think that really drives me.

19:26: And of course, my husband, the dog, those sorts of things, love to read, but really, my mission is so personally tied that I think that’s what drives me the most.

19:40: You know, you said something that was the first time I’ve actually heard this term, but I’m gonna add it to my lexicon, which is goosebump moments.

19:45: I think we’ve had just a lot of those as we’ve talked here on this podcast around just how you started your journey.

19:51: , it’s a story that everybody has a piece, and so I think everybody resonates very much with what you’re putting out there and as well as your motivation.

20:01: I would love to know kind of the core values that really drive Paige’s leadership, if not culture.

20:09: Yeah, no, absolutely.

20:10: , empathy is a key one.

20:14: I think that is something that Internally, having empathy and understanding,, in a collaborative way is, is really, really important, but also with the customers on the platform, with the community banks that we work with, understanding and putting ourselves in the shoes of the customer, the shoes of the community banks, and, and being able to Align and resonate with that and make sure everything that we’re doing in the platform, the guidance we provide is with that at the forefront of, of what we do.

20:56: , security, also trust, security, those things are, are core to what we’re building,, our platform, you know, people are putting in a lot of information and Having the trust of the community banks, having the trust,, of our customers is, is really, really important.

21:19: So we’ve made sure that how we’ve developed, how we’ve built, and how we drive everything, is security first.

21:27: , and then I think the final.

21:32: Kind of thing is really, you know, there’s a couple others, but you’ve heard those before.

21:37: It’s scrappiness.

21:39: Scrappiness is key to how we do things.

21:44: I have been a capital efficient founder in the years where raising a ton of money was really cool.

21:51: I was the uncool one.

21:53: I’m looking a little cooler now, but being able, yeah, like being able to do and think about things differently and challenging.

22:04: ourselves to be really scrappy and to be really thoughtful on how we execute, why we execute.

22:12: And hey, just because all the other startups out there are doing things this way, why not challenge that and, and do it a different way or, or make different decisions that are really thoughtful on, is this going to ultimately help.

22:28: The people we are trying to serve.

22:30: And is this going to equip community banks with the relationships that they tout in person via technology.

22:40: If we can do that in an efficient and effective and scrappy way,, then that is the way to do it.

22:48: And I’m like, I love when I find a scrappy way to do things like that.

22:53: Gets me going.

22:53: I’m like, oh, I just solved this in a way that like no one else has thought about, so.

23:00: Well stated, you know,, for those that haven’t met Emily, she very much is cool, absolutely scrappy, and if you have some time, I would absolutely catch her TEDx talk on liminal space.

23:10: It is profound, it’s exciting.

23:13: I love the seven tips that you deliver in there.

23:15: And when I listen to that podcast and I’m talking to the person in front of me now, I understand how they’re so coherent now.

23:21: , what I’d also look to position is that for community bank, any bank out there that’s looking to serve their customers well.

23:28: This is a way that you can add a value-added service to your portfolio that we all know everybody needs.

23:35: It’s probably the most needed but least talked about item on the dashboard in terms of products, services, or otherwise.

23:41: What I’d like to ask in an effort to maybe personify you more for the audience, for lack of a better turn of phrase is, do you want to tell us something about yourself perhaps that very few people would know?

23:53: Very few people would know.

23:54: I will go back to a scrappiness and thinking differently, quote, but in kindergarten, I referenced this before, and this will personify even the TEDx where I sing off tune, Drops of Jupiter, all sorts of things.

24:10: Like in kindergarten, I was the kid who the school psychologist told my parents, Look, she’s teaching the class, she’s trying to boss the teacher around.

24:23: She is going to be very successful someday.

24:27: But you’re gonna have to live with her till then.

24:31: And so they did.

24:33: And, and boy did they have to live with her till then.

24:37: And so,, it is so core to my being of what we’re doing, how we do it, the scrappiness, and, and,, it’s a weird odd combination of vulnerability, scrap scrappiness,, And just fun too, you know, wrapping that into who I am, how I deliver myself, my business, my, I mean, gosh, if you haven’t listened to the TEDx and, and hear me sing it, like, I am so sorry, but the rest of it message is really good, but I, I bet you don’t expect that I would belt out Drops of Jupiter.

25:15: , In that, in that moment.

25:18: But that is, something, I would say people don’t all know, until they meet me.

25:25: I think it’s very obvious once you, once you meet me and, and dive in a little bit deeper, that you’ll see that side and, and where that comes from.

25:34: Well, you know, all, a lot of entrepreneurs are firecrackers.

25:37: You’re certainly no exception, and it went from TEDx talk to America’s Got Talent.

25:41: I thought it was great.

25:42: And I do think the rebrand is brilliant, from the postage to Paige, you know, Paige is a personification term, hits the five letters in terms of brand requisites.

25:52: You did a great job in terms of name picking too.

25:54: , what led to that name change if I could ask?

25:57: , it’s been a number of things.

26:00: One, competing with SEO with USPS.

26:05: 2, every banking conference I go to, and, you know, not you guys, but the more traditional community bankers will be like, Oh, do you sell stamps?

26:15: Last year, I actually had my co-founder and some people that were originally involved with the business that really weren’t involved, finally kind of removed them.

26:24: So it feels like a new Paige for me.

26:27: And then we’re Adding AI to the platform, that’ll help onboarding with folks.

26:33: So having that in the name.

26:35: , and then Paige is an assistant, like in knighthood days and in at a hotel, the regular way you say Paige.

26:43: And so yes, the personification of that, having somebody assistant, and we’re going to be doing a really cool Norman Rockwell.

26:51: Like illustration and look to all the things that we’re doing that, that feels very nostalgic, but feels modern and cool.

27:00: And with that, Emily, we thank you for joining us today and sharing all of your insights, your story, your journey, and what you folks are looking to do next.

27:07: Go check out Paige, check out the website, connect with Emily and her team.

27:12: It’s absolutely time well spent.

27:13: Thank you for joining us today.

27:15: Yes, thank you so much for having me and can’t wait to see you guys soon.

27:22: And that engaging dialogue was powered by Sunrise Banks, member FDIC, equal housing lender.

27:28: Thanks for listening to the Social Currency podcast by Sunrise Banks.

27:32: If you’ve enjoyed this episode and you’d like to help support the podcast, click like and subscribe anywhere you get your podcast content.

27:38: We’ll see you soon.