Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur | Start and Grow Your Own Business 1188: This AI model outperforms ChatGPT (and others) in Financial Planning(!!) and is bridging the wealth gap w/ John Kanalakis
In this episode, we dive into the intersection of AI, fintech, and financial literacy with John Kanalakis, founder and Head of AI at Tendi. With experience at Netflix and Roku, John now leads Tendi—a revolutionary platform that uses a proprietary AI model to act as a personal financial advisor. His mission? To bridge the financial literacy gap and reduce wealth disparities. This episode is a must-listen for entrepreneurs building tech, mission-driven, or AI-first products, and for anyone curious about building something meaningful from the ground up.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
- 🚀 How to use real user behavior to train a proprietary AI model that solves niche problems
- 🤖 Why building your own AI engine creates a true competitive moat—beyond OpenAI wrappers
- 📈 The secret to making “boring” products (like finance apps) fun and user-centric
- 💰 Why Tendi’s pricing strategy unlocks mass accessibility while staying profitable
- 🔐 How to handle sensitive data in a consumer app while building user trust
- 🎯 How to build a mission-first startup that solves real societal problems
- ⚡ Why you need to move FAST in AI—and how to avoid overplanning
📝 About the Guest
John Kanalakis is the founder and Head of AI at Tendi, a platform delivering AI-powered personal financial guidance. With a background in AI research and leadership roles at Netflix and Roku, John is driving Tendi’s mission to close the financial literacy gap and reduce wealth disparities. Under his leadership, Tendi uses advanced AI to provide personalized insights on budgeting, debt reduction, saving, and investing—empowering users to take control of their financial future.
🎯 Guest’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs
“Anything you can turn into a number, you can apply AI to.”
John urges entrepreneurs to think in data and act fast. He emphasizes the importance of:
✔ Acting quickly in fast-moving markets like AI
✔ Owning your data moat and proprietary model
✔ Planning every detail before training an expensive AI system
📢 Memorable Quotes
- “Those who can afford a personal financial advisor probably don’t need one. It’s the rest of us who do.” – John Kanalakis
- “You’ve got to move fast. The tools evolve fast. If you have an idea to fix a problem with data, jump on it.” – John Kanalakis
- “AI should never be about shaming—it’s about informing and helping people make better decisions.” – John Kanalakis
💡 Actionable Takeaways
✅ Train your own AI model using real user behavior to create a powerful product moat
✅ Make your product more fun and habit-forming—even in “boring” industries—through gamification
✅ Balance AI’s personalization with tone: make it friendly, not judgmental
✅ Lower the barrier to entry in pricing to serve underserved markets while leveraging AI for scalability
🔗 Links & Resources