Sure had a secret. And a “secret weapon”.
The Seattle-area fintech startup recently announced that TV personality and bestselling author Suze Orman is one of the company’s co-founders. A spin-off of Pioneer Square Labs, Secure helps employers offer employees a financial wellness benefit in the form of an Emergency Savings Account (ESA) on top of their paychecks.
Co-founder and CEO Devin Miller wrote a blog post about how they withheld Orman’s commitment as a key piece in the startup’s founding history. He told the Puget Sound Business Journal that the company wanted to wait until it was live with customers before drawing attention to itself with Orman’s oversized ability to gain notoriety.
Miller said he and co-founder Bassam Saliba met with Orman and her longtime business partner and wife KT late last summer before they even started the company.
Sure co-founders Devin Miller (left) and Bassam Saliba. (Safe Photos)
“We spent over an hour talking about our vision for the company, their work in space and even the name Secure, exchanging thoughts about the product and visions for the future of the company. We clicked immediately, ”wrote Miller. “She told us that the biggest financial lesson people have learned from the pandemic is that an emergency fund is key to financial survival.”
Miller said Orman had never been part of the founding team of a VC-backed startup, or had never worked at a tech company this early.
“With us, she was part of the team, grinding it behind the scenes, enjoying the highs and trudging through the lows,” he said, adding that Orman will be a noisier member of the team in the coming weeks and months.
Secure announced a $ 3.5 million financing in January.