Building Impactful Finance Tech: KODA Finance Workshop
Last week, Code4Hope participants at the “Divegrent and Code4Hope Hackathon 2025” took part in a workshop led by KODA Finance, a nonprofit startup that is changing the landscape of financial literacy for teenagers through their innovative financial tracking dashboard. The session was full of valuable insight for teams competing in the Finance challenge track. Attendees were urged to think past the usual budgeting applications and instead pursue solutions that can genuinely make a difference.
KODA Finance has created a platform just for teenagers, helping them build healthy financial habits using clear tracking and visualization tools. Their dashboard makes money management both accessible and engaging for younger users, filling a significant gap in education for teens.
One of the most important points made during the workshop was the need to avoid creating yet another generic finance app. The team at KODA pointed out that the market is already filled with standard budgeting trackers and expense calculators. Teams that want to stand out were encouraged to focus on a specific audience that does not already have their needs met, to resolve unique challenges that existing tools do not solve, to provide real value beyond basic tracking, and to think about a user’s overall journey to identify where support matters most. KODA set their own product apart by targeting teens specifically, a group often overlooked by standard finance apps, and by designing features that actually connect with how young people see money.
Security was another key subject. The KODA presenters spoke about the many responsibilities that come with building apps for finance. They stressed several major issues, including the need to protect user data because financial information is especially sensitive, the importance of following relevant regulations and privacy laws even for nonprofit projects, the value of earning user trust by being open about what data is collected and how it is stored, and the risks that come with connecting to other financial services or APIs, especially when apps work with bank accounts or payment systems.
The team also offered several practical pieces of advice. One tip was to start by talking with future users before doing any coding, in order to ensure that teams are addressing real needs. The importance of considering scalability and security right from the start was highlighted, since these aspects are not easy to add later on. User experience was also discussed, with the advice that financial tools should be made approachable and easy to use rather than intimidating. Finally, teams were challenged to think about the broader social impact of their projects—how they could enable better decisions or encourage positive changes for users.
As a result of the workshop, participants in the Finance track left with plenty of inspiration and a much greater understanding of the complexities and responsibilities of building quality financial tools. There is a lot of anticipation to see how these lessons will shape the teams’ final projects. Code4Hope thanks the KODA Finance team for sharing their expertise and motivating our community to create finance solutions that make a true difference.