Cashless, platform-driven commerce has dramatically lowered the barrier to running a micro-business — but banking infrastructure for these users has not kept up. Creators, freelancers, gig workers, and small-scale e-commerce sellers operate financially like businesses, yet they are poorly served by both consumer and corporate banking products. Their income is irregular, their financial needs are entangled with the platforms they work on, and traditional bank products were built for neither. Meanwhile, BigTech platforms in e-commerce, delivery, and the creator economy are already filling the vacuum — offering credit, BNPL, and revenue-based advances directly to micro-entrepreneurs, bypassing banks and capturing the primary financial relationship.

What specific financial pain points do micro-entrepreneurs face that existing bank products fail to address — and where is BigTech already filling the gap? How could a bank design a product that combines personal and business finance in a way that fits irregular, platform-driven income flows? What would it take for a bank to remain the primary financial relationship for a creator or gig worker — and how can its regulated status and institutional trust become a competitive asset rather than a liability against faster-moving platform finance?

In this project, we are looking for concepts that explore what a bank built for the one-person business could look like — one that meets micro-entrepreneurs where they already work.