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Behind The Scenes: How We Design Financial Products That Work for Communities and Investors Alike

When people hear “financial product design,” they often think of spreadsheets, legal terms, and investor decks. While, yes, that is an important part of the journey, for SecondMuse Capital's Future Economy Lab™ (FEL), that's not all of it. The Lab is our research and design process for creating financial instruments and products grounded in collective community wisdom and structured to meet investor requirements.


The FEL is rooted in listening, research, and co-creation.


In this short video series, I share the story behind the FEL, how it works, and what makes this approach different. Whether you’re an investor, a policymaker, or a community leader, I hope it helps you see capital in a new light and imagine new ways of designing with and not only for people.


🎥 Prefer to watch the full story all at once? You can watch the complete video below👇🏼


  1. How did the Future Economy Lab start?

We didn’t start with finance. We started with entrepreneurs.


For over a decade, SecondMuse (our sister company) supported founders around the world by co-designing programs with local ecosystems. FEL was born from that same ethos: collaborative, responsive, and grounded in lived experience. What we saw over and over again was that the capital available wasn't meeting the needs of entrepreneurs we were working with and we wanted to change that.


  1. What makes this approach, the FEL, different?

What sets FEL apart is that we don’t prioritize either investors or entrepreneurs—we design with both.


We create space for communities to articulate what capital should look like for them and we support investors in understanding how to meet those needs without sacrificing their own risk-return profile.


  1. How flexible is the FEL process (i.e. do you have to go through all four phases)?

FEL™ is intentionally flexible.


While we offer a four-phase approach—Envision, Define, Design, and Launch—not every partner starts at the same point. Some labs focus on deep research; others jump straight into prototyping. No two labs look alike because each one is shaped by the unique values, priorities, and ecosystems of the community it serves. It’s not plug-and-play—it’s purpose-built.


Designing financial products with communities and investors doesn’t follow a single formula, and that’s the point! Success isn’t measured by any one metric but comprehensively—by whether the capital solutions we design genuinely reflect the needs, values, and realities of those they’re meant to serve.


What We’ve Learned Along the Way

After years of running FELs across diverse sectors and geographies, some patterns have emerged. Whether you're a funder, investor, or systems thinker, here are a few reflections we’ve found ourselves returning to:


  • Start with people, not products.

    Let community insights lead.

  • Embrace complexity.

    The best answers aren’t always scalable; they’re contextual.

  • Measure what matters.

    Redefine success with the communities you're working alongside.

  • Slow down to speed up.

    Trust-building is the foundation for any real systemic shift.



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