I don't know the economics around acquisition/retention in this space (or much about revenue streams from a user...) but it seems like the core offerings of challenger banks and banking in general are relatively fungible and that long term success will really come down to how efficient you are on gaining and keeping your base from going elsewhere. However, I've also read on how the markets challenger banks are aiming at are greenfield in comparison to the established players, so there may be room for lots of small players for a good while. I'm really interested in how Yotta/this space is going to diversify in the future since the inherent location moat of the brick and mortar banks (i.e. you had to bank at what was nearby - nobody was going to the next state over to bank) doesn't exist and the core banking products (checking/savings/loans) are generally the same. Who comes out on top in the long run - the banks with specialized offerings that generate more revenue per user, or ones that only do the regular banking products but are super operationally efficient? When and how will consolidation happen/is scale the most important thing? Just doing some personal spitballing here, as I doubt there is anything here you guys haven't already thought of.
As another former finance person now in consumer analytics/tech (coincidentally, also Penn/Wharton '14) it's always cool to see more work being done on the product and creation side. Would love to chat/connect to see if I could be helpful (selfishly, I'd like to learn more about your guys' work.) Of course, no strings attached and no pressure at all.
Best of luck!