A disabled founder, a lost grant, and a co-founder who moved on — this is what building a fintech startup with $0 cash actually looks like. In Episode 2 of Building Financial Joy, Ruby "SunShine" Taylor gets honest about a real mistake: a grant once funded a full build-out of the Grean Wealth Financial Education Platform, and it never launched. Her co-founder, Jaco, has since moved on to a great opportunity at a financial institution — no hard feelings, just a new chapter. Now Ruby is building the Financial Joy Index™, a shame-free financial wellness check-in for the disability community and everyone left behind by traditional fintech, solo, with $0 cash.

This episode also covers real wins: a signed Technical Advisor agreement, AWS credits, a live site Ruby debugged and fixed herself, an ethical reversal on an accessibility vendor after real research, and a LinkedIn post that caught entrepreneur Mac Conwell's attention and led to an invitation to Black Girls Venture Homecoming.

This is startup building, entrepreneurship, fintech, and disability advocacy with nothing smoothed over — real losses and real wins, told honestly, as they happen.

A note before you listen: Ruby is a stutterer. At times you'll hear her stumble — and she keeps going, because she's a thriver, not a complainer. That's not a flaw in this show. It's the show.

New episodes every Tuesday.

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