According to U.S. Census data from 2024, there are over 33 million small businesses in the United States. But according to Jillian Bichanich, most people never see the small pet store in their neighborhood or the locally owned hardware store when searching the internet for dog treats or paint supplies.
Search algorithms are designed to “favor a lot of things that aren’t in line with local business, solo entrepreneurs or small businesses,” Bichanich said. She hopes a new app called Pocketchange, launching later this summer in Dane County, will change that.
Pocketchange allows users to search for businesses that correspond with their values across over 40 categories, or “alignments,” from local spots to LGBTQIA+-owned businesses to companies that support immigrants or employ formerly incarcerated workers.
Businesses sign up to be part of Pocketchange for a small subscription fee. Bichanich said they’re still “bringing in our first wave of businesses” before launching, but she’s working with around 100 brands. These include Terra Growers, an organic, regenerative farm in Waunakee, and Lake & City Homes Realty, a woman-owned real estate business that sells homes across Dane County.
Bichanich sees Pocketchange as part of a movement to divert consumers away from large corporations that have made convenience part of their business model. The app is a tool designed to help people make informed spending decisions that align with their values.
Pocketchange, a new app that allows users to find value-aligned businesses, works like a search engine: type in whatever kind of business you’re looking for and the app will show you options based on preferences across 40 different “alignments.”
“Our goal is to shift $400 billion of consumer spending toward things that we believe matter in this world,” she said.
Creating visibility for small, value-driven businesses
Bichanich is from Abbotsford, a small town between Eau Claire and Wausau. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and went on to work in Silicon Valley and the tech sector. She’s also worked with 1,500 entrepreneurs through small business coaching.
It was during her time in the tech world, working for companies like TaxJar, The Digital Ring and Cubbi (an app she co-founded designed to support neurodivergent children and families; she’s still the app’s CEO), that Bichanich began to see the holes in how algorithms work and how small, value-driven businesses were being left behind.
She began working on the idea for Pocketchange in May 2024. After being let go from her job while pregnant with her second child, Bichanich said she faced a serious decision.
“I had this really big, pivotal moment in my life where I was either going to go back to — I mean this lovingly — making a lot of white men rich again, or I was going to go and do something that would change the world,” she said.
This mental shift helped her launch Cubbi, before shifting focus to designing a tool that would redistribute wealth.
The Pocketchange app works like a mini search engine rather than a simple directory. Users can enter whatever they’re looking for in the search bar, from “Black-owned bookstores” to “disability-friendly coffee shops” to “unionized grocery stores,” and find relevant results in their area.
“You can see their stories, see who’s behind the vision, behind their entire brand and company,” she said.
Bichanich described a feature of Pocketchange that works like a dating app, matching users with companies they might be interested in.
“We want to flip the economy on its head,” Bichanich said, noting that large conglomerates hold a disproportionate amount of influence and share of consumer spending.
“Money is power, and we want to give power back to the people who are truly the backbones of our communities.”
A perfect place to do good
About 95% of the businesses Bichanich has recruited to work with Pocketchange are based in Madison, but the app will partner with national brands. Bichanich intends to expand to other cities, and is working with groups and chamber organizations representing thousands of businesses to join the app.
Jillian Bichanich is the founder of Pocketchange, a new app set to debut in Madison later this summer.
COURTESY OF JILLIAN BICHANICH
She thinks Madison is a perfect place to launch. “People here really do care, I believe, about their neighbors. I think they care about doing good in this world,” she said.
Bichanich said once the app launches, they’ll implement a formal vetting process in which businesses must show how they uphold whatever values they list as paramount to their business.
“For instance, if they say that they give back to the Earth or the planet, then we need to understand the systems, processes and protocols they have in place” in support of that mission, she said.
Bichanich said businesses are already seeing the potential and vision of Pocketchange.
“When we’ve talked to businesses, they’ve come up with incredible hooks and storylines. Someone was like, ‘Oh, you’re the antidote to the algorithm.’ Yes, we are,” she said.
“If we are here helping people learn how to spend locally … even if they are doing that outside of Pocketchange, then we are successful.”
Bichanich said Pocketchange is still recruiting businesses for the launch. Those interested should reach out at hello@pocketchange.us.
The Four Questions
What are the most important values driving your work?
The biggest value, truly, is good. It’s as simple as that. It’s to be light, it’s to be something good, to help right what I believe are wrongs in our current systems.
I am a huge proponent of small business and entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is one of the most difficult things that I have done myself. When we feel we are already behind because of our identities — in a journey that is already radically difficult — it’s not fair.
Your skin color, your belief systems, your religious affinity, your gender — none of that should be hindering you from success in a business. I believe in our humanity and how the collective works together in community. We should be able to celebrate what makes someone themselves.
That’s the essence of Pocketchange, this amplification of people.
How are you creating the kind of community that you want to live in?
By bringing together all different types of people. What I’m trying to do (with Pocketchange) is say, “‘Hey, we’re bringing everyone that deserves a seat at the largest table that’s ever existed.” I think where Pocketchange can go … is massive, and I can’t wait to get there.
What advice do you have for other would-be entrepreneurs?
Trust that you have a vision. If you are operating from a place of really wanting to do good in this world, I promise you that people will come to back your cause, to back your mission, to support you, and the movement that you are creating will be so much bigger than you. It will hit a momentum and scale beyond anything that you could have imagined.
Are you hiring?
Yes, we are hiring. I hope that as more and more businesses and sponsorships come in … we will be able to hire a really strong team. And I would love to do that locally (in Madison).