MarketrixMarketrixWhere do first-time and non-US founders get stuck when opening their first Mercury account, and what would they need to see to keep going?
Strength is the count of distinct personas quoted — never a self-graded number.
The SSN field with no visible alternative is the single largest drop-off, concentrated in non-US and first-time founders.
Eligibility language is doing its job: 91% of participants correctly identified that a new Delaware C-corp qualifies.
Trust-first founders search for 'who holds the money' before entering any data, and the application does not answer it.
Guided progress copy ('what happens next') kept support-seeking founders in the flow.
Where participants stalled or gave up, with the fix the agent proposes. Sorted by severity.
Done / Drop per browser task. A Drop is a persona-user that gave up before the expectation was met.
| Task | ASAI-heavy spender | CFCost-scrutinising founder | PFFirst-time US founder | PSSolo technical founder | RFRisk-averse founder | RBRevenue-funded business owner | SFSupport-seeking founder | SWSwitching founder | NFNon-US founder applying remotely | FOFinance operator on a small team | MFMobile-first founder | BKBookkeeper / fractional CFO | Success |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Confirm eligibility | Done | Done | Done | Done | Done | Done | Done | Done | Done | Done | Done | Done | 100.0% |
| Estimate annual cost | Done | Done | Done | Done | Done | Done | Drop | Done | Done | Done | Done | Done | 91.7% |
| Complete identity verification | Done | Done | Drop | Done | Done | Done | Done | Done | Drop | Done | Drop | Done | 75.0% |
| Submit application | Done | Done | Drop | Done | Drop | Done | Done | Done | Drop | Done | Drop | Done | 66.7% |
The modal answer per question, per persona — the persona-summary tier.
| Question | ASAI-heavy spender | CFCost-scrutinising founder | PFFirst-time US founder | PSSolo technical founder | RFRisk-averse founder | RBRevenue-funded business owner | SFSupport-seeking founder | SWSwitching founder | NFNon-US founder applying remotely | FOFinance operator on a small team | MFMobile-first founder | BKBookkeeper / fractional CFO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How confident are you that you qualify for an account? | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
| Where did you get stuck? | Nowhere — it was clear | Nowhere — it was clear | Identity verification | Nowhere — it was clear | Who holds deposits | Nowhere — it was clear | Identity verification | Who holds deposits | Identity verification | Nowhere — it was clear | Phone verification | Nowhere — it was clear |
| Would you submit the application? | Yes, today | Yes, today | Yes, but later | Yes, today | Yes, but later | Yes, today | Yes, today | Yes, but later | No | Yes, today | Yes, today | Yes, today |
How participants answered each question.
“Can I use an ITIN or a passport instead of an SSN?”
Per-step reaction replay — what every persona thought at every step.
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