M1’s approach to beta testing  

At M1, we’re committed to building helpful tools for long-term wealth building. A key part of that process is beta testing—and it helps us to learn what’s most valuable to you, our clients, before we roll features to everyone on M1. 

Why we beta test 

We’re looking for our clients to give honest feedback on how the feature fits into their M1 experience, including: 

• Where they see value, how often they might use it, and if they’d be disappointed to see the feature go away  
• Where the experience falls short of their expectations and where they see room for improvement  
• How the feature supports their wealth-building journey overall 

Remember, beta testing is not about using clients to find bugs. That happens behind the scenes, before the beta testing phase. Every feature goes through extensive internal testing before it ever reaches the first group clients selected to be beta testers.  
 
Your early feedback helps us refine features so by the time we’re ready to release to our entire clientele, everything is refined, useful and relevant to you—our clients. 

How beta testing works 

When it comes to launching a phase of beta testing, M1 follows a cycle similar to other leading tech companies. It works like this:  

Stage 1: Internal testing 

Our design and engineering teams use new features themselves to test functionality across web, iOS, and Android. (This is known as “dogfooding,” a common practice in tech companies.)  
 
During this phase, the team see what works well and what doesn’t. We’ll iron out the bugs, iterate, and stress-test the feature, putting ourselves in the clients’ shoes (this is made easier by the fact that many M1 employees are also M1 clients themselves.)  

Stage 2: Beta testing 

Once the team feels confident in the new feature, we release it to a select group of clients. Typically, this group will be made up of clients with a lot of experience on the platform. We’ll let them know about the new feature via email and give them early access in their account.  
 
From there, we let the beta testing group try it out themselves and offer feedback. We send surveys, collect data, and talk directly with clients to  understand what’s working for them—and what could be better.  

Stage 3: Iterate and refine  

Once we’ve collected a significant amount of feedback, the team gets to work improving the new feature. If we learn something is confusing to some clients, we make it clearer through copy and design edits. If we learn something valuable is missing, we work to add it in. If there’s something that slows down the experience for clients, we see where we can streamline.  
 
Sometimes we’ll release first on one platform (for example, a web-only version) before expanding to iOS and Android. Once the web version is tested, polished and perfected, we’ll start on the app experience. This helps us move quickly and make improvements more efficiently. 

Stage 4: Full release  

After beta testing is complete and refinements are made, we’re ready to launch the new feature to all our clients. This is the exciting part: announcements go out, the feature goes live, and everyone on M1 can experience it for themselves.  
 
But that doesn’t mean we stop there. In fact, the team continues to gather feedback, learn from data, and iterate for future updates. We’re always listening, learning, and looking for the next improvements. The work is never done! 

What this means for you 

When you see a new feature in beta, you can be confident it’s already been rigorously tested by our team. You can also be confident that your feedback matters—in fact, it’s essential in our process.  
 
By sharing your perspective, you can help us deliver the experience you want from M1. After all, our mission to make sophisticated  wealth-building simple. Beta testing is one of the ways we make sure we’re delivering on that promise.