My advice would be to join Patreon/Stripe/some other payment services company, and realize that it isn't something a single engineer, no matter how skilled, can throw together in a week, a month, a year, or a decade.
How did Patreon start exactly? IIRC it was just two guys without major backers, I'm really curious what was their MVP like.
Ask HN: How to create a service similar to Patreon?
31–40 of 97 posts
Re: Ask HN: How to create a service similar to Patreon?
#32Take a look at Stripe Connect
I second this. Stellar experience.
Re: Ask HN: How to create a service similar to Patreon?
#33May I ask what is pushing you to want to create a competitor?
I bet it is because you strongly disagree with their stance on free speech (they ban creators based on all type of nonsense backed with the typical "Hate speech" excuse). This is actually a very difficult problem, as you will now depends on Stripe, and behind that Visa and Mastercard. Those companies will happily ban you if you support any creator that isn't Politically correct based on the consensus at that time.
I'm myself considering jumping into that space, but the financial world is held together by a couple of Titans, and it is unfortunately extremely difficult to go against the general "mobbing" that happens on the usual platforms.
Re: Ask HN: How to create a service similar to Patreon?
#34If I were to withhold 3% of everyone’s total to cover credit card fees plus $0.10 per every transaction because the bank fees range from 1%-3% per card and it’s difficult to sort them, would it be legally acceptable? Any insights?
Re: Ask HN: How to create a service similar to Patreon?
#35Here's a post about a story that made the rounds back when Patreon made some changes a while back: https://geoffkratz.wordpress.com/2017/12/10/is-patreon-about... It should give you a few pointers on things not to do in order to steer clear of violating financial regulations. It's probably far from a complete list, but should give you some starting points of things you'll need to be aware of.
Although that post should have a heavy disclaimer to talk to a lawyer; I wouldn't risk my savings/a business based on a blog post.
Re: Ask HN: How to create a service similar to Patreon?
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are not directly dependent on banks, financial companies and all the regulations they have. Actually you only need to concentrate then mostly on the software side and keep sure that nothing really illegal happens on your platform (sooner or later you also need legal advice with this thing!). And it will lower your costs because no middleman needs to be payed here (except maybe you alone)
I think I'm misreading your response, those sounds like benefits, not reasons that it definitely wouldn't work?
I've edited my response once again. Yes it could definitely work with crypto :) at the cost that your audience will be smaller. At least you are less dependent on good working financial partners/banks/visa etc. for this setup.
Re: Ask HN: How to create a service similar to Patreon?
#37Start with a legal team. Seriously.
That said, I feel like this is a bit of a weird post for HN. You are asking the hardest questions of “How do I build a successful competitor to an already successful competitor?” - isn’t that the essence of founding a company?
Like i don’t want to discourage thoughtful discussions on this site and I’m not saying any rules are being broken, but it feels a bit disingenuous to be asking these questions in the sense that people that have real answers to this are probably charging REAL fees, if not already doing the whole thing themselves.
Re: Ask HN: How to create a service similar to Patreon?
#38My advice would be to join Patreon/Stripe/some other payment services company, and realize that it isn't something a single engineer, no matter how skilled, can throw together in a week, a month, a year, or a decade.
Stripe Connect [1] handles almost everything for you. A single engineer could definitely build something with this, maybe in a few weeks or months.
Re: Ask HN: How to create a service similar to Patreon?
#39Partner up with someone knowledgeable, perhaps a paralegal who has worked in finance. They will know when to call in the big guns.
OP needs a team of experienced regulatory compliance attorneys. Suggesting a paralegal to assist with this issue is akin to suggesting an x-ray technician to help
someone who needs surgery.
Re: Ask HN: How to create a service similar to Patreon?
#40Here's a post about a story that made the rounds back when Patreon made some changes a while back: https://geoffkratz.wordpress.com/2017/12/10/is-patreon-about... It should give you a few pointers on things not to do in order to steer clear of violating financial regulations. It's probably far from a complete list, but should give you some starting points of things you'll need to be aware of.
Although that post should have a heavy disclaimer to talk to a lawyer; I wouldn't risk my savings/a business based on a blog post.
Yep, that's why I only suggested it as a starting point. Anyone embarking on a business that potentially involves a (heavily) regulated industry needs to step carefully.