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Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

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Re: Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

#81

Post by malandrew »

lisper wrote: post #45
notatoad wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i don't know about best buy, they might be able to negotiate something better. but for small fish, it's standard practice to keep not just the fee, but twice the fee: when you charge a card, visa charges you 2.5% on the purchase amount. and then when you refund the card, visa charges you 2.5% on the refund amount. as far as visa is concerned, they're both just transactions, regardless of the direction, and they want…

IMHO it is time to start promulgating the idea that electronic money transfer should be considered a basic human right just like free cash transactions have been since the invention of money. It already is that way in many advanced countries where electronic money transfer is a service provided by the government. It is only in the U.S. where a private monopolistic cartel is allowed to impose a private tax on all reta…

Without any profit, what's going to support the creation of such service and pay for the talent that is going to make it cheap and reliable? The only answer is likely to have taxes pay for it, but then you're still paying a tax and then you're in the situation where you can't switch to a new company providing a better service. A service being provided by the government doesn't make it free. You're still paying for it one way or another.

Here's a recent example from my life: About 10 days ago my partner sent $1000 to friends/family in another country and used the official channels that involves the nationalized bank in that country. It should have been there quickly, but took 10 days. There was no update the entire time and no phone number to call or other customer service channel to figure out what was happening. On day 3 or 4, a friend asked why she hadn't used this other private money transfer service that is known to be far more reliable, faster and with better customer service. With the government, there were still fees involved and the service was far less convenient/reliable.

Here's a fact of life: Nothing that requires the labor of other people will ever be free unless:

- the people providing the labor choose to do so and have the time to do so because they have some other means to support themselves; or

- someone voluntarily donates the money to fund both the creation of such a service and the maintenance of such a service in perpetuity.

- you steal money from someone else to pay for that labor.

Those are pretty much the only three ways that something requiring labor comes into being.

You can't just magically declare anything that requires human labor to be a basic human right and will it into being.

Re: Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

#82

Post by mikeyouse »

noelwelsh wrote: post #74
malandrew wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand this idolization of small over large (or vice versa for others). The thing that matters most is that businesses best satisfy their customers, whether they are small or large. There's no benefit to having a small business that provides inferior products or inferior service relative to a large company. I buy from small companies all the time and many of those that I do will likely survive because the…

Large companies have more power than smaller ones. This could be the power to offer poor products at inflated prices, or power to alter political processes to their favor.

Also small companies often employ and are owned by my neighbors.. Amazon doesn't and is owned by a bunch of hedge funds and a dude who buys $200M houses.

Re: Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

#83

Post by core-questions »

malandrew wrote: post #64
tlrobinson wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, it’s also likely one of the largest and fastest transfers of wealth from small businesses to large corporations. As Amazon hires 100,000+ workers how many small businesses are shuttering for good? Stripe is one of the “good” tech companies in this respect by helping to level the playing field for smaller businesses, but it’s not going to be enough.

I don't understand this idolization of small over large (or vice versa for others). The thing that matters most is that businesses best satisfy their customers, whether they are small or large. There's no benefit to having a small business that provides inferior products or inferior service relative to a large company. I buy from small companies all the time and many of those that I do will likely survive because the…

> There's no benefit to having a small business that provides inferior products or inferior service relative to a large company.

Sure there is - in terms of where the profit goes. The profit in a small business goes to the owner(s), who usually live somewhere in the local community, and in turn that money stays within the community to be spent on other businesses there.

When a Walmart comes along, the profits all move up the chain to a corporation that is nowhere nearby, effectively sucking the wealth out of small towns in exchange for slightly reduced costs thanks to efficient logistics.

The happy medium would be to find a way to have logistics as good as Walmart without having to actually be Walmart.

Re: Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

#84

Post by nailer »

fbelzile wrote: post #55

I'm very happy with Stripe and for their success, but I plan on switching all my payments to go through PayPal again. I did some math and PayPal offers a better deal for Canadian businesses after Stripe bumps me off of their grandfathered conversion fees in a couple months. I love the slick interface, but it's simply not worth the thousands per year I'll be saving with the switch. For me the main selling point for an…

If you do anything through PayPal do not keep any funds in your PayPal account. The company is well known for seizing funds in their customers account with no recourse.

Re: Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

#85

Post by adamqureshi »

pc wrote: post #13
adamqureshi wrote: post #6

I wish stripe would offer some relief for the pandemic to their customers. I use them for my business to process CC's but they have not provided anything. I can't get a PPP loan. I'd accept an interest free loan if they would offer it to my business. They did approve me for a loan but want a fee upfront + a slice of daily sales until its paid back.

We've been working with various government agencies behind-the-scenes and are about to pilot our first PPP loans. (Since so many banks have had troubles with the SBA application process, we want to make sure the process is robust and scaleable before deploying anything broadly.) Feel free to email brayden@stripe.com if you're interested in trying it out.

Thank you. email sent!

Re: Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

#86

Post by samschooler »

pc wrote: post #75

Stripe cofounder here. This isn't really new -- it's an extension of our last round ( https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/19/fintech-start-up-stripe-notc... ). That said, we've seen a big spike in signups over the past few weeks. If any HN readers have integrated recently and have feedback, we're always eager to hear it. Feel free to email me at patrick@stripe.com and I'll route to the right team(s). As always, thank you to…

Do you know why that big spike happened? Is it possibly related to people being furloughed + having new side hustles they are just now working on/starting?

Re: Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

#87

Post by Beefin »

pc wrote: post #75

Stripe cofounder here. This isn't really new -- it's an extension of our last round ( https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/19/fintech-start-up-stripe-notc... ). That said, we've seen a big spike in signups over the past few weeks. If any HN readers have integrated recently and have feedback, we're always eager to hear it. Feel free to email me at patrick@stripe.com and I'll route to the right team(s). As always, thank you to…

Hey Patrick, understood that this is an extension of a previous round, but do you have any comments on the timing of this capital raise /w covid?

I imagine, with the huge spike in ecommerce, your platforms are crushing it, but curious to hear your take.

Re: Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

#88

Post by bhupy »

noelwelsh wrote: post #74
malandrew wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand this idolization of small over large (or vice versa for others). The thing that matters most is that businesses best satisfy their customers, whether they are small or large. There's no benefit to having a small business that provides inferior products or inferior service relative to a large company. I buy from small companies all the time and many of those that I do will likely survive because the…

Large companies have more power than smaller ones. This could be the power to offer poor products at inflated prices, or power to alter political processes to their favor.

> or power to alter political processes

Doing away with large companies doesn't guarantee that this will end, though.

An example: while there are few large corporations providing physician services, the American Medical Association lobbies on behalf of the thousands of individual doctors and small private practices, often to the detriment of consumers anyway.

Re: Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

#89

Post by stephenmc »

pc wrote: post #75

Stripe cofounder here. This isn't really new -- it's an extension of our last round ( https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/19/fintech-start-up-stripe-notc... ). That said, we've seen a big spike in signups over the past few weeks. If any HN readers have integrated recently and have feedback, we're always eager to hear it. Feel free to email me at patrick@stripe.com and I'll route to the right team(s). As always, thank you to…

Irrespective of old news or new news, it's a fantastic achievement and ye should definitely be proud of it.
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