Stripe: Platform of Platforms
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Stripe: Platform of Platforms
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Re: Stripe: Platform of Platforms
#2Wow - I wonder if this is how Bezos felt when he said (paraphrasing) he feared the internet was taking off without him?
Stripe Capital is their iPhone moment -- they've learned much from the software payments market, setting up an 'import Financial Foundation,' and now can use their novel data stream to effectively transform business cash flow financing.
Capital will be a a beautiful take on an old way of financing (factoring accounts receivable), at the scale of big tech, and in immediate payback terms -- since CC's settle comparatively (to 1-3 day ach) 'instantly' in the US.
This combined with the data on sales will allow them to pick better winners and allocate capital -- the impacts of this will be mind boggling. I wish I could buy stock.
Re: Stripe: Platform of Platforms
#3Can stripe 1st work on reducing their fees?
They're just like the incumbents. Only surrounded by more silicon valley sycophants.
Taking 2.6%+ of every merchant transaction is nuts.
Re: Stripe: Platform of Platforms
#4Can stripe 1st work on reducing their fees? They're just like the incumbents. Only surrounded by more silicon valley sycophants. Taking 2.6%+ of every merchant transaction is nuts.
Small businesses pay >2.9%+0.30¢ all the time.
Re: Stripe: Platform of Platforms
#5For me, as a business owner, I am inundated with letters from companies offering capital. I understand that this is a platform play and could well succeed but for me feels like a very crowded market. Maybe worth it as a convenience thing?
I can imagine most Fintechs are working on similar at the moment. Curve, Monzo, Revolut, Starling are all going too need lending to profit in the future.
Maybe the success of this will be driven by the economic engine. Lets hope it doesn't stall.
Re: Stripe: Platform of Platforms
#6Can stripe 1st work on reducing their fees? They're just like the incumbents. Only surrounded by more silicon valley sycophants. Taking 2.6%+ of every merchant transaction is nuts.
What are you comparing this to that makes you think it is nuts?
Square's is 2.6% + $0.10
Paypal's is 2.7%
Fees directly from the merchant card issuers (Visa, Mastercard, etc) are sometimes lower (ranging from 1.4% - 2.6%, and even 3.5% for AmEx) but Stripe is a service that is on top of those fees , and any merchant will add on top of those fees as well.
Re: Stripe: Platform of Platforms
#7Stripe is ideally placed for being an economic platform. They understand developers better than most of their peers. They know how to write and document APIs. They have traction - arguably the most important part of being a platform.
Of course current customers of Stripe like Shopify are already big enough that they could take a stab at empire building themselves. But probably they have no material incentive now as their core business is growing so fast and I am sure Stripe has given them great terms.
Re: Stripe: Platform of Platforms
#8For me, as a business owner, I am inundated with letters from companies offering capital. I understand that this is a platform play and could well succeed but for me feels like a very crowded market. Maybe worth it as a convenience thing? I can imagine most Fintechs are working on similar at the moment. Curve, Monzo, Revolut, Starling are all going too need lending to profit in the future. Maybe the success of this w…
Edit: > I can imagine most Fintechs are working on similar at the moment. Curve, Monzo, Revolut, Starling are all going too need lending to profit in the future.
^ None of them are vertically integrated with customer status quo payment methods. This 'moment of transaction' access to payback across all payment types is astounding. It's easy to do - but don't significantly underestimate the financial value of compounding interest in these quick of terms. This is almost like high frequency trading on small businesses.
The loss ratio and their interest rates will be much more competitive than these outlets -- much less their cost of doing due diligence since a significant portion of your sales go through them.
Also, they clearly get to define the maturity date with the % of transaction payback.
This is one of those -- just try it both ways and see which one you like more.
(Also, not trying to be a shill... honestly feeling like I'm missing out on this huge opportunity... kinda sucks)
Re: Stripe: Platform of Platforms
#9Wow - I wonder if this is how Bezos felt when he said (paraphrasing) he feared the internet was taking off without him? Stripe Capital is their iPhone moment -- they've learned much from the software payments market, setting up an 'import Financial Foundation,' and now can use their novel data stream to effectively transform business cash flow financing. Capital will be a a beautiful take on an old way of financing (…
Unfortunately, Stripe is private
Re: Stripe: Platform of Platforms
#10> Stripe is enabling standardized access to global banking capabilities via APIs...
The API is Stripe's core competency, and they've been excelling at it for a long time.
I think one thing that Stripe does very well is allow developers to focus on developing. Setting up a business relationship with financial institutions is cumbersome and the legal details can be daunting.
While their engineering reputation is high quality, I'm curious to know how much of Stripe's headcount is in lawyering and policy work.