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BankSimple: We have cards

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Re: BankSimple: We have cards

#91

Post by tptacek »

Goronmon wrote: post #89
tptacek wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely, if it's Important to understand why Dave left BankSimple to understand the health of the company, it must also be Important to know what kind of offers Dave has on the table now. Surely this isn't just drama!

I personally could care less about his offers. I honestly don't even care about the person in question (no offense, heh). And for most startups this type of stuff wouldn't bother me. If this was a twitter clone, I doubt anyone would care. But when it's a startup whose sole job is to handle and store money, I think it's worth being a bit more paranoid of the goings on within the company. You may disagree, but that's m…

Give me a break. You don't have the slightest clue who's doing dev work at the companies that handle your money today. PayPal probably loses a lead dev once a week; nobody writes threads about that.

This is just a nugget of drama small enough for people to get their nerdy little hands around and hacky-sack across HN. It doesn't help that Dave's someone a lot of people here know.

This isn't as big a deal as I'm making it sound, but I don't like arguments that insult our intelligence.

Re: BankSimple: We have cards

#93

Post by al3x »

newman314 wrote: post #55
paulitex wrote: post #35

Only 4 days after losing their Lead Engineer. http://twitter.com/#!/KirinDave/status/70217986962751488

Anyone know the reason why? I'm not asking because the popcorn factor but rather to understand if there's something fundamentally broken about the concept & company.

I'm the CTO of BankSimple. I can confidently say that there's nothing fundamentally broken about the concept or company. BankSimple wasn't the right place for Dave, but he's a brilliant programmer – seriously, one of the best I've ever worked with – who will end up doing great things no matter where he ends up. I'm really grateful that we got a chance to work with him.

To be clear: this is not the easiest business in the world to start, particularly given the slow-moving pace of the banking industry, regulatory burdens, etc. But we've been making substantial progress, and we have a growing team who do fantastic work.

You are, of course, free to be skeptical of how I present the state of our company because it's in my best interest to put a positive spin on things. That said, it's also in my best interest to be open, because we know that many of our early (potential) customers are coming from communities like this one, and building trust is critical for our success.

Re: BankSimple: We have cards

#94

Post by frossie »

mdasen wrote: post #31
Aloisius wrote: post #2

Can someone please tell me the benefits of BankSimple over all the other online banks or your local credit union? I'm afraid I don't get it.

In some ways, they're over-reaching. Sure, people hate the banks right now and it seems like a cash-cow industry that one could really disrupt. However, banking has a lot of competitors including not-for-profit ones in the form of credit unions. It will be very difficult to offer higher rates, better service, etc. than a non-profit credit union while one is trying to make a profit. However, if I were BankSimple and y…

I am one of those people who asked for a Bank Simple invite. At the time I had an account at a bricks-and-mortar bank. Since then I have switched to ING Direct and in some ways I am a harder sell. But I will say this: UI does matter. It's not just about the fee structure. However it will have to be an awesome UI (by which I mean the money management layer available to the customer) to get me to switch again

Re: BankSimple: We have cards

#95

Post by al3x »

achompas wrote: post #32

I'm pulling for BankSimple's success thanks to the abysmal nature of banking customer service. Hidden fees, long wait times on phone calls, ATM fees, ridiculous procedures to dispute charges... With that said, how is BankSimple anything but a middleman? In my eyes, they fill one of two potential roles: 1. They're a customer service wrapper for banks, which means banks pay them to provide support. So banks are their c…

I'm BankSimple's CTO. To your points:

1. We're more than a "customer service wrapper". We don't license our technology or outsource our support staff to other banks. Banks are our partners, not our customers, and we only partner with a small number of banks who share our values and are willing to set aside things like fee revenue to work with us. We have a symbiotic relationship with those banking partners: we bring them deposits, and they make loans on those deposits and share the resulting interest margin with us. That is one of several sources of revenue for us, but not our sole source of revenue.

2. If customers like the way we help manage their money, we're able to connect them to a variety of financial products that are mutually beneficial to our customers, our banking partners, and to us. As above, our banking partners are happy because we're bringing them new customers for various financial products, many of which have a decent margin on them (CDs, for example). We share that margin with our partners, and that's another source of revenue.

Our business is all about aligning the interests of the banking industry with the interests of our customers. Where we can create that alignment, we profit.

Re: BankSimple: We have cards

#96

Post by smackfu »

jrockway wrote: post #83
Goronmon wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't think the Lead Engineer leaving a company not long before it's launch is not something to be worried about?

No? Programmers get better offers all the time. Why make less money at an uncertain startup when you can make more money somewhere that has a certain future? I have no idea that this happened, but people leave for reasons other than "the product sucks". In fact, I would guess that compensation and getting along with your coworkers are much bigger factors.

My concern would be "gee, hope he wrote good documentation."

Re: BankSimple: We have cards

#97

Post by smackfu »

eli wrote: post #22
jsm386 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously different banks have different issues but Chase (third largest US by deposits) already does everything in that vision. I really don't get Bank Simple. Integrating planning in a way that looks like Mint is nice, but Mint brings in your other accounts - and if they are trying to out Mint Mint, that is a pretty tall challenge. I can't speak for other banks but I don't see anything special here. - The plain sim…

largest fee-free nationwide ATM network That's gotta be Allpoint. They run nearly all of the non-bank ATMs (Think: 7/11, pharmacies, gas stations). ING Direct has the same deal: http://app.ingdirect.com/atmlocate/index.html That's actually a significantly worse deal than the banks and credit unions that refund ATM fees (to a point) so you can use literally any ATM on any network.

Agreed, I have an online savings account from HSBC and they even refunded a $5 ATM fee from a Vegas casino. I just make sure to carry that ATM card with me for the cases where I need money and can't get to my bank's ATMs, and this or the Ing product don't add anything to that.

Re: BankSimple: We have cards

#98

Post by faboo »

allwein wrote: post #81
orijing wrote: post #26

As I understand it, banks make a large amount of revenues from fees and such. How will BankSimple succeed if it doesn't use that? How will overdrafts work? Will the check just not go through? I love that they are trying to revolutionize the banking industry, and I wish them well. But I'm afraid that they'll succumb to adverse selection to the greatest degree. The reality is that most of a bank's customers are not pro…

> How will overdrafts work? Will the check just not go through? That's how it used to work, so sure, it's an option. A second option would be automatically taking the money out of your savings account, if available. A third option is, if you have a credit card with them, putting the overage on you your credit card. A fourth option would be to generate an automatic overage loan at a reasonable interest rate, without a…

Hell, an automatic loan with an _unreasonable_ interest rate would be better than a $30 charge on a $5 overdraft.

Re: BankSimple: We have cards

#99

Post by cliq »

tptacek wrote: post #91
Goronmon wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally could care less about his offers. I honestly don't even care about the person in question (no offense, heh). And for most startups this type of stuff wouldn't bother me. If this was a twitter clone, I doubt anyone would care. But when it's a startup whose sole job is to handle and store money, I think it's worth being a bit more paranoid of the goings on within the company. You may disagree, but that's m…

Give me a break. You don't have the slightest clue who's doing dev work at the companies that handle your money today. PayPal probably loses a lead dev once a week; nobody writes threads about that. This is just a nugget of drama small enough for people to get their nerdy little hands around and hacky-sack across HN. It doesn't help that Dave's someone a lot of people here know. This isn't as big a deal as I'm making…

This is like talking about 2 people... that are actually in the room... listening... standing next to you.

Re: BankSimple: We have cards

#100

Post by KirinDave »

paulitex wrote: post #84
jrockway wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No? Programmers get better offers all the time. Why make less money at an uncertain startup when you can make more money somewhere that has a certain future? I have no idea that this happened, but people leave for reasons other than "the product sucks". In fact, I would guess that compensation and getting along with your coworkers are much bigger factors.

FWIW, it certainly doesn't sound like it was for a better offer. He's actually on the market right now: http://twitter.com/#!/KirinDave/status/70222704883662848 http://twitter.com/#!/KirinDave/status/70221497888808960

It is flattering to be under such scrutiny. I feel as if the slightest motion of my fingertips could send startups spinning into chaos. Would my medical records and long-form birth certificate be of any use? My cancer history might change how you want to invest your money.
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