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Launch YC S21: Meet the Batch, Thread #8

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Launch YC S21: Meet the Batch, Thread #8

#41

Post by VrindaGupta »

mritchie712 wrote: post #38
VrindaGupta wrote: post #6

Hi, I'm Vrinda Gupta. I worked at Visa Inc. for years, launching popular credit cards. But when I applied for the Chase Sapphire Reserve (the credit card I helped develop), I was rejected! I'm now the CEO and Co-Founder of Sequin, a debit card that builds credit for women risk-free with no credit history required. My co-founder, Mark Thomas, spent over a decade at PayPal leading ACH products in various EM roles. I wa…

When you report, what are you saying the credit limit is? Utilization is a huge factor in your credit score and you technically don't have a credit limit for this product.

We actively decided not to report credit utilization, as it was hurting women's credit more than helping (lower limits = higher utilization).

Re: Launch YC S21: Meet the Batch, Thread #8

#42

Post by VrindaGupta »

candu wrote: post #31
sillysaurusx wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I was rejected from the credit card I helped launch because, despite having a high income, I lacked credit history. This happened to me. I got a job in Petaluma, CA where I was rejected for internet service because my credit history was "Unknown risk", i.e. I had no credit history. I was in my early 20's. It was kind of a bummer to hear that this product is only for women, but seeing as it was a bummer to be a woma…

Another use case where this is potentially useful: relocation. I've been rejected for financial things before after international moves, since I have no credit history _in that place_. Income? Doesn't matter. Previous history elsewhere? Doesn't matter. This is _also_ an issue for self-employed people, contract workers, or...well, basically anyone who doesn't fit the "I stayed in one place and work full-time" mould.

Yes! Great point.

Re: Launch YC S21: Meet the Batch, Thread #8

#43

Post by uranium »

ravi_b wrote: post #4

Hi HN, we're Ravi and Pratik of Enerjazz ( https://www.enerjazz.tech/ ). We make battery swapping stations (like gasoline stations) for electric vehicles, swapping discharged batteries with charged batteries in 2 minutes for light commercial EVs. Commercial EVs or electric rickshaws have 2 pain points. One high upfront cost of battery (can be up to 50% of the total cost of vehicle). Two, high charging downtime result…

$70 < [cost of lead-acid battery] < [cost of lithium-ion battery], so how often does a customer trade the deposit for a battery?

Re: Launch YC S21: Meet the Batch, Thread #8

#44

Post by quirk »

robdigibuild wrote: post #5

Hi, we’re Rob, April and Ivan, cofounders of DigiBuild ( https://digibuild.com/ ). We build construction software powered by blockchain. Our tools help large companies, like VCC Construction, improve the schedule and budget on projects and save over a million dollars annually. I grew up in construction with my dad and saw first hand the issues companies face everyday. The building process involves 50-100 stakeholders…

DigiProcure seems like it would be useful outside of the construction industry - really any manufacturer that has multiple stakeholders. Do you have any competitors in that product market?

Re: Launch YC S21: Meet the Batch, Thread #8

#45

Post by quadcore »

robdigibuild wrote: post #5

Hi, we’re Rob, April and Ivan, cofounders of DigiBuild ( https://digibuild.com/ ). We build construction software powered by blockchain. Our tools help large companies, like VCC Construction, improve the schedule and budget on projects and save over a million dollars annually. I grew up in construction with my dad and saw first hand the issues companies face everyday. The building process involves 50-100 stakeholders…

I think this is revolutionary though my guess is it will not please everyone.

Re: Launch YC S21: Meet the Batch, Thread #8

#46

Post by sunil_loanmeet »

BilalBudhani wrote: post #37
sunil_loanmeet wrote: post #7

Hi HN! We are a rather unusual team of six founders (Pei, Amit, Sunil, Jack, Bo, and Kartik) spread across India and China, building Karbon Cards ( https://www.karboncard.com/ ). We help companies in India get instant access to a corporate card. We came across this problem separately while Amit was doing VC and Sunil was running his own fintech. We saw that a startup with $1M in the bank was facing mind-numbing issue…

This looks great. I run single person company (proprietorship), do you think KarbonCard can help me in running my business in any way? or it is designed for bigger companies?

We have a number of proprietorship as customers, and they like us. They use our card for digital marketing spends, SAS payments, and telecom payments. Few of our customers do not want to put their main bank's debit card on online portals, and they prefer to put our cards as it comes with numerous controls.

Since our card is free of cost, there is nothing to lose and everything to gain.

If you do not have a CIN, please enter your GST number in the field.

Below are the steps to apply for the card. https://karboncard.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/...

If you face issues, do reach us via email at support@karboncard.com or via whatsapp at 828-756-9687.

Re: Launch YC S21: Meet the Batch, Thread #8

#47

Post by Brajeshwar »

sunil_loanmeet wrote: post #7

Hi HN! We are a rather unusual team of six founders (Pei, Amit, Sunil, Jack, Bo, and Kartik) spread across India and China, building Karbon Cards ( https://www.karboncard.com/ ). We help companies in India get instant access to a corporate card. We came across this problem separately while Amit was doing VC and Sunil was running his own fintech. We saw that a startup with $1M in the bank was facing mind-numbing issue…

I believe, Kodo[1] is also another YC Company doing something similar - Brex for India.

1. https://www.kodo.in

Re: Launch YC S21: Meet the Batch, Thread #8

#48

Post by robdigibuild »

avernon wrote: post #35
robdigibuild wrote: post #5

Hi, we’re Rob, April and Ivan, cofounders of DigiBuild ( https://digibuild.com/ ). We build construction software powered by blockchain. Our tools help large companies, like VCC Construction, improve the schedule and budget on projects and save over a million dollars annually. I grew up in construction with my dad and saw first hand the issues companies face everyday. The building process involves 50-100 stakeholders…

Is the chain open source with permission-less validators?

We built on Hyperledger Fabric. I'll explain that piece in the question below......Users in our network can seamlessly become validators and also verify transactions or interact with the blockchain using a block explorer we've built out.

Re: Launch YC S21: Meet the Batch, Thread #8

#49

Post by frakkingcylons »

robdigibuild wrote: post #5

Hi, we’re Rob, April and Ivan, cofounders of DigiBuild ( https://digibuild.com/ ). We build construction software powered by blockchain. Our tools help large companies, like VCC Construction, improve the schedule and budget on projects and save over a million dollars annually. I grew up in construction with my dad and saw first hand the issues companies face everyday. The building process involves 50-100 stakeholders…

> From a risk management perspective, each construction stakeholder needs to review, verify, or otherwise build trust manually to make sure they’re protected (i.e. let me double check that document so I know you didn’t screw me over).

Is fraud a common problem in construction?

Re: Launch YC S21: Meet the Batch, Thread #8

#50

Post by robdigibuild »

seibelj wrote: post #10
robdigibuild wrote: post #5

Hi, we’re Rob, April and Ivan, cofounders of DigiBuild ( https://digibuild.com/ ). We build construction software powered by blockchain. Our tools help large companies, like VCC Construction, improve the schedule and budget on projects and save over a million dollars annually. I grew up in construction with my dad and saw first hand the issues companies face everyday. The building process involves 50-100 stakeholders…

Which blockchain did you use? If it's privately run, wouldn't this be the same as a centralized DB? And if a public chain, how did you encrypt the data? Thank you

Right now, our products are built using Hyperledger Fabric or R3 Corda. In the future, as public blockchains like Ethereum and Avalanche scale and become proven in business use cases, we will migrate over to them, becoming fully decentralized and utilizing a consensus mechanism like Proof of Stake or Gossip Networks. Short term, we needed to use enterprise blockchain that was proven in a business setting and doesn’t have scaling issues; our customers risk management needs dictated our decisions. Hyperledger Fabric and similar blockchains use a consensus called PBFT that serves our purpose of “trust minimization” needed to provide benefits to construction end users that can't be done in a system that has no trust.

A centralized database wouldn't work here because: 1)It is owned by 1 company, there is no transparency into what is happening with the data. Lack of immutability and provenance of data matters here. 2)Not auditable. No way to prove or verify the transactions without the database owner approving.

These issues prevent that centralized database from giving end users from both a behavioral and technical perspective.

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