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The Next 1,000 Start-Ups

braintreepayments.com

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Re: The Next 1,000 Start-Ups

#21

Post by highace »

kami8845 wrote: post #18

A cute marketing trick. No you're not doing this just because you want to "help new startups". That's a nice way of rationalizing it, but really 1) Braintree is suffering from the competition, especially on HN, Stripe is loved like no other 2) They're not giving away 2 million dollars. With so many startups failing to ever generate significant revenue, I wouldn't be suprised if less than 10% of companies that are the…

Why is this getting downvoted? It's cynical, but definitely a legit and structured response.

Re: The Next 1,000 Start-Ups

#22

Post by kami8845 »

highace wrote: post #21
kami8845 wrote: post #18

A cute marketing trick. No you're not doing this just because you want to "help new startups". That's a nice way of rationalizing it, but really 1) Braintree is suffering from the competition, especially on HN, Stripe is loved like no other 2) They're not giving away 2 million dollars. With so many startups failing to ever generate significant revenue, I wouldn't be suprised if less than 10% of companies that are the…

Why is this getting downvoted? It's cynical, but definitely a legit and structured response.

Out of the 19 comments in this thread, 3 were by 3 distinct Braintree employees.

In all of my time reading HN, I don't think I've ever seen so many employees of a company post in a single thread.

I'm not really surprised there's a few initial downvotes for negative responses. I initially wanted to ask the downvoter to explain their reasoning, but decided not to as it would probably just read "people reading this response goes against the interests of parties I'm associated with" :)

Re: The Next 1,000 Start-Ups

#23

Post by fratis »

siculars wrote: post #20

This is classic competition at work. Along comes Stripe that forces companies that are not asleep, like Braintree, to compete on price or innovation or some other axes.

When I was doing research on this for my startup a few months ago, we found that Braintree easily beat Stripe on price. This is just icing on the cake.

Braintree's not as glamorous (I think), but if you're doing a large number of transactions, Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢/transaction is quite high.

Re: The Next 1,000 Start-Ups

#24

Post by xoail »

So 1000 startups, meaning 100 real new startups (I doubt startups that are already into payments using other platforms would switch), of which 10 or less startups could really do 50k in transactions, meaning 10x50000x0.027 = $13,500 (tops and not $1M) in loss for Braintree... But I am sure they are getting way too much marketing out for this.

Re: The Next 1,000 Start-Ups

#25

Post by rhizome »

kami8845 wrote: post #18

A cute marketing trick. No you're not doing this just because you want to "help new startups". That's a nice way of rationalizing it, but really 1) Braintree is suffering from the competition, especially on HN, Stripe is loved like no other 2) They're not giving away 2 million dollars. With so many startups failing to ever generate significant revenue, I wouldn't be suprised if less than 10% of companies that are the…

Now I'm confused, is competition healthy or is it an affliction from which a company "suffers?"

Re: The Next 1,000 Start-Ups

#26

Post by jusben1369 »

fratis wrote: post #23
siculars wrote: post #20

This is classic competition at work. Along comes Stripe that forces companies that are not asleep, like Braintree, to compete on price or innovation or some other axes.

When I was doing research on this for my startup a few months ago, we found that Braintree easily beat Stripe on price. This is just icing on the cake. Braintree's not as glamorous (I think), but if you're doing a large number of transactions, Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢/transaction is quite high.

Your analysis is true although now Braintree's pricing is that of Stripe's - at least for startups who can't or don't want to spend cycles getting a stand alone merchant account. So it's good to make that distinction. I suspect the value with BT is that once you get real traction you can opt out of the more expensive rate into something more competitive - probably as soon as when you're doing a few thousand dollars per month.

Re: The Next 1,000 Start-Ups

#27

Post by kami8845 »

rhizome wrote: post #25
kami8845 wrote: post #18

A cute marketing trick. No you're not doing this just because you want to "help new startups". That's a nice way of rationalizing it, but really 1) Braintree is suffering from the competition, especially on HN, Stripe is loved like no other 2) They're not giving away 2 million dollars. With so many startups failing to ever generate significant revenue, I wouldn't be suprised if less than 10% of companies that are the…

Now I'm confused, is competition healthy or is it an affliction from which a company "suffers?"

Competition is good for consumers. So in essence this is probably one of the positive effects Stripe has on the payments landscape. Not only are they offering a well-received service. They're also forcing their competition to come up with ways to make themselves appear more attractive. Would Braintree do the above if they were the only company offering such a service? My bet is they wouldn't even think about it.

Re: The Next 1,000 Start-Ups

#28

Post by bpick »

xoail wrote: post #24

So 1000 startups, meaning 100 real new startups (I doubt startups that are already into payments using other platforms would switch), of which 10 or less startups could really do 50k in transactions, meaning 10x50000x0.027 = $13,500 (tops and not $1M) in loss for Braintree... But I am sure they are getting way too much marketing out for this.

Not to mention you need an account with them in the first place and Braintree is well known for having a ludicrously strict risk team.

So yes, this is just a marketing gimmick.

Re: The Next 1,000 Start-Ups

#29

Post by jusben1369 »

xoail wrote: post #24

So 1000 startups, meaning 100 real new startups (I doubt startups that are already into payments using other platforms would switch), of which 10 or less startups could really do 50k in transactions, meaning 10x50000x0.027 = $13,500 (tops and not $1M) in loss for Braintree... But I am sure they are getting way too much marketing out for this.

The funny thing is that if you went in as the VP of Sales/VP of Marketing to the CFO of Braintree and said "Our exposure is just $13,500!" he'd beat you with a stick. The good news is the alignment is right here. The more in actual lost transactions fees that occur during the promotion the happier Braintree and the startups will be. As noted Braintree has its eyes further down the road.

Re: The Next 1,000 Start-Ups

#30

Post by emeltzer »

caitlins wrote: post #13
pdenya wrote: post #10

Is this literally the next 1000 braintree signups or is that a marketing term?

Hey, it's Caitlin from Braintree. Yes, this is literally the next 1,000 merchants who signup through this page: https://www.braintreepayments.com/next_thousand_startups

The "instant signup" page says I have to wait one day for underwriters to assess the app, is that normal?
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