Not a problem now, but if you expand to the UK the word Brexit is on everyone lips and will be for the next decade. Are you sure you won't suffer from Brex-it association brand wise?
Launch HN: Brex (YC W17) – Corporate Credit Card for Startups
101–110 of 128 posts
Re: Launch HN: Brex (YC W17) – Corporate Credit Card for Startups
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
we're building a new rewards program that will launch later this year, would love to hear your thoughts on what a great rewards program looks like for you. Honestly, dollars are fungible. For less sophisticated customers, points which can be redeemed specifically for travel are attractive because people anticipate getting better deals than they end up with; but I'd be disappointed if that works well for the audience…
I disagree. I have no interest in fungible dollars when the alternative is miles which can be used to get outsized return on experiences. I have plenty of ways of making money, and trying to optimize for a %age of cash back is not particularly interesting. Miles and points on the other hand can be used to get experiences that would otherwise be completely out of question due to their price. It adds something meaningf…
...but... you can use the money to buy a first class ticket!
Re: Launch HN: Brex (YC W17) – Corporate Credit Card for Startups
#103I'm also in the credit card world (I suppose I'm one of your competitors: I work for the Small Business team at Capital One). (Obligatory disclaimer: I speak only for myself here, and do not in any way represent the views of my employer.)
First of all, I'd like to say "Great Work!" You have a compelling and interesting product, with a very interesting set of features. Your rewards program is innovative (especially the idea of offering AWS credits, given your target audience). I'll let others who are more qualified comment on your website and signup process, but I wanted to let you know that I think your product is quite innovative.
I am actually curious how you are managing risk on this card. Underwriting businesses well can be difficult given the paucity of reliable data, but underwriting startups is even more difficult as there IS no history to go on for the business. Most lenders address that by relying heavily on a credit assessment of the founder(s), but you are offering the (unusual) "non-personal guarantee". If it's not something you consider a trade secret, what approach are you taking to assess and balance the risk of losses in making loans to a category of business famous for it's high rate of failure?
(By the way, if you're open to having a conversation with a competitor and would like to have a chat, reach out to me by email.)
Re: Launch HN: Brex (YC W17) – Corporate Credit Card for Startups
#104Is this US only? I'd be interested in trying the service. We're based in Europe.
Re: Launch HN: Brex (YC W17) – Corporate Credit Card for Startups
#105I'm also in the credit card world (I suppose I'm one of your competitors: I work for the Small Business team at Capital One). (Obligatory disclaimer: I speak only for myself here, and do not in any way represent the views of my employer.) First of all, I'd like to say "Great Work!" You have a compelling and interesting product, with a very interesting set of features. Your rewards program is innovative (especially th…
I'm in analytics for several banks (including credit cards) and have always thought that one of the key competitive edges is managing risk so in my mind, it'd be a trade secret ;)
But also curious about the answer to the question :)
Re: Launch HN: Brex (YC W17) – Corporate Credit Card for Startups
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's technically a Charge Card, which is a type of credit card that doesn't allow you to keep a balance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge_card
How is that better than a debit card?
With a debit card I have to take money out of my savings or money market account beforehand and make sure that money is in my checking account before I make a purchase and make sure there's a buffer in there in case of holds, fraud, mistake, etc. Otherwise I'm risking my mortgage payment bouncing or overdrafts and all the fees associated with that. So I either have to watch my checking account like a hawk to make sure my spending estimates are on target or have a big buffer of money that makes no interest.
With a charge card I can just make the purchase willy nilly and transfer out of my savings the exact amount of money I've spent all at once at bill pay time. If I get an unexpected charge then my mortgage doesn't bounce and I don't get hit with overdraft fees. Not only that, the statement only closes once a month, so I have a pretty significant interest free period; which is great if I'm fronting money for work expenses and have to wait for the reimbursement, for example.
There's also better fraud protection, rewards, and other benefits (rental car insurance, extended warranties, purchase protection, trip delay insurance, return protection, etc. etc.) that I don't get with a debit card but I do get with a charge card.
Your debit card use doesn't effect your credit score/history but using a charge card does since it still is a credit line, even if the loan term is very short.
Re: Launch HN: Brex (YC W17) – Corporate Credit Card for Startups
#107I'm also in the credit card world (I suppose I'm one of your competitors: I work for the Small Business team at Capital One). (Obligatory disclaimer: I speak only for myself here, and do not in any way represent the views of my employer.) First of all, I'd like to say "Great Work!" You have a compelling and interesting product, with a very interesting set of features. Your rewards program is innovative (especially th…
I'm in analytics for several banks (including credit cards) and have always thought that one of the key competitive edges is managing risk so in my mind, it'd be a trade secret ;) But also curious about the answer to the question :)
> in my mind, it'd be a trade secret
Yes, I will be completely unsurprised if that's the answer, and I don't mean to pry. But I'm also aware that there are benefits to open conversation and to the extent that I'm allowed to, I am happy to engage in such!
Re: Launch HN: Brex (YC W17) – Corporate Credit Card for Startups
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
Curious who you would trust more: Brex or a 3rd party you may have heard of?
I would probably trust the 3rd party if I'd used them before and not gotten scammed, but honestly I don't like sharing that info with anyone. I understand why they want it, but I wish there were a better way than "here is write access to my bank".
Agreed. Having a startup, YC or not, have full access to our bank accounts is not giving me warm fuzzies.
I've asked our bank to make all ACH transactions above a threshold require manual authorization to improve our risk exposure. While ACH transactions can be reversed, it wouldn't be pretty do be without funds during arbitration.
Re: Launch HN: Brex (YC W17) – Corporate Credit Card for Startups
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
I disagree. I have no interest in fungible dollars when the alternative is miles which can be used to get outsized return on experiences. I have plenty of ways of making money, and trying to optimize for a %age of cash back is not particularly interesting. Miles and points on the other hand can be used to get experiences that would otherwise be completely out of question due to their price. It adds something meaningf…
...but... you can use the money to buy a first class ticket!
A first-class ticket on Emirates bought in cash is a whole lot more than $1,500. But it'd be about about the points equivalent of that.
Re: Launch HN: Brex (YC W17) – Corporate Credit Card for Startups
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
...but... you can use the money to buy a first class ticket!
A first-class ticket on Emirates bought in cash is a whole lot more than $1,500. But it'd be about about the points equivalent of that.
How do you figure? As far as I know, you can't buy points with money, so it's $XX,XXX worth of flights.