Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I Created a $60K/Month App That Collects In-Person Payments Through Stripe

starterstory.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 172 posts

Re: I Created a $60K/Month App That Collects In-Person Payments Through Stripe

#121

Post by peterbell_nyc »

dimino wrote: post #19
dvt wrote: post #4

It's interesting how a common tenet of startups is "build products, not features" -- and yet here's a very clear example of a "feature" that can be very successful.

It seems like startup advice is based on the repeatable observations that people who've worked with a lot of startups have discovered. That means there are a bunch of situations that don't get covered because they don't come up a lot. When playing an odds game like startups, you want to do all the maximally viable things possible, but that doesn't mean other decisions aren't also viable, they're just not observed to…

> There's also opportunity cost. What could this team have done if they were working on something more... disruptive? The execution here is incredible, applying that to a new problem would have probably also done very well.

My latest working hypothesis after 28 years of starting companies is that there is "no startup free lunch" and the size and likelihood of return are inversely correlated.

We see so much startup p0rn. I remember in my early 20's seeing a founder in a business magazine and thinking "I'm smarter and harder working, so I'm gonna be a multi-millionaire by 25". I have a number of friends who have built unicorns. I have a number of equally talented friends working equally hard with (to me) equally plausible ideas who have struck out - often multiple times.

Right now I've got a small business - $500k run rate, built it part time, no staff. My goal is to get it to a $2-$5M run rate and take some cash out each year to fund early retirement in a decade. It's not sexy, but I believe the likelihood of me being able to achieve that is higher than the likelihood of being able to successfully create, exit and profit from a unicorn. And at 49 I have only so many hits at bat left given that most of them seem to take 5-10 years.

Re: I Created a $60K/Month App That Collects In-Person Payments Through Stripe

#123

Post by muzani »

alibaba_x wrote: post #14

How can such an app compete against Stripe’s very own Terminal? Don’t this guy’s customers know that an official option exists? https://stripe.com/terminal

Honestly, it sounds like the OP is doing a great job at sales, and he's just making money as an underpaid affiliate.

Re: I Created a $60K/Month App That Collects In-Person Payments Through Stripe

#124

Post by trickstra »

kuschku wrote: post #73
cmonnow wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> have to integrate with one of India's banks what you mention as a disadvantage is the biggest advantage. cut out the card men. Banks' technical prowess will catch up. That is the solution. Not introducing a middle man just because he is technically better now.

Which is the same idea as SEPA-ICT or the German girocard system. Cut out the middle men, the card companies, and suddenly everything is 2-3% cheaper, and faster, and simpler.

Cut out the middle men, the banks, use Bitcoin and you'll shave even the rest of the fees off.

Re: I Created a $60K/Month App That Collects In-Person Payments Through Stripe

#125

Post by hatfortguy »

paulddraper wrote: post #70
jagira wrote: post #33

Why does USA not have a system like UPI ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Payments_Interface )? It simpler, easier and cheaper (mostly free).

Most countries, let alone the USA, do not have a system like UPI. That UPI was agreed upon by enough people was a happy accident for India.

Whilst not quite UPI, the UK has a pay-via-text (sms or Whatsapp) system that nearly every person has access to but barely anyone uses. It amazes me how people naturally gravitate to card-based payments, even when Visa and MasterCard are taking a cut.

Re: I Created a $60K/Month App That Collects In-Person Payments Through Stripe

#126

Post by rscherf »

elbear wrote: post #117
rscherf wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great question. It’s not about the money, but more about how I was passive for too long just letting it be. I’ve waited to invest in several things for growth until I knew had the market cornered. I’m not too concerned about adding more features now, so the only next logical step is growth. Growing from $6M to $10M didn’t seem huge at the time, but now it does...

Still, what's your motivation for wanting to grow more? Money can be a legitimate motivation, but you said that's not it. I guess I'm curious what drives you now.

Larger user base will hopefully protect me from being cut off.

Re: I Created a $60K/Month App That Collects In-Person Payments Through Stripe

#127

Post by rscherf »

faitswulff wrote: post #46
munchbunny wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That requires orders of magnitude more capital/work than what got the app to where it is. At that scale whatever this app already has built is irrelevant. Not to say this app isn’t valuable, because it is, but that you don’t just build your own payment processor.

To extend the analogy further, that's like saying "I'll just build my own electricity company" when they cut your power.

Thought about this so many times with domain registrars. I’m content not being a huge company. Way simpler.

Re: I Created a $60K/Month App That Collects In-Person Payments Through Stripe

#129

Post by pas »

cmonnow wrote: post #69
abvdasker wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having done a UPI integration for a well-known multinational tech company, I consider it a mixed bag. For the end-user it's a great concept and continues to revolutionize payments in India. It's convenient and it will help India transition away from a cash economy. UPI is clearly the future. However, UPI currently has a lot of problems. Number one is that to use UPI as a payment method for your product you have to in…

> have to integrate with one of India's banks what you mention as a disadvantage is the biggest advantage. cut out the card men. Banks' technical prowess will catch up. That is the solution. Not introducing a middle man just because he is technically better now.

Why isn't there a central bank provider for this? Now every bank has to implement their own.

Re: I Created a $60K/Month App That Collects In-Person Payments Through Stripe

#130

Post by cmonnow »

trickstra wrote: post #124
kuschku wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is the same idea as SEPA-ICT or the German girocard system. Cut out the middle men, the card companies, and suddenly everything is 2-3% cheaper, and faster, and simpler.

Cut out the middle men, the banks, use Bitcoin and you'll shave even the rest of the fees off.

There are middle men in bitcoin. In fact, there are a million middle men. But you trust those million men, rather than the 10 who run the bank.

Anyways, it's about how much money you're willing to spend for trust/safety/risk-mitigation/speed.

Cost of item - $100

$100.05 - pay via Bitcoin. In case of fraud, suck it up.

$102 - pay via Bank. In case of fraud, complain to bank, who are slow to resolve it.

$105 - pay via CC, (and pay them via Bank). In case of fraud, complain to CC company, who are faster in resolving it.

Both Bank and CC are basically an escrow service. One provides a bit more security than other, and correspondingly charges more for it.

If you're OK with not needing that security, cut out the middle men.

Going along your analogy lines, cut out even the Bitcoin middle man, or any kind of currency, and directly barter/trade goods.

Post reply on HN