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

Launch HN: InstaKin (YC S21) - Help immigrants to manage tasks in home countries

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 72 posts

Re: Launch HN: InstaKin (YC S21) - Help immigrants to manage tasks in home countries

#21

Post by arkitaip »

Super exciting. If you can solve the many trust issues, this could become an unicorn that could service millions of immigrants in virtually every country on the planet. One of the very few Y! startups that I actually believe can do some good as opposed to create a less shitty fart app.

Nitpick: the UI needs a makeover. Feels bland and dated. Also, is this only available for Pakistani citizens right now? Because my country is set to Pakistan and cannot be changed.

Re: Launch HN: InstaKin (YC S21) - Help immigrants to manage tasks in home countries

#22

Post by shehryarrr »

First love seeing more Pakistani founders! And second - this is super interesting (I'm a first generation kid - parents also came from Pakistan) my parents basically route this all through trusted family right now, have property back home they manage, and this could have made everything WAY simpler.

Congrats on the launch and excited to see where this goes!

Re: Launch HN: InstaKin (YC S21) - Help immigrants to manage tasks in home countries

#24

Post by asah »

congrats - key insight. While this is clearly global, I strongly recommend resisting that temptation, and instead *hyper* focusing on one small region to service, and accepting requests from one country only (one set of laws, one currency, etc). From a requestor-marketing standpoint, you may also find big wins focusing on very narrow communities where you can market aggressively/deeply and build/defend your reputation, before moving on. For example, start with the Pakistani community in NYC first - completely nail that in the first 3-6 months, then go after other Pakistani communities around the US. Remember, Facebook started with a tiny number of colleges only.

Re: Launch HN: InstaKin (YC S21) - Help immigrants to manage tasks in home countries

#25

Post by anovikov »

shehryarrr wrote: post #22

First love seeing more Pakistani founders! And second - this is super interesting (I'm a first generation kid - parents also came from Pakistan) my parents basically route this all through trusted family right now, have property back home they manage, and this could have made everything WAY simpler. Congrats on the launch and excited to see where this goes!

My question - why do they keep property back there? Are rental yields in Pakistan very high?

Re: Launch HN: InstaKin (YC S21) - Help immigrants to manage tasks in home countries

#26

Post by yshirazi »

arkitaip wrote: post #21

Super exciting. If you can solve the many trust issues, this could become an unicorn that could service millions of immigrants in virtually every country on the planet. One of the very few Y! startups that I actually believe can do some good as opposed to create a less shitty fart app. Nitpick: the UI needs a makeover. Feels bland and dated. Also, is this only available for Pakistani citizens right now? Because my co…

Thank you for the feedback... Yes currently it is only available for Pakistani migrants..

Re: Launch HN: InstaKin (YC S21) - Help immigrants to manage tasks in home countries

#27

Post by debarshri »

anovikov wrote: post #25
shehryarrr wrote: post #22

First love seeing more Pakistani founders! And second - this is super interesting (I'm a first generation kid - parents also came from Pakistan) my parents basically route this all through trusted family right now, have property back home they manage, and this could have made everything WAY simpler. Congrats on the launch and excited to see where this goes!

My question - why do they keep property back there? Are rental yields in Pakistan very high?

It might be inheritance.

Re: Launch HN: InstaKin (YC S21) - Help immigrants to manage tasks in home countries

#28

Post by debarshri »

yshirazi wrote: post #6
debarshri wrote: post #2

I think it can expand well beyond helping immigrants. For instance, I am going relocate to another country, may be your service help me organize various like apartments, legal documents etc. Being an immigrant, I understand the problem. Very excited for you guys.

Thank you so much. Yes expanding into expat/relocation related audiences is a big opportunity too.

In a long run, are you guys going to be HQ-ed in Pakistan?

Re: Launch HN: InstaKin (YC S21) - Help immigrants to manage tasks in home countries

#29

Post by wu_187 »

anovikov wrote: post #25
shehryarrr wrote: post #22

First love seeing more Pakistani founders! And second - this is super interesting (I'm a first generation kid - parents also came from Pakistan) my parents basically route this all through trusted family right now, have property back home they manage, and this could have made everything WAY simpler. Congrats on the launch and excited to see where this goes!

My question - why do they keep property back there? Are rental yields in Pakistan very high?

It's way cheaper to retire back in the home country after you've made your money in the states. A side benefit is that you can rent out the property before retirement which nets you a small income and keeps the property maintained. My in-laws own about a dozen properties in the Philippines, half of which they rent out, and a couple are being used by their kids. Collectively they make enough from the rentals to get by.
Post reply on HN