imo Square should have stuck to POS only and dominated that field completely. They should worked that field till saturation. Once they were near to complete, use the line item records from individual customers at POS and convert to rewards. Once that is saturated, then move to e-commerce for P2P.
Square’s IPO Terms Put Valuation Below Latest Funding Round
71–80 of 88 posts
Re: Square’s IPO Terms Put Valuation Below Latest Funding Round
#72Expanding losses, part-time CEO, what's not to love?
Re: Square’s IPO Terms Put Valuation Below Latest Funding Round
#73To me the biggest question is what, exactly, Square does? Years ago they were the company that made it easy for people to accept credit card payments who otherwise wouldn't want to / be able to (mom & pop stores, farmers' markets, etc). But you don't build a multi-billion dollar company just there, it seems that the margins are too thin and the volume just isn't there to make up for it. Since then, they've done their…
Square as well as Stripe have really changed PoS space. Before they arrived, the devices for PoS were truely ugly, unfriendly, hard to acquire and hard to use. I see tons of small businesses converting their PoS devices to Square/Stripe ALL the time. They are like iPhone for PoS. The potential is massive. They get huge amount of transaction data which alone is probably worth a billion dollars (customer habits, usage…
I think you really hit it on the head, Square really needs to integrate a real inventory, accounting system and you might have a real winner. I've used all the competitors, but so far go back to square. Their software is great for small inventories, but do no scale well. Intuit's software is pretty antiquated and integration is really pathetic and they are really dishonest with their fees.
Square more ancillary offerings are really terrible though, like their online store and loins. They are also offering more services with "hidden" fees like instant deposit which they charge an extra fee if you read the fine print. They are also losing out in online transactions with google, amazon, visa, mastercard, and amex doing half ass jobs.
The B&M marketplace is in for a big shift with the chip and pin starting to commence. I've only used it twice, but so far the machines that read them are ridiculously slow and cumbersome. I'm still waiting on my Square reader to see if they have a good solution.
This is a big pie, and Square needs to capitalize on its good start if not be overuse by the old goliaths.
Re: Square’s IPO Terms Put Valuation Below Latest Funding Round
#74To me the biggest question is what, exactly, Square does? Years ago they were the company that made it easy for people to accept credit card payments who otherwise wouldn't want to / be able to (mom & pop stores, farmers' markets, etc). But you don't build a multi-billion dollar company just there, it seems that the margins are too thin and the volume just isn't there to make up for it. Since then, they've done their…
I agree that their product set is unfocused to their detriment. But I would disagree that core payment processing is small or low margin. In fact, their margins are north of 30%. And small business payment processing is massive even without considering international and online, two massive areas where Square has completely dropped the ball.
I don't love the lending business because it seems a bit outside their competency but I can understand continuing it since it's currently hot and they do have decent visibility into borrower ability to pay, etc.
Re: Square’s IPO Terms Put Valuation Below Latest Funding Round
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the problem is that though Square really did change things there (I agree w/ you), the space now is very competitive with a lot of different players, and it's not clear what Square can do that their competitors can't. It doesn't seem like there's really much lock-in or network effects that are helping them out.
At least for a while they had powerful brand name recognition and a head start. Bigger, badder competitors (i.e. VISA) seem like they haven't been interested in competing with Square, and you can leverage momentum & recognition against smaller newcomers.
In the case of VISA, they have to be very careful when it comes to anti-trust issues. It already cost them six billion dollars last time around.
The last thing VISA wants to do, is take over the entire payment system. That's why they're not really attempting to compete with Square or PayPal. They could trivially buy someone like Square.
VISA's golden goose is exactly where they're sitting today: no serious anti-trust burden, massive margins, low overhead brand-based business model. The minute they start trying to own everything, the goose gets shot. Today they do $5.4b in profit on just $12.7b in sales - what can a very modest business like Square offer them on top of their massive 42% net income margins to offset the anti-trust scrutiny they'd be taking on? Absolutely nothing.
If VISA tries to take over the payment processor space, Discover and Mastercard will immediately go in for the kill on anti-trust.
Re: Square’s IPO Terms Put Valuation Below Latest Funding Round
#76To me the biggest question is what, exactly, Square does? Years ago they were the company that made it easy for people to accept credit card payments who otherwise wouldn't want to / be able to (mom & pop stores, farmers' markets, etc). But you don't build a multi-billion dollar company just there, it seems that the margins are too thin and the volume just isn't there to make up for it. Since then, they've done their…
Re: their small business 'loans' -- with the caveat that I am not an expert: The "loan" distinction is important not for semantic reasons but practical one -- they are offering small businesses cash advances . These are different from loans because they are not secured . There are no assets put up as collateral. However Square believes they can do this better than other services because they can effectively secure th…
That doesn't sound right. An unsecured loan is simply that.
Re: Square’s IPO Terms Put Valuation Below Latest Funding Round
#77To me the biggest question is what, exactly, Square does? Years ago they were the company that made it easy for people to accept credit card payments who otherwise wouldn't want to / be able to (mom & pop stores, farmers' markets, etc). But you don't build a multi-billion dollar company just there, it seems that the margins are too thin and the volume just isn't there to make up for it. Since then, they've done their…
> To me the biggest question is what, exactly, Square does? Years ago they were the company that made it easy for people to accept credit card payments who otherwise wouldn't want to / be able to (mom & pop stores, farmers' markets, etc).
tldr: Long Shopify, short Square.
Re: Square’s IPO Terms Put Valuation Below Latest Funding Round
#78To me the biggest question is what, exactly, Square does? Years ago they were the company that made it easy for people to accept credit card payments who otherwise wouldn't want to / be able to (mom & pop stores, farmers' markets, etc). But you don't build a multi-billion dollar company just there, it seems that the margins are too thin and the volume just isn't there to make up for it. Since then, they've done their…
I would look at https://squareup.com/appointments as an example of where they can go.
Basically, small business services of all kinds are on the table. Their job is to make it easy to run a small businesses. The first product was the little reader you put in your iPhone. It's been expanded since then, but the market is essentially "everything that small business owners struggle with".
Re: Square’s IPO Terms Put Valuation Below Latest Funding Round
#79To me the biggest question is what, exactly, Square does? Years ago they were the company that made it easy for people to accept credit card payments who otherwise wouldn't want to / be able to (mom & pop stores, farmers' markets, etc). But you don't build a multi-billion dollar company just there, it seems that the margins are too thin and the volume just isn't there to make up for it. Since then, they've done their…
Re: their small business 'loans' -- with the caveat that I am not an expert: The "loan" distinction is important not for semantic reasons but practical one -- they are offering small businesses cash advances . These are different from loans because they are not secured . There are no assets put up as collateral. However Square believes they can do this better than other services because they can effectively secure th…
I had no idea that they were in the cash advance space. It reminds me of the recent Bloomberg piece about it - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-10-06/how-two-gu...
Re: Square’s IPO Terms Put Valuation Below Latest Funding Round
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Re: their small business 'loans' -- with the caveat that I am not an expert: The "loan" distinction is important not for semantic reasons but practical one -- they are offering small businesses cash advances . These are different from loans because they are not secured . There are no assets put up as collateral. However Square believes they can do this better than other services because they can effectively secure th…
Seeing a business' cash flow should give you great insight into their ability to repay. Just a few of the things you can calculate that a bank can't: microtrends in income, repeat customers (and trends thereof), changes in transaction size as well as volume, etc. Plus it's easier to collect on that loan.
I don't follow why a bank can't see cash flow? I live in Australia, and here almost everyone is using PayPass by MasterCard or PayWave by VISA - both are contactless PINless card payments. All those transactions have to go in to the merchants bank account.