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Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

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Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#81

Post by toomuchtodo »

austenallred wrote: post #69
justboxing wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't know about this. Landing page says > Good Credit Not Required. > Instant decision. Wow.

What's wrong with granting loans to people who have bad credit? What are they supposed to do if there's a shortfall or a car breaks down, pawn a wedding ring? I used to work for LendUp. They're the most caring and altruistic people I've ever met. I mean that literally. LendUp uses machine learning & data science to decision people with more granularity than a credit score, and can therefore approve much deeper than b…

> I used to work for LendUp. They're the most caring and altruistic people I've ever met. I mean that literally.

Well intentioned loan sharks are still loan sharks. LendUp is attempting to solve a manufactured problem.

People don't need payday loans, they need social issues fixed that trap them in a cycle of poverty. No VC money available for that though.

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#82

Post by austenallred »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #81
austenallred wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with granting loans to people who have bad credit? What are they supposed to do if there's a shortfall or a car breaks down, pawn a wedding ring? I used to work for LendUp. They're the most caring and altruistic people I've ever met. I mean that literally. LendUp uses machine learning & data science to decision people with more granularity than a credit score, and can therefore approve much deeper than b…

> I used to work for LendUp. They're the most caring and altruistic people I've ever met. I mean that literally. Well intentioned loan sharks are still loan sharks. LendUp is attempting to solve a manufactured problem. People don't need payday loans, they need social issues fixed that trap them in a cycle of poverty. No VC money available for that though.

If you know how to solve the problems of income volatility, low income, or high credit risk at scale, you should do that.

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#83

Post by ams6110 »

opportune wrote: post #43
ams6110 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, so what if they aren't around in 6 months? Once the furniture is delivered, there's not much risk to the customer after that.

I wouldn't want their assets to be acquired by some organization that specializes in liquidating end-of-life business, and then have to deal with them instead.

Normally a new owner has to honor contracts/leases made with the former owner. Maybe the rules are different in a liquidation situation?

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#84

Post by toomuchtodo »

austenallred wrote: post #82
toomuchtodo wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I used to work for LendUp. They're the most caring and altruistic people I've ever met. I mean that literally. Well intentioned loan sharks are still loan sharks. LendUp is attempting to solve a manufactured problem. People don't need payday loans, they need social issues fixed that trap them in a cycle of poverty. No VC money available for that though.

If you know how to solve the problems of income volatility, low income, or high credit risk at scale, you should do that.

I intend to contribute towards fixing the problem of lacking social safety nets in the US.

Real problems need solving.

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#85

Post by jayreno »

gmisra wrote: post #79
jayreno wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great point here. It's a bit counter intuitive, right, that Americans on the whole are moving less. To add some color: -The majority of Americans that live in rural or somewhat suburban areas are most certainly (though anecdotally) bringing this number down. In cities, you'd expect this number to be much higher than 10%. -This data point from article below is bit more telling of our target market. Please don't mind t…

Thanks for the response! Some follow-up questions 1. Does your market analysis differentiate between intra-city and inter-city move? It feels like the service is much more valuable for people moving inter-city. 2. Is there a better source for the "planned future mobility" data? I would expect rent.com to have a strong editorial bias around the perception that the rental market is healthy and renters are competing wit…

1. Data is about split. We're seeing people use us for both inter- and intra-city moves.

2. Agreed, might be a bit biased. LMK if you find a different/better source.

3. Census, unfortunately no. But like above, equally curious to see if that data is easily accessible, and if so, would love to dive in.

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#86

Post by austenallred »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #84
austenallred wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you know how to solve the problems of income volatility, low income, or high credit risk at scale, you should do that.

I intend to contribute towards fixing the problem of lacking social safety nets in the US. Real problems need solving.

Good luck! LendUp will be helping people make ends meet in the meantime.

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#87

Post by giobox »

nathan_f77 wrote: post #37

When I moved to San Francisco a couple of years ago, I was really surprised by how difficult it was to find a fully furnished apartment. I really did not enjoy those trips to IKEA and putting everything together. In contrast, it seems that most apartments in Chiang Mai are fully furnished. We've moved 3 times so far, and it's always just one car ride with a small collection of personal stuff. It's really nice to neve…

Similar experience moving to bay area from the UK, where furnished apartments are _far_ more common. I remember expressing surprise at a temporary budget for furniture rental in the moving expenses work covered. Given I didn't want to continue paying Cort a ton of money forever for tables and chairs I chose to buy all my own not particularly great furniture straight off the bat.

I always get horrible flashbacks to my own experiences seeing another "fresh off the boat" foreign engineer trying to outfit his entire life in one trip to the East Palo Alto Ikea, using up an entire roll of receipt paper to cover the hundreds of items they had to buy for their new unfurnished home.

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#88

Post by jayreno »

jaypaulynice wrote: post #78

Sounds like a good experiment, but your biggest competition is stores that offer financing. Why wouldn't I finance and then sell or move away with my furniture? What if the furniture is scratched, broken etc...Do I have to pay the full price now?

We see ourselves as competing more with "ownership" than anything else. To us, ownership of furniture (i.e. responsibility for big ticket items that tie you down) is the problem.

Our competitive advantage to financing options is just that: we remove ownership from the equation while still giving you the ability to pay monthly rather than a large lump sum.

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#89

Post by sidlls »

austenallred wrote: post #69
justboxing wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't know about this. Landing page says > Good Credit Not Required. > Instant decision. Wow.

What's wrong with granting loans to people who have bad credit? What are they supposed to do if there's a shortfall or a car breaks down, pawn a wedding ring? I used to work for LendUp. They're the most caring and altruistic people I've ever met. I mean that literally. LendUp uses machine learning & data science to decision people with more granularity than a credit score, and can therefore approve much deeper than b…

What's wrong is the absurd fees they charge. The only difference I can see between them and payday lenders is the shabby facade of credibility they think they have by being a "tech" company. Nobody who has to scrabble for $250 for an emergency is in a position to drop a 25% vig on top of it in repayment.

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#90

Post by rickpmg »

JetSpiegel wrote: post #72
austenallred wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with granting loans to people who have bad credit? What are they supposed to do if there's a shortfall or a car breaks down, pawn a wedding ring? I used to work for LendUp. They're the most caring and altruistic people I've ever met. I mean that literally. LendUp uses machine learning & data science to decision people with more granularity than a credit score, and can therefore approve much deeper than b…

> LendUp uses machine learning & data science Stopped reading right there. The landing page mentions "for people trying to build up credit history"

Why would you stop reading? Credit scores are good, but not everyone (in the world) has them... cash economies, etc.

There was some startup that micro-loaned in poorer countries based on a person's cell phone info (ie, how many contacts, who they called the most, etc, etc).

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