Bootstrapped, Profitable, & Proud: Braintree
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Bootstrapped, Profitable, & Proud: Braintree
1–10 of 28 posts
Re: Bootstrapped, Profitable, & Proud: Braintree
#2Love me some Braintree!
Their API & API Documentation are fantastic.
Re: Bootstrapped, Profitable, & Proud: Braintree
#3"Who are the customers Braintree decided to write off? “It was a fool’s errand to try selling medicine to those who hadn’t yet experienced pain. Payment processing is complex. It’s difficult for inexperienced merchants to recognize value. We’d spend countless hours trying to explain ‘pain’ and our cure but some just didn’t care because they hadn’t felt it yet...'"
That's money right there. And noted for the future of my business. People will pay for you to take away the pain of their bad experiences with an inferior service/product.
Re: Bootstrapped, Profitable, & Proud: Braintree
#4He took a few days off work and flew out to Utah, where his old customers resided. He asked them if they’d switch their processing to his new company, Braintree.
Every company I've worked at has strictly forbidden this kind of thing via a noncompete agreement. Essentially, it's in the name: "Noncompete Agreement"
Be careful what you sign, and be mindful of what you have signed in that past!
Re: Bootstrapped, Profitable, & Proud: Braintree
#5"Who are the customers Braintree decided to write off? “It was a fool’s errand to try selling medicine to those who hadn’t yet experienced pain. Payment processing is complex. It’s difficult for inexperienced merchants to recognize value. We’d spend countless hours trying to explain ‘pain’ and our cure but some just didn’t care because they hadn’t felt it yet...'" That's money right there. And noted for the future of…
Perverse idea/thought experiment: what about creating two versions of some service X which are ostensibly competitors; one is a free/cheap version A with no support and one is a much higher-priced, supported and professional version B. The answer to support requests on A would mostly be "no", with the occasional "if you want that, use service B". Sort of an extreme take on freemium/market segmentation. A acts simultaneously as the top of a funnel for B (users who actually need the service and have experienced the pain of a bad offering) and as a screen for bad customers (the ones you'd "fire" for consuming more than their fair share of your resources).
Re: Bootstrapped, Profitable, & Proud: Braintree
#6"Who are the customers Braintree decided to write off? “It was a fool’s errand to try selling medicine to those who hadn’t yet experienced pain. Payment processing is complex. It’s difficult for inexperienced merchants to recognize value. We’d spend countless hours trying to explain ‘pain’ and our cure but some just didn’t care because they hadn’t felt it yet...'" That's money right there. And noted for the future of…
Perverse idea/thought experiment: what about creating two versions of some service X which are ostensibly competitors; one is a free/cheap version A with no support and one is a much higher-priced, supported and professional version B. The answer to support requests on A would mostly be "no", with the occasional "if you want that, use service B". Sort of an extreme take on freemium/market segmentation. A acts simultaneously as the top of a funnel for B (users who actually need the service and have experienced the pain of a bad offering) and as a screen for bad customers (the ones you'd "fire" for consuming more than their fair share of your resources).
Re: Bootstrapped, Profitable, & Proud: Braintree
#7He took a few days off work and flew out to Utah, where his old customers resided. He asked them if they’d switch their processing to his new company, Braintree. Every company I've worked at has strictly forbidden this kind of thing via a noncompete agreement. Essentially, it's in the name: "Noncompete Agreement" Be careful what you sign, and be mindful of what you have signed in that past!
This is Bryan from Braintree. I was working for a different company at the time I visited my former customers. I honored the one year non-compete I had with my former employer.
Re: Bootstrapped, Profitable, & Proud: Braintree
#8He took a few days off work and flew out to Utah, where his old customers resided. He asked them if they’d switch their processing to his new company, Braintree. Every company I've worked at has strictly forbidden this kind of thing via a noncompete agreement. Essentially, it's in the name: "Noncompete Agreement" Be careful what you sign, and be mindful of what you have signed in that past!
This is Bryan from Braintree. I was working for a different company at the time I visited my former customers. I honored the one year non-compete I had with my former employer.
Out of curiosity, did you catch any flak from former colleagues? I can imagine many people would still be quite angry, even if you fulfilled your legal obligation.
Re: Bootstrapped, Profitable, & Proud: Braintree
#9For anyone who hasn't used them yet, it's the one-stop-shop and their API that really sets them apart from the competition. You submit one set of paperwork and they take care of all the accounts: merchant, gateway and api. No need to chase down different accounts and get them all working together.
The fantastic API literally saved hundreds of hours of integration and build time, as the recurring billing, discounts and everything is completely programmatic and just works.
I just signed up within the last few weeks and throughout the whole process I could tell they built it up with developers in mind, not as an afterthought.
Re: Bootstrapped, Profitable, & Proud: Braintree
#10"Who are the customers Braintree decided to write off? “It was a fool’s errand to try selling medicine to those who hadn’t yet experienced pain. Payment processing is complex. It’s difficult for inexperienced merchants to recognize value. We’d spend countless hours trying to explain ‘pain’ and our cure but some just didn’t care because they hadn’t felt it yet...'" That's money right there. And noted for the future of…
Perverse idea/thought experiment: what about creating two versions of some service X which are ostensibly competitors; one is a free/cheap version A with no support and one is a much higher-priced, supported and professional version B. The answer to support requests on A would mostly be "no", with the occasional "if you want that, use service B". Sort of an extreme take on freemium/market segmentation. A acts simulta…
reminds of how "protection" services were being sold in Russia 15-20+ years ago : once "A" branch of the protecting organization visits you today, tomorrow - you're are a happy paying customer of the "B" branch. Bad cop, good cop.