switch11

Very happy with Stripe. A customer for 3.7 years now

1) Their customer service has been good. However, I've never had to use it for anything serious

2) Their API is awesome

3) Their level of complexity is slowly increasing. This is something very dangerous for them and they need to look into it. Their biggest advantage is/was - super simple to set up everything

4) Like many others, not happy that costs are slowly increasing.

5) Perhaps I'm the only person who falls into the camp that Stripe doing things like Atlas and Stripe Capital is somewhat unnecessary and takes away from their focus on Payments

6) Don't really understand why they are doing the whole Platform of Platforms thing i.e. Stripe customers can now offer stuff like Bank Accounts to their customers

Seems like adding needless risks and complexity

7) Anyways, I miss having Stripe be really simple and really focused on one thing. Hope they can at least be like Apple and Microsoft where they keep laser sharp focus on their money makers/core competencies and have dedicated teams and the best people on it

and they don't shift over their best people to pie in the sky stuff like Platform of Platforms

that would be something. If they were stupid enough to name their project Project Palpatine

It's not a coincidence

I've experienced EXACT same thing on a much larger scale

Step 1: You start paying for Ads

Step 2: You start making a certain amount of money from Ads

Ratio is very good. So it is a win win

Step 3: They drop the quality of ads/quality of traffic

Step 4: It's not worth it to you any more, so you turn off the Ads

Step 5: They kill your organic traffic

Step 6: They switch it to someone willing to pay a lot for ads

3 Problems

A) Organic Traffic is allocated based on who is willing to pay the highest extortion fee

not on quality

B) If you start growing/prospering without their ads and without their organic traffic, then they don't just let you go

Then they start pollluting your search results

When people search for you they show every @#$#$ negative thing they can

They try to kill your traffic which was ALREADY coming to you

they also kill your reach on Youtube etc

They also start putting your email newsletters into wrong folders so your email list also gets hit. Only for gmail. Yahoo, outlook etc are fine. Only gmail starts dropping your emails

C) If you are still doing fine

then astroturfing starts

People make completely nonsense false claims about you

Then it becomes #1 search result when people are searching for you

If you start paying, all of it disappears and business as usual

If you stop paying, suddenly it all restarts

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I am getting the popcorn out. Google especially and also Amazon and Facebook are going to get really @#$@#$ if there is a proper anti trust case

these companies instead of building newer businesses and better products (like Apple and Microsoft) focused all their energy on screwing over their competitors and even their partners

This is 100% identical to the illegal stuff robber barons used to do

when two railroads were in competition and it was killing profits, they would sign a silent partnership and one would take upstate NY and the other would take NYC to other parts of NY

both made profits

Read the biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt

he did a lot of this

This thread has several

I'll add a few (while including a couple from this thread)

Let's see

1) Google Facebook - why was Google+ ignored and shut down

2) Why has Facebook never launched a search engine

3) Amazon + Google

Why has Google completely ignored books and not done anything?

They grew Chrome into #1 browser using Search dominance

Why the heck have they ignored books?

Why did they buy Oyster (the first ebook subscription service for Apple devices) and immediately shut it down

paving the way for Kindle Unlimited to become the dominant

4) Why did Amazon shut down A9 its search engine? Every other area they are willing to throw billions of dollars. In search engines they didn't even try

5) Amazon + Google

why is Google ignoring Shopping

why did Google buy one of the biggest AFfiliate Networks and then close it down

6) Amazon + Google

Why is Amazon so high up in search results for every single @##$ product review and product

Does it have to do with amount of money Amazon spends on Google Ads (which would also be illegal)

or a secret/silent agreement (even more illegal)

7) When companies or organization get attacked (such as corporate organizations) how is it that it is always a PINCER attack and always at the same time i.e.

Google will 'demonetize' the site at the same time as Youtube demonetizes the ads (Youtube is still owned by Google) as Paypal will kick out the site (separate company, acts in concert) as Twitter will block accounts

So 3 separate companies and 4 separate divisions all decide on EXACT SAME DAY to go after a company or a site

This playbook is used to attack both

a) republican/conservative sites

b) companies that are growing very fast

to that throw in Facebook

8) Why do fast growing companies that are a threat to ONE out of

Amazon, Google, Facebook

all suddenly face shadow bans AT THE SAME TIME from all three companies i.e.

products dropped in Amazon Store search

organic traffic from Google drops

Facebook reach drops

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There is someone/something

World X Council or something

And some companies are apart of it

They have divided out parts of the Internet

And when someone is a threat to grow too big

ALL companies attack that fast growing companies

They have a hitlist of

10,000 or 5,000 companies to keep an eye on

and

500 biggest threats

and they go after these IN CONCERT

good to know

This is 100% true -> (Wouldn't it be crazy if Google+ being neglected and then shutdown was a part of the negotiations between Google and FB?)

Same for

Amazon closing down A9 search

Google buying up Affiliate Networks and closing one down and basically banning affiliate from most of Google Search and

doing @#$#$-all with Google Shopping

100% Division between

Amazon - shopping Google - search Facebook - social

with outward illusion of 'rivalry'

Bezos is 4th angel investor in Google

Qunicy Jones in an interview says he used to have a weekly dinner with

Elon Musk, Google founders, Bezos

It's Qunicy Jones so no idea how reliable. But wouldn't that be interesting - if Google and Amazon founders were doing dinner every week or every other week

Yes, They also do a lot more than this

stuff like

astroturfing

click fraud

fake submissions on forms

etc

They basically operate completely recklessly

We are getting a lot of attacks from Google. I took screenshots just today of them doing fake submissions and they don't even hide it. From Google servers

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Basically, their modus operandi is

A) Silent Agreement between Amazon, Google, Facebook and a few other companies (not sure which) to divide internet among themselves

B) Use any and all method to slow down any company growing fast

Usually this is 'plausible deniability' methods such as removing apps from app stores, kicking you off your payment processor, dropping you in organic search, shifting your adwords to 90% fake clicks, etc

C) If above methods don't work then they start using illegal methods i.e.

modifying search results when people search for you hacking attacks using gmail to hide your emails to customers and/or not deliver your invoices to new customers click fraud on other ad networks (Bing, etc) fake submissions

Contrast the HUGE number of enterprise side and B2B companies that are going public

now compare with how few customer to business companies are doing the same

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It's not random

any customer facing company that is begining to do well has to face

Google disappearing them from Search Facebook disappearing them from Facebook and Instagram attacks from a few other Silicon Valley Companies

There is going to be A LOT of candy in the sofa

It's going to be Snowden level stuff

There will be a list of

Top 10,000 companies to kill off

and also

Top 500 threats

And there will be a playbook of all the methods to use to wipe them out

There will be even totally crazy stuff like

sending spy employees Trojen Horse VC Investments

etc

Tip of the hat to you

These dishonest privacy @#$@#$ did the same thing when they were trying to take over the Internet in India under the guise of Internet.org

They sent millions of 'complaints from users' which turned out to be all the exact same template

They are a special kind of scum

that is super interesting

Waiting for when they realize there is a silent agreement between Amazon + Google + Facebook

and that they do coordinated attacks against their rivals

and also against any company that is growing quickly

It's a joke

Reference: Amazon lawsuit against Pentagon for Azure contract

Reference: Amazon lawsuit against Future Retail

etc

etc

so true so true

it is interesting to see all the justifications people are giving for Tesla's completely irrational valuation

Solar Roof/Solar Energy -> Solar City was going bankrupt and had to be bought by Tesla to save Musk's cousins (Rive) and his ownership stake in Solar City

Electric Cars -> Check out what is happening on Europe. People keep saying Tesla is doing very well in China, without understanding that Tesla has a very small share of China and BYD is the largest EV maker in China

Battery Storage -> So something that is a very small share of Tesla revenues will magically one day become a massive business?

It's one thing to say - It will add $50 billion to the company Completely different thing to say it will add half a trillion

Self Driving and Robotaxis - This has been the dream for the last 5 years Tesla said 1 million robotaxis by end of Dec 2020

Where are they?

The combination of messianic leader who claims he is doing it only to save the planet and the human race

combined with Fed printing money like its going out of fashion and investors desperate for returns

Is a very dangerous combination

1) You have to be very careful with embracing limiting beliefs such as this one -> Artisans were different than merchants

There are lots of artists who are very good at sales and marketing

Don't fall for the trap that you have to be a starving artist who dies penniless and then 50 years later people realize how great your work was

In today's day and age if you do superb work it gets recognized pretty quickly

2) Sales & Marketing are skills. The more you practice it the better you will get

3) Helpful to low income people? How do you make money from low income people

Most people who make income from low income people do it by exploiting them

So it is not a good market

4) I don't know what time poor means

5) Paywall works very well if done right

6) donations? Asking for donations from low income people? That doesn't make sense

7) book sales? $1,000 per year

8) I can't understand any of what you are saying as you have not talked about

what your service is

how many people use it

website. If you can't share give some idea

9) how do you know your service is 'best in class'

if it doesn't make money either it isn't best in class or you are a sucker who is giving value to people without charging money

There was an article about this guy who had an 'airline deals' newsletter

With ads for free people No ads for $5 per month subscribers

think about something like that

10) Marketing people to generate traffic?

No, Marketing and Sales has to generate money/profits

Hire people to sell things toe xisting customers and make money from them

Not to add more 'low income and time poor' people who make you no money

very, very true

This: am also suspecting that the level-off will happen one layer higher. I.e. the economic relevance of the current incumbents within the US economy will not drop, but the global relevance of the US will. For a perspective, you can look at the German economy that is dominated by companies founded 100+ years ago.

Because US government is getting in bed with Amazon, Google, Facebook

it is causing a double effect

A) They are letting them keep growing their monopolies in return for surveillance of Americans and non Americans

Which makes them stronger

B) US innovation is slowing down

For Example: Now most of US technology is around showing ads, surveillance, and basically treating people like stupid ATMs

They might be able to make it work for another 10 to 30 years, and then there will be big breakdowns

A good example is what is happening to Amazon in countries like China and India

This is a fascinating comment

In particular -> It occurred to me that in some situations, it might actually be more efficient _not_ to batch. The complexity of attempting to batch at the warehouse must be very high, and take up quite a bit of warehouse space, and slow down dispatch significantly.

excellent comment

agree completely with you

The only LOGICAL reason to go from a format that works to such a terrible format, is that it can make ads work better

This is likelier than the alternatives

that is interesting

claiming YouTube and Instagram are the two best acquisitions in modern tech history is one heck of a claim

Android instantly beats them both COMBINED

That being said they would definitely be in theTop 10

How is this different from Amazon or Wal Mart -> This is a business built on top of cheap Chinese goods, subsidized shipping and low customer expectations. High transaction volume with very low margins, and totally exposed to the winds of international trade policy.

I agree 100% with the fact that we can do better than DuckDuckGo

A) DDG is already better than Google for some search queries

B) I use Epic Search and that is good, though it just uses Yahoo or Bing results (not sure which)

C) We should have a lot of search engines

It should not be Google paying $8 billion a year to Apple and $X a year to Firefox/Mozilla and leveraging Google Search as Default in Chrome

and monopolizing search

This is a difficult post to respond to

Firstly, your issue doesn't seem to be anything other than social anxiety

If you have to 'lose sleep' after contacting someone on LinkedIn about your product, then you are just not suited to doing a startup

Secondly, there is nothing to feel bad about

Vast majority of people are not suited to starting a company or working in a small startup

Lots of good jobs in middle and large companies for you

Thirdly, the scale of stuff you are talking about is miniscule

I walked away from a Green Card to start my company

If I didn't succeed, I would have lost access to the developed world FOREVER

You are upset that your girlfriend had to stay at home one year and you couldn't take her out for dinner????

Finally, this is a Catch 22 situation. Not sure why you are submitting this or writing about your experience if the ENTIRE reason you quit was you couldn't handle doing sales and marketing and putting yourself out there

I'm reluctant to respond because people who have social anxiety can sometimes take genuine feedback and mis-interpret it

What I'm trying to say is that the extent of the risk you took is not very high

And the reason that stuff didn't work out is your social anxiety

So just make sure you don't take the wrong feedback from what life is telling you

I think it is FATIGUE

So many people drumming up - this young person did something that FOR HIS AGE is impressive

Who the @#$#$ cares

why is it on Hacker News?

It should benefit the people visting in HAcker News in some way

ain't none of us 10 and get inspired by a 13 year old doing something that FOR HIS AGE is impressive

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Share something that helps people here or is TRULY IMPRESSIVE in the Field

Actually agree with the original comment

This is an ASSUMPTION that all startups are VC funded startups or the goal of building a company is to get VC funding

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That shows a very VC centric viewpoint, as opposed to a more balanced viewpoint

2nd wrong assumption -> That you can break it into 3 stages

That everyone else is wrong, and you are somehow right

3rd wrong assumption -> Growth is a stage, as opposed to something that has to be there from Day 1 until forever basically. Even if building hardware or Enterprise. You have to have a growth strategy from Day 1

so true

that's a very astute observation

having worked at all three of

A Trillion Dollar corporation

A smaller company that grew quite a bit and sold for $5 billion+

A start up now

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People optimize for what will make them rich/wealthy

In larger companies, the ENTIRE function of middle management is to extract wealth and not create it

In some ways it's a miracle Microsoft managed to get Satya Nadella as CEO. Normally the people who rise up the ranks are the politically astute

This is an excellent Suggestion: My suggestion to you, pc: Start a little company within Stripe to disrupt Stripe (i.e. re-simplify) in the same way Stripe disrupted the industry 10 years ago. Or keep getting bigger and become just as complex as the things Stripe replaced.

[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20111216054911/https://stripe.co...

[2] https://stripe.com/pricing#pricing-details

reply

would second this VERY strongly

ummmm ....

If company grows 1,000 times, their stake also grows 1,000 times

Yes, I fall into that category

I've had multiple offers to buy and invest. And always do your due diligence. One turned out to be a shell company - which means a bigger company secretly trying to low ball acquire my company

In some cases it's VCs or celebrities and you do your due diligence

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At the end it comes down to one simple thing

If the VC feels this founder and his team worked very hard and not taking that $800,000 (or $800K + x) means those people will get a bit more (and for the company people it means a lot while for VC it means nothing

Then VC doing it is a genuinely good thing

Now consider what it means to someone considering General Catalyst

At best - they are great guys

At worst - they are smart

It also means for sure that they are not

parsimonious spiteful shortsighted vindictive penny wise and pound foolish

So now any founder taking investment from General Catalyst knows that there is a good chance that

General Catalyst are honest and reasonable They will not sabotage an exit to try and maximize their cut at the expense of founders

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Is this deriving too much from a simple act?

Perhaps

However, in an industry where VCs are usually known for kicking out founders, this is a welcome change

yeah, this exactly

Now if (theoretically) some founder reading this thread ever has to choose between General Catalyst and another VC, they will ALMOST ALWAYS choose General Catalyst

Over time it will lead to General Catalyst finding a non zero number of 10X or 100X companies because of that