Im not a YC superfan, but I dont really see how this should reflect back badly on YC? they do hundreds of investments per year, of course there will be opportunists...
I wonder whether the plan here is to steal an idea and re-implement and hope to beat the original with better resourcing/execution/luck. Or whether the plan really was actually to just build enough of a Potemkin village to squeeze money out of VC? I'm guessing the latter.
Off topic, I keep coming across so many fintech startups whose product just seems to be a debit card end of the day. What is the business model here and why would I as a consumer be interested?
As a consumer they're hoping to interest you with better technology, usually a better mobile app experience.
The business model is to partner with a smaller bank and earn credit card like interchange income on debit card transactions due to the Durbin amendment. No other business model needed if you can get a bunch of consumers using a debit card. This applies to U.S. fintech's offering debit cards anyway.
https://tanay.substack.com/p/fintech-and-regulatory-arbitrag...
I think around half of these examples are blatant theft, and half are just the most poorly-executed versions of what I would expect most founders to do.
Of course, since their goal seems to have been to copy rather than improve on Eco's idea, maybe step one of their plan was just as irredeemable as any of the other actions they've taken.
Throwaway for reasons; as a former employee of a defunct branch less bank card provider that launched on iPhone 4; who is copying who?
Overly optimistic marketing copy, super customer friendly hype about changing their world; check, check.
Enjoy riding the bandwagon others pushed down the hill, Andy. Everything old is new again.
Web devs copy and paste frameworks and config state all over. Marketing people do to. I guess when the brand is all there is because the tech stack and service have been done to death, protecting generic marketing hype is necessary.
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[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 45.8 ms ] threadAs a customer, it’s just a matter of trying something modern - which should mean a better digital-first experience, but not always.
The business model is to partner with a smaller bank and earn credit card like interchange income on debit card transactions due to the Durbin amendment. No other business model needed if you can get a bunch of consumers using a debit card. This applies to U.S. fintech's offering debit cards anyway. https://tanay.substack.com/p/fintech-and-regulatory-arbitrag...
Of course, since their goal seems to have been to copy rather than improve on Eco's idea, maybe step one of their plan was just as irredeemable as any of the other actions they've taken.
Overly optimistic marketing copy, super customer friendly hype about changing their world; check, check.
Enjoy riding the bandwagon others pushed down the hill, Andy. Everything old is new again.
Web devs copy and paste frameworks and config state all over. Marketing people do to. I guess when the brand is all there is because the tech stack and service have been done to death, protecting generic marketing hype is necessary.