4 ms·

WePay (YC S09) founders put down roots in Palo Alto, raise $1.6 million

35 points by sachinag 17y ago

jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
awesome. I like the concept. I spent my frosh year at Boston College and still root for the Eagles. Congrats guys.
- wensing 17y ago
  OT, what year was that?
  - jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
    03-04
    - billclerico 17y ago
      nice that was my frosh year too, go eagles
coffeemug 17y ago
Last time I used WePay, the product was a little rough around the edges (though this is probably all fixed by now), but all the core ideas and features were there. This is one of the very few products I actually used, and greatly enjoyed. Also, the founders are top-notch. Barring any external factors nobody can control, I think WePay will grow very big. I would gladly invest my own money into this company.
Brushfire 17y ago
This is a great concept. I've had partially finished code sitting around that performed similar task in a worse way. I really wanted a simple way to calculate and divide bills between roommates or clubs. They look like they got it right. Hopefully they get an iPhone app going, as I see that as a critical part of this. "Hey, I just bought stuff for the party, I'll add up the receipts on my phone and everyone can pay me back whenever they get a chance. I'll send the invites right from my addressbook".
trevorturk 17y ago
If you like this, make sure to check out http://billmonk.com http://billmonk.com, which I've been happily using for a couple of years now. It's an awesome way to share bills on work lunches - we use it almost every day :) Anyway, I've signed up for a WePay invite code... I'll see how it looks later on, I suppose.
- falsestprophet 17y ago
  Their SSL certificate expired in October. That is less than ideal.
  - trevorturk 17y ago
    Agreed, but I'm only using it for keeping track of small amounts of money amongst my friends, so it's no biggie.
- billclerico 17y ago
  billmonk is a great site - we learned a lot from them (they were bought by obopay a few years back). the big difference between us and them is that we create 3rd party accounts for groups instead of letting a mesh of friends settle up
falsestprophet 17y ago
The name WePay is on the mark. Asking people for money is awkward. But, WePay frames the process in a very clever way: a collaboration rather than a collection. I think the name WePay reduces the creepyness of asking people for money lower than any cooperative payment brand yet. In the end, the creepyness of WePay may be low enough to work. I proposed this business to a few partners in 2005, but we couldn't come up with a name that could sell it. Now, I'm terribly jealous. Very well done guys.
- ghshephard 17y ago
  Of all the things to worry about, and there is probably a list of hundreds, the one thing you should absolutely never, ever be concerned about is the company's name. Off the top of my head in less than 15 seconds: o payshare o allpay o wefund o alldollar o gofund o gopay o paynow But, think about the great companies out there with names that really don't mean much: Google Yahoo Zynga The company I work for is named after the _road_ it was founded on - it was just supposed to be a temporary thing, but it "took." The key is to generate value.
  - falsestprophet 17y ago
    Of course branding is important. Branding is one of the principle ways "value" is built. Building something people want is not enough. After the building bit, you need to convince people to use whatever it is you created. What is more, often a brand contributes the majority of a product's value. Consider the entire apparel industry. So if you can't figure out how to brand a product and you can't figure out how to market a product and you can't figure out how to sell a product, I don't think it is very clever to build the product. And Google and Yahoo do mean something. They are whimsical and lyrical and memorable. I don't think these would "take": allsearch wesearch gosearch searchnow
    - breck 17y ago
      > What is more, often a brand contributes the majority of a product's value. Consider the entire apparel industry. I disagree. I think you're confusing cause and effect. I'm sure Gap, Armani, Gucci, etc., started out with great products and amateur brands. As the products gained traction, they gained more resources to develop the brand. > So if you can't figure out how to brand a product and you can't figure out how to market a product and you can't figure out how to sell a product, I don't think it is very clever to build the product. Building a product and finding a market for it is step 1. Branding/growth is step 2.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]

35 points by sachinag 17y ago

jasonlbaptiste 17y ago

awesome. I like the concept. I spent my frosh year at Boston College and still root for the Eagles. Congrats guys.

wensing 17y ago
OT, what year was that?
- jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
  03-04
  - billclerico 17y ago
    nice that was my frosh year too, go eagles

coffeemug 17y ago

Last time I used WePay, the product was a little rough around the edges (though this is probably all fixed by now), but all the core ideas and features were there. This is one of the very few products I actually used, and greatly enjoyed. Also, the founders are top-notch. Barring any external factors nobody can control, I think WePay will grow very big. I would gladly invest my own money into this company.

Brushfire 17y ago

This is a great concept. I've had partially finished code sitting around that performed similar task in a worse way. I really wanted a simple way to calculate and divide bills between roommates or clubs. They look like they got it right. Hopefully they get an iPhone app going, as I see that as a critical part of this. "Hey, I just bought stuff for the party, I'll add up the receipts on my phone and everyone can pay me back whenever they get a chance. I'll send the invites right from my addressbook".

trevorturk 17y ago

If you like this, make sure to check out http://billmonk.com http://billmonk.com, which I've been happily using for a couple of years now. It's an awesome way to share bills on work lunches - we use it almost every day :) Anyway, I've signed up for a WePay invite code... I'll see how it looks later on, I suppose.

falsestprophet 17y ago
Their SSL certificate expired in October. That is less than ideal.
- trevorturk 17y ago
  Agreed, but I'm only using it for keeping track of small amounts of money amongst my friends, so it's no biggie.
billclerico 17y ago
billmonk is a great site - we learned a lot from them (they were bought by obopay a few years back). the big difference between us and them is that we create 3rd party accounts for groups instead of letting a mesh of friends settle up

falsestprophet 17y ago

The name WePay is on the mark. Asking people for money is awkward. But, WePay frames the process in a very clever way: a collaboration rather than a collection. I think the name WePay reduces the creepyness of asking people for money lower than any cooperative payment brand yet. In the end, the creepyness of WePay may be low enough to work. I proposed this business to a few partners in 2005, but we couldn't come up with a name that could sell it. Now, I'm terribly jealous. Very well done guys.

ghshephard 17y ago
Of all the things to worry about, and there is probably a list of hundreds, the one thing you should absolutely never, ever be concerned about is the company's name. Off the top of my head in less than 15 seconds: o payshare o allpay o wefund o alldollar o gofund o gopay o paynow But, think about the great companies out there with names that really don't mean much: Google Yahoo Zynga The company I work for is named after the _road_ it was founded on - it was just supposed to be a temporary thing, but it "took." The key is to generate value.
- falsestprophet 17y ago
  Of course branding is important. Branding is one of the principle ways "value" is built. Building something people want is not enough. After the building bit, you need to convince people to use whatever it is you created. What is more, often a brand contributes the majority of a product's value. Consider the entire apparel industry. So if you can't figure out how to brand a product and you can't figure out how to market a product and you can't figure out how to sell a product, I don't think it is very clever to build the product. And Google and Yahoo do mean something. They are whimsical and lyrical and memorable. I don't think these would "take": allsearch wesearch gosearch searchnow
  - breck 17y ago
    > What is more, often a brand contributes the majority of a product's value. Consider the entire apparel industry. I disagree. I think you're confusing cause and effect. I'm sure Gap, Armani, Gucci, etc., started out with great products and amateur brands. As the products gained traction, they gained more resources to develop the brand. > So if you can't figure out how to brand a product and you can't figure out how to market a product and you can't figure out how to sell a product, I don't think it is very clever to build the product. Building a product and finding a market for it is step 1. Branding/growth is step 2.

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]