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Man up and pass on the cost. In some sense in this situation you are a slave to market forces beyond your control. Price gouging once they've built lock in on a

Man up and pass on the cost. In some sense in this situation you are a slave to market forces beyond your control. Price gouging once they've built lock in on an API is pretty much a natural part of any service's lifecycle. If you can afford to ride it out, eventually the forces of competition will take over and prices will come down a bit. From the way you talk about potential partnerships or help with gmaps it seems you really believe in the value of your business. That's an asset. Try to articulate this value more clearly but understand that gmaps is unlikely to just "help you out" or "invest" in you at this stage since: 1) it's not their mandate and 2) they're the incumbent and potentially you are eating a piece of something google wants to do. At the stage you're at ... 4-5K MRR 25-100K DAU ( I'm guesssing ), and suddenly a slave to a price gouge, an investor can help you out. Definitely try to find one. There's probably a lot for them to like in your situation, not the least part of it being that you're to some extent desperate for their help right now. I love your non-defeatist attitude. Don't give up. Keep going. You know what you're doing is somehow close to how Airbnb started right?

hamhamed 10y ago
You seem to very much understand Stay22's business and product ! Very impressed! To answer you, yes Airbnb does know about us and did show interest. Can't comment more than that. I've been looking for an investor that believes in us and has the proper connections/industry experience that we are looking for. Not the easiest when you're based in Montreal.
- cureyourhead 10y ago
  Thanks for your compliment. You saying that helps me feel a lot more belief in myself again. I guess I'm perceptive. Montreal is a good place. I considered it as a base for my startup because it's affordable, open minded and has interesting culture. Never been there tho. I wish you a lot of good progress in your investor search. I'm currently looking for one and at a much earlier stage. Again thanks for the comment it lifted my spirits.

hamhamed 10y ago

You seem to very much understand Stay22's business and product ! Very impressed! To answer you, yes Airbnb does know about us and did show interest. Can't comment more than that. I've been looking for an investor that believes in us and has the proper connections/industry experience that we are looking for. Not the easiest when you're based in Montreal.

cureyourhead 10y ago
Thanks for your compliment. You saying that helps me feel a lot more belief in myself again. I guess I'm perceptive. Montreal is a good place. I considered it as a base for my startup because it's affordable, open minded and has interesting culture. Never been there tho. I wish you a lot of good progress in your investor search. I'm currently looking for one and at a much earlier stage. Again thanks for the comment it lifted my spirits.