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Idea Man: Hey boss, I have an idea for a new personal payment app. Boss: So what, those are a dime a dozen. Idea Man: Yea boss, but this one has THE SOCIAL!
by csours 8y ago
Idea Man: Hey boss, I have an idea for a new personal payment app.
Boss: So what, those are a dime a dozen.
Idea Man: Yea boss, but this one has THE SOCIAL!
Boss: OOOH, we need THE SOCIAL!
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How I imagine the pitch for Venmo went.
- nerdponx 8y agoIt's funny because the real draw to Venmo is that it's the easiest payment app to use, transfers to your banker quick and painless, and you only need a phone number to sign up. It's just that people didn't even realize this was a problem they need to solve in an age of PayPal and credit cards.
- r3bl 8y agoIt is a problem that has yet to be solved. Venmo only solved it within the United States, as it is only available there.
- coherentpony 8y agoVenmo _is_ paypal. They are the same company. That's what makes this so confusing.
- nerdponx 8y agoThey weren't always Paypal though, right?
- sgift 8y agoYou are right. They were first acquired by Braintree which later was acquired by Paypal.
- the_watcher 8y agoPaypal bought Venmo after Venmo highlighted how far behind it was in usability and popularity in the younger generations.
- chatmasta 8y agoIt also helped that they charged 0% fees when they were getting started, even though they had to pay costs themselves.
- lotsofpulp 8y agoZelle is easier/more secure to use. You can use your regular bank app, it's much faster than Venmo, and doesn't involve giving a third party access to your bank account. And your money isn't held by the third party until you withdraw it. Edit: I can't even figure out how to do 2FA with venmo. Edit again: Apparently it's enabled for all accounts via SMS to the phone number, so that's better than nothing, but TOTP would be better.
- the_watcher 8y agoZelle requires you to know the right email address for the person you're sending money to. Venmo allows search by phone number, name, handle. It's far easier for quick transactions with people you only know a bit. I love Zelle, but Venmo solves a problem better than it.
- toomuchtodo 8y agoZelle also allows search by number in all major bank participant integrations.
- toomuchtodo 8y agoZelle is also sponsored by the largest banks in the US, putting Venmo at a significant disadvantage. They're already exceeding Venmo's payment volume [1]. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/23/mobile-payments-zelle-has-rival--paypals-volume-in-under-a-year.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/23/mobile-payments-zelle-has-ri...
- bogomipz 8y ago>"Zelle is easier/more secure to use." Can you elaborate oh how Zelle is more secure? 2FA? Fraud protection?
- lotsofpulp 8y agoI've never used the Zelle app itself (don't need to if your bank has integrated it), but the bank I use for sending and receiving small amounts of money (BoA) lets you setup 2FA via email only, which for me is effectively TOTP. Also, one less entity has my checking account # so one less entity that can initiate ACH transfers into/or out of your account. And of course, the money goes directly from me to the recipient and vice versa as opposed to someone else so that's always better.
- ryandrake 8y agoFunny you mention transfers to the bank. I stopped using Venmo because it doesn’t even support joint checking accounts. If my wife and I both have Venmo, only one of us can transfer to the bank. So I have to transfer to her, then she transfers to the bank. So stupid! If they can’t even get this basic functionality working, my confidence of their service is pretty low.