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Oh I see! From my experience, the companies that I've seen selling user data have no alternative revenue stream substantial enough to stop them from hemorrhagin

Oh I see! From my experience, the companies that I've seen selling user data have no alternative revenue stream substantial enough to stop them from hemorrhaging money. They may also be giving most of their revenue back to their users or losing money every time their service is used. While building YSplit, we made sure it would make money every time it's used and that we would be able to upsell users on more features in the future. And the app is successfully achieving both at the moment.

Judgmentality 5y ago
If you truly intend to monetize that way, make a legally binding statement to never sell your users' data to anyone else. Otherwise I personally would never trust you, and honestly even then I'd be skeptical because I assume that legal contract would become void during an acquisition.
hoppyhoppy2 5y ago
If I were to parse this comment in a lawyerly way, I'd conclude you didn't actually say whether your service does or does not sell users' financial data (or whether it plans to do so). Can you confirm for us your company's practices?
- tonikami 5y ago
  We do not sell any financial data and we do not intend on doing so in the future.
  - crumbshot 5y ago
    The fact that this is a VC-backed startup pretty much guarantees it will be doing nefarious things with its users' data somewhere down the line. Even if not intended right now.
    - rabidonrails 5y ago
      This is an unfair comment because it's stated as a "pretty much" fact when it's simply your opinion. Additionally, the fact that it's a "VC-backed startup" is irrelevant. Any company with any structure could be doing this.
      - tannedNerd 5y ago
        Eh not really. Having VC backing means you have an extra incentive to do things that a bootstrapped company wouldn't, mainly to please your investors.
        foobarian 5y ago
        Well, either it's in the TOS or it's not. Simple. And if it is now, and it vanishes, well, you know what to do.
        zapita 5y ago
        Either a business can thrive without selling user data, or it can’t. If it can’t, then eventually the data will fall in the hands of someone willing to sell it. It doesn’t matter if that someone is current management (perhaps under pressure from VCs) or future management (after inevitable acquisition or asset liquidation since the business is not viable). Therefore it does not matter how current management feels about selling user data today, or whether they are vc-funded or bootstrapped. If they aren’t building a viable business, the data they are collecting will be sold eventually.

Judgmentality 5y ago

If you truly intend to monetize that way, make a legally binding statement to never sell your users' data to anyone else. Otherwise I personally would never trust you, and honestly even then I'd be skeptical because I assume that legal contract would become void during an acquisition.

hoppyhoppy2 5y ago

If I were to parse this comment in a lawyerly way, I'd conclude you didn't actually say whether your service does or does not sell users' financial data (or whether it plans to do so). Can you confirm for us your company's practices?

tonikami 5y ago
We do not sell any financial data and we do not intend on doing so in the future.
- crumbshot 5y ago
  The fact that this is a VC-backed startup pretty much guarantees it will be doing nefarious things with its users' data somewhere down the line. Even if not intended right now.
  - rabidonrails 5y ago
    This is an unfair comment because it's stated as a "pretty much" fact when it's simply your opinion. Additionally, the fact that it's a "VC-backed startup" is irrelevant. Any company with any structure could be doing this.
    - tannedNerd 5y ago
      Eh not really. Having VC backing means you have an extra incentive to do things that a bootstrapped company wouldn't, mainly to please your investors.
      - foobarian 5y ago
        Well, either it's in the TOS or it's not. Simple. And if it is now, and it vanishes, well, you know what to do.
      - zapita 5y ago
        Either a business can thrive without selling user data, or it can’t. If it can’t, then eventually the data will fall in the hands of someone willing to sell it. It doesn’t matter if that someone is current management (perhaps under pressure from VCs) or future management (after inevitable acquisition or asset liquidation since the business is not viable). Therefore it does not matter how current management feels about selling user data today, or whether they are vc-funded or bootstrapped. If they aren’t building a viable business, the data they are collecting will be sold eventually.