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Andy Bromberg, CEO of Eco, details how Pebble (YC W22) copied them word for word
- potamic 4y agoOff 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?
- villasv 4y agoThe card is just the gateway. All of these startups eventually expand into more profitable products later on. As a customer, it’s just a matter of trying something modern - which should mean a better digital-first experience, but not always.
- ferrisford 4y agoAs 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-arbitrage https://tanay.substack.com/p/fintech-and-regulatory-arbitrag...
- ge96 4y agoHow do people do that blatant theft.
- russellbeattie 4y agoThreaded: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1528817375541350404.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1528817375541350404.html
- thiscatis 4y agoAnother YC backed fraud / theft whatever you want to call it. Quality really has gone down.
- aliswe 4y agoIm 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...
- thiscatis 4y agoSee the “Stablegains” posts from not even a week ago. Also a YC company.
- aliswe 4y agoSure, but those are like 2 of ... thousands?
- thiscatis 4y agoIf I do a 1000 good things but fund logistics for 2 bank robberies I would still go to jail.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 4y agoAlso Dreamworld.
- lazzlazzlazz 4y agoWhy wouldn't this reflect badly on YC? If they should be credited for picking well, they should be discredited for backing plagiarists.
- SilverBirch 4y agoI 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.
- antupis 4y agoRocket internet has pretty solid business of course they don't copy so plainly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Internet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Internet
- dekervin 4y agoGlad to see he is kind of fighting back. I am tired of the startup trope that somehow, blatant theft is a form of "flattery".
- esotericimpl 4y ago
- parsley27 4y agoI 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.
- throway782 4y agoThrowaway 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.
- strikelaserclaw 4y agooof, why does crypto attract the shadiest type of businessmen?