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Thanks @op! Increase employee here: We're early days and not quite ready for open sign-ups yet (sorry, known bug). We'll be more public over the coming weeks a

Thanks @op! Increase employee here: We're early days and not quite ready for open sign-ups yet (sorry, known bug). We'll be more public over the coming weeks and months. We're banking for developers; you can programatically create accounts, cards, and move money. Our users are primarily financial technology companies. We're a small team from Stripe, Robinhood, and Visa building the bank we always wanted. If this sounds interesting to you we're hiring: jobs@increase.com If I can be helpful, I'm at darragh@increase.com.

gremlinsinc 4y ago
Could a solo dev, using your platform, basically roll their own Sofi competitor? Minus the investing bits? Or something like credit karma has? Do you need a large amount of money upfront?
Ayesh 4y ago
Do you consider non-US remote?
- darraghbuckley 4y ago
  Certainly!
  - shaburn 4y ago
    So non-US actors will have access to what banking data and source code?
    - Nextgrid 4y ago
      What’s the problem with that? If non-US actors wanted to wreak havoc in the country there are much lower hanging fruits (that would also provide better “returns” on investment) than infiltrating a banking startup.
      - shaburn 4y ago
        But few as thoroughly regulated. Wait until the regulators fall off of influence from those capitalizing on the outsourcing take. See PPP as an example of the system turning to new ventures to actually get anything done and the zenith of offshoring in general.
    - lmz 4y ago
      Do you really think your US banks have no overseas operations / outsourcing centers?
      - shaburn 4y ago
        These will be increasingly attacked politically as the extent of identity and fraud on cloud become more common knowledge.
ahmadss 4y ago
do you have anyone on your enterprise BD/sales team? or is it too early for that type of role?
swyx 4y ago
heya! i'm casually interested in the space, and also have been tracking Column (https://column.com/ https://column.com/) to a distant observer, you look similar, but i'm sure there are real differences between you, so I'd love something like a "top 3 things to note" about Increase vs Column, in a least-getting-you-in-trouble way as possible - its hard to compare because i dont know what I don't know.
- pbreit 4y ago
  For one, Column is a bank.
  - vinay_ys 4y ago
    This is super important – if you are a chartered/regulated bank that's functioning currently then whatever you claim has merit. Otherwise it is just another software project that's going to struggle to get adoption because they won't have thought through all the regulatory and compliance issues.
    - shaburn 4y ago
      And can easily violate myriads of laws that can quickly land you long prison sentences.
- darraghbuckley 4y ago
  Yes! We're obviously not the first to see the need! I think there are many engineers who are frustrated knowing the data and capabilities that exist in banking that aren't exposed programmatically. There are at least four (and I'm undoubtedly missing many!) interesting companies aiming to combine technology and a bank charter: - Luna[0]. - M1 Finance[1]. - Column[2]. - Increase[3]. Building a bank involves reading, understanding, and respecting regulation. It invovles integrating with large financial networks. It involves rallying a team for a years-long adventure. Each of these is early days and it'll be a few years before any of us understands how this super large and important problem will be solved. 0. https://www.americanbanker.com/news/former-square-exec-leads-acquisition-of-community-bank https://www.americanbanker.com/news/former-square-exec-leads... 1. https://m1.com/blog/bank-and-board https://m1.com/blog/bank-and-board 2. https://column.com/ https://column.com/ 3. https://increase.com/ https://increase.com/
mekoka 4y ago
> Our users are primarily financial technology companies. As a developer, I'd love to have some more information about the typical problems that inspired Increase's value proposition. If I was meeting with a financial tech CEO tomorrow, should I assume that they probably have these problems or need this service? Are there resources that I could peruse to learn more about these common problems?
- darraghbuckley 4y ago
  Our users are financial technology companies. They build things like payroll, loan servicing, business payments, consumer payments, investment platforms, and neo-banks. When we built Stripe, one of the largest points of friction was getting a banking partner. It took months and only after signing were we even able to start assessing the technology. There are so many potential companies that simply don't make it past the partnership step. We want to fix that. The US needs a bank (holding a bank charter) that's also a technology company. Increase certainly isn't there yet (patches welcome: jobs@increase.com) but we already have integrations with the Federal Reserve, Visa, and The Clearing House. Our API already serves businesses you know and love.
  - mousetree 4y ago
    > The US needs a bank (holding a bank charter) that's also a technology company. Do you have plans on becoming a bank and getting a bank charter then? I've worked with several payment processors and BaaS providers that are most definitely not on that path. (CTO at neo bank).
  - abrylov 4y ago
    Do you really have an integration with the Federal Reserve and the Clearing House or do you have an integration to a bank that has it? Last time I checked at least one of them required participants to be a chartered financial institution.
codegeek 4y ago
Did you guys acquire the domain or did the founders always have it ?
- jackflintermann 4y ago
  (Increase employee) We took the approach of starting with an intentionally bad name (in our case, bnk.dev) and using it until a good domain became available to purchase for a reasonable price. Related: http://www.paulgraham.com/name.html http://www.paulgraham.com/name.html
  - earth-adventure 4y ago
    Interesting article, thanks for sharing!
tpxl 4y ago
Do you have a jobs page? Or a description what you're looking for and what tech you're using?
borski 4y ago
Small world - been a while, darragh. I’ll drop you a note and let’s catch up?

gremlinsinc 4y ago

Could a solo dev, using your platform, basically roll their own Sofi competitor? Minus the investing bits? Or something like credit karma has? Do you need a large amount of money upfront?

Ayesh 4y ago

Do you consider non-US remote?

darraghbuckley 4y ago
Certainly!
- shaburn 4y ago
  So non-US actors will have access to what banking data and source code?
  - Nextgrid 4y ago
    What’s the problem with that? If non-US actors wanted to wreak havoc in the country there are much lower hanging fruits (that would also provide better “returns” on investment) than infiltrating a banking startup.
    - shaburn 4y ago
      But few as thoroughly regulated. Wait until the regulators fall off of influence from those capitalizing on the outsourcing take. See PPP as an example of the system turning to new ventures to actually get anything done and the zenith of offshoring in general.
  - lmz 4y ago
    Do you really think your US banks have no overseas operations / outsourcing centers?
    - shaburn 4y ago
      These will be increasingly attacked politically as the extent of identity and fraud on cloud become more common knowledge.

ahmadss 4y ago

do you have anyone on your enterprise BD/sales team? or is it too early for that type of role?

swyx 4y ago

heya! i'm casually interested in the space, and also have been tracking Column (https://column.com/ https://column.com/) to a distant observer, you look similar, but i'm sure there are real differences between you, so I'd love something like a "top 3 things to note" about Increase vs Column, in a least-getting-you-in-trouble way as possible - its hard to compare because i dont know what I don't know.

pbreit 4y ago
For one, Column is a bank.
- vinay_ys 4y ago
  This is super important – if you are a chartered/regulated bank that's functioning currently then whatever you claim has merit. Otherwise it is just another software project that's going to struggle to get adoption because they won't have thought through all the regulatory and compliance issues.
  - shaburn 4y ago
    And can easily violate myriads of laws that can quickly land you long prison sentences.
darraghbuckley 4y ago
Yes! We're obviously not the first to see the need! I think there are many engineers who are frustrated knowing the data and capabilities that exist in banking that aren't exposed programmatically. There are at least four (and I'm undoubtedly missing many!) interesting companies aiming to combine technology and a bank charter: - Luna[0]. - M1 Finance[1]. - Column[2]. - Increase[3]. Building a bank involves reading, understanding, and respecting regulation. It invovles integrating with large financial networks. It involves rallying a team for a years-long adventure. Each of these is early days and it'll be a few years before any of us understands how this super large and important problem will be solved. 0. https://www.americanbanker.com/news/former-square-exec-leads-acquisition-of-community-bank https://www.americanbanker.com/news/former-square-exec-leads... 1. https://m1.com/blog/bank-and-board https://m1.com/blog/bank-and-board 2. https://column.com/ https://column.com/ 3. https://increase.com/ https://increase.com/

mekoka 4y ago

> Our users are primarily financial technology companies. As a developer, I'd love to have some more information about the typical problems that inspired Increase's value proposition. If I was meeting with a financial tech CEO tomorrow, should I assume that they probably have these problems or need this service? Are there resources that I could peruse to learn more about these common problems?

darraghbuckley 4y ago
Our users are financial technology companies. They build things like payroll, loan servicing, business payments, consumer payments, investment platforms, and neo-banks. When we built Stripe, one of the largest points of friction was getting a banking partner. It took months and only after signing were we even able to start assessing the technology. There are so many potential companies that simply don't make it past the partnership step. We want to fix that. The US needs a bank (holding a bank charter) that's also a technology company. Increase certainly isn't there yet (patches welcome: jobs@increase.com) but we already have integrations with the Federal Reserve, Visa, and The Clearing House. Our API already serves businesses you know and love.
- mousetree 4y ago
  > The US needs a bank (holding a bank charter) that's also a technology company. Do you have plans on becoming a bank and getting a bank charter then? I've worked with several payment processors and BaaS providers that are most definitely not on that path. (CTO at neo bank).
- abrylov 4y ago
  Do you really have an integration with the Federal Reserve and the Clearing House or do you have an integration to a bank that has it? Last time I checked at least one of them required participants to be a chartered financial institution.

codegeek 4y ago

Did you guys acquire the domain or did the founders always have it ?

jackflintermann 4y ago
(Increase employee) We took the approach of starting with an intentionally bad name (in our case, bnk.dev) and using it until a good domain became available to purchase for a reasonable price. Related: http://www.paulgraham.com/name.html http://www.paulgraham.com/name.html
- earth-adventure 4y ago
  Interesting article, thanks for sharing!

tpxl 4y ago

Do you have a jobs page? Or a description what you're looking for and what tech you're using?

borski 4y ago

Small world - been a while, darragh. I’ll drop you a note and let’s catch up?