4 ms·

How do you guys differ from Lotus, the other YC open-source usage based billing company?

Rafsark 4y ago
Hi, First of all, we launched our open source billing repository months before they did. In fact, they even reached out to us for inspiration. This could be related to the fact that our team has prior experience building billing engines, so we have a better understanding of the space. From a product perspective, our coverage is more extensive. We provide more advanced coupons, usage-based components and billing use-cases. For example, we offer credit notes and refunds, small examples that are not listed in their API. Our product covers more billing edge-cases and deeper features. Finally, we have customers in production. Our top user is invoicing 5M customers a month, which might not be the case for them. To conclude, I would assert that we are more advanced.
- Kiro 4y ago
  That's a pretty obnoxious reply, especially considering they are your alumni. Be more humble.
  - Rafsark 4y ago
    Hi Kiro, I don't consider this an impudent response. We strive to base our answers on facts, from both the team and product perspectives. We tried to detail differences from a product point of view. We respect everyone in this space, including established vendors and newcomers. They all have a positive influence on our product, pushing us to deliver faster with higher quality.
    - throwaway744678 4y ago
      Don't sweat it, your answer reads fine.
- louis-lau 4y ago
  I love your product, but this reply reads snarky and arrogant.
  - fragmede 4y ago
    If the underlying premise of the message is "mine is better", how would you phrase it without coming off as arrogant?
    - louis-lau 4y ago
      IMO starting with "first of all we were there first" kind of sets the tone for the whole message. Here's how I would have written the same message: Hi! Lotus has a great product. We should know, as they reached out to us for inspiration before. Our team has prior experience building billing engines, so we have a very good understanding of the space. From a product perspective, our coverage is more extensive. We provide more advanced coupons, usage-based components and billing use-cases. For example, we offer credit notes and refunds, small examples that are not listed in their API. Our product covers more billing edge-cases and deeper features. While we don't know how many customers Lotus has in production, our top user is invoicing 5M customers a month! Overall, we believe at this point that our product is more advanced. We wish them luck though, the more products in this space the better.
      - AnhTho_FR 4y ago
        (Lago co-founder here) Thanks for your message Louis, we always welcome genuine and actionable feedback and appreciate the time you invested into writing an example!
        louis-lau 4y ago
        No problem! If it's helpful I'm glad. I do believe the original message wasn't meant to be snarky/arrogant at all, it just read that way. Maybe it reads a lot better in French! :)
- codegeek 4y ago
  "Months before they did". That doesn't mean anything. Being first is not always why you are better. Myspace was first. Friendster was first. Alta vista was first. Lycos was first. Focus on why your product is better or different and not these factors like who was early, who has more experience with billing engines etc because again, experience doesn't translate to success necessarily. All the best.
mikaeln 4y ago
I'm a cofounder at Lotus (https://github.com/uselotus/lotus https://github.com/uselotus/lotus). First, congrats on the launch Lago. I've been very impressed with your ability to educate devs about the intricacies of billing and you are certainly pushing the entire space forward. While you offer coupons and credit notes, there are features you don't have that we have prioritized and built, including, usage alerts, plan versioning, gauge metrics, custom sql etc. etc. Point being I think its unfair to say we are a subset of your product. In addition, we have a 25+ year billing expert on our team who has been CTO of a startup processing $300 million a year. Lastly, I don't think it's fair to make statements about our customers just because we haven't "announced" them yet. Happy to chat more with anyone about our differences.
- Kiro 4y ago
  You replied to the wrong comment.

Hi, First of all, we launched our open source billing repository months before they did. In fact, they even reached out to us for inspiration. This could be related to the fact that our team has prior experience building billing engines, so we have a better understanding of the space. From a product perspective, our coverage is more extensive. We provide more advanced coupons, usage-based components and billing use-cases. For example, we offer credit notes and refunds, small examples that are not listed in their API. Our product covers more billing edge-cases and deeper features. Finally, we have customers in production. Our top user is invoicing 5M customers a month, which might not be the case for them. To conclude, I would assert that we are more advanced.

Kiro 4y ago
That's a pretty obnoxious reply, especially considering they are your alumni. Be more humble.
- Rafsark 4y ago
  Hi Kiro, I don't consider this an impudent response. We strive to base our answers on facts, from both the team and product perspectives. We tried to detail differences from a product point of view. We respect everyone in this space, including established vendors and newcomers. They all have a positive influence on our product, pushing us to deliver faster with higher quality.
  - throwaway744678 4y ago
    Don't sweat it, your answer reads fine.
louis-lau 4y ago
I love your product, but this reply reads snarky and arrogant.
- fragmede 4y ago
  If the underlying premise of the message is "mine is better", how would you phrase it without coming off as arrogant?
  - louis-lau 4y ago
    IMO starting with "first of all we were there first" kind of sets the tone for the whole message. Here's how I would have written the same message: Hi! Lotus has a great product. We should know, as they reached out to us for inspiration before. Our team has prior experience building billing engines, so we have a very good understanding of the space. From a product perspective, our coverage is more extensive. We provide more advanced coupons, usage-based components and billing use-cases. For example, we offer credit notes and refunds, small examples that are not listed in their API. Our product covers more billing edge-cases and deeper features. While we don't know how many customers Lotus has in production, our top user is invoicing 5M customers a month! Overall, we believe at this point that our product is more advanced. We wish them luck though, the more products in this space the better.
    - AnhTho_FR 4y ago
      (Lago co-founder here) Thanks for your message Louis, we always welcome genuine and actionable feedback and appreciate the time you invested into writing an example!
      - louis-lau 4y ago
        No problem! If it's helpful I'm glad. I do believe the original message wasn't meant to be snarky/arrogant at all, it just read that way. Maybe it reads a lot better in French! :)
codegeek 4y ago
"Months before they did". That doesn't mean anything. Being first is not always why you are better. Myspace was first. Friendster was first. Alta vista was first. Lycos was first. Focus on why your product is better or different and not these factors like who was early, who has more experience with billing engines etc because again, experience doesn't translate to success necessarily. All the best.

mikaeln 4y ago

I'm a cofounder at Lotus (https://github.com/uselotus/lotus https://github.com/uselotus/lotus). First, congrats on the launch Lago. I've been very impressed with your ability to educate devs about the intricacies of billing and you are certainly pushing the entire space forward. While you offer coupons and credit notes, there are features you don't have that we have prioritized and built, including, usage alerts, plan versioning, gauge metrics, custom sql etc. etc. Point being I think its unfair to say we are a subset of your product. In addition, we have a 25+ year billing expert on our team who has been CTO of a startup processing $300 million a year. Lastly, I don't think it's fair to make statements about our customers just because we haven't "announced" them yet. Happy to chat more with anyone about our differences.

Kiro 4y ago
You replied to the wrong comment.