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> ...but I don't think it's particularly worthy of support from other engineers and makers. Simplify might be a Stripe clone, but if it's just as reliable, che

> ...but I don't think it's particularly worthy of support from other engineers and makers. Simplify might be a Stripe clone, but if it's just as reliable, cheaper and allows me to get my hands on my money faster, why shouldn't I consider it? I'm an engineer/"maker" but that doesn't mean that I select commodity services based on emotion or ideology. After all, saving money and getting my money faster supports my ability to continue making stuff. I need to accept payments online. I am your customer. You should be trying to convince me that Stripe is the best payment solution for my business, not labeling a new competitor "lazy" and suggesting that I avoid it because it opted not to reinvent the wheel. > We should encourage each other any time we see great, original work -- creativity is hard, and new ideas are often delicate in the early days. It'd be really cool if MasterCard did that, but Simplify unfortunately doesn't seem to have anything that's new. I really, really like Stripe and think you have built a great service but reading this makes me cringe. Innovation and first mover advantage do not guarantee success. In fact, sitting back and following can be a smart approach: it's less risky and less costly to let others invest in new ideas and "copy" what gains traction in the market. I know this is blasphemy in Silicon Valley, but it's the harsh reality of business. We'll see if the market finds Simplify's lower pricing and faster payouts compelling enough, but I don't think it's fair to insinuate that the only source of legitimate, meaningful and effective differentiation comes from building something "original".

pc 13y ago
I was probably too incendiary in my phrasing, and I agree with what you say. If Simplify solves your problems better than Stripe does, you should use it (and good job to them for doing so). It's our job, of course, to have that not be the case. The point I was trying to make was fairly narrowly scoped: needlessly copying even tiny details of Stripe is pretty uninspired. (P.S. Any chance you could drop me an email? I'm patrick@stripe.com.)
- breck 13y ago
  > needlessly copying even tiny details of Stripe is pretty uninspired. I disagree. Copying tiny details is a very smart strategy for non critical parts of your product. Do not try to reinvent the wheel...and the axle and the airbag, all at once. Designers should focus on what's unique and different about their offering, and leverage from the community the other parts. I'm sure Stripe put a lot of design time into those API details. Simplify is bringing new features to the market (faster payouts and lower prices), and so their time and money is better spent on those than trying to also reinvent API design. And it's better then to just copy verbatim than to put up the first thing that comes to mind. I could otherwise argue that Stripe's use of JSON and HTML is pretty uninspired because Braintree was doing it years before.

pc 13y ago

I was probably too incendiary in my phrasing, and I agree with what you say. If Simplify solves your problems better than Stripe does, you should use it (and good job to them for doing so). It's our job, of course, to have that not be the case. The point I was trying to make was fairly narrowly scoped: needlessly copying even tiny details of Stripe is pretty uninspired. (P.S. Any chance you could drop me an email? I'm patrick@stripe.com.)

breck 13y ago
> needlessly copying even tiny details of Stripe is pretty uninspired. I disagree. Copying tiny details is a very smart strategy for non critical parts of your product. Do not try to reinvent the wheel...and the axle and the airbag, all at once. Designers should focus on what's unique and different about their offering, and leverage from the community the other parts. I'm sure Stripe put a lot of design time into those API details. Simplify is bringing new features to the market (faster payouts and lower prices), and so their time and money is better spent on those than trying to also reinvent API design. And it's better then to just copy verbatim than to put up the first thing that comes to mind. I could otherwise argue that Stripe's use of JSON and HTML is pretty uninspired because Braintree was doing it years before.