4 ms·

How did you get in contact with the banks? Neither founder seems to have a background business development or banking, so I'm curious how you were able to pitch

• zt 13y ago
  The short answer is that we basically know a ton of people both in financial technology and in the valley. If people know you, know you're a good person, and know you're looking for something specific they'll often help you. Tons of people have been surprised by our success to be honest. We had a talk with a potential investor recently and we told him who we were working with at [big bank]. The potential investor was shocked - the gentlemen leading our project at [big bank] is in charge of a 10-digit-a-year business and is a hard man to find time with. But one of our lawyers, who is also an investor, introduced us. They are old friends. Banking innovation / payments / technology, etc, is a small world.
  • throw_way_away 13y ago
    Don't you think that leveraging relationships you may have made via Stripe alone is going to cause a huge legal fracas?
    • zt 13y ago
      Interesting question. The only people I interacted with in a work context through Stripe was Wells Fargo Merchant Services, a joint company of Wells and First Data. I've never spoken to one of the people again because it's a completely different part of the bank than the one I deal with now. One didn't lead to the other.