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Origins of Venmo

53 points by nav 12y ago

L_Rahman 12y ago
Iqram ended up finding a cheap sublet in West Philly, and we spent the summer building websites for restaurants, salons, bars, etc. We went door to door selling, “Hey, you need a website. We’ll build it for $500…. $100? OK, deal.” We learned a lot as we tried to abstract the sites we were building into something modular, and we got a lot of experience pitching and hearing “no.” One “no” that I still regret more than most of the others I have subsequently heard (for much bigger deals) was for this amazing Pakistani restaurant, Kabobeesh, that served a chicken kabob sandwich on fresh naan bread for $3.50: we tried to sell them a site for 100 chicken rolls, but failed to close them. I love how much time was spent exploring the early grind phase of this journey. Maybe Far too often this gets glossed over or glamorized as a mere waypoint on the way to eventual success.
sfeng 12y ago
Ending the story with a crazy list of future topics is a great way to get email subscribers.
joshstrange 12y ago
Not directly related to the post but I just wanted to say Venmo is awesome. I've had an account for a while now but most of my friends didn't want to use it and so I wasn't very active. Starting about 2 years ago I got all my roommates on Venmo (Venmo to pay and Splitwise to track it) to handle groceries/rent/utilities/etc and I love no longer getting checks/cash. I'm not sure if they had always offered debit-card-only setup (I think I had to add a bank when I first signed up) but they do now which is great for when people want to pay me. I can have the money in Venmo and moving towards one of my bank accounts in minutes. Just a few months ago my Mom wanted me to buy a gift for my dad so that it didn't show up on her card and so I ordered it and then after he had the gift she Venmo'd me the money. She didn't have an account setup but I had the money in less than 10 minutes. She isn't technically illiterate but she sometimes needs help with computer stuff but I just told her to use Venmo and she figured it all out by herself. I have a bachelor party I'm attending this weekend and in a group chat with the other guys attending the guy who setup the hotel said we could bring cash/checks or just Venmo him the money. This is someone who, while they grew up with tech, isn't someone I would expect to use Venmo. It just goes to show that what I think of as "someone I would expect to use Venmo" is wrong/outdated. I'm really excited to see Venmo get used more and more as it makes my life extremely more simple when it comes to paying friend back or getting paid back. I am going to start pushing my friends that don't have it yet to sign up, I'd like nothing more than to never get a check/cash from a friend again.
- imjared 12y ago
  When I went on a bachelor party last year we used GroupMe for all the shenanigans (pictures, scheduling, keeping in touch while out boozing, etc.) and a few months later it got payments added. If they could somehow use Venmo and drop the fee, it would be unbelievably awesome. http://gizmodo.com/5989263/groupme-now-lets-you-split-the-bill http://gizmodo.com/5989263/groupme-now-lets-you-split-the-bi...
elliott34 12y ago
Venmo is the first app to actually change my life in a major way (beyond google maps, text messaging, the basics). It Is the single handedly most valuable app on my phone by 10 fold. It basically removes all transaction costs involved with spending money and going out with friends.
rmberger 12y ago
I'm still blown away by this app. It moves money faster than my bank can to my account. I look forward to seeing more of the story.

53 points by nav 12y ago

Iqram ended up finding a cheap sublet in West Philly, and we spent the summer building websites for restaurants, salons, bars, etc. We went door to door selling, “Hey, you need a website. We’ll build it for $500…. $100? OK, deal.” We learned a lot as we tried to abstract the sites we were building into something modular, and we got a lot of experience pitching and hearing “no.” One “no” that I still regret more than most of the others I have subsequently heard (for much bigger deals) was for this amazing Pakistani restaurant, Kabobeesh, that served a chicken kabob sandwich on fresh naan bread for $3.50: we tried to sell them a site for 100 chicken rolls, but failed to close them. I love how much time was spent exploring the early grind phase of this journey. Maybe Far too often this gets glossed over or glamorized as a mere waypoint on the way to eventual success.

sfeng 12y ago

Ending the story with a crazy list of future topics is a great way to get email subscribers.

joshstrange 12y ago

Not directly related to the post but I just wanted to say Venmo is awesome. I've had an account for a while now but most of my friends didn't want to use it and so I wasn't very active. Starting about 2 years ago I got all my roommates on Venmo (Venmo to pay and Splitwise to track it) to handle groceries/rent/utilities/etc and I love no longer getting checks/cash. I'm not sure if they had always offered debit-card-only setup (I think I had to add a bank when I first signed up) but they do now which is great for when people want to pay me. I can have the money in Venmo and moving towards one of my bank accounts in minutes. Just a few months ago my Mom wanted me to buy a gift for my dad so that it didn't show up on her card and so I ordered it and then after he had the gift she Venmo'd me the money. She didn't have an account setup but I had the money in less than 10 minutes. She isn't technically illiterate but she sometimes needs help with computer stuff but I just told her to use Venmo and she figured it all out by herself. I have a bachelor party I'm attending this weekend and in a group chat with the other guys attending the guy who setup the hotel said we could bring cash/checks or just Venmo him the money. This is someone who, while they grew up with tech, isn't someone I would expect to use Venmo. It just goes to show that what I think of as "someone I would expect to use Venmo" is wrong/outdated. I'm really excited to see Venmo get used more and more as it makes my life extremely more simple when it comes to paying friend back or getting paid back. I am going to start pushing my friends that don't have it yet to sign up, I'd like nothing more than to never get a check/cash from a friend again.

imjared 12y ago
When I went on a bachelor party last year we used GroupMe for all the shenanigans (pictures, scheduling, keeping in touch while out boozing, etc.) and a few months later it got payments added. If they could somehow use Venmo and drop the fee, it would be unbelievably awesome. http://gizmodo.com/5989263/groupme-now-lets-you-split-the-bill http://gizmodo.com/5989263/groupme-now-lets-you-split-the-bi...

elliott34 12y ago

Venmo is the first app to actually change my life in a major way (beyond google maps, text messaging, the basics). It Is the single handedly most valuable app on my phone by 10 fold. It basically removes all transaction costs involved with spending money and going out with friends.

rmberger 12y ago

I'm still blown away by this app. It moves money faster than my bank can to my account. I look forward to seeing more of the story.