
The Startup Sector That’s Quietly Booming - ttunguz
http://tomtunguz.com/financial-innovation
======
kapilkale
They are booming but certainly not "quietly"

\- Bitcoin is all over the news

\- Capital Access Network, Kabbage, etc are at multi 100M valuations

\- Stripe and Braintree are running around at multi 100M vals.

\- Simple and Green Dot / Loopt have done plenty in the PR circuit re their
latest banking products.

\- Kickstarter / Indiegogo are very much mainstream.

\- Square is a PR machine at some 4-8B valuation (AFAIK)

------
frankcaron
I don't buy the hype around crowdfunding and its supposed boom.

I think, particularly in the video game space which has seen some of the
biggest backings across all industries/verticals, very few successful
"crowdfunded" projects hit the market, and those that do generally become
available to mainstream consumers with the backers receiving little in the way
of truly worthwhile bonuses for fronting the cash.

After being a hugely avid Kickstarter at the get go, I've long since abandoned
the site as failed product after lackluster product either died or left much
to be desired when it was released. Anything worth owning will eventually be
made available for general purchase in a form far superior; it's like someone
took the worst parts about buying first-gen, cutting-edge products and
exacerbated them.

~~~
Fomite
I've come to be of the opinion that the best position to be in is as an
earlier buyer of something funded via Kickstarter. I've yet to back something
where my thought has been "I'm so glad I was here for the prototyping and
quality assurance phase!"

------
beat
The beauty of the financial sector, #1 - there's a revenue stream already. You
just need to skim a little of it. That's really how virtually all get-rich-big
systems work.

Beauty #2 - The scale of existing financial organizations makes them
particularly slow and resistant to change. Lots of opportunity for disruption,
if you can avoid getting squashed.

Beauty #3 - The sudden reach of mobile devices puts a lot of computing and
network power into easy reach of startups.

Between these three things, it is any surprise that the sector is booming?

------
beat
I was thinking that all of these new financial disruptions will lead to a boom
in smaller, relatively safer startups as well. Some friends of mine are
creating a wonderful little startup in the shadow of Square, solving serious
business problems for small, mobile vendors (like artists and flea markets)
that didn't really exist before mobile credit card processing - or at least,
couldn't be solved before that tech existed. I imagine the new technologies
will lead to lots of new niche markets appearing.

------
o0-0o
Fintech is at an interesting crossroads. One road in the Internet. The other
is the need for transparency/security. Since general solicitation is now
legal; we'll see all types of programs released. May the best technology win.
Dealflow is king. It will be the determining factor.

------
thinkcomp
Perhaps if the VCs, Tom and Redpoint included, lent their weight to combating
the protectionist laws that govern the payments sector, we'd have something to
show for all of this supposed progress other than more plastic payment cards
with magnetic stripes.

Last I heard from Tom was, "The MTL laws are large barriers to entry for
startups. I'd love to help but I'm not sure I'm ready to sign my name to a
petition without understanding the issue in much greater depth. Given the time
constraints, I'm not sure I can sign the document."

It's been about eight months. How about now?

~~~
Nursie
Which protectionist laws are these?

------
joonix
Quietly? All of these areas are rather high-profile.

~~~
chrisabrams
Was thinking the same!

------
nilkn
Flight tracking (e.g., FlightAware) and legal tech (e.g., CS Disco) strike me
as fitting the title more accurately.

------
gline
Given that "No one ever talks about Stripe or Coinbase" is obviously not a
good basis for an argument, I assume he means "People don't seem to connect
these various businesses and observe that 'financial services' as a whole is
having a moment?"

------
kabisote
A booming sector in the U.S., a huge opportunity outside the U.S.

------
gketuma
Just an unrelated question. What blogging platform is this. I've been seeing a
lot of blogs with this same style. Does anyone know.

~~~
endersshadow
Svbtle

~~~
gketuma
Thanks

------
benologist
For some peculiar definition of quietly!

