
Clinkle Finally Launches to Let You Pay Friends and Earn “Treats” - urs2102
http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/23/clinkle/
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Cookingboy
Omg, nobody proofread that article? Since when did TechCrunch become this
horrible at actual...English? Look at these:

"What Clinkle doesn’t do is allow instant peer-to-merchant payments via high
frequency sounds without a like it was hoping."

"Clinkle was shooting for the kind of “Innovation” with a capital I that we
laud in Silicon Valley."

"The app is certainly slick, with tons of delightful little animation
flourishes."

Did their writers go full retard?

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21echoes
Hey, Clinkle engineer here. We know Josh personally from our time together at
Stanford. He really dislikes the company, and hopefully it was quite clear
that the article was biased, rushed, and overall pretty unprofessional.

~~~
CaveTech
I'm not exactly sure that you're unbiased in this discussion either.

While the article may have been rushed, it didn't really seem unprofessional.

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devindotcom
Wellll the headline is does describe them as a "laughingstock"

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smoyer
Some laughingstocks really are laughingstocks ... My only recollection of
Clinkle before this article was that the name might not be taken seriously
(perhaps during a discussion here on HN). Who declared them to be a
laughingstock? Probably not those who invested - and I'm not going to second
guess the VC talent that put up their money.

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minikites
As relevant as ever:
[https://twitter.com/mrgan/status/384780273721696256](https://twitter.com/mrgan/status/384780273721696256)

@mrgan

—"I'd like to, uh… "pay with clinkle."

—"Excuse me?"

—"Uh, pay with… clinkle?"

—"Do you need the key to the restroom?"

—"Pay… with… clinkle"

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danilocampos
Please note actual, accurate headline is "Mobile Wallet Laughingstock Clinkle
Finally Launches To Let You Pay Friends And Earn 'Treats'"

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minimaxir
You should take a look at Clinkle's Team page:
[https://www.clinkle.com/team](https://www.clinkle.com/team)

All of the Clinkle team members have _quirky and random lol xD_ photos on
mouseover.

Except the CFO. He means business.

~~~
korzun
Did you copy and paste the comment from ValleyWag?

He has been there for just a few months. I would bet that he is too busy for
selfies.

~~~
bhaumik
The guy to his left probably spent an extra 30 seconds recording his "silly"
face.

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Ian999
In general, I like to give new technologies/apps a chance. I have spent some
time looking at the payment space and the concept of "treats" is at least
interesting. I think the name "treats" undermines what it does.

If you swipe their debit card seven times you get one of these "treats". If
this caught on, the network effect may arise where people start paying for
friends coffees/small gifts. The question is, is the value of rewards that are
giftable > credit card's value. Not sure that it is but I'm also not sure that
it is not.

The comments have been brutal but I wouldn't completely dismiss the concept
just yet.

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korzun
What a start-up horror story.

> At least Clinkle employs 128-bit AES encryption

This is ground breaking.

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at-fates-hands
Unfortunately, this company will remain an SV punch line for a long, long time
to come.

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perryh2
Why should I use this instead of my rewards credit card?

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minimaxir
Because it's social.

It's not a particularly compelling argument in 2014.

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cmalpeli
Curious what the author of that article has ever built or created. My guess is
nothing. From the looks of his twitter profile, I think that is pretty much
confirmed:
[https://twitter.com/joshconstine](https://twitter.com/joshconstine)

So easy for those in the pseudo-journalistic world TC and much of the Tech
press live in to knock down, destroy and critique.

Meanwhile, more talented folks keep building and creating....

~~~
minimaxir
Ad hominem aside, a lack of experience doesn't inherently make an argument
invalid.

