
Ask HN: How can startups ask large companies for non-API data access? - chirau
We are building an online identity verification platform that uses dynamic KBA and so would need some non-public data from MNOs, banks etc. We don&#x27;t know how best to approach them.<p>Do we have to reveal our whole business case? Who in the company do we approach? What kind of advice would you give to us? How can we increase our chances of getting a positive answer? Should we incentivize and offer them something? What could we possibly offer them?
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posguy
To put it succinctly, your hosed. There is no way this will pan out for you by
trying to pry identity data out of banks, larger credit bureaus, etc.

Find a smaller credit bureau that actually wants to work with you, and pull a
couple other data sources in (from CNAM/HLR data to jankyCID like
callername.com).

Relying on the same trodden datasets while dealing with goliaths that are
actually just wholesaling the data from a bunch of other smaller providers is
a quick way to spend a lot of time and money on nothing. They will delay,
charge and be a pain to work with, no joy to be had.

