[dqdo]

>"My startup had to deal with payment processing (at least initially before I pivoted) so I thought I needed it."

You generally don't need a payment processor when starting out. The first ~200k in revenue can be done manually. Payment processing is something that takes time to do and most likely you will need to tweak it a few time as you figure out your business model.

>Paying for dev/design work by hour for a new startup is an insane concept to me now. There are always gonna be bugs, something that doesn’t work, something that needs to be added, etc.

Tech products are very complex. There are thousands of bugs and edge cases that needs to be resolved for a high quality product.

>And ideally, especially if you’re a non-tech founder like me, PARTNER.

One of the worst idea is to have non-technical people try to create a tech business without a strong technical co-founder. Imagine starting a dentistry office without any prior knowledge or a partner who is a dentist. Imagine trying to start a restaurant without a chef, etc. Creating a tech business is not a get rich plan. It takes a lot of skill, knowledge, and luck to get a business off the ground. Unfortunately, the media stories that we read make creating a great product or fundraising millions of dollars super easy. The reality is that running a start-up is probably one of the hardest things that one can do.

[ypanetir]

> The first ~200k in revenue can be done manually.

What do you mean by 'done manually'? Could you elaborate for the curious? How does one handle CC transactions manually?

[skyrw]

No idea what his business model is. That said, my b2b saas company ran our first 5 customers with old skool paper invoices and checks, doing 6/12 month pre-pay. CC processing fee's can really eat into early revenue like this even.

[wheelerwj]

what? stripe charges 3%. if your margins are beaten up so badly by small fees and you don't have have better things to do than bookkeeping, find another niche.

[KennyCason]

I think you'll also find that some companies don't want to go to your website and pay with Stripe (or anything). They enjoy the good ol' classic "send a check" method.

[wheelerwj]

very, very few companies fit this description. So few companies want to send a check that id you're product requires it, you should be in a different niche.

[KennyCason]

Well, I would say that I'm definitely not in a small niche. And can definitely confirm that most companies pay via check and Wire/ACH. Especially in the B2B world. B2C is a bit different where the company price point is low. For example, most software tools (IntelliJ, GitHub, etc) CC is more common. But for larger services where it may be many thousands a month, your claim does not seem to be the case from my experience.

[SmellyGeekBoy]

Surely it depends on the business? It takes 30 seconds to raise and email an invoice and many big businesses will only work this way. CC processing is only generally necessary for B2C.

[wheelerwj]

no it isn't.

unless your invoices are so large that paying with a wire transfer is better, most companies want to pay with credit card or ach.

[ypanetir]

Sure, but does high volume low value transactions necessitate CC processors?

If I want to use CC transactions is there a 'manual' way? Can I collect the numbers and 'process' them myself?

[HappyTypist]

Yes. Just get a Stripe account, and you can use a 3rd party tool / app to charge any credit card any amount of money.

[skynode]

Stripe + 3rd Party Tool != Manual CC Payment Processing

[HappyTypist]

I'm talking about manually billing cards using a 3rd party tool that works with stripe.

[carsongross]

> One of the worst idea is to have non-technical people try to create a tech business without a strong technical co-founder.

The best formula I have seen is one business guy and two strong programmers, where one of the two has some talent in ops.

[KennyCason]

I concur. Our initial team was just that. We had an myself (Engineer), A sales/marketing guy, A new Engineer, someone in Ops part-time. The combination made the division of labor so much easier, which directly results in a faster go-to-market.

[lacampbell]

This doesn't surprise me at all. I'm a BA/Dev. and if it's a team of two, I am going to be much more productive working with a sysadmin/ops guy than I am with another dev.

[jiqiren]

> Imagine trying to start a restaurant without a chef

No sorry, bad example. Having an understanding of logistics, supply chains, and having consultant contacts for things like building a menu and interior design. It is the foundation of how franchises work - they've (even) done that leg work for investors. Often times they already have studies for potential locations. Investors just add money and management of people.

Source: family works in restaurant and independent supermarket supply chain/logistics.