An Injustice in the World

September 17, 2014 / Start-up, AvidTap, Kash, AvidRetail, YCombinator, YC

When I was thinking about starting a startup, I thought about figuring out what other professions are struggling with, then see if there’s a technology solution to that. It seems that my journey took a rather roundabout way to finally learn what local retailer’s biggest pain point is. Through all of our previous product executions, we learned and talked to store owners. We experimented and found out things about the world. These learning drive our insight in coming up with Kash.

What we discovered is that there is this injustice in the world. One of the biggest pains local businesses have is their credit card fees. When we talked to store owners, one of them was almost in tears telling us how the credit card industry hurts her livelihood so much. Another owner doesn’t mind telling us how much he makes. This store owner takes home $60,000 a year after all expenses. One of those expenses is the credit card fees, and the credit card industry takes home $72,000! A store owner does all the work for his business only to have the credit card industry make more money. This is just plain wrong!

And to rub salt in the wound, every “innovation” around mobile payment thus far have not been designed to help your neighbourhood businesses. Every new entrant focuses on establishing themselves as yet another middleman in the pipeline of people that take a cut on credit card fees.

At Kash, we’re changing that. We’re creating an ethical payment option to fight the credit card monopoly. We’re focusing on creating something consumers love to use to pay, and a solution that helps to keep local businesses thriving. Check out our job postings. I’d love to chat.