Is it time to start a Stripe competitor?

"Guest Post by Pascal, CEO at Noosa Lab

Nobody would have dared to ask the question 3 years ago.

Stripe was the joint hottest startup in the world (with SpaceX). It was impossible to find secondary shares to buy with any brokers. They had won and could not do anything wrong.

But today feels different.

Not because they lowered their valuation last year - but because it seems more and more indie developers - the very developers that got Stripe on the map 12-14 years ago - are starting to feel uncomfortable, and I do too.

Anecdotally, in the last 6 months, 3 posts like the one pictured below appeared in my favorite SaaS founders forums. Every time the same answers/comments from different founders.

• Stripe support is so-so
• Some Stripe products (tax, invoicing) are either incomplete or mispriced or both
• Stripe is more expensive than before for the little guys who can't negotiate rates
• Stripe has more and more KYC rules that contradict certain of its rhetoric with Atlas
• Stripe is much less generous with its partners that bring payment volume to Stripe (unless you bring hundreds of millions of $)

Stripe used to be the standard for everything:

Patrick went out of his way to convince my startup to use Stripe for our marketplace even though I was a nobody. Later, he helped me and my startup more than our investors.

They have the best documentation, the most thoughtful founders, and they hired amazing people (especially in their early years) but do I trust them long-term to make the best decisions for us as smaller customers?

Stripe is selling a ""commodity"" - so details matter... and Stripe used to be the best at the details.

Do you have the same experience or feeling as me? What's the best alternative for you?"

Author

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