Is it worthy to pursue my idea now or 5 years later?
Hi, guys! So I have an idea of building a payment processor similar to PayPal and Stripe since I'm getting tired of seeing almost all online payment services not available in my country.
Why 5 years? Because I'm a relatively new developer and never get paid professionally, let alone having a full-time job and I heard that it is hard to break in the fintech world. Do you think I should wait until I got lots of work experience under my belt and some cash reserves first?
I think you should first understand why stripe is not supporting your country. Because if they don't do it for a really good reason then it might become an impediment for you. If you see the way to avoid those problems. Then just start doing it. I don't see a reason why to wait on implementing something if you have a clear view how should it work and you have a believe it will work. If you have problems on tech side you might find someone to help. Basically a cofounder. BTW we can talk about it and I might help you.
This is the answer I would have given to this post. Thanks for sharing.
You are right. My country is generally viewed as poor, violent, corrupted, and a place where nobody wants to live here. Almost no International companies want to invest there and not ready to make their platform available here.
To me, the biggest problem is lack of information. There is no market research done, business owners are reluctant to share their operations, and anything you find on Google is either inaccurate, obsolete, or vague. Maybe if I can cover the gap, then that will be a good place to start.
About the tech side, I'll probably need more help since I have no clue how to transfer money from a website into a bank. No schools teach you that!
a) I agree that you should figure out why Stripe and PayPal won't work in your country, because then you can quickly figure out how feasible the idea is.
b) Don't wait! I made the mistake of waiting until I had a lot of education and experience to start my first company. I didn't want to fail, so I delayed for so long. But I would have learned more by starting earlier even if I failed once or twice before my first successful company.
I guess I should do some researchs first though I don't where to begin it. I mean, It's not like you just dial up their office and say "hey, why aren't your service available in my country?" and be persistent until they reveal the answer. I'm not Alex Banayan after all.
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second-best time is now.
That's an old proverb and it's always been inspiring to me, in terms of dealing with regret for not starting sooner, and inspiring me to get started quicker. But notice that it doesn't say anything about 5 years from now being a good idea for the tree at all!
Anytime is a good time. You don't know what would happen in 5 years, I don't know too.
Try to allocate your free time and do something matters. You can do it! all the best. @mohammedasker
Do you think stripe will ever support your country?
I hope they will, but there's a chance that it won't happen. When I read their payment docs, they mentioned that some of their services won't be available to certain countries according to US laws. Naturally, my country is one of them.