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Paid ads wouldn't be our first choice. However time is pressing us for faster user acquisition.

What kind of help are you offering?


It's B2B2C - a modern payment platform for landlords and tenants.

The product can be used to: - create installment plans for missed rent - make security deposit payments over time - pay rent on a flexible schedule


Gotcha. Most subreddits are averse to self-promotion, so you run the risk of a negative response from redditors. I can't speak to Facebook groups since I don't use them much.

It might be difficult to target ads to landlords on these platforms. I am not sure what targeting attributes might be available.

Maybe you could cold email/call property management companies and you might find specific people to email on LinkedIn. They manage larger number of properties and so this might be a bigger pain for them? Cold emailing and selling also makes it possible to get continuous and early feedback from engaged customers. It might not scale, but that's fine [1]

[1] http://paulgraham.com/ds.html


Thanks for the thoughts. I think we'll be choosing a plan of actions tomorrow.

I came upon Paul's post a few years back but it's always great to revisit :)


I would love to learn what you folks decided on.


I guess we are so stuck on the NO paid acquisition idea that I haven't really though how cheap it would be to test. Based on what we've tried so far, this might actually be a faster way to test. Thanks!


I am working on it now, it's time consuming and will yield results down the line. Our team is hoping to try social media to accelerate acquisition at an early stage.


When I think "successful social media marketing" I think of some kind of podcast or blog... say

https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/avtalk-podcast/

or

https://multithreaded.stitchfix.com/blog/ https://www.stitchfix.com/men/blog/ https://www.stitchfix.com/women/blog/

(e.g. it was reading about machine learning at Stitch Fix (SF) that I felt solidarity for them and became a subscriber)

That aviation podcast is like a freight train, but that is because they have been doing it so long.

If there is a royal road, it is to pay someone and ride on their momentum. For instance the SF company will hire pro bloggers, you work with an "influencer", etc.

This San Francisco entrepreneur staged a fake protest to launch Salesforce.com (SF)

https://www.businessinsider.com/marc-benioff-salesforcecom-c...


Cool ideas, thanks for sharing!


I get your point, but having people come naturally is challenging since the company is new. They need to find out about it. Paid ads are a NO as we want to do a few iterations of the product (and validate it) before we throw money at it.


Hi everyone, I’m Alex, one of the co-founders @ Xspaced.

The pandemic has affected the US rental market in a particularly challenging way. Millions of rent payments are delayed by COVID‑19.

76.4% of tenants paid rent as of September 6, 2020. This number only reflects payments made to large multifamily operators and does not include rent payment defaults in the single family market.

So we launched free tools to help landlords and tenants affected by #Covid19.

Xspaced is providing support by allowing anyone to: - create installment plans for missed rent or security deposits; - safely pay monthly rent. It works for both Commercial and Residential properties.

As of today we are live in all 50 states.

A few cool things about Xspaced: - No credit checks; - No time consuming on-boarding; - Creating a plan takes less than 1 minute; - Did I mention it's free?

About us. We are a fintech startup based out of Oakland, CA. Our mission is to make housing more accessible by bringing modern financial services to the rental industry.

If you or anyone you know is finding Rent Payments during Covid challenging, please share with them our product (www.xspaced.com). Thanks!

P.S. Happy to answer any questions / listen to any feedback.


> No credit checks;

I don't understand how you avoid fraud. Do you accept this plan for the first payment, or the contract must have a minimal amount of good months?

> Did I mention it's free?

How are you going to get money? Will you charge for a similar service once the pandemic is over? Are you going to use this to offer insurance?


Thanks for the questions.

> I don't understand how you avoid fraud. Do you accept this plan for the first payment, or the contract must have a minimal amount of good months?

We decided that the best and quickest way to help is to offer a platform that allows landlords or tenants create installment plans between themselves.

> How are you going to get money? Will you charge for a similar service once the pandemic is over? Are you going to use this to offer insurance?

The installment plan and monthly rent payment tools will remain free during and after the pandemic. We will be working on paid features in the future.


Perhaps I totally misunderstand:

If the tenant can't pay the rent, do you give the money from your pocket to the landlord and collect that money split in small parts during the following months?


Happy to explain - we don't front money.

Landlords and tenants decide on the payment plans with the monthly amounts that work for both sides. Tenants make payments directly to landlords.


Thanks everyone for your input. I think I have a better understanding about what's what here.

The dev team wanted to drop React as a frontend layer to save time on development.

We decided to stick with React for frontend since there has been over 40 hours spent on development on it. We'll try to save time by off-loading some features and sign up flows until after the MVP is in public beta. Fingers crossed...


You should listen to your dev team. Use bootstrap, jQuery and vanilla js to get the product done.


Thanks, just looked them up, looks like they only support "regular" online payments for purchases and such.


Thanks for this. Thinking about Dwolla, but their onboarding time for Pay as You Go is 60-90 days.....


This ‘on boarding’ process - does it have something to do with Compliance?


Yes, it's their application review time.


Shouldn’t take that long. Drop me a line at b at dwolla.com if you go this route. Happy to assist.


I appreciate it, will do! P.S. great to see you here B ;)


Something like Appcues, https://www.appcues.com/


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