When Ryan Shelf Payment and his partners first came up with the idea of building a payments app on Stripe in 2013, they didn't foresee it becoming a $700,000-a-year business. However, it was this seemingly simple idea that gave birth to a powerful tool that serves thousands of online stores.
Ryan, a designer with a computer science background, and his iOS developer partner decided to team up to start a business because they were tired of working for other people. They saw an opportunity: Although Stripe's API was powerful, it lacked an intuitive and easy-to-use payment application. As a result, Payment came into being, an application that does not require the management of back-end servers and focuses on collecting card payments.
In just two months, they went from product design to construction, testing, and finally released the first version in January 2015. This version was extremely simple and only allowed users to manually enter credit card numbers to collect payments, but it just met the needs of the market at the time. There are no fancy features or a lot of publicity. They rely on the belief of "Build it, and they will come" and quietly wait for users to arrive.
At first, user growth was slow. But Ryan and his partners didn't give up. They continued to optimize the app and promote it via email to users who might be interested in charging money through the app. In the 15 days after the product was released, they earned $184 from fees. Although the amount was small, it was an exciting moment for them and their idea was validated.
Over time, Payment's users and revenue have grown steadily. Ryan has discovered that the key to retaining customers is creating something they really want. He personally handles all customer support tasks and has a deep understanding of user needs and pain points. Their apps remain small, flexible, and easy to use, winning over users.
Today, the app’s monthly turnover has reached $6 million, equivalent to $60,000 in monthly revenue. While Ryan remains the company's only full-time employee, he is fully involved in design, development, marketing, and business development. His goal is to process $10 million in Stripe transaction volume per month, an ambitious plan, but one he's confident about.
Looking back, Ryan's biggest regret is not dedicating himself to this business full-time sooner. He believes that it is crucial for entrepreneurs who want to start or are just starting out to learn how to build their own products. Don’t wait for the perfect time or enough funding, but get to work and launch the product right away. Only in this way can you free yourself from the constraints of working for others and achieve true freedom.
Ryan’s story tells us: Success does not always come from grand ideas or large amounts of resources. Sometimes, it comes from keen insight into market needs, a deep understanding of user needs, and unremitting efforts. In this rapidly changing world, each of us has the opportunity to become the next Ryan Shelf Payment, as long as we dare to try and innovate.
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