1307 sats \ 3 replies \ @fiatbad 15 Feb 2023 \ on: What are you working on this week? bitcoin
I have a desk job (software engineer), but I need a side gig and it has to be something related to Bitcoin. So, I have an idea and I'm going to pitch it here. Please pick it apart and tell me if you think I'm being niave.
The past few years saw a boom in open-source software solutions for Bitcoin, especially in Lightning and point-of-sale solutions. I believe the next few years is going to see a boom in adoption of those new technologies, now that they are available. I think the number of merchants who desire to accept Bitcoin as payment is growing, but the barrier to entry for them is extremely high. Restaurant owners do not have the time or skills to setup their nodes, BTCPay server, train employees, ect. So I want to offer a service to do it for them.
The problem is, merchants are not going to want to purchase a node AND pay someone to help them set everything up. For comparison, a Square POS system costs $50 for the iOS mobile solution, and about $150 for those nice desktop ones. And Square is easy enough to setup themselves. So, spending $1,000 for a private node is going to be a hard sell. (I'm assuming $500 for a Start9 Embassy One, and another $500 to pay someone to set it up)
So, my proposal is to offer this service FOR FREE. The merchant will only have to purchase their node for about $500. I'll do the rest for free. Here is how I'll monetize:
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Crowd sourcing funding. I will ask for donations from the plebs. I think most of us agree how important it is to improve merchant adoption around the world, so I think there are enough passionate Bitcoiners that can help make this work.
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Youtube. For each merchant I help onboard, I will also create a short 2-3 minute Youtube video. I'll interview the owner about their business and about how they got into Bitcoin, etc. This gives Bitcoiners their own Youtube channel for finding local businesses. It gives the merchants free advertising. And it gives me a small income stream from Youtube (hopefully).
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For each merchant I help onboard, I will open a LN channel from my node. This gives them instant inbound liquidity, and I will ensure to keep inbound liquidity to them. This gives me routing fees. I know this is a very small income stream, which alone wouldn't even make a dent. But it's just a small piece.
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Greater adoption increases the value of my Sats. I dislike mentioning this one, because I am not in Bitcoin for the monetary gains, I'm here for the revolution. But still, it matters a little when considering a business plan.
And that's it. I have nearly free airfare, and my day job is mostly remote. So, I have the ability to go to the merchants wherever they are at no cost to them. This makes me uniquely positioned to do this.
So what do you guys think? Please, be critical.
You're not comparing the best companies.
Have a look at OpenNode, they are great. It can be used free if you schedule your payments, supports lightning, on-chain, and even payments in fiat.
For your business, you would probably need to consider insurance, etc. What happens if the node goes down?, if you lose money?, if it doesn't work, etc? So many problems can happen, you need to be prepared.
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I figured I would spend 5-8 hours at each site. It wouldn't take long to set up the node. The remaining time would be spent teaching the owner and staff. Thus, I consider my business to be more of a teaching role than an IT/tech one. Remember, they aren't paying me anything. I have no obligation to them after I leave. I would make myself available for short phone calls if something goes wrong. But there would be no contract and no obligation to do so.
I know there are a lot of options for people, like OpenNode and Voltage. But not many people know about it, unless you're heavily involved in the Bitcoin world already. I'm thinking I can incorporate those services as an option for merchants and I will teach them the pros/cons of each option and let them decide.
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Businesses want to have support.
Very few will be happy to get something running and then not having anyone to contact when things go wrong. And I mean more than just a simple call, more like "fix it, now"
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