Andrew Staub here, Venmo Growth Engineer, with a story that captures why I think Venmo is awesome.
My father turned 60 in May. Three weeks ago, he gave in to child pressure and switched from AOL to Gmail and ditched his 8 year-old palm pilot and 3 year-old flip phone in favor of the iPhone 3GS. I had repeatedly encouraged him that these new products were designed so well that he would have no problem picking them up.
And then reality hit. He was calling me three times a day with questions and having trouble making a simple phone call. Most likely, no matter your age, you have experienced a similar situation. You encourage your parents to adopt a new technology and their enormous fear of change causes a great deal of stress.
A few weeks ago, while at a Venmo team dinner, I received the following text message:
It’s hard to describe how excited I was. After my father experienced so much trouble in the first few days, he was able to figure out the maps application on his own, was excited that he was able to do it, and could finally see the value that his new phone will be to him.
I immediately told the entire Venmo team. Everyone was just as excited as I was. Iqram suggested that I Venmo my dad. Now, I’ll admit that I had a few beers and some sake in me, but I decided Yes! I am going to Venmo him. I am going to buy him the iPhone. I immediately sent him the following Venmo (captured by Shreyans):
Everyone was ecstatic. Kortina and Matt chipped in for the phone by paying me! (I promptly paid them back because this one was on me). Never in my life have I been so excited to give someone money. Never before has a payment I made immediately brought so much happiness to a group of people. This is the essence of Venmo. We are changing the way people feel while they exchange money. We are making it simple and enjoyable. I hope you can experience something like this soon.
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