Pain Point #1: “Stripe is keeping $7,946 of my money permanently.” … “Their justification: a completely unrelated $50 dispute…” … “All communication from Stripe is a copy-paste response: ‘high risk.’ No explanation, no evidence, no path to resolution.” (Post 59) Opportunity: “Payout Router + Fund Guarantee” for high-risk-flagged Stripe users A multi-processor checkout + daily payout guarantee layer. Customers process via your hosted checkout that automatically routes each transaction across multiple PSPs (Stripe, PayPal, Adyen, Square) based on risk scoring. If any PSP freezes funds, you advance 85–95% next business day (factoring), then reconcile when funds release. Includes “Regulator Hammer” pack: 1-click AFCA/CFPB complaint drafts, small-claims templates, and a human concierge to escalate with the PSP’s risk team. Pricing: 2.5%–4.0% processing spread + $149/mo platform; 10% fee on guaranteed advances (only when used). First 10 Customers: - Founder/CFO of DTC Shopify brands with AOV > $150 and $50k–$1M/mo revenue - Agency owners invoicing via Stripe (AI/dev/design/marketing) with $5k–$50k tickets - B2B SaaS founders taking large ACH/card payments via Stripe Billing/Invoices - International SMBs (AU/UK/CA) already escalated to AFCA/ombudsman over Stripe holds - High-ticket course/education operators with clean delivery but frequent “risk” flags MVP in 48 Hours: - Webflow landing + Stripe/PayPal/Adyen payment links (collect on your accounts first) - Zapier + Airtable to log each payment and designated PSP - Wise/Relay to manually advance 85–90% next-day payouts on frozen cases - Google Doc bundle of complaint templates (AFCA/CFPB), demand letters, and small-claims filings; Calendly to book concierge escalation - Start with 3–5 pilot merchants; advertise a “Next-day payout if your PSP freezes funds” guarantee with strict KYC Justification: - Demand: “Stripe is keeping $7,946 of my money permanently.” … “They froze my account the day before the payout was scheduled.” (Post 59). Multiple posts echo payments/fraud chaos: £3k chargeback loss (Post 36), stolen-card attempt fallout (Post 42). - ROI: Cash-is-oxygen. If you advance 90% on $50k stuck for 21 days, the customer would happily pay 2–5% to make payroll and buy inventory. One saved payroll = existential value. - Scalable: Processor-agnostic router + standardized compliance pack + factoring capital can scale via repeatable underwriting and capital partnerships; LTV expands as volumes grow. - Purple Cow/Controversial: You’re arbitraging PSP risk (paying out against frozen balances) and weaponizing regulators (AFCA/CFPB) with pre-filled filings. PSPs will hate it; founders will love it. That tension is the moat. --- Pain Point #2: - “It… solves a messy logistical headache that happens after a sale.” (Post 3) - “They were… using a manual process… The customers are very easy to spot.” (Post 3) - “Operations are getting messy… manually tracking too much. It’s not scalable… burning us out.” (Post 2) - “Klaviyo treats everyone the same… Doesn’t matter if the customer has an open support ticket… or asked for a refund two days ago. Same flow.” (Post 53) Opportunity: Afterbrain for Shopify (Context-Aware Post‑Purchase Decision Engine) - A middleware “no-send/adjust-send” brain that sits between Shopify + Klaviyo + Gorgias/Help Scout + Shippo/AfterShip + Stripe. - Real-time rules: if refund requested or ticket open → suppress abandon cart/winback; if VIP + delayed shipment → escalate to CS with one-off make‑good; if high return score → swap discount for store credit; dynamically select message and timing. - Ships with 10 proven playbooks (refund-in-flight, delay-make-good, exchange-first returns, churn-suppression). - Price: $149–$299/month per store; agency plan $999/month across 10 stores. First 10 Customers: - Lifecycle/CRM Managers at Shopify D2C brands doing $1–20M GMV - Heads of CX at 5–30 person D2C teams using Klaviyo + Gorgias - Email/SMS agencies managing 10–50 Shopify clients on Klaviyo - Ops Managers at niche D2C (supplements, apparel, beauty) with high returns MVP in 48 Hours: - Webflow landing “Stop dumb emails that cost you customers.” - Zapier/Make middleware: listen to Shopify events, Stripe refunds, Gorgias ticket states; tag customers in Klaviyo; route to dynamic segments; pause/resume flows; send 1–2 dynamic templates via Klaviyo API. - Pilot with 2 brands for 14 days; measure unsubscribes, support tickets from flows, flow revenue vs holdout. Justification: - Demand: Four separate posts point to post‑purchase chaos, manual processes, and tone‑deaf automations (Posts 2, 3, 53). The founder in Post 3 literally built a lean SMB alternative because enterprise ignored SMB needs. - ROI: Quick wins in week 1: 20–40% reduction in unsubscribes from automated flows; fewer “why are you emailing me after I refunded?” tickets; +5–15% lift in recoverable flow revenue by not burning trust. One avoided VIP churn often > monthly fee. - Scalable: 4.5M+ Shopify stores; 100k+ meaningful D2C brands; a handful of integrations; recurring SaaS + agency channel. 1,000 stores at $199 = ~$199k MRR. - Purple Cow/Controversial: Most tools push “send more, faster.” This is a “do nothing” brain when silence is smarter. It weaponizes context (tickets, refunds, shipment exceptions) to decide not to send—countercultural but converts better and preserves brand. --- Pain Point #3: “Next morning? Domain access gone. Stripe access gone. Blocked from the bank account so we can't even pay for cloud resources.” (Post 8) “In particular, it seems like cofounder conflict and unclear expectations kill off most potential startups.” (Post 13) “How do you actually search for a co-founder? … If we’re in different countries - how does the agreement work? Do we need to sign anything? How does this all go legally?” (Post 20) Opportunity: Founder Kill‑Switch + Multi‑Sig Access Guard (“Founder Prenup” + Asset Control as a Service) - A “pre‑incorporation to Series A” bundle that hard-wires all critical assets (domains, DNS, Stripe, AWS/GCP/Azure, GitHub, Google Workspace/365, Notion, Slack) behind: - Multi‑admin quorum (2‑of‑3) with time‑locked changes for ownership/role updates - Automatic, encrypted weekly backups of code, Stripe customer lists, and DNS to founder‑owned cold storage - Neutral third‑party escrow for registrar/Stripe/GitHub org ownership with legally binding operating rules - Click-to-deploy “Founder Prenup” (IP assignment, vesting, deadlock/expulsion clauses, split-up protocol) with jurisdiction-aware templates for cross-border teams - Instant incident response: if any founder is locked out, an independent steward restores access per escrow rules within 24 hours - Pricing: $1,500 one-time “48‑Hour Lockdown” setup, then $99/user/month. Optional $10,000 incident-response retainer. SOC2-ready tier $499/month. First 10 Customers: - 2–10 person pre-seed B2B SaaS teams using Stripe + GitHub + Cloudflare, with distributed cofounders - Services agencies spinning out product IP (HubSpot/Shopify/Salesforce partners) where shared assets are common - University-incubator teams forming Delaware C-corps with corporate or foreign partners - OSS maintainers launching a commercial entity (licensing + repo governance risk) - Remote AI/tooling startups hiring commission-only or part-time collaborators before formal paper is done MVP in 48 Hours: - Webflow landing page + Calendly + Stripe. Offer a “48‑Hour Lockdown” package. - Behind the scenes: manually set up 1Password Business (shared vaults + admin approvals), Cloudflare Registrar transfer + role policies, GitHub org with 2FA + branch protections, Stripe roles & Restricted Keys, Google Workspace with two-superadmin policy and time-based approvals, S3 cold backups. - Use DocuSign + Notarize.com to execute a short “Founder Prenup” with deadlock/termination templates; store with escrow agent (a partnered startup law firm). - Demo a time-locked change by scheduling a fake “transfer ownership” action that requires quorum approval. Justification: - Demand: Multiple posts point to the same 3AM fear. “Next morning? Domain access gone. Stripe access gone.” (Post 8). “cofounder conflict and unclear expectations kill off most potential startups.” (Post 13). “Do we need to sign anything? … How does this all go legally?” (Post 20). - ROI: Prevents catastrophic losses (months of MRR, dev history, customer trust). Even small SaaS with $10k MRR risks $120k+ from one lockout. $1.5k + $99/mo to avoid a six-figure loss is a no-brainer. - Scalable: Highly productized setup (policy templates + standard stack). Expands into SOC2/ISO, board governance, and cap table integrations. Low ongoing support once policies are in place. - Purple Cow/Controversial: “Multi-sig for SaaS assets” + time-locked change control + legal escrow is rare outside crypto. The “kill-switch for founders” and cross-border prenup is a bold, opinionated bundle most lawyers or IT shops won’t offer end-to-end.