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That's not really an insurmountable barrier.

Once someone wins the US market, they'll use their treasure trove to enter other markers and then in a few short years we'll see paypal vanish.



Once someone wins the US market, they'll use their treasure trove to enter other markets

Sorry, reality disagrees.

Hardly any of the american Paypal-competitors give a flying fuck about the rest of the world. And many of them have been around for the better part of a decade.

The would-be gorillas 'Amazon Payments' and 'Google Merchant' are US-only and US/UK respectively.


Notice I said "won" the US market.

Paypal is still completely dominant in the US. Amazon Payments? Google Wallet? They're no where near even proving better than Paypal in local competition.


So you're a startup and your model or base is international — and all you need to do is wait a "few years".


If your model and base are international, you're overreaching.

All startups have to start small and evolve from there. Once you prove your ideas in one market, its easier to duplicate your success in others.

I would not advice a startup to take a lot of funding, then attack the international market initially.

That kind of pre-mature scaling is reminiscent of Webvan.


International might include not in the US.


I presumed you meant international as in more than their home-base nation whatever it may be.

I think it's possible to start a Paypal competitor for just Germany, then grow from there.

But it'd be far more difficult to start a Paypal competitor that targets all of the EU.




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