Early traction, but blocked by payments and funding. What would you do?
Hey PH fam
I launched Lumoar (B2B SaaS startup) three weeks ago and we have already seen over 100 users sign up and lots of positive feedback. It’s clear there is a demand and I feel there’s potential in this.
But now I have hit a wall.
Because of my country, international payment platforms like Stripe or PayPal don’t provide API access — so I can’t monetize or implement a paid plan right now. I’ve talked to some investors, but they expect initial capital or revenue before they’d consider funding.
Bootstrapping got me this far, but moving forward without monetization or investment is getting really difficult.
If you’ve dealt with something like this (or just have thoughts), I’d love to hear:
What would you do in this situation?
Any creative approaches, funding workarounds, or even alternative payment methods I should look into?
Appreciate any advice 🙏
Replies
Product Hunt
I believe this is exactly what @Paddle is for. They are the merchant of record and handle all payments. You pay more than you do with Stripe but it opens up processing avenues that otherwise would be closed.
Paddle
We use @Paddle for payments from 30+ countries especially it helps us be compliant even though fees are high compared with simple payment gateways, it is working fine for us, however, I hope your country is one of the countries supported by Paddle - https://www.paddle.com/help/start/intro-to-paddle/which-countries-are-supported-by-paddle
I’ve faced the same issue with payment restrictions in my country. What helped was partnering with a trusted friend abroad who could set up Stripe and route funds to me. Not ideal, but it worked for the short term while I proved traction.
I’d recommend building momentum while you figure out payments. You could offer premium features for free to grow your user base and use the traction to pitch local investors who understand your country’s payment issues better.
Purposeful Poop
maybe including the country that you aren't able to process payments in would help others offer relevant advice :)
im not sure though, maybe there is a path via stripe atlas to make a US based entity and collect payments through that entity?
Like few others have mentioned, I too have heard good things about Paddle.
Another option is to opt for a payment gateway that is still in a start-up phase - they are generally much more responsive...but should be a trusted provider i.e. strongly recommended via someone from your close network.
In any case you should not depend on a single gateway and have at least 2 integrated.