Charlie Irish

Root - Programmable bank account for software developers

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Victor Pinho
We'll soon hear "I've lost all my money due to a bug in my code" stories
Louw Hopley
@vict_r We've built in a sandbox to play around and test with before using your code on real money :) we're also busy working on a system to prevent the user from accidentally transferring money
Trent Bigelow
@louwhopley let me know when you support US startup customers! Looks very cool.
scott t
@louwhopley If you've shut it down and moved onto insurance, why not contribute the core to OSS and let the spirit live on?
Chris Carpentier
Would love to hear some use cases - very interesting!!!
Louw Hopley
@chris_carpentier Hey, check OfferZen.com's blog, we'll be posting some use cases there as they become available (https://www.offerzen.com/blog/ro...)
Philip Joubert
@chris_carpentier It took us a while to wrap our head around what's possible. At the most basic level I've found it super useful to dump all my transactions in a Google Sheet and do analysis on them. A few other use cases: Uber card: Let’s say you give your daughter $100 pocket money each month, but you’re worried she might run out of money and be unable to afford an Uber home. So you write a little code and give her a Root card that a) gives her a limit of $100 per month, and b) lets her take as many Uber rides as she needs (enabling her to spend beyond the $100, but only for Uber) Savings card: You want to visit Thailand, but you’re struggling to save money for the trip. So you write some code that rounds up each card transaction you make to the nearest $5, and adds that to your savings account. At OfferZen (the company that made Root) we use it internally to track our expenses. Transactions made by anyone in the team is categorized in real-time and sent to a spreadsheet. So we can see in real-time who is spending money and what they're spending it on. We're bootstrapped so this is pretty useful to manage our cashflow
Daniel Foster
@philipjoubert @chris_carpentier This is pretty cool, though if I had a daughter I'd probably have her take the bus. Is it also possible to set up multiple accounts at root? This would be great for automatically setting aside tax payments for freelance income.
Naomi Assaraf 🔥
@danielfoster437 @philipjoubert @chris_carpentier Building on the "rounding up to the nearest $5 for each transaction" for savings, could I use your API code to automatically save $ from my account, and transfer that into buying bitcoin in *my* wallet?
Ethan
@danielfoster437 @philipjoubert @chris_carpentier You could program it to only allow Uber at night ;)
Will Brennan
I'm rooting for you guys
Dre Durr💡
I have absolutely no idea what this is suppose to be doing. How can I code in money? This is going to need a detailed explanation. Your web page does not do a good job of explaining Root either.
Louw Hopley
@dredurr Hey, Root is a bank account that has full API access, so you can use code to manage your money (send transfers, create new virtual cards, categorize transactions, etc)
Darryl Wright
@dredurr I think the reason I know what this was intuitively is because I've thought about how it should exist so often. I hope you're going to bring it to Canada.
Alexander Kehaya
@_davisnz @dredurr I felt the same way... Would be good to have some kind of explainer video...
Arjun
Does it work worldwide?
Louw Hopley
@arjunz Hey, we're first launching in South Africa :)
Louw Hopley
@separo 🤙 🇿🇦
Mike Metelerkamp
Great to see a local Cape Town startup crushing the number 1 spot 🇿🇦
Rindra Rajaonarivony
I can't wait to run while (root.account.balance > 0) { root.add(10000) }
amin benselim
what if you have 0 in your account ? `>=` is better :D @rajrindra
Emil Stahl
Fees? Pricing?
Louw Hopley
@emilstahl Hey, we have not yet released this :)
Mark Shields
@louwhopley @emilstahl Ok, so what will be the fees/pricing?
Mitchell Geere
Thinking about it now, you could probably get more out of this if you don't strictly require coding skills. You just need a process flow builder, you can have precoded components that I could just drag in to create a particular logic for each account, card etc. without knowing code. So say a family or small business could sign-up and actually take advantage of the rules system. Employee spend limit to $X (RX*12 ;D) and only at certain retailers, same for child or husband etc. Love this for that.
Jason Sooter
@mitchellgeere Good Points. A setup similar to Zapier or IFTTT where you can do a good amount of programming without actually basing it on code
Ignacio
Will you guys be using a prepaid mastercard ? Very interesting product :)
Srinivas
How is this different than Privacy?
Louw Hopley
@srbalusu Privacy is focussed on creating virtual cards easily so you can shop safely online (If I'm not mistaking). Root is a bank account that allows you to easily build solutions like Privacy yourself :)
Jack Smith
@srbalusu privacy doesn't offer API access and isn't a bank (though is legit)
Zebulon McCorkle
This is a brilliant idea - any idea when/if it'll be coming to the US?
Louw Hopley
@zebmccorkle Thanks :) if: yes, when: no idea ;)
Luka
Really interesting. Considering setup fees, regulation, KYC, AML, etc, etc., is not cheap, why did you decide to go so niche? This is retail only as well? -Fellow fintech friend
Louw Hopley
@prokotasic hey Luke! :) We started from inside OfferZen.com
Luka
@louwhopley I see. But why did you start from the backend in, why not the opposite direction? I think it's really interesting, just wondering why this approach considering the costs associated (to build a digital bank) which I mentioned above?
Kirill Zubovsky
A great idea in theory, but might be even more powerful if they built minimal tools themselves, instead of letting everyone make their own. Simple or GoBank already have 'light weight' accounts, and they are real banks which I'd trust more, but their tools are really minimal too. If these guys could provide an interface into 10s of thousands of small US banks, that would be pretty kickass. p.s. Shameless plug for the https://Emburse.com guys for anyone who wants programmable credit-cards. It's less risk and huge value-add for the business.
Product Pearson
This is very interesting. I thought seeing companies using API's from services like Monzo was advanced, but this is taking it to a whole new level.
Edozié Izegbu
How about linking it to the pavlok wristband api that shocks you whenever you buy cigarettes?
Ben South Lee
Would love this combined with IFTTT-like simplicity.
Rizwan
Is it a credit card? What is the availability areas - world wide or only specific to some country?
Ahmad Awais ⚡
Can I put an infinite loop on my money with an i++? 😂 Jokes apart, I signed up and looks like there's a waiting list? @louwhopley
Louw Hopley
@mrahmadawais Correct :)
joshua
I smiled at the '1337' and 'Erlich Bachman' references, nice touch