Ask HN: I Am Stuck Between A Rock & A Hard Place. What's Next?
The feedback I got was troubling to say the least. The thing is that although after an extended conversation and repeated cold calling people understood and appreciated what I was trying to offer. They're still refusing to use it in a small private alpha. Why?
The thing is that I am asking them to store their financial records with me and, although privacy is not an issue, they are worried about tax. In fact, they have an elaborate culture in place to tackle just this. This ranges from bribes, destruction of all financial records at the end of the fiscal year to purposeful inventory mismanagement to throw off the sales data. For example, if they got ten boxes of something they'll put in 5 and keep the rest black.
Since, the paper trail is huge and the honest tax authorities like to trap big-wigs. they get away with it. So, if they opt into my service in the longer run the noose tightens on them. The obvious way out would be to encrypt the database and allow for regular erasures, but that undermines the core benefits of my service.
Moreover, I intend to stick around for a while. So, it's pretty inevitable that I'll have a messy legal situation on my hands down the road. The precedent has already been set and it's disturbing to say the least (see: http://knol.google.com/k/david-sarokin/google-ordered-to-reveal-blogger/l9cm7v116zcn/7# ).
It also doesn't help my cause that I am still a teenager. It's quite obvious to everyone that I cannot possibly know what I am talking about. It's a trivial issue, but it's amazing how such things tend to bias conversations.
So, any tips on what I should do?
Thank you.