Hacker News Reader

Comment by EMM_386 | Hacker News Reader

> Our first product, the Sequin Card is the first debit card that builds credit for women

Serious question ... why only women?

I know you list reasons such as "women were disproportionately being rejected by credit cards", but at the end of the day isn't this something that can help out anyone?

I'm curious why you are throwing out 50% of your potential customer base. I don't fully understand what a "credit card for women" is ... are you going to come up with clone targeted under a different name towards males?

View on HN

I'll answer here. :)

Banks spend 13x more advertising to men than women. Young women have the largest spending power of any demographic ever - this is a seismic shift in the market.

Credit card rewards target where men are spending 60% more of the time, versus where women are spending 60% more (and control 85% of GDP).

Wow, those numbers are fascinating. I'd love to see the sources if you have them, so I can read up on the topic more.

I had the same thought, but (a) it’s open to everyone, (b) no one minds when Axe makes a deodorant specifically for men, and (c) it’s better to focus on a small group of customers that love you than a large group that might mildly like you.

Because this product doesn’t seem to be doing anything different and the only way they can get buyers it is to try to proclaim that the service is made specifically for “insert underserved group here”.

It’s a common trend with startups being accepted into YC nowadays.

I don’t usually downvote comments, but this one is a combination of hubris (what are the chances you know better than YC plus the founders?) and snark (“common trend with YC startups…”).

The trouble is, you might be right! Maybe it is a trend. But if you phrase it as a question, it has a higher chance of being a substantive observation rather than a middlebrow dismissal.

I used to do the same thing. Habits can change; I found it worthwhile to try.

All that matters is whether the startup can grow. If these tactics lead to growth, can they be called mistaken?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com