Comment by JonAtkinson | Hacker News Reader

Comment by JonAtkinson | Hacker News Reader

Ignoring the completely unnecessary headline, I still think that this highlights the naivety prevalent among geeks in business.

Despite how your bank may appears in their own adverts (and this applies to all banks in the UK, as far as I can tell), they’re still not run as service providers. They’re not friendly by default, nor do they take a neutral point of view on you as a customer. Your relationship with your bank is just that, a relationship. You need to build it and work on it, on at least a monthly basis. You need to know your bank manager by name, the football team he supports, and the names of his children (side note: if your bank says they don’t have bank managers, bullshit. Ask to speak to someone in their local business team. They still exist, under a different name).

You need to take him out for dinner, send him a card at Christmas, and above all make him believe in you as a business person and entrepreneur. I’m lucky to have a very trusting relationship, and mutual respect for the head of the business team at my local branch, and he’s opened countless doors for me, expedited paperwork, and, yes, setup merchant accounts for me.

If you want to make money, you’re not only a programmer, you’re a business person. And successful business people network.

I want to use a bank's services and build a business relationship with the bank, not make deep personal relationship with the employees (though those aren't mutually exclusive). The courtesies you mention should go both ways. Why don't UK banks try to attract more first-time businesspeople or at least not be a hindrance to them?

The banks need healthy relationships with entrepreneurs and their businesses as much as the entrepreneurs need their services. Their PR material tries to convince you of this but the reality seems to differ.

If this was a public official instead of a bank employee, it would be more obviously bribery that you're advocating.

Successful business people don't just 'network'. They also just do the damned job they're paid to do without also requiring you to buy them dinner before they fuck you.

And, for the record, it's exactly this sort of crap that makes me think the guy picked a headline I can't disagree with.

With all due respect this kind of behavior makes me heave.

Don't get me wrong. Trustworthy relationships are essential, after all people buy from people. But buying privilege with dinners and fake friendship is not a way to build a trusting relationship. Business needs to be conducted on merit not on who has the largest expense account. Yep, I'm an naive idealist, but my definition of success includes retaining my integrity.

By the way the way to flummox expense account driven salespeople is to always buy them lunch when they come to pitch to you. Messes with their reciprocity training.

To be honest, I do network. I have access to plenty of business contacts in and outside of my family. (Thus the reason I asked my father to help. As his businesses are run through Lloyds.)

However, Cardnet is a separate entity to Lloyds technically and that's how they saw it.

I've recently come back to the UK from living abroad so I have been rebuilding contacts.

But you are correct; networking is incredibly important.

Is it possible the fact you were living abroad meant that you were a higher risk for the bank ?

I've heard plenty of people bitch about the pain to get a merchant account set up but it seems that the 50k thing is unusual.

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