If you’re building a platform that involves payment processing, you’ll have to integrate a payment system into it. You need it to validate and store bank card information, process payments, and manage funds in general. 

A payment system will also let you accept payments in cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Etherium. 

In the article, we talk about the online payment solutions you should choose for your digital product. And also explain how you can monetize your platform with it and how to choose the right one.

What do you need a payment processing provider for?

They process all money transactions within your product: one-time purchases, subscription charges, etc. They mainly profit by retracting a fee from each transaction. 

It’s a big headache to switch between providers as it takes a lot of time and effort. So it’s crucial to pick “the one” from the very start.

How to choose a payment service provider?

When choosing a provider, you should take into account these three parameters:

1. Your business’ country of registration
   Every payment service provider works within a certain territory and might not be supported in some countries. For example:
   
   • Stripe doesn’t work with businesses in the Cayman Islands. One of our clients had to register their enterprise in the USA for that reason
   • MangoPay only works within the European economic area
   • RazorPay only works in India. So if your company is registered in India and you’d like to expand internationally, you’ll have to integrate a new payment system.
     Note: You should only consider YOUR company’s legal address. It doesn’t matter where the funds are coming from. This only defines the fee percentage. For instance, if you’re on Stripe, when your users pay with European cards, the fee is lower.
     
2. Payment systems
   Payment systems are Visa, MasterCard, UnionPay, and others. There might also be some limitations considering the country that issued the card. But generally most cashless payment solution process the transactions from any Visa and MasterCard cards, in any currency.
3. How your customers will pay you
   That’s basically how your users will pay while / for using your product. Besides the usual way of paying with a credit card, you can integrate Apple or Google Pay into your platform. The fewer users need to do to pay the better.

Stripe vs PayPal vs others: pros and cons

There’re plenty of payment service providers, each serving different needs. In the last 17 years, we have worked with many payment providers all over the globe. But now we recommend sticking with these 5 and here’s why:

• Stripe
  Simple yet powerful. Full stop. Stripe offers a wide range of functionalities that would fit any payment requirements: subscriptions, bonuses and coupons, advanced statistics and reports, and more. It’s also known as the most developer-friendly provider. Stripe would be a great choice for enterprises from the United States and Canada, but it works well for other countries as well. See what countries Stripe works with. We in Fora Soft personally work with this provider the most.
  

• PayPal
  An alternative to Stripe but works in more countries, yet a bit less modern. It works well for the basics and is easy to set up, but it lacks agileness when it comes to customization. There’re also these major drawbacks:
  • you cannot customize the checkout flow
  • it’s impossible integrate Apple Pay, Microsoft Pay, and a number of other payment methods
  • limited personalization: PayPal is simpler to set up, but it can’t be customized to fit your specific needs
  • it’s costlier than Stripe
  • no CRM

• MangoPay
  Might be a good choice for businesses registered in Europe. The fee percentage is quite low and the payout is almost free. But you’ll have to waste a couple of hours on bureaucracy. For instance, in MangoPay a user can withdraw money to their bank account but they’ll have to use their ID or even an entire folder of docs if we’re talking businesses. Another drawback — you can’t connect MangoPay to neither Apple nor Google Pay.

• RazorPay 
  The best option for India, works only there, with Indian rupees. RazorPay is widely used in the country as it’s a quite reliable payment service provider. The one and only drawback is that you can’t connect it to Apple Pay. Feel free to integrate Google Pay though.

• Braintree
  PayPal but a little bit more modern. Braintree offers more opportunities than the original system. For instance, it processes crypto currency operations and has additional customization tools for which you don’t have to overpay.

Monetization types and how to implement them

The monetization type you want for your product depends on the business model you’ve picked for it: subscriptions, one-time payments, etc. Here are the most common ones:

One-time payment

Would work well with, for instance, online movie lease (like in Vodeo), online stores, or any service where users have to pay for each unit. 

For web platforms one-time payment works in 2 possible scenarios:

1. Request user data within the platform sent it to the provider, and receive and display the response. A few nuances:

• You’ll have to spend much time for a decent UI that will not only look good but will also display the errors correctly.
• Users might not trust a new platform that asks for their bank details

2. Forward users to the checkout page by a known payment service provider. You might have experienced it yourself when you push that “Pay” button and here you are on a completely different page asking for your card details.
   
   What’s good about it:

• integrating checkout takes less time than developing your own page from scratch = saves you money
• Apple and Google Pay support
• users can manage their coupons and discounts, taxes like VAT, etc.
• you can customize the checkout page if necessary

What your users can’t do though is save their card details for further fast purchases.

What it looks like

Subscription

Users pay for a certain period they have access to the platform and a certain bunch of features, depending on the plan.

There’re 2 ways to implement this monetization plan:

• on your own, within the platform 
• with Stripe Checkout 

Integrating it into your product is easier and quicker than developing your own. Stripe Checkout is a complex payment processing system that also works well for subscriptions. Yet, it definitely can cover all the requirements your product might have. In Stripe Checkout you can:

1. Set the price, trial period, payment frequency
2. Keep track of the subscription status (paid / not paid)
3. Add Stripe Customer Portal to have your users manage their subscription and change the payment method on their own
4. Set the scheduled payments 

Why reinvent the wheel?

User-to-user or Platform-to-user

Marketplaces, online workout services, and any other products where a platform “pays” to its users are usually on this monetization type.

How it works

There’re two parts to the process:

1. Money gets into the system
2. It gets out. Easy, right?

We all know what happens with the first step: a user enters their card details within the system or on the checkout page.

To make the second part happen you can either develop it manually or use a ready-made solution. We usually go with the latter and pick Stripe Connect.

But as a third-party solution, it has limitations. When making a transaction both your platform and the user have to be registered in the same country. International transfers are only available for companies registered in the USA.

How to accept crypto payments as a business?

Many companies including Virgin Airlines, Microsoft and others accept cryptocurrency payments. But not all payment service providers are ready to process them for the lack of security.

However based on what Stripe itself and Bloomberg claim, the named platform processes payments in at least 2 cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and Ethereum.

PayPal and Braintree work with cryptocurrencies as well. 

Final words and recommendations

We’ll be glad to come up with a specific solution picked individually for your project. Contact us to discuss your ideas.

And if you’d like to decide on your own here, you want to base your decision on 4 things:

• your business’ country of registration
• payment methods and systems
• availability of cryptocurrency operations
• monetization type

Our general recommendation for most systems would be turning for a checkout page instead of developing an own one. Going with a highly customizable solution (like Stripe, for example) will ensure you have a flawlessly working page that looks the way you need.

The only possible drawback here is that there’ll be a provider’s logo. But that’s the price you pay for reliable solution, saved time and budget, as well as better user experience.

You have an idea for a product. You don’t have anything else. Where to get money for your project? Will you really get some? What if you also need business advice along the way?

This article will answer your questions.

There are three types of investment seekers

If we’re talking startups, founders seeking investment usually fall into two categories. Each has its own investment options. Let’s see which one you are.

You have a general idea of what the product is going to be but you haven’t worked through the details

It all starts with an idea. If you have it already but are still not sure about the details, look into Angel Investment.

An angel investor (they’re also called private investors, seed investors) is basically a wealthy person who can provide financial support for a small business or an entrepreneur for ownership stock in the firm. The percentage is usually up to 25% but can reach as much as 40% or more. It may be a one-time investment or continuous money infusion. 

Angels invest in the products that are just starting off and use their own money for that. So basically any rich person can become an angel investor. However, these are high-risk investments that should not exceed 10% of an angel investor’s portfolio. Meaning they can’t spend more than 10% of their net worth on the investing. 

Angel investors usually also have the industry expertise: they’ve most likely made the money they have themselves by running a business successfully. So they can also give you business advice and guidance in your entrepreneurship as well as be a one of the key participants of the decision making process if their share allows them to. 

To find an angel you don’t necessarily need an old rich aunt or Jeff Bezos as your friend 

Try these: 

• Angellist — a free tool to find angel investors or even first employees for your startup. One of the first businesses to seek out angels on Angellist was Uber, in 2010.
• Angel Investment Network — kind of a marketplace to connect startups with investors.
• Social media — tell about your ideas on your Twitter or LinkedIn and ask your contacts to share the info. Six degrees of separation and the power of weak ties are real!

Another category is:

You have a detailed idea description and solid understanding of how it will work

For when you:

• know exactly what you and your business need
• you know you will grow fast and investors will see it too

Go venture!

Venture capitalists provide funding to startups and small businesses with seen long-term development potential. You can get venture capital from wealthy individual investors, investment banks, or other financial organizations. 

What’s special about VC is that it’s not necessarily money. It can be strong managerial powers or, for instance, technical expertise and skills. 

This is a quite risky type of money allocation for investors, but the prospect for above-average profits is appealing. In most cases venture investors tend to finance high-tech projects, pharma, health, or some kind of brand new idea — anything with extraordinary growth potential. 

Here is what you need to do to win investment from a VC:

1. Identify venture capital firms that invest in businesses similar to yours. You can go both ways: research into what VC funded your concurrent and competitor businesses or look into what startups particular VC invest into. Try CB Insights — it’s a highly-regarded resource that offers data on active VC firms and associated industries.

2. Make sure that the company invests in the stage of funding that you require. Some VC might be looking to fund startups with nothing but an idea and a plan, some only invest into small businesses with an MVP and strong growth potential. Most venturing organizations provide that info along with pitch requirements on their website. 

3. Investigate the firm’s previous deals. This way you can see whether the VC you’ve picked provides the exact type of investment you seek and you don’t get a management team instead of $50k. The research method is the same as in point 1, the info is quite transparent. Or try Crunchbase.

4. Prepare your pitch presentation. You need to literally sell your idea to the investors. Here’s what you should cover.

• Your target audience
  Describe it as detailed as possible. Include the clear definition of the segment and the TA’s known peculiarities — you must demonstrate you know them well. But don’t confuse “detailed” and “narrow”. Being too specific is not always an advantage.
  
  You should also research into your TA. The more client-oriented you are, the better. Try out field study for that. 

• Problem, solution, and product image. Use prototypes, designs, or demo.

• Technology / Innovation
  You should transparently and clearly show what technology / approach / innovation you put in the base, how it will help you take over the competition, what the value is and how this exact technology / approach / innovation serves your TA’s needs.

• Monetization model
  This is how you plan to make money with your product and how realistic it is to make money off the product.

• Team and implementation
  With this info you should prove you’re well aware of what key roles you need to cover in your team to get to the result. Show your current opportunities and strong understanding of the resources it requires.

• How realistic it is to enter the market
  Explain why you feel your strategy matches the product goals and showcase how well you understand the steps you need to take to get there.

You need a mentor, a network, and support in building your business

No matter what stage you are at, business incubators might be a good solution for you.

A business incubator is an organization that helps entrepreneurs develop and succeed by providing a variety of business support tools and services such as physical space, financing, coaching, shared services, and networking connections.

Private corporations, municipalities, and public organizations such as universities and colleges frequently support business incubation programs. Their mission is to assist in the formation and growth of new firms by providing them with the required resources, including financial and technical assistance. Their office and manufacturing space is available at below-market prices, and their team provides valuable assistance and expertise in building business and marketing plans, as well as assisting in the funding of new ventures. 

Firms often stay in a business incubator for two years, during which time they sometimes share telephone, secretarial office, and production equipment expenditures with other new companies in an effort to lower operational costs.

To find an incubator 

Try the IncubatorList. 

The main thing to remember — look for incubators in your location and for your segment, since there are narrowly specialized incubators: for education, medicine, or even supporting women). Pay attention to what the incubator wants in return, how much it costs, if there were successful alumni, or if it’s university based.

There’re investment seeking strategies that work well for all three types

Anyone who thinks your idea is valuable enough to generate ROI (return on investment) might help. So fundraise! Here’re possible strategies:

1. Friends & Family

Don’t underestimate your close ones. They know and believe you, so this money is easy to attract. Outside investors need proof you’re serious. But another thing here — if you’re not ready to risk your own and your close ones’ money, you are probably not.

Mail chimp and Github bootstrapped themselves. See who else.

2. Crowdfunding

Make a million stranges who believe in your idea donate a dollar. How to do that:

1. Create a campaign
2. Make the content to engage people
3. Set up and launch the campaign
4. Promote campaign: e.g. on social media

Reward-based crowdfunding

It’s a form of crowdfunding when people donate money to your project and expect to get a non-monetary benefit in return: a lifetime subscription, a merch, or something else. 

Where to crowdfund reward-based:

1. Kickstarter 

Crowdfunding platform for creative community. You might want to place your project campaign in the Technology category. There are subcategories for apps, software, and web services. 

The mechanic is All or nothing: 

• set your objective you’re seeking to crowdfund (try their template for objective estimation in .xls). If you don’t get it, all the money goes back to the backers and you get nothing.
• define the rewards for backers: lifetime subscription, a merch we’ve mentioned before, or an event pass, etc. You can’t set equity as a reward. 
• set the campaign period — 1 to 90 days. The most effective period proves to be 30 days. The limited time period creates urgency and motivates your community to back your project and spread the word.

Your or your business address must be located in one of the listed countries and have a bank account that meets the platform requirements. And make sure you project is none of this. 

If a project is successfully funded, Kickstarter collects a 5% fee from the funds collected for creators. Stripe, the payments processor, will also collect a payment processing fee (roughly 3-5%). The complete fee breakdowns are available here.

For example

Why is it a good idea to crowdfund on Kickstarter?

• Can start promotion before everything’s ready by creating Pre-launch page 

Potential backers will be able to find it on Kickstarter, but you should share your pre-launch page with everyone to create excitement and attention around your project before you launch it.

• Connect Google Analytics to the campaign.

That means you can advertise on YouTube, Google search, or the affiliated website with Google ads.

2. Indiegogo 

Your project might fit into Tech&Innovation category with Education, Health & Fitness, Productivity subcategories. Indiegogo is mostly for tangible products, yet you still can try crowdfund your software there. Here’s what a successful software campaign is like on Indiegogo: Fluent Forever App: THINK In Any New Language

Check out the legal address and bank account requirements. 

How much can you raise?

Indiegogo offers two funding types: Flexible Funding (keep what you raise) and Fixed Funding (all-or-nothing). Learn about the differences and the pricing for each.

3. Kisskissbankbank

It’s a French crowdfunding platform where you can finance your project with regular support of your community. Choose a monthly or quarterly recurrence and create your own subscription formulas, offer exclusive content to your contributors and finance the sustainability of your project over the long term!

Equity crowdfunding

It is a form of fundraising where you attract investors that contribute funds toward your business goals in return for a financial stake in the company. You can also allow them into the product making process depending on their investment like voting on marketing or development matters. 

Where to equity crowdfund:

Depending on where you and your business are located, you might want to try one of these platforms:

Worldwide

• Equitynet 
• Fundrazr 
• Ourcrowd 

Canada

• Equivesto
• Frontfundr
• Vested
• Ulule 
• Сanadastartups
• Lending Loop   

USA 

• Startengine
• Fundable
• Wefunder   
• Netcapital
• Fundify
• Bioverge (healthcare startups) 

UK

• Crowdcube 
• Seedrs 
• Crowd for Angels Ltd.
• GrowthFunders

Europe

• Germany: Companisto, Seedmatch
• Romania: Seedblink 
• Spain: Startupxplore, Capitalcell 
• France: WiSeed, Sowefund, Happy Capital 
• Estonia: Funderbeam 
• Sweden: Fundedbyme
• Finland / Sweden: Invesdor 
• The Netherlands: Leapfunder, Symbid
• Austria: Green Rocket 
• Belgium: Bolero

Middle East

• Israel: ExitValley, Together
• UAE: Bambucorn, Beehive,  Dubainext   
• Palestine: Buildpalestine,  
• Malaysia: Ethis 

3. Initial coin offering

ICO is a form of investment where funds are raised with cryptocurrency venture. How to get into ICO:

1. Create your white paper — basically your idea / project description and all its aspects that might potentially catch investors’ interest. Make sure it’s well designed and is truly appealing as an investment opportunity.
2. Publish it on any cryptocurrency stock market (e.g. Binance) and promote it.
3. Get crypto donations (mostly in Ethereum) from backers. They’ll get project’s tokens in return.
4. Once your project succeeds the backers can sell their tokens and profit, so in case of your success it’s a win-win situation.

Here’s top 10 most recommended platforms for ICO

Bad news: ICO involves a lot of risk taking. Good news: risks are mostly for the backers. 

Listing an ICO is not free, though. Rough estimates are in the range of $40,000 to $200,000.  

Conclusion

You might be seeking investment on different stages of your project development. The first one here can be building an MVP. Learn how to save money on that from our article.

And if you already have one and are seeking further stages funding, here’s what you should probably allocate budget to before you spend a penny on the actual development. 

As someone specializing in video chat and video streaming services, our QAs (quality assurance angels) used to deal with the problem of how to test a live stream quality with a load of tools and apps, all different for each metrics. But now there’s this all-in-one solution — StreamTest. 

It’s a Google Chrome Extension, a testing tool for WebRTC video chats like Google Meet, iMind, Whereby, and ProVideoMeeting. Not sure you’re on a WebRTC stream? Enable StreamTest and if you’re trying to test a non-WebRTC stream, the extension will respond with an error. 

It’ll give you a live status on 7 essential parameters with an insight on the connection and stream behavior. 

Quick note for non-tech folks:

If you have no technical background and all of these indicators are just letters, figures, and colors to you or don’t want to analyze them yourself, just screenshot (Windows: Win + Shift + S; MacOS: Command + Shift + 3) the status you got immediately, download the report as a .csv file, and show both to your tech specialist. 

We are already working on making the plugin accessible for you, so you could test your live streams easily, guys. So follow us on LinkedIn to stay turned. 

– Frame rate or just FPS. The higher the better. To calculate it the plugin measures the time between two frames and calculates the average for the last X frames.

– Video and Audio delay. Delay is never welcome, so the lower the better. Basically it’s a sum for jitterBufferDelay and average round trip time. Totals are relevant for the last 3*X seconds, where X is the time set in setInterval.

– Packet loss. The lower the better. It shows if any packets were lost on the way to the server, as a percentage. Calculated as (packetsLost stat / packetsSent stat) * 100%. 

– Resolution. The higher the better. It mostly depends on the participant’s camera and the device you’re using to chat. 

– Freezes and stalls. The lower this indicator is the better. It shows how much % of your call was wasted due to lags. Consider something as freeze if the comparison (!wasDocumentJustHidden && dt > Math.max(dtTimestampsQueue.getAverage() * 3, dtTimestampsQueue.getAverage() + 0.150)) is true. In simple terms freeze happens if the time of the current frame is greater than the average time of frame existence multiplied by 3. And at the same time is greater than the average time of frame existence for at least 150ms. 

– Bitrate. This indicator is responsible for how smooth the picture is, the higher the indicator the smoother the picture.

– Video and Audio codec — for a developer to know how the data is compressed.

In the status you’ll also notice that the indicator measures are colored in Red, Yellow, or Green. Here’s what the colors mean:

Besides the data we described previously, there’re also SDP offer, answer, iceConnectionState, iceGatheringState, and WebRTC Stats info in the downloadable .csv report. It will give the bigger picture of the connection and the stream behavior. 

StreamTest starts collecting data once you enable it. To do it, click your right mouse button on the other participant’s stream and tap “Test stream” in the context menu. It will stop collecting the data once you close the extension / start testing another stream / go to the extension main screen. 

To test live streams, download this WebRTC tester for your Chrome from the official store here. For free.