I’ve never heard of Venmo
I’ve always been suspicious of get-rich-quick schemes, but I’ve finally found one that really works.
A while back I was having breakfast with my friend Andy Weissman. He asked if I’d used Venmo yet — a service that lets you send money to friends via text message (you can send money to anyone with a cell number, even if they don’t have a Venmo account). I’ve known Venmo’s founder Kortina for a while, but hadn’t yet tried Venmo. So I told Andy no, and he immediately pulled out his cell phone and sent me $5 over Venmo. A few months later I’d found out Andy’s Betaworks went ahead and invested in Venmo.
Since then, I’ve come across many other passionate adopters of Venmo and VCs interested in it as an investment down the road. They all ask me if I’ve heard of Venmo. I give them the same answer I gave Andy: No. Invariably, they say “Let me give you a demo…”
I just ran into Kortina last night and told him this story. He got a kick out of it and encouraged me to blog it. I was hesitant to do so since it’d ruin my scam, but now I figure the cost of not reading my blog will be to pay me money during an unnecessary and costly Venmo demo.
