Venmo — A simple & brilliant product

Describe, in a blog post or video, the last product you used that took your breath away. Please explain what the product is, why you loved it, and any broader analysis or information you think is relevant. This can not be an Apple product. You can provide your submission as a link to your blog post or video.

You and some of your closest friends decide to go to a cabin over MLK weekend. It is your last semester of college and you want to spend some quality time with each other. Taking the “divide-and-conquer” approach, one friend rents the cabin, another friend buys all the food, and another handles the drinks. You all have a great time. Once back home, you see three different requests for $33, $11, and $5 from those who purchased the supplies. You accept all three requests with the click of a button and then proceed to finish your homework for Tuesday’s classes.

Yea, you literally paid your friends back in 10 seconds — without having to worry about any cash.

Venmo lets me cover my debts with friends without ever having to worry about cash or owing money. Venmo is a quintessential application with breathtaking simplicity.

Venmo solves the problem of handling cash.

Roughly 80% of Americans carry less than $50 in cash on a daily basis. Cash is easy to lose, bulky, and not a digital currency that can be easily exchanged. With Venmo, I can pay my friends directly for a dinner, parking, or even a cabin weekend via my bank account without any hidden fees or costs. The simple and intuitive UI allows me select the friend(s) that I owe or want to receive money from, select the amount, and then write a short description (emojis are key).

See below how I pay Lee 5$ for parking.

Paying Lee 5$ for parking

Debit cards are extremely convenient where they are accepted, but for cash-only situations, it is difficult to share money between friends. Venmo perfectly fills the gap between paying and receiving money from friends that do not have cash on them, even if your friends aren’t using the same bank.

Venmo makes paying back friends drama-free

Venmo resolves the stigma of being the friend that always owes money to others. There is no need to draw out cash, and as soon as a friend pays a bill you can instantly “Venmo” them.

Always asking your friends to spot you can cause social implications and even ruin friendships.

A key barrier to using the Venmo platform is the chicken and egg problem. If my friends are not already Venmo users, they need to download the application and set up an account before I can pay or request money from them. The lack of friends initially on the platform might hinder some of them from joining. On the other hand, the more friends on Venmo, the more motivated other friends will be to join the platform and split payments with each other. There are no barriers to sending or receiving money once both parties are on Venmo.

With Venmo, I do not need to worry about finding an ATM or getting cash and having exact change in order to pay someone back. Venmo saves me time as I can make exact payments without having to worry about trips to the ATM or exact change.