| [HN Gopher] Launch HN: InstaKin (YC S21) - Help immigrants to ma...
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Launch HN: InstaKin (YC S21) - Help immigrants to manage tasks in
home countries
Hi HN, we're Yasir and Zain introducing InstaKin to you
(https://www.instakin.com). We're a platform to help immigrant
communities manage tasks in their home countries. Every year, 250M
migrants send $550B back home to pay for tasks for themselves and
their families. Migrants far away from their native countries are
dependent on family friends or unknown vendors to make decisions on
their behalf. What many folks don't know is that it is common for
these funds to get misused, or for migrants to send funds to a
vendor back home and receive poor service or get cheated. Zain and
I are originally from Pakistan and have been living in the US and
Europe for 12 years. We have regularly sent funds back home to pay
for tasks for ourselves and family members. Whether it is for
paying home bills or a home renovation, we have done it all - just
like millions of other migrants in the US - and experienced all the
problems: funds getting misused, vendors pushing for advance
payments and then disappearing...you name it and we have seen it.
This got us thinking about a platform where we could connect
migrants with vendors back home -- something to reduce misuse of
funds and ensure that vendors perform tasks as agreed. We talked
to hundreds of migrants from India, Bangladesh, Philippines,
Uganda, and more, and found that lack of access to reliable vendors
and misuse of remittance funds back home are common problems. Just
last week, we came across a migrant from Senegal living in the USA
who mentioned the same challenge. Initially we operated on
WhatsApp to receive orders from migrant customers and also get
their feedback. Thousands of migrants contacted us within the first
few months of launching our startup. That validation convinced us
to build a full product--a solution for migrants built by migrants.
We have focused on two key features: (1) provide migrants with
access to services back home, and (2) pay vendors based on
milestones to eliminate payments fraud. Historically, companies
focusing on the migrant community have pushed for making it easier
to send remittances back home easily though even today it can cost
between 2-8% just to remit funds. Our key insight, though, is that
money transfer is not enough. It is only transactional. What's
needed is to ensure last-mile fulfillment. With InstaKin, migrants
don't send funds back home 'blindly' hoping that things will get
done -- you pay for fulfillment directly. Migrants use us to do
things like: hiring a 'runner' to manage last-mile tasks for their
aging parents back home; connecting to a vendor for verification
and attestation of educational documents; ordering personalized
gifts and having them delivered; paying contractors for home
renovation projects. We started off with helping Pakistani
migrants but our goal is to become the platform of choice for
migrants globally. The best part is that while we were reaching out
to Pakistani migrants, we started getting requests from other
communities (Indian and Bangladeshi migrants). We've been
surprised at how strong immigrant networks are globally. When we
launched, we thought we would receive orders from migrants in a
specific city or location only. Turns out that is not true. We have
had referrals from all over the world (example: a migrant customer
living in London referred us to a migrant living in Chicago who
referred us to a migrant living in Singapore). We hope what we are
building will help migrants not just from one country but from
everywhere in days to come. We would love to hear back from the
community! If you are a migrant yourself, please share your
experiences with us and feel free to reach out.
Author : yshirazi
Score : 142 points
Date : 2021-07-26 12:34 UTC (10 hours ago)
| foolinaround wrote:
| Congrats on the launch! Would be very useful!
|
| Some feedback: 1) While it is awesome that you will be doing all
| the communication with the contractors/vendors, it would give
| additional confidence to know who is actually doing the tasks 2)
| There should be community feedback on the vendor/task. Having it
| available in public would increase our confidence, for example, i
| might be willing to use your service for visa related tasks but
| not necessarily for building maintenance 3) Rather than country
| service, it should be city-specific. 4) Allow users to recommend
| vendors -who they have personally vetted 5) If I am ordering food
| today via zomato, etc in India for my parents, it asks for OTP
| pin etc prior to placing the order, can you explain how this
| workflow would be achieved? This is currently my most common
| task.
| khanzain wrote:
| Great feedback. In our workflow, as soon as a task request is
| submitted via the app, the customer (immigrant) is matched with
| a vendor back home. The customer will know by name which vendor
| they are matched with and can even collaborate with the vendor
| through a messaging feature. If the customer wants more info
| they can view vendor details and bio within the app also.
|
| In your point #5, not sure exactly what you are asking but in
| our app you pay directly through the app using a credit card -
| payment verification is done through the payment gateway
| provider.
| foolinaround wrote:
| in this case, i would have an US credit card, whereas Zomato
| requires an indian credit, along with an OTP pin sent to the
| phone number linked to the credit card.
| alex_smart wrote:
| Genius idea. I feel like you guys sort of missed out on the
| biggest opportunity that the world could have presented you with:
| Covid. I know that all my friends still living abroad were
| shitting their pants right around the time the pandemic was
| raging here. That would have been the _perfect_ time to expand
| your business. Yet, better late than never. This can easily be a
| billion dollar business.
| arkitaip wrote:
| Super exciting. If you can solve the many trust issues, this
| could become an unicorn that could service millions of immigrants
| in virtually every country on the planet. One of the very few Y!
| startups that I actually believe can do some good as opposed to
| create a less shitty fart app.
|
| Nitpick: the UI needs a makeover. Feels bland and dated. Also, is
| this only available for Pakistani citizens right now? Because my
| country is set to Pakistan and cannot be changed.
| yshirazi wrote:
| Thank you for the feedback... Yes currently it is only
| available for Pakistani migrants..
| kcarter80 wrote:
| First, "Y!" is Yahoo, not Y Combinator.
|
| Second, YC goes to great lengths to fund unusual, socially
| conscious, and wide eyed startups. Do you have an informed view
| that contradicts this widely stated goal of theirs or were you
| just commenting extemporaneously?
| asadlionpk wrote:
| yahoo is irrelevant in 2021.
| kcarter80 wrote:
| Be that as it may, that doesn't make "Y!" Y Combinator.
|
| I'm taking your lack of meaningful response as a tacit
| withdrawal of your criticism.
| shehryarrr wrote:
| First love seeing more Pakistani founders! And second - this is
| super interesting (I'm a first generation kid - parents also came
| from Pakistan) my parents basically route this all through
| trusted family right now, have property back home they manage,
| and this could have made everything WAY simpler.
|
| Congrats on the launch and excited to see where this goes!
| anovikov wrote:
| My question - why do they keep property back there? Are rental
| yields in Pakistan very high?
| shehryarrr wrote:
| It's not a rental but the returns on just the plots of land
| have been good. Their original idea was to retire back home
| and build a family compound. That's changed since but they
| still have some of the properties. More and more of the
| country is getting modern developments and so the return on
| these has been pretty good.
| wu_187 wrote:
| It's way cheaper to retire back in the home country after
| you've made your money in the states. A side benefit is that
| you can rent out the property before retirement which nets
| you a small income and keeps the property maintained. My in-
| laws own about a dozen properties in the Philippines, half of
| which they rent out, and a couple are being used by their
| kids. Collectively they make enough from the rentals to get
| by.
| khanzain wrote:
| It is also a mindset of many immigrants: always have a backup
| plan. My parents have lived outside of Pakistan for over 40
| years and recently moved to the USA. In all that time they
| always had a home back in Pakistan and kept investing in more
| property. I am sure this is the case with immigrants from
| most other countries also.
| H8crilA wrote:
| I am a younger immigrant and plan on doing exactly that.
|
| One big part of the "oh shit, let's go back" plan is that
| it's usually so much cheaper to set things in your country
| of origin. Some real estate, some investments and you're
| set for life for a fraction of what it costs in a more
| expensive country. Or, alternatively, you can see this as
| an arbitrage: get income in a high income country, spend it
| in a low income country. For example, just three of my
| monthly salaries are larger than the median net worth back
| home. Think if you wouldn't try to exploit such massive
| inequality yourself.
| notsureaboutpg wrote:
| In South Asia, land is at a premium due to high population.
| You can buy basically any piece of land anywhere and its
| value rises a lot each year. My father-in-law owns swampland
| in South Asia which is still rising in value despite being a
| huge burden to actually develop.
|
| In addition, property ownership is limited in a way it is not
| in the West (only citizens can own property, as an example,
| in India), so it's an advantage you want to retain as a
| migrant over non-natives.
| alex_smart wrote:
| I don't know specifically about Pakistan, but at least in
| India the returns on real estate are very good, especially in
| second-tier cities.
|
| So many people, only so much land. Rising incomes and steady
| urbanization. Yada yada yada.
|
| Also, part of it is just culture. I know that people in my
| parents' generation are not very comfortable investing in the
| stock market. Real estate is seen as a safe investment with a
| steady, if low, rental yield.
| debarshri wrote:
| It might be inheritance.
| syats wrote:
| This is a great example of a startup that solves an actual, pre-
| existing problem. Looking forward to your expansion.
| satya71 wrote:
| Congrats on the launch. Reminded me of
| https://www.yourmaninindia.com/. It's a service from a large
| conglomerate in India. I've never used them (or know anyone who
| did).
| krishna_sh wrote:
| Also https://www.munshiji247.com
| covfefeblack wrote:
| 1) I'm curious - since what you're primarily selling here is
| 'trust' and a great deal of trust at that (e.g. care of age-ing
| parents). How do you plan to create that? Especially for first
| time users? 2) It seems like a big part of your offering is the
| end-fulfiller-agent - i.e. the actual agent fulfilling the task.
| How do you plan to select/oversee agents? (Especially when
| operating in new locations like India). Can you inspire trust
| that an agent sent to help an aging parent will not later use
| information gathered to rob said parent? 3) Do you plan to target
| governmental/bureaucratic activities - like submitting a form to
| a bank or picking up and mailing some document. If so how can you
| inspire the same trust one would have with a family member?
| mastazi wrote:
| I'm a migrant and in hindsight this is such an obvious problem!
| So many times I had to ask relatives in my home country if they
| could please get some paperwork done for me or some other task. I
| even thought "I wonder what would I do if I didn't have any
| relatives". This is a great idea, best of luck!
| nafizh wrote:
| Congratulations! A much needed space that needs innovation. Is
| this currently available in Bangladesh?
| yshirazi wrote:
| Thank you so much.. We currently provide services to Pakistani
| migrants but will expand in the near future.
| mdolon wrote:
| This is such a cool idea, congrats on the launch! As a
| Bangladeshi immigrant with much of my extended family overseas, I
| think we (mostly my parents) could find value in a service like
| this. Good luck!
| ryandrake wrote:
| This is a neat angle on the problem. While I was reading the
| beginning, I was thinking "So, when are they going to talk about
| fixing remittance payments?" That's always been the big pain (and
| cost) for my in-laws. But you acknowledged there are other
| companies attempting to solve this. Do you plan to work with
| them? The actual sending of the money is a critical link in the
| chain, and can be pretty painful, especially if, for example, the
| recipient is unbanked.
| alephnan wrote:
| > even today it can cost between 2-8% just to remit funds
|
| Does this number include Remitly / Transferwise or referring to
| Western Union?
| kaycebasques wrote:
| The UI reminds me of super apps [1] like WeChat, Grab, Gojek,
| etc. I wonder if that's the endgame here? Super app for
| immigrants.
|
| [1] https://web.dev/mini-app-super-apps/#what-are-super-apps
| atlasunshrugged wrote:
| I think I get what you're going for and see some value but my gut
| reaction is that the person receiving the remittance and who is
| on the ground probably has more local knowledge/context to decide
| what to do with the money than you or the person sending it (with
| exceptions like if they have diminished mental faculties). In my
| understanding, this is why charities like Givedirectly which does
| direct cash transfers to the worlds poorest people, have focused
| on this approach - because a donor (or remitter) has less
| knowledge and less at stake than the person receiving or
| purchasing services. I guess my main complaint is that it just
| feels really paternalistic.
| alex_smart wrote:
| Did you not read the OP? This is not about charity. This is
| about helping migrants carry out certain tasks back in their
| home countries.
|
| This is basically "Chotu* as a service", a business model which
| has basically exploded in India (Urban Clap, Dunzo, various
| food delivery apps are variations on this theme) in last few
| years, but targeted at a wealthy yet untapped demographic.
| Genius idea, imo.
|
| * Chotu (n.) - a dimunitive name given to a person whose job is
| to run errands for the family/office.
|
| >with exceptions like if they have diminished mental faculties
|
| The most common concern for migrants is to care for their aging
| parents. In this case, their own health is a definitely a big
| concern and they are often not able to run their errands
| themselves.
|
| Another advantage of the "Chotu as a service" model is that you
| may not need to employ a Chotu full time, which would save
| costs. (This is exactly the same as SaaS or IaaS - take a
| resource that is commonly under-utilized but needed on demand
| and commodifying it).
|
| Also, you might think that keeping a full time Chotu is a piece
| of cake, but it is not. Managing Chotus also requires time and
| effort (it is actually, or at least used to be, often the full
| time job of the housewives in these families). Trust is a big
| issue, which is usually solved by hiring a Chotu from your own
| village, so you know their entire family. But these families
| often have lost those ties with their village, so that also
| makes hiring a trusted full-time Chotu difficult.
|
| > just feels really paternalistic
|
| I assure you that do not understand the needs and mindsets of
| the people this business is meant for.
| alangibson wrote:
| This. If free-marketeers actually believed people were rational
| economic actors they would fully support direct cash payments.
| varjag wrote:
| Where does that leave us non-libertarians who want to help
| our families?
| plibither8 wrote:
| Congratulations on the launch! I've got no major feedback except
| that the capitalization of your company's name is different all
| through the website ("InstaKin" vs "Instakin"). This might seem
| pedantic but I thought you guys would want to know :).
| yshirazi wrote:
| Thank you..updating it now..
| Pensacola wrote:
| fantastic idea!
| cpach wrote:
| Brilliant business idea. Best of luck!
| debarshri wrote:
| I think it can expand well beyond helping immigrants. For
| instance, I am going relocate to another country, may be your
| service help me organize various like apartments, legal documents
| etc. Being an immigrant, I understand the problem. Very excited
| for you guys.
| yshirazi wrote:
| Thank you so much. Yes expanding into expat/relocation related
| audiences is a big opportunity too.
| debarshri wrote:
| In a long run, are you guys going to be HQ-ed in Pakistan?
| notsureaboutpg wrote:
| Post-COVID, software services may not need a real-world HQ
| yaseer wrote:
| Very cool!
|
| It's a very human problem in a huge, growing market. It's also a
| market where introducing efficiencies can really help under-
| developed economies more effectively than aid [1]
|
| Best of luck to you guys, I'll be following your trajectory
| closely and potentially using your product.
|
| [1] https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-
| professionals...
| alinawab wrote:
| As a pakistani immigrant, I've felt this pain for years.
| nell wrote:
| Why didn't I think if this before??? It has been a pain point to
| me as an immigrant. Wishing you guys good luck!
| magicink81 wrote:
| If you haven't already, I recommend reaching out to Edrizio and
| the team at Arcus (formerly Regalli) - they are YC alum
| https://www.arcusfi.com/
| vietnomnomnom wrote:
| My partner and I were recently discussing this very problem. She
| has extended family in rural Vietnam and she is remitting a
| substantial amount of money to pay for their healthcare: it would
| be more cost effective to use health insurance but arranging it
| from overseas is very difficult due to bureaucracy, literacy etc.
|
| We discussed possible solutions -- hiring someone local who is
| literate, versed in health insurance etc. -- to manage the
| process for her, and so InstaKin is exactly what we need, but
| healthcare (for example) is an ongoing process and needs ad-hoc
| support when filing claims. Do you see InstaKin as capable of
| supporting this sort of need, or is it for more transactional and
| easy to validate needs? Do you have a long term vision that
| better supports this type of need?
|
| Thanks,
| alephnan wrote:
| > health insurance but arranging it from overseas is very
| difficult due to bureaucracy, literacy etc.
|
| I've actually never heard of anyone I know in Vietnam having
| health insurance. Kind of a weird idea to me.
|
| Why can't you just keep a doctor / clinic on retainer?
|
| I know that will sound like a crazy idea to Americans, but
| doctor visits aren't expensive in Asia.
| vietnomnomnom wrote:
| I do not have a lot of clarity on the situation so I can't
| provide much of an answer unfortunately. They're in a rural
| part of the country, and spending thousands of dollars per
| year on healthcare. My research showed that private health
| insurance is very easy to access (at ~$100/year/person) which
| would be an order of magnitude cheaper than their current
| healthcare expenditure. There's a strong possibility that I
| am missing material information, or that the expense has been
| overstated -- I only have first hand knowledge of the amounts
| of money sent.
|
| As you're knowledgeable on the subject, could you give me an
| estimate for the costs you'd expect healthcare to cost for a
| family in rural Vietnam? I assumed based on the health
| insurance cost that the out of pocket cost for a heavy user
| would only be hundreds of dollars per year.
| himlion wrote:
| I have some experience in the region. A $100/year package
| will only cover very little but with high deductible and
| very low limits to any payout.
|
| A "western" style comprehensive health insurance package
| will set you back much more, at least $150 per month I'd
| say. Also they will probably reject people who spend 1000s
| per year on healthcare currently.
| yshirazi wrote:
| Thank you for highligting a key problem area. As a new entity,
| we believe that we first have to build trust with migrant
| communities by helping them with more standardised everyday
| tasks. As we build trust, we will onboard vendors for
| healthcare related services.
|
| We have already helped customers who needed access to at-home
| care for their parents back home but that was more on an ad-hoc
| basis. In the long term, we plan to standardise access to such
| service as well.
| asah wrote:
| congrats - key insight. While this is clearly global, I strongly
| recommend resisting that temptation, and instead *hyper* focusing
| on one small region to service, and accepting requests from one
| country only (one set of laws, one currency, etc). From a
| requestor-marketing standpoint, you may also find big wins
| focusing on very narrow communities where you can market
| aggressively/deeply and build/defend your reputation, before
| moving on. For example, start with the Pakistani community in NYC
| first - completely nail that in the first 3-6 months, then go
| after other Pakistani communities around the US. Remember,
| Facebook started with a _tiny_ number of colleges only.
| rond2911 wrote:
| Couldn't agree more.
| nicoburns wrote:
| Agreed. TransferWise is another good example of this approach.
| asadlionpk wrote:
| I would second this actually. Go deep in one region first.
| rond2911 wrote:
| This is fantastic from the initial looks of it. I love the last-
| mile fulfillment of services. Bravo!
| exporectomy wrote:
| Fantastic. Not just 3rd world countries but even migrants from
| western countries need runners and trusted helpers to do simple
| in-person tasks. I know a migrant from America who had to fly
| back home simply to get a criminal record from the police station
| and take it to the embassy. I've personally asked family members
| to do this sort of thing but it's unreliable and bad for
| relationships.
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