We’ve partnered with some very cool companies that help small businesses and startups grow and succeed. They'll be writing a series of posts about their areas of expertise on our blog. This "Featured Tech" piece introduces the company behind the advice.
What is Dwolla?
Dwolla is a payment network that allows anyone in the U.S. connected to the internet to move money quickly, securely, and at a strikingly low cost. Dwolla was founded to solve the fundamental problem that money shouldn't lose value when exchanging hands.
What makes your company different?
- No credit cards. With each swipe of a credit card, you leave behind your sensitive financial information, as evident with some of the very public data breaches at places like Target and Home Depot. Dwolla believes that your financial data should not be shared and stored with third party recipients as it is with paper checks or credit card transactions. When you use Dwolla your financial information is not transmitted when making a purchase, limiting the threat of possible financial data theft.
- Real-time available now. Dwolla is on a mission to modernize the way that we move money, and has built a real-time payments infrastructure called FiSync. FiSync allows financial institutions to talk with Dwolla in real-time, allowing account holders at partnering banks and credit unions to stream funds to and from the Dwolla network with instantaneous availability, 24/7. No plastic cards, paper checks, traditional wait times, or the time constraints of batch processes.
- Low to no fees. Instead of charging high transaction fees or taking a percentage of a transaction, Dwolla charges a flat 25 cents per transaction for all transactions over $10, and everything $10 or less is free.
- Turnkey tools. Dwolla’s payment solutions range from API integrations to turnkey tools requiring no technical expertise. Product offerings pictured below:
- Awesome customer service. Customer service is absolutely vital to our company’s heartbeat. Here’s what a few of our members have said about our support team:
April 25, 2014: La Escuela Del Sol @laescueladelsol
“Dwolla has GREAT customer service. Not only do they cost way less than paypal, but they sent me this: "You had suggested that we re-wor…”
October 20, 2014: Dwell.pm @Dwellpm
“Don't worry @jkwade. @dwolla has such great customer service that we don't need to talk to @balanced anymore. @jakechare #usingdwolla”
October 22, 2012: Tim Ratliff @Zenophor
Just a shout out to awesome customer support: @fastcustomer @amazon @att @dwolla Quick, easy and helpful.
How Does Dwolla Help Small Businesses?
Dwolla solves a variety of problems, from traditional check replacement to mass payouts or disbursements. Small businesses that use Dwolla have increased visibility into their cash flow, cutting down on transaction times and costs, while receiving detailed statements that plugin to existing accounting platforms.
As a check replacement solution, Dwolla’s low cost and faster transaction times allow small businesses that use Dwolla to gain more control of their cash flow. MassPay, our disbursements tool, is not only more efficient and cost effective, but also works seamlessly with existing accounting platforms.
We offer a complete payments toolkit for small businesses, with tools that allow you to build your own custom payments form or send up to 5,000 payments at once. Landlords, sports leagues, CSAs, freelancers, teachers, and countless others use Dwolla to streamline their payments, so they can dedicate more time to doing what they love.
Dwolla also offers a robust API that many developers and small businesses have used to build their own custom payments solutions. Check out some of our favorites: see here.
What Advice Would You Give a Small Business or Startup?
Fix a real problem for people. There’s no excuse to not go after something that you feel passionate about. Don’t be discouraged if you come up against a complicated obstacle or problem—you have access to the internet that can connect you with the right answers, or smart people to help you find the answers you’re looking for.
Anything else you'd like to share? Remain teachable. The biggest mistake anyone can make is becoming unteachable. Teachers come in all forms, good and bad. “We are never done,” is one of Dwolla’s values we have up on the walls in all of our offices. It applies to many things we do to ship on a daily basis. Overall: Never stop learning, never stop asking questions, and never stop solving the problem.
We're hiring in San Francisco and Des Moines: https://www.dwolla.com/careers
Please find tweet us @dwolla and find us on Facebook — we would love to hear from you!