> While it's not illegal to try and compete with Nvidia (margin in 2025: 61%) or Mastercard (margin in 2025: 54%), it's just so capital-intensive to catch up with their graphics card R&D / bank partner network that few companies are brave enough.
I think the "quasi-monopoly" segment is the best attack vector if you are willing to get your hands a bit dirty. Companies like Mastercard and Visa are the closest thing you'll get to an actual money printer.
The trick with starting these kinds of businesses is to find one customer (B2B) who is willing to do the crazy thing with you. Someone who is fed up with the current state of affairs in their domain. Ideally, someone who is already a customer of one of these vendors you seek to compete with.
If I wanted to build a payment network from scratch, I would partner with a bank and begin with existing payment rails (Jack Henry, etc.,). and layer value-add on top (custom fraud detection, rewards programs). Over time, issuance, merchant acquiring and other concerns could be discussed once the trust and value proposition has been proven out. This is a very long play.
The hardest part of breaking in is finding that first customer and making sure they're a good one. If you have a good partner, it really does feel like cheating by comparison. I've worked with banks who could get things out of vendors with a five minute phone call that we couldn't in a million years. Stack a few of these and it begins to look like you're on the correct side of the moat.
I think the "quasi-monopoly" segment is the best attack vector if you are willing to get your hands a bit dirty. Companies like Mastercard and Visa are the closest thing you'll get to an actual money printer.
The trick with starting these kinds of businesses is to find one customer (B2B) who is willing to do the crazy thing with you. Someone who is fed up with the current state of affairs in their domain. Ideally, someone who is already a customer of one of these vendors you seek to compete with.
If I wanted to build a payment network from scratch, I would partner with a bank and begin with existing payment rails (Jack Henry, etc.,). and layer value-add on top (custom fraud detection, rewards programs). Over time, issuance, merchant acquiring and other concerns could be discussed once the trust and value proposition has been proven out. This is a very long play.
The hardest part of breaking in is finding that first customer and making sure they're a good one. If you have a good partner, it really does feel like cheating by comparison. I've worked with banks who could get things out of vendors with a five minute phone call that we couldn't in a million years. Stack a few of these and it begins to look like you're on the correct side of the moat.