RevenueCat (YC S18) Is Hiring an Engineering Manager (Remote)

Article URL: https://jobs.lever.co/revenuecat/c77633a8-2047-4082-9cc6-91de1c13c68e

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25206622

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What Are Inventory Loans and How are They Affected by the Recession

Inventory loans are short term loans that business owners can use to purchase inventory.  The inventory is the security for the loan.  By taking out this type of loan, a business can stay ahead of demand.  It also allows for taking advantage of special pricing, thus increasing profit. 

Inventory Loans are Not Always a Sure Thing

 Investopedia defines inventory financing as: 

“… a revolving line of credit or a short-term loan that is acquired by a company so it can purchase products for sale later. The products serve as the collateral for the loan.”

These types of loans are a type of inventory financing.  Seeing as these are, at their core, secured loans, it stands to reason that they are easier to get than unsecured loans.  However, that is not always the case. 

Why Inventory Loans are Hard to Get

The idea of inventory as collateral for the financing used to buy it sounds simple enough.  However, after the hard economic downturn of 2008, lenders are much stingier with this type of small business financing.  During that time, it was painfully evident that, if your loan was secured by non-staple items, there was about to be trouble.  

Non-necessities do not sell well in a recession.  If you can’t sell, the bank cannot either. That means the security is pretty much worthless. 

Another issue is that inventory depreciates.  As security, it’s basically on the clock.  If it depreciates to the point of not being worth the amount of the loan, it is worthless as security.  There is also the idea that it may be a fad that is going to quickly go out of style, also not selling. 

These are just a few of the reasons lenders are reluctant to approve loans secured by inventory. Typically, they approve these types of loans on a case by case basis, taking all of these factors into account. Even when they grant approval, it is typically for only around 50% of the cost.

inventory loans Credit Suite

Learn more here and get started with building business credit with your company’s EIN and not your SSN.

Ways to Use Inventory Loans

There are some things you can purchase with inventory loans that may surprise you.  For example: 

  • If you run a dining establishment, you can use inventory loans to buy flatware and linens in addition to food supplies. 
  • If you run a salon, you can use this type of financing for towels and supplies as well as items to sell. 
  • A clothing store may use the funds for shoes, accessories, and other items. 

The point is, funds for these loans can purchase items that are not specifically inventory in terms of things that you sell to the public.  They can also purchase supplies for any services you may offer. 

Other Options for Inventory Loans

How do you fill in the gap for the other 50% of inventory costs? Further, how can you finance inventory if you cannot get any type of funding at all?  There are some other options. 

Inventory Loans: Credit Line Hybrid

A credit line hybrid is essentially an unsecured line of credit.  It allows you to fund your business without putting up collateral, and you only pay back what you use.  The funds can be used for many things, including inventory financing. 

 It’s super easy to qualify.  You need a personal credit score of at least 680, and you can’t have any liens, judgments, bankruptcies or late payments.  Furthermore, in the past 6 months you should have less than 4 credit inquiries, and you should have less than a 45% balance on all business and personal credit cards.  It’s also preferred that you have established business credit as well as personal credit.

I know, that doesn’t sound all that easy.  Here’s the catch.  If you do not meet all of the requirements, it’s okay. You can take on a credit partner that meets each of these requirements.  Many business owners work with a friend or relative to fund their business.  If a relative or a friend meets all of these requirements, they can partner with you to allow you to tap into their credit to access funding. 

Credit Line Hybrid vs. Inventory Loans

There are many benefits to using a credit line hybrid.  First, it is unsecured, meaning you do not have to have any collateral to put up.  Next, this is no-doc funding.  That means you do not have to provide any bank statements or financials.  

In addition, typical approval is up to 5x that of the highest credit limit on the personal credit report. Often, you can get interest rates as low as 0% for the first few months, allowing you to put that savings back into your business. 

Here is another benefit of the credit line hybrid.  With the approval for multiple credit cards, competition is created.  This makes it easier, and likely even if you handle the credit responsibly, that you can get interest rates lowered and limits raised every few months. The process is generally quick, especially with a qualified expert to walk you through it. 

Inventory Loans: Alternative Lending

Alternative lenders generally operate online.  They tend to reduce risk by increasing interest rates rather than relying completely on credit information.  This means that they can be an option for those businesses and owners that either have bad credit or have not yet built strong enough credit to qualify for financing with traditional lenders. Here are a few options. 

Fundbox

Fundbox offers a line of credit rather than a loan, but it is a great funding option because there is no minimum credit score requirement. 

They offer an automated process that is super-fast. Repayments are automatic, meaning they draft them electronically, and they occur on a weekly basis.  One thing to remember is that you could have a repayment as high as 5 to 7% of the amount you have drawn currently, as the repayment period is comparatively short.  This means you need to be sure you have enough funds in whatever account you connect them to so that it can cover your payment each week.

inventory loans Credit Suite

Learn more here and get started with building business credit with your company’s EIN and not your SSN.

Upstart

Upstart is an online lender that uses a completely innovative platform for loans.  The company itself questions the ability of financial information and FICO on their own to truly determine the risk of lending to a specific borrower.  They choose to use a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to gather alternative data instead.  They then use this data to help them make credit decisions.

This alternative data can include such things as mobile phone bills, rent, deposits, withdrawals, and even other information less directly tied to finances.  The software they use learns and improves on its own. You can use their online quote tool to play with different amounts and terms to see the various interest rate possibilities.  Typically, business loans are available up to $50,000.  Interest rates vary greatly, ranging from 7.5% to 35.99%.  Repayment terms can be either 3 -year or 5-year. 

Fora Financial 

Founded in 2008 by college roommates, online lender Fora Financial now funds more than $1.3 million in working capital around the United States. There is no minimum credit score, and there is an early repayment discount if you qualify.

OnDeck 

Obtaining financing from OnDeck is quick and easy. First, you apply online and receive your decision once application processing is complete. If you receive approval, your loan funds will go directly to your bank account. 

Bond Street

Offering term loans of up to $1 million, Bond Street terms are for up to 1 to 3 years. They will ask for both EIN and SSN.

Lending Club

Popular online lender Lending Club offers term loans. Business loans go up to $300,000 and terms from 1 to 5 years are available.

Quarter Spot

Quarter Spot is an online lender that offers short term loans up to $150,000. The terms are 9 to 18 months. 

Rapid Advance

Rapid Advance offers standard, select, and preferred loans. For standard loans, amounts up to $1 million are available. Their terms are 4 to 12 months.

Kiva 

Kiva is an online lender that is a little different. For example, the interest rate is 0%, so even though you have to pay it back it is absolutely free money. They don’t even check your credit. However, there is one catch.  You have to get at least 5 family members or friends to invest in your business. In addition, you have to give a $25 loan to another business on the platform. It’s like a crowdfunding, 0% interest loan.

Accion 

If your personal credit is okay, Accion may be a good fit for inventory financing. It is a microlender, a nonprofit, that offers installment loans to both startups and already existing businesses. You don’t have to already be in business, but if you are not, you must have less than $500 in past due debt. In addition, your business needs to be home or incubator based. 

Credibly 

Credibly is also a good option if you are already generating some revenue. They offer short term loans for both business expansion and working capital. 

Details related to loan amounts, eligibility requirements, and interest rates change frequently, so it’s best to get that information from the lender’s website directly.  However, many of these either do not check credit or will work with a credit score of less than 600.  Though interest rates are higher than with traditional lenders, they often offer options where there seem to be none. 

Inventory Loans: Credit Cards

In a pinch, you can handle inventory financing with credit cards.  If you pay attention, you can get good introductory rates and rewards.  However, you have to pay attention so you don’t get stuck with high rates once the introductory rates are over.  A better bet is the credit line hybrid, because you can take advantage of all the benefits with an expert to walk you through the process and make sure nothing is missed. 

Inventory Loans: Merchant Cash Advance

In some situations, this can be an option for inventory financing.   This is how it works.  If you take credit card payments, you can get financing based on the average of daily credit cards sales.  Then, payment is taken from future sales.  

The thing is, if you are in a recession, credit cards sales may not be that great, and future sales may not be solid.  However, it is an option that bears mentioning.

inventory loans Credit Suite

Learn more here and get started with building business credit with your company’s EIN and not your SSN.

Inventory Loans: Are They Right for Your Business? 

The fact is, every business is likely to need some type of inventory financing in the course of their business. The problem comes when lenders envision large amounts of inventory sitting in a warehouse not selling.  If it’s not selling, then the business isn’t making money and the lender is not getting paid.  

If you sell staples that are needed in most any type of economy, inventory loans can be a good option.  With strong fundability, you may not have any issue getting loans secured by inventory.  However, this is not the case with many businesses.  A lot of business owners find their fundability is not up to par, and they didn’t even realize it.  Couple that with the already unsure nature of getting approved for business loans, and it may be best to go with an alternative. 

While alternative loans are a viable option, the first stop for most business owners should be the credit line hybrid.  It is available to absolutely anyone.  Even if your own credit is not great, the option to take on a credit partner can make this funding source an option for almost anyone.  

The best part is, using the credit line hybrid helps to build the fundability of your business.  This is because the experts that walk you through the process help ensure that, not only get the funds you need right now, but also that your business is set up and prepared to qualify for any type of funding you may need in the future. 

All businesses need inventory funding.  If inventory loans won’t work, there are other options.

The post What Are Inventory Loans and How are They Affected by the Recession appeared first on Credit Suite.

New comment by bflowers in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2020)"

MediKeeper | Full-Stack Engineer / QA Engineer / UX Designer | San Diego, CA | REMOTE (US only) | Full-Time | https://www.medikeeper.com

Medikeeper helps millions of employees and health plan members engage in preventative wellness programs and actively close gaps in their health care. You can find out more about our products, here: https://medikeeper.com/products/

We’re looking for proactive, quality-oriented engineers who are excited to work closely with a smart product team. We’re a small company with lots of planned, funded growth, so this is an opportunity to get in early and grow with the company!

Here’s the full-stack engineer posting at Stack Overflow and Women Who Code (the WWC ad outlines our interview process):

https://stackoverflow.com/jobs/422397/full-stack-net-enginee…

https://www.womenwhocode.com/jobs/7305

We’re also hiring for QA Engineers and a UX Designer.

I’m the hiring manager for our engineering/QA team and I’m assisting with the UX role, so if you’d like to learn more about any of these openings, please do feel free email me directly at the address in my HN profile, or apply for the engineering role via WWC or Stack Overflow. Happy to take questions directly! Please mention that you saw this post on HN.

New comment by bflowers in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2020)"

MediKeeper | Full-Stack Engineer / QA Engineer / UX Designer | San Diego, CA | REMOTE (US only) | Full-Time | https://www.medikeeper.com Medikeeper helps millions of employees and health plan members engage in preventative wellness programs and actively close gaps in their health care. You can find out more about our products, here: https://medikeeper.com/products/ We’re … Continue reading New comment by bflowers in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2020)"

How to Grow Your Local Business During Uncertain Times

No doubt this is a hard time to grow a local business. Coronavirus has likely forced you to make big changes to the way you operate. It’s almost certainly hit your bottom line too. However, it’s still absolutely possible to grow your local business at a time like this. You just have to be smart … Continue reading How to Grow Your Local Business During Uncertain Times

Produce Your Marketing Machine to Plan for Marketing Success

Develop Your Marketing Machine to Plan for Marketing Success Do you ever before really feel like you’re continuously running about, attempting to obtain your advertising products placed with each other and also out the door? Or are you continuously jumping on the newest advertising concept, and also tossing away your time as well as cash …

The post Produce Your Marketing Machine to Plan for Marketing Success first appeared on Online Web Store Site.

The post Produce Your Marketing Machine to Plan for Marketing Success appeared first on ROI Credit Builders.

New comment by bflowers in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2020)"

MediKeeper | Full-Stack Engineer / QA Engineer / UX Designer | San Diego, CA | REMOTE (US only) | Full-Time | https://www.medikeeper.com Medikeeper helps millions of employees and health plan members engage in preventative wellness programs and actively close gaps in their health care. You can find out more about our products, here: https://medikeeper.com/products/ We’re …

The post New comment by bflowers in “Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2020)” first appeared on Online Web Store Site.

Produce Your Marketing Machine to Plan for Marketing Success

Develop Your Marketing Machine to Plan for Marketing Success Do you ever before really feel like you’re continuously running about, attempting to obtain your advertising products placed with each other and also out the door? Or are you continuously jumping on the newest advertising concept, and also tossing away your time as well as cash …

The post Produce Your Marketing Machine to Plan for Marketing Success first appeared on Online Web Store Site.

The post Produce Your Marketing Machine to Plan for Marketing Success appeared first on ROI Credit Builders.

How to Tell if You’re Shadowbanned on Social Media

Suddenly you notice that none of your social media activity seems to be showing up at all. It’s like you don’t even exist on the site… Weird!

Is it a bug? Every website suffers from them sometimes, and the interactive features can often be the first to go haywire. Server maintenance could also be the culprit.

But another possibility is that you might have been “shadowbanned” (previously called ghostbanned).

Accounts that are shadowbanned are put into a kind of invisible mode. In other words, they become a “shadow” that no one can see.

In this post, we’ll talk more about what exactly shadowbanning is, and how you can tell if it happened to you.

What Is Shadowbanning?

Shadowbanning is when your posts or activity don’t show up on a site, but you haven’t received an official ban or notification.

It’s a way to let spammers continue to spam without anyone else in the community (or outside of it) seeing what they do.

That way, other social media users don’t suffer from spam because they can’t see it. The spammer won’t immediately start to look for ways to get around the ban, because they don’t even realize they’ve been banned.

Now, all of this might sound a little odd or shady. Since many websites and apps deny that they shadowban, there’s no way to know for sure that it’s happened.

If you suspect a shadowban, a change in the website’s search or newsfeed algorithm might actually be to blame. And since the algorithms are the property of social media companies, it’s not in their best interest to reveal everything about them publicly.

Regardless of whether you’ve been penalized deliberately or accidentally, the effect is still the same… no one can see your posts.

Sites That Shadowban

There’s no way of getting a full list of sites that shadowban people, since the practice isn’t entirely out in the open.

However, shadowbanning has been reported before under certain circumstances, on sites and apps like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, among others. 

Respondents to a survey called Posting Into the Void reported four general types of shadowbans:

  • a username or hashtag not showing up in search suggestions
  • a decrease in follower engagement
  • certain features (e.g. likes or replies) being blocked
  • a temporary ban that then reverts back to normal later on

Here’s how to tell if you’ve been shadowbanned on some popular social media sites:

Twitter Shadowbanning

Does Twitter actually shadowban people? Well, yes and no.

In a blog post, Twitter claimed that they don’t “deliberately make people’s content undiscoverable to everyone except the person who posted it”, and they “certainly don’t shadowban based on political viewpoints or ideology.”

However, they did say they “rank tweets and search results” to “address bad-faith actors”. Basically, if Twitter thinks you’re a spammer or a troll, its algorithm will penalize your content.

How to Avoid Getting Shadowbanned by Twitter

Twitter lists these as some of the factors they use to tell if you’re a “bad-faith actor” or not:

  • Whether or not you’ve confirmed your email address
  • Whether you’ve uploaded a profile picture
  • How recently your account was created
  • Who you follow and retweet
  • Who mutes, follows, retweets, and blocks you

To avoid getting shadowbanned on Twitter, you should confirm your email address and upload a profile picture.

Don’t spam people and don’t be overly promotional. If you’re trying to sell a product or service and are posting too much, other users might block your content, causing a shadowban on your account.

You should also try to avoid trolling, getting into online arguments, or being too confrontational in your posts and comments. This can lead people to mute or block you.

How to Tell If You’re Shadowbanned on Twitter

There’s no way to tell for sure if you’ve been shadowbanned on Twitter. However, you could try using the site Shadowban.eu, which claims to be able to detect a shadowban.

how to check if you are shadowbanned on Twitter

Instagram Shadowbanning

How frustrating is it to work hard at building up an Instagram following, only to see that your posts suddenly aren’t showing up?

Like with Twitter, Instagram’s CEO has publicly claimed that “shadowbanning is not a thing”, but as with Twitter, that’s not entirely true.

While you personally might not be being shadowbanned, the algorithm could still be hiding your posts.

Instagram’s algorithm is designed to remove certain content. Namely, the algorithm penalizes content that Instagram considers “inappropriate”, even if the content doesn’t go against the app’s Community Guidelines.  

Specifically, they mention sexually-suggestive content. According to their Community Guidelines, spammy content and content associated with illegal activity or violence is also a no-go.

Instagram prefers “photos or videos that are appropriate for a diverse audience”… so less family-friendly content may be at risk of a shadowban.  

How to Tell If You’re Shadowbanned on Instagram

There’s no surefire way to tell if you’ve been shadowbanned on Instagram, but there are sites that say they can test it. Triberr is one option.

how to check if you are shadowbanned on Instagram

Reddit Shadowbanning

Shadowbanning on Reddit is a bit different from shadowbanning on other social media sites. Up until 2015, Reddit openly shadowbanned users who broke the site’s rules by hiding their posts.

Reddit then announced that the shadowbanning system had been replaced with an account suspension system. Basically, some Reddit staff thought that the shadowban tool had been useful for dealing with bots, but that banning real human users without telling them what they did wrong was unfair.

However, the site appears to still occasionally be using shadowbans, with the r/ShadowBan subreddit still active.

According to their official content policy, Reddit may enforce their rules by “removal of privileges from, or adding restrictions to, accounts”, and also by “removal of content”, among other methods.  

How to Avoid Getting Shadowbanned on Reddit

Of course, to avoid getting shadowbanned on Reddit, you’ll need to follow their rules. But one tricky thing about that is that the rules on Reddit actually depend on the subreddit you are submitting to.

You’ll want to read and comment a lot first before submitting your own links. Watch how people react to various types of submissions within a specific subreddit, and then act accordingly.

You can also check out this unofficial guide on how to avoid being shadowbanned. Some key points:

  • Don’t spam or post too many links to your own content (if you post a lot of other things too, posting one or two links to your own work is OK)
  • Don’t harass or constantly downvote another user
  • Don’t dox others or encourage doxxing (posting someone’s personal information without their consent)
  • Don’t post illegal or inappropriate content
  • Don’t abuse moderators or admins

How to Tell if You’re Shadowbanned on Reddit

To find out if you’re shadowbanned on Reddit, make a post in the r/ShadowBan subreddit. A bot will respond to you, letting you know if you’re shadowbanned.

Even if you’re not, the bot will tell you which posts of yours have been removed recently (if any).  

You could also use a third-party tool, like Am I Shadowbanned?

How to check if you are shadowbanned on Reddit

TikTok Shadowbanning

TikTok is a popular social network for sharing short videos. Unfortunately, you can get shadowbanned there too (kind of).

While there’s no official mention of the term “shadowban” in TikTok’s Community Guidelines, like other social media networks, TikTok uses algorithms to privilege certain content. If you get on the wrong side of the algorithm, fewer people might see the content you post.

To have more people see your content and avoid penalties, try to follow best practices for TikTok’s recommendation algorithm, and always follow the Community Guidelines.

Stay away from illegal material, violence, hate speech, spam, and other similar topics.

To check if you’ve been shadowbanned on TikTok, look at your pageviews and “For You” page statistics. You can also use a hashtag and see if your post shows up under that hashtag.

Facebook Shadowbanning

Facebook calls its content moderation policy “remove, reduce, and inform.”

Basically, content that violates Facebook’s Community Standards will be removed from the site, while other undesirable content (like misleading information) may be less visible on Facebook or have a warning label placed on it.

If Facebook is consistently “reducing” your content, that could be considered a type of shadowban.

The main thing you can do to trigger a shadowban on Facebook is to share links to fake or misleading information. Content on the site is checked by independent fact-checking organizations.

Facebook also penalizes links from websites that its algorithm considers clickbait. Low-authority websites without a lot of inbound and outbound links that generate a lot of clicks on Facebook may be considered clickbait.

Facebook groups where a lot of misleading links and clickbait are frequently shared may be shadowbanned.

If you’re worried your personal page, business page, or group might have been shadowbanned on Facebook, check for a change in engagement levels on your recent posts.

LinkedIn Shadowbanning

While people don’t often think about getting shadowbanned on LinkedIn, it’s possible for your content’s reach to be throttled there.

Like other social media sites, LinkedIn has Community Policies that all members need to follow to avoid problems.

Since LinkedIn is a professional site, its content policies are even stricter than other platforms. Not only should your content be safe, legal, and appropriate, it has to be professional as well.

Although LinkedIn is obviously a place for career growth and self-promotion, spamming people is still a no-go.

You’ll need to respect others’ privacy and intellectual property. You should also avoid harassment or unwanted romantic advances towards other members.

If you violate LinkedIn’s policies, they may “limit the visibility of certain content, or remove it entirely.”

That said, the LinkedIn algorithm is pretty complicated. Even if your content is perfectly professional and high-quality, it might still not be getting the reach you want.

Engagement and relevance are the top two factors to keep in mind when creating content for LinkedIn.  

YouTube Shadowbanning

While it’s not exactly a social network, it’s definitely still a site where people go to learn and share content. Can you be shadowbanned from YouTube?

Well, YouTube shadowbanning has been in the news because of popular creator PewDiePie. According to his fans, the Swedish videogame YouTuber’s channel was penalized in YouTube search.

YouTube’s official response was that it doesn’t shadowban channels, but that some videos might be flagged and need to be reviewed before they show up in search.

In an interview with Polygon, they said they were “currently working on fixing the issue.” 

7 Ways to Avoid Getting Shadowbanned on Social Media

Different social networks have their own opinions on what type of violations merit a shadowban. However, we can definitely see some general trends that are worth noting.

Adhere to these guidelines if you want to be safe from a shadowban:

  1. Always stick to the Terms of Service
  2. Follow and watch power users in your category (see what and how they share)
  3. Don’t post links or copy-pasted content over and over
  4. If you’re unsure if the content is appropriate, avoid sharing it
  5. Treat others politely and respectfully
  6. Don’t use banned hashtags
  7. Avoid posting about illegal topics

Conclusion

You may not have any idea you are being shadowbanned. At least not at first… though over time, you may begin to suspect it.

What you should do to protect yourself is to be careful that what you post isn’t against the terms and conditions of the site or app. Also, try to avoid spamming content, starting fights with and trolling other users, or posting things that might be considered inappropriate.

A shadowban can be frustrating, especially if you don’t feel like you deserve one. Maybe you don’t agree with the social media algorithm about what is or isn’t inappropriate, or maybe you think you were having a constructive debate while the algorithm thinks you were being a troll.

However, hopefully the tips in this guide can help you avoid being shadowbanned in the future, so your content can get better engagement.

What other ways can help people know if they’ve been shadowbanned? Let us know in the comments.

The post How to Tell if You’re Shadowbanned on Social Media appeared first on Neil Patel.