1. VCs funding a so-called “servant economy” or…
2. The fact that there are these businesses that perpetuate some form of servanthood (to use the author’s parlance)
If the gig marketplaces were bootstrapped, is there still an inherent problem?
I've thought about this, but I wonder what the UX is like.
You always show success? What sort of confirmation does the user get? If the card is declined, how do you notify them later? Would that notification confuse them?
This is where solutions like Spreedly and TokenX make a lot of sense. Once the payment method is stored in their vault, you can try (and retry!) payments on multiple gateways.
A lot of businesses don't have the luxury of positive cashflows that software businesses do.
There are a lot of factors that would contribute to running a business without a month's cash on hand. But I wouldn't say that the business owner is _seriously_ incompetent.
I hope to work at the same company for the rest of my life, raise my kids, vacation regularly with my wife, then die. I would be completely content with a 'boring' life.