bash-3.2$ ./profile

Harry Mahon

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I’ve worked with early-stage startups and large enterprises, building from zero to one. Outside of work I make time for cooking, reading, travel, and the NBA.

$ cat experience.log

  • Startups: helped an early voice-agent company go from zero to category-leading. Worked across product and go-to-market; landed first customers. Lessons learned - fast, abundant inference, and empathetic design.
  • Enterprise: developed AI strategy, workflow adoption, and partner ecosystems.
  • Advisory: here through growth. Happy to make warm intros for win-wins. Reach out!

$ ls links

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cat writing/how-not-to-f-up-your-startupbanking

How NOT to F@!* up your startup—Banking

Harry Mahon ·

What/who am I writing this for?

This will be the first of many articles in a series I am titling, “How NOT to F@!* up your startup”. This is catharsis for me to share some of my favorite products and experiences. I wish I had something like this to save me time from choosing a tool to run operations. Most tools are similar, so choose the ones that work best for you. This is not sponsored, most of these tools are so good that I would recommend them for free.

When I went to build my first “startup”, I was eager, like many young and ambitious entrepreneurs. What someone should have told me was that I was running a business, not a class project, which means cash will be moving in and out of the bank. Whether depositing your first check, buying your first domain, or paying for subscriptions, you are going to need a bank account.

Mercury

Mercury was the second bank account I chose for my startup. It should have been the first. Mercury is more than just a bank. However, today, we will focus on the various accounts Mercury offers and what you can do with them.

Mercury - Bank accounts built for startups | Product Hunt

Founded in 2017, Mercury was created for the sole purpose of helping new entrepreneurs find an easy-to-use banking experience. Mercury partners with Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust to offer checking and savings accounts for internet business. Now, every business is an internet business, so this could be your bank! This is a far better option than keeping money in a personal or another business bank account for a variety of reasons. Most money moves on the internet. Mercury was designed for just this.

My first experience opening a business bank account was walking in to the credit union of my hometown. It was a dingy place and the employees did not care to give me the time of day. In fact, most young people are still scoffed at when walking into a bank to start an account. Do not let this be the deterrent of you going for your ambitions! Mercury was started for young entrepreneurs to have a frictionless banking experience, so that you can focus on the product that will bring you the big bucks.

Mercury offers a visa card that allows you to spend with your accounts. This can be added to your mobile wallets with the option to obtain a physical card. With Mercury, you are not going to run into problems charging your account for online subscriptions or being frozen by one-off expenses. There is also the added benefit of free wires to your accounts. This means you can move money from your personal accounts to Mercury (they really want to make this easy for you, and so do I).

As your business grows, Mercury will adapt with you. Mercury will help you with SAFE agreements, manage company expenses and issue cards to your employees, and pay bills. Also, Mercury offers their own treasury product that has a competitive interest rate!

Conclusion

Setting up a business bank account used to be a hassle. Major banks and credit unions are not fun to approach. Mercury has removed the friction to all early financial decisions you make for your startup. Mercury even offers personal banking, which is great for moving your money around the web too.

Happy building!