I would never ever do this. Give a portion of your income, whatever the outcome of the funding ? (The site doesn't say much, so I'll have to assume the worse). Crazy. What if you launch yourself in a venture that does not work out (like startups often do) ? Then you are left with a much greater financial burden. So much for "paying your student loans".
If however you launch a successful venture, maybe backed by other sources of funding, you will need to pour a considerable amount of money to this people, money that is not a just return on their investment (it's more). What if you launch multiple ventures ?
And then what is income ? If you have equity in a company, is it income ? If not, one could think of many ways to sidestep the process.
Without more info, this offer stinks. And I expect it still does after clarification (but I might be going all wrong about this). Making money, as I see it, is about gaining financial freedom. This just seems to put another yoke on your shoulders.
Not really. What I get from this, it's basically just a personal loan, which you pay back with interest. It's like Kiva, but for different market.
Did you read the terms? The income is the income on your tax report. You don't have to pay anything if you earn less than $30,000 annually. If you are very successful, the maximum annual payment is 14.99% of the loan (otherwise 1-7% of your income, depending on the total amount). You always pay for 10 years. However, these terms are rather confusing and I didn't see any actual interest rates etc. on the site.
All very valid questions, but don't judge until you try it... I graduated from one of the schools they are testing this with and submitted my name. Just got an email soliciting questions from me about how it works, and they offered to set up a phone call to have a discussion about the ins and outs (which I've taken them up on). You can be sure I'll be asking your questions and more, but let's wait and see exactly what the deal is. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.
I didn't use the right phrase; what I was trying to say was, don't knock it until you know all of the facts; norswap is assuming the worst, but that's where the problem is, the assumption. It's not more valid than assuming the best. Without the facts, it's all just speculation. I didn't mean literally try it, but know exactly what the problem is before you knock it down... sorry for the misstatement.
I will go upon the assumption that the people who would need upstart.com are people who need upstart.com. As such you aren't in a position to have a bad attitude anymore than the person who needs help with a flat tire. You might need to "pay him 5 or 10 dollars." to get to where you need to go.
Note that the return to the investors is capped at 15% of their investment annually, and it's automatically deferred when you're un- (or way under-) employed. Using it to raise a huge amount is probably ill advised, but I don't think it's more crazy than a small bank loan, and much better than putting it on a credit card.
If however you launch a successful venture, maybe backed by other sources of funding, you will need to pour a considerable amount of money to this people, money that is not a just return on their investment (it's more). What if you launch multiple ventures ?
And then what is income ? If you have equity in a company, is it income ? If not, one could think of many ways to sidestep the process.
Without more info, this offer stinks. And I expect it still does after clarification (but I might be going all wrong about this). Making money, as I see it, is about gaining financial freedom. This just seems to put another yoke on your shoulders.