Cofounder (Fundraising & Company-Building) for Zero-Fee Checkout & Local Marketplace

About the problem

Neighborhood merchants are leaking money.

• Delivery apps take 15–30% of every order.
• Stripe/card fees eat ~3%+ of direct online sales.

In a $1.2M GMV pocket of restaurants and service crews, that’s roughly $31K/year disappearing into fees. That’s a line cook’s salary, health insurance, or one more person on staff so the owner can see their kids once in a while.

What we’re building

With Blox, online checkout behaves like handing over cash:

• When a merchant lists an item at $25, they actually receive $25 at settlement.
• No 15–30% marketplace rake.
• No 3% swipe tax.

We monetize through a flat SaaS fee ($49.99/mo) and yield on pooled, dollar‑backed balances , so margin stays in the neighborhood instead of getting siphoned off to intermediaries—while still running on bank‑grade rails and licenses.

In effect, we’re putting cash economics online: cash‑like, fee‑less value transfer with card‑like protections and real compliance.

• Think cardless “Stripe for locals”: balances move like cash but settle like regulated bank money.
• Think a DoorDash‑style local marketplace where the economics actually favor the merchants, not the platform.

Where the product/infra is

Under the hood:

• Our own permissioned settlement rail.
• A dollar‑backed internal unit, so we can sponsor network fees and keep funds 1:1 bank‑custodied .
• Online checkout UX designed so the merchant just sees: “$25 listed, $25 kept.”

Status:

• Core stack is at prototype level , a few engineering weeks from user‑ready.
• We’re a FinCEN‑registered MSB .
• Sponsor‑bank onboarding for FBO custody & settlement is in motion.
• First target licensing: TX & AZ money transmitter licenses, then expanding to a 50‑state + DC package so we can ultimately launch nationally in a compliant way.
• Go‑to‑market starts with a local marketplace in a tight region (hospitality + neighborhood services) before we expose APIs.

Who I am

I’m Greg Brown , founder & lead engineer.

~14 years in infra: marketplaces, rent‑reporting fintech, direct‑pay rails, and blockchain infra.
Worked on fintech infra at Esusu and Finix, and blockchain infra for Optimism and SEI.
My unfair advantage is building the rails and making the tech disappear so small merchants just get a simple promise that holds: “$25 listed, $25 kept. ”

Who I’m looking for (cofounder)

I’m looking for a true cofounder , not an “advisor”:

• Someone who can lead and own our angel round: * We’re targeting a $500K pre‑seed to fund: * independent security audit (Trail of Bits), * TX & AZ MTL licensing + bonds, * sponsor‑bank integrations, * and our first marketplace pilots with beta merchants.
• Turn the story + numbers into a compelling raise narrative: * deck, model, data room, pipeline.
• Run the process: * map the right angels, * get in front of them, * follow through, * and help choose who we actually want on the cap table.
• Be a real company‑building partner: * help shape GTM sequencing, * think through markets and cohorts, * sit with the hard tradeoffs (compliance vs speed, national vs staged rollout).

This is not :

• A part‑time “fundraising advisor” role,
• A pure BD job, or
• A short‑term “help me close this round and bounce” thing.

This is:

• A cofounder seat for someone who: * Cares viscerally about small business economics and money staying in communities, * Enjoys the intersection of story + numbers + regulation + execution , * Is comfortable owning the fundraising lane and digging into product/strategy, * Has the stamina for a long, compliance‑heavy build (more “early Chime” than weekend MVP).

What working together looks like

In the next 12–18 months, together we would:

• Close a focused angel pre‑seed .
• Lock down audit, TX/AZ licensing , and sponsor‑bank rails .
• Launch and instrument our first local marketplace cohort (think: one city / college‑town cluster).
• Use real GMV + behavior to shape the national rollout and next round.

If you read this and immediately thought, “I want to be the person who gets this funded and into real merchants’ hands,” I’d love to talk.

On Wellfound, feel free to message me directly. Or reach out:

Email: [email protected]

Tell me a bit about:

• How you’ve approached fundraising / company‑building before,
• What kind of partner you’re looking for,
• And what you want your next 5–10 years to look like.

Let’s see if we actually click as cofounders and teammates, not just as roles.