alt Hacker NewsShow HN: HCB Mobile – financial app built by 17 y/o, processing $6M/month
Hey everyone! I just built a mobile app using Expo (React Native) for a platform that moves $6M/month. It’s a neobank used by 6,500+ nonprofit organizations across the world.
One of my biggest challenges, while juggling being a full-time student, was getting permission from Apple/Google to use advanced native features such as Tap to Pay (for in-person donations) and Push Provisioning (for adding your card to your digital wallet). It was months of back-and-forth emails, test case recordings, and also compliance checks.
Even after securing Apple/Google’s permission, any minor fix required publishing a new build, which was time-consuming. After dealing with this for a while, I adopted the idea of “over the air updates” using Expo’s EAS update service. This allowed me to remotely trigger updates without needing a new app build.
The 250 hours I spent building this app were an INSANE learning experience, but it was also a whole lot of fun. Give the app a try, and I’d love any feedback you have on it!
btw, back in March, we open-sourced this nonprofit neobank on GitHub. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43519802
Comments
That's awesome, and impressive you were able to build that. As an angel investor, my first question would be: how do you deal with financial fraud? Like users exploiting your app for money laundering via donations then spending... Any system that lets money get in and out is eventually used as a channel by launderers.
I am surprised you managed to get those entitlements at all!
Did it help to be a non-profit?
This is great!
I'm curious whether you were able to build the app using backend APIs that were already built, or whether building this app created new requirements for those APIs?
Was just looking at this the other day for personal reasons. Great work!
I really wish something like Hack Club existed while growing up, how empowering! great work.
> I adopted the idea of “over the air updates” using Expo’s EAS update service.
Be careful with this. If Apple finds out for instance, your app will still be taken down.
Why does it matter how old is the author?
We should judge software by the quality, not by authors age.
It is clear that you put a lot of effort into this, but I do not believe that a 17 year old is capable to realize what he is sacrificing for this or what his responsibilities are.
I do actually believe that zero teenagers should make banking apps or run non-profits.
The OP built the React Native mobile app - not the entire platform / company. Some folks commenting like they built the company. Just a point of clarification.
Great work! Keep building OP!