I took a look at the FoundersCard during it's beta, I guess.
Seems to make sense if you have AT&T and don't have another corporate discount applied to your account.
However, I'm not on AT&T and when I have to fly one of the 'big carriers' for, say, international travel back home I don't fly American as they don't fly into LHR.
So for me, it didn't seem worth while. 15% discount on Uber is interesting and new since I looked, but if you can afford to take Uber cab enough then you're probably not an early stage startup :)
> if you can afford to take Uber cab enough then you're probably not an early stage startup :)
I love Uber and totally want to see them succeed beyond their wildest dreams. But I have to agree. I use them more as a luxury. Otherwise, it's the Muni or my own two feet. (And never a cab.)
American does fly to LHR, unless my trips home have been to some alternate reality... They don't fly directly there from SFO, though, you have to transfer.
I tried to book a Virgin Atlatic flight through the Founders Card channel and it was more expensive than the same fight on the Virgin Atlantic Website. Very disappointing...
Think it depends on the cost. Got mine for $99 which it is certainly worth! The 15% Uber discount makes up for that by itself. Would be harder to justify at $500.
Wow, $99 sure seems worth it. Is that price no longer in effect? From what I've read, the cheapest one could get a membership now is $200 with a referral.
I'm not sure if they still offer these, but at one point they were offering a free bump to the first elite tier on the frequent flier programs for American Airlines and Virgin Atlantic (and thus also their respective alliances), which normally each require 25k miles flown. For an expat like me that's extremely valuable.
Not so when I exercised the offer. I'm Gold status on American and whatever the equivalent is on Virgin, despite not having had the requisite number of air miles to qualify through normal means.
Agree that the 15% Uber discount makes up for it. That and the AT&T discount are about the only discounts I notice, what other FC discounts do people use?
Trying to decide whether it's worth it — a lot of postings mention that the hotel discounts are great, but it seems like the hotels that are discounted are already very expensive and posh and therefore the discount brings it down to a "normal" hotel cost. Am I making a bad assumption? Anyone else use it for traveling?
I've FoundersCard and am happy with it - I've used quite some deals and discounts. <strike>Email me if you want an invite + promotion code (email is in the 'about' part of my profile).</strike> No more invites, sorry!
I have a few invites left... email's in my profile if you want them (and will actually use it). Totally worth it in my opinion. AT&T + airlines + hotels + random other things you discover all the time.
This is yet another example of a trend in culture of what was once a thing associated with production (founding a startup) becoming a type of consumption (this card).
They also offer health insurance and 401(k) plans for the self-employed.