byASB Ankiit Singh Book a scoping week
CERT ✓2011–13

Mobile point of sale, from zero to certified

Mosambee, Mumbai — founding team
Payments is the discipline that teaches you what a hard external gate actually feels like.
RoleFounding team
SurfaceApp · Java backends · REST APIs
StandardsISO 8583 · PCI DSS · EMV · chip and PIN
HardwareCard-reader integration through certification
OutcomeRetained shares, moved on
The constraint

A payments product cannot ship because it works. It ships when a certification body agrees it works — and the standards involved (ISO 8583 on the wire, EMV in the chip, PCI DSS around the whole thing) are unforgiving about details.

What I built

Helped start Mosambee in Mumbai, one of India's early mobile point-of-sale companies: the app, Java backends, REST APIs, ISO 8583 message formats, PCI DSS compliance, EMV chip-and-PIN, and hardware integration taken through certification.

This is where the pattern that runs through everything since was set: the technical work is only half the job, and the other half is clearing whatever external body stands between the product and the market.

Under the surface
wire formatISO 8583
card presentEMV · chip and PIN
compliancePCI DSS
surfacemobile app · Java backends · REST APIs
hardwarecard reader integration through certification
exposure: regulated · card-present payments
Outcome
  • Hardware and software taken through payment certification.
  • Retained shares in the company; moved on.
JavaREST APIsISO 8583EMVPCI DSSAndroid/iOS