In this episode of Cents Chat, Kitty and Chris sit down with Sean Ogden, Co-Founder of GiveTech, to talk about one of the least glamorous but most important parts of payments: merchant onboarding. GiveTech’s mission is to make giving so simple it can happen at a stoplight, but that kind of frictionless donation experience only works if the platform also has strong controls behind the scenes. The team digs into how GiveTech replaced clunky PDFs, DocuSigns, and awkward PII collection with a branded, mobile-first onboarding workflow that feels simple for customers while supporting underwriting, KYC, and fraud prevention.

The conversation also looks at why onboarding has become a bigger responsibility for ISVs and platforms. With card-network monitoring expectations increasing, fintech regulation shifting, and donation platforms becoming attractive targets for fraudsters, getting merchants live is no longer just an administrative step. It is the front door to trust, risk, compliance, and money movement. GiveTech’s story shows how better onboarding can reduce sales friction, protect sensitive information, validate identities, and help legitimate organizations start accepting donations faster without making the platform easier for bad actors to exploit.