Leaders In Payments

What do ISVs have to do with banking in the near future of fintech? According to Maast CEO Tom Bell, just about everything!

For those of you who may not know, Maast (which actually stands for Money as A Service +) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Synovus bank with a mission to create a true embedded finance platform for ISV and SaaS providers. When asked to expand on what their platform is capable of, Tom says “imagine everything you know about embedded payments and extend that into other banking products. Our goal is to take the bank itself and embed it into the software providers platform.”

As far as the Synovus relationship impacting their competitive advantage in the marketplace, it actually serves to create one of their biggest value ads. Not only do they take a lot of friction out of the embedded model by enabling Synovus to take their product and distribute it nationwide in a much more efficient manner, they also provide a tremendous benefit to their ISVs and SaaS customers in that they already have all the regulatory, risk, and compliance mandates covered comprehensively on their end due to their relationship with the bank. It really offers much more of a plug-and-play model, allowing the ISV/SaaS to be 100% confident that the Maast platform is in line with regulatory compliance and requiring them to do nothing more than code to their API.

Tune in to hear Tom talking about the true definition of embedded finance as it relates to the comprehensive offering, not just embedded payments, as well as where the embedded finance industry is headed in the next 2 to 3 years. Spoiler alert: in this new world, small businesses may not even know who their bank is because they have no need to.

Attention all music fans! This podcast is for you. If you could think of one area in the music industry that has remained totally stagnant amidst all the technology and evolution, what would it be? For those of you that said ticketing, you’re exactly right! Now, for those of you wondering what revolutionizing the ticketing industry has to do with payments, I have YellowHeart CEO and Founder Josh Katz here to tell you. 

 YellowHeart is a Web3 based digital ticketing platform with a mission to evolve live event ticketing for the first time in history! And where does it all start? With the payment, of course! In Josh’s model, the payment is actually the point of engagement that allows for a ticketing experience that far exceeds the traditional industry standard. Before YellowHeart, the ticketing experience consisted of a barcode or proof of entry stub that told you your seat, location, and basic event information. Now, with YellowHeart, ticketing is a full-on engagement tool for fandom.

In fact, the payment process unlocks a plethora of perks available for purchasers. This includes everything from the capacity to receive messages from fans, digital content, high-end art, coveted vinyls and a slew of other interactive engagement tools. Before YellowHeart, the ticket would die immediately after the point of entry. Now, just the point of purchase brings (and keeps) it alive! 

Tune in this week to hear Josh talk about his journey to CEO, including why you have him to think for good music in public places like restaurants, offices, and coffee shops (just to name a few). We also talk about where the industry is going in the next 2 to 3 years as it relates to bitcoin, Blockchain, and Web3 technology.

Happy New Year! We’re starting out with a bang this year with a guest who was not only a former Southwest Conference Rice University football player, but one who also has bragging rights with both George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev. Oh, and he’s also a big player in payments (of course). AccessOne CEO Mark Spinner has a passion for coaching, loving what you do, and being willing to invest enough to keep showing up.

For those of you who may not know, AccessOne is a financial technology company that exists to empower patients to live healthier lives. They focus on human-centric payment affordability tools with a passion to help patients manage their financial responsibilities with payment options they can afford. The company itself was founded by a third-generation physician and the DNA of the brand is steeped in empathy for the patient experience.

As for what problems they solve in the industry, Mark speaks openly about the complications that still plague the financial healthcare landscape. Disengagement in healthcare payments due to friction is a big problem area they strive to find the easy button for, as well as affordability from the patient perspective. Regarding their competitive advantage, Mark touts patient centricity and flexibility as their driving distinguishers within the payments healthcare space.

Tune in this week to hear Mark talk about his journey to CEO, including what drew him to AccessOne, why he has never been so excited about multifactor authentication, and where he sees in the industry going in the next 2 to 3 years as it relates to a frictionless obsession.

This episode is sponsored by Citizens Pay. With Citizens Pay, merchants have the security of a leading national bank and an omnichannel platform designed to streamline the buying process.  If you want to learn more about Citizens Pay, visit https://citizensbank.mvk.co/2hycr where you can find additional information about Citizens Pay and the buy now pay later payment model.

My guest this week has a passion for a conscious decision making and a love for the growth potential that comes with working for smaller companies. Span this across a 25-year career in fintech and you have the makings of a podcast worth listening to. PayQuicker President Charles Rosenblatt has a lot to say about payments and the original gig economy!

For those of you who may not know, PayQuicker is a global payments platform that does payments for gig economy workers around the globe – in 200 countries and 50+ currencies. They are a complete white-label solution that offers companies the capacity to pay in multiple currencies and with multiple payment methods, including virtual card, direct deposit, e-wallet and even crypto. They have upwards of 80 employees and the company has been around for 15 years. For those of you wondering what market sector they serviced 15 years ago, when the gig economy wasn’t a thing yet, you’re a good company. I asked the same question. And the answer was unexpected! According to Charles, there was, in fact, a thriving gig economy back then. According to him, multilevel marketing reps were the original gig workers!

As for their competitive advantage, Charles touts the company motto (happy payees) as a main driver for their success. While it’s true their main customer is the corporate client, their intentional focus on the payee results in a company culture and brand that excels in customer experience. The other advantage? In addition to their global platform, PayQuicker also developed the first ever payments orchestration platform for payouts that offers only 1 API and only 1 integration!

Tune in this week to hear Charles talk about his journey to president, how they manage to secure a 99% retention rate, and where he sees the industry going in the next 2 to 3 years including more simplicity, ease at the corporate level, and one single point of contact. 

This episode is sponsored by Citizens Pay. With Citizens Pay, merchants have the security of a leading national bank and an omnichannel platform designed to streamline the buying process.  If you want to learn more about Citizens Pay, visit https://citizensbank.mvk.co/2hycr where you can find additional information about Citizens Pay and the buy now pay later payment model.

In trying to find a word to describe my guest this week, I can honestly say that fascinating wouldn’t even be enough to do him justice. Not only has he been in the industry for 32 years, he’s also had the opportunity to work for some of our most reputable brands. And it doesn’t hurt that he has a driving passion for (and a qualified certification in) both digital anthropology and AI ethics. Infosys Finacle CEO Sanat Rao call himself an “accidental technologist,” but I’d be hard pressed to find someone with more purpose driven passion around tech.

For those of you who may not know, Infosys Finacle is an industry leader in digital banking solutions and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Infosys brand. Their evolution spans through decades of experience in everything from core banking to front-and-back-end digital solutions. And they operate in 100 different countries with a portfolio that accounts for global, regional, and local bank customers. Another fun fact? According to Sanat, more than 1 billion adult individuals have an account with a bank that uses Finacle. And this translates to upwards of 16-17% in global market saturation for their proprietary brand.

According to Sanat, they exist to inspire “better banking” (not best) for billions of people and millions of businesses so they can save, pay, borrow, and invest better. Why not best? You’ll have to tune in to find out!

As for their competitive advantage, Sanat touts four main ingredients to their secret sauce:

1.     The capacity for banks to cherry pick from a suite of industry-leading banking solutions

2.     Composability

3.     Global adaptability

4.     And the capability for banks to deploy cloud native and architecture-driven solutions built on proven constructs of layered design and scalability

Tune in this week to hear Sanat talk about his journey to CEO, his passion for academic tech and where he sees the industry going in the next 2 to 3 years including core banking transformation, emerging markets, seamless integration, and the modernization of legacy technology.

Season’s greetings everyone! And welcome to the next episode. This one is a special one. Not only because it’s our 200th episode, but we have a real mover and shaker in the payment space to help us celebrate it! He’s a 30-year payments veteran with a passion for flying and a self-proclaimed “fintech geek.” Fortis CEO Greg Cohen is a true leader in payments.

This episode is sponsored by Citizens Pay. With Citizens Pay, merchants have the security of a leading national bank and an omnichannel platform designed to streamline the buying process.  If you want to learn more about Citizens Pay, visit https://citizensbank.mvk.co/2hycr where you can find additional information about Citizens Pay and the buy now pay later payment model.

For those of you who may not know, Fortis is a fintech company with a mission to make software companies better through embedded payments. They offer a processor neutral gateway that caters specifically to the hospitality, healthcare, specialty retail, B2B and VAR industry sectors. And their employee headcount sits at about 250 dedicated team members, with an annual processing volume upwards of $20 billion in the North American continent. And that’s just their cereal box stats. Their real drive is in their competitive advantage! 

The company’s edge in the marketplace revolves around a guided journey for their customers through vertical specialization. This means customers can use their gateway, proprietary technology, GTM guidance and feature functionality to walk/jog/run towards their goal of being a:

·       Payment facilitator/Payfac

·       ISO/Agent

·       Or a successful referral partner

 Whatever the destination, Fortis can guide the journey. And, according to Greg, it’s this ability to talk the talk and walk the walk in a very vertical specific manner that gives Fortis the right to win in just about every industry sector. 

Tune in to hear Greg talk about his fascinating journey to CEO, including what motivated him to get his private pilot’s license and why flying is truly his great escape. We also talk about upcoming trends to expect in the industry over the next few years, including an uptick in mergers and acquisitions, the globalization of Omnichannel payments and a faster path towards the embedded experience.

This episode is sponsored by Citizens Pay. With Citizens Pay, merchants have the security of a leading national bank and an omnichannel platform designed to streamline the buying process.  If you want to learn more about Citizens Pay, visit https://citizensbank.mvk.co/2hycr where you can find additional information about Citizens Pay and the buy now pay later payment model.

My two guests this week come to you from the city most known for rain (Seattle, WA) and the city most known for chocolate (Hershey, PA). And, somehow, they both ended up with a drive towards tech! AppTech CTO Ben Jenkins and Product SVP Bryan Guy have a passion for disruptive innovation and technology advancement.

For those of you who may not know, AppTech is a payments technology company that offers two core technology products: payments as a service and banking as a service. They are vertical agnostic, and they target disparate systems lacking integration. Their clients are most often found in verticals missing core solutions and core opportunities for their omnichannel banking and they offer these clients a “layer of thin integration often missed by a number of other industries.”

When asked about their competitive advantage, both gentlemen will agree that their UX offering is one of the most significant distinguishers in their space. They come in with a modern platform and are not beholden to any legacy systems. Not to mention, their adaptable, modular platform allows them to offer a proprietary experience unmatched in the industry today. Think commerce overlay meets payments orchestration.

A fun fact about the business? AppTech has been around since 2013 and throughout this time has secured several technology patens within the industry, including tech specific to:

·       Mobile-to-mobile payments

·       In-app geolocations services

·       And text-based payment options

Another fun fact about our guests? Ben started a software innovation lab in Tijuana Mexico, and we have Bryan to thank for the tech that enables you to pick up your mobile Starbucks order (already paid for) and go.

Tune in to hear these guys talk about their journey to AppTech and where they see the industry going in the next 2 to 3 years, including cashier-less technology, low code/no code solutions, business in a box, and embedded banking.

My guest on episode 198 has a passion for going after the big problem and doing what people think can’t be done, as well as a genuine intrigue with the power that disrupted companies can have on just about any individual. In fact, Flywire CEO Mike Massaro likens the time spent in fintech companies to dog years: It may be five years on paper but in terms of experience, it really is so much more.

This episode is sponsored by Citizens Pay. With Citizens Pay, merchants have the security of a leading national bank and an omnichannel platform designed to streamline the buying process.  If you want to learn more about Citizens Pay, visit https://citizensbank.mvk.co/2hycr where you can find additional information about Citizens Pay and the buy now pay later payment model.

For those of you who may not know, Flywire is a fintech company that sits at the intersection of software and payments. They offer best-in-class, enterprise-grade software for specific industries, as well as cutting-edge payments technology. Their target market consists of clients in industries that have been left behind and their ultimate goal is to digitize these industries and bring them up to speed with more modern offerings when it comes to their back-office capabilities.

Originally going to market as a payments company specifically for the education sector called Peer Transfer, Flywire went from a startup model with roughly 30 employees and hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential revenue to a publicly traded company with thousands of “flymates” and hundreds of millions of dollars in potential revenue. As for their competitive advantage, they cater to the market need with market-leading experts and cutting-edge technology versus generic solutions backed by generic teams.

Tune in to hear Mike talk about his journey to CEO, why he refused the offer at least twice before saying yes, and where he sees the industry going in the next 2 to 3 years including more payment methods and a back-office protocol that functions seamlessly without requiring multiple system integrations to support it. 

This episode is sponsored by Citizens Pay. With Citizens Pay, merchants have the security of a leading national bank and an omnichannel platform designed to streamline the buying process.  If you want to learn more about Citizens Pay, visit https://citizensbank.mvk.co/2hycr where you can find additional information about Citizens Pay and the buy now pay later payment model.

My guest this week has a truly fascinating story! Not only has she founded 3 successful companies and created a retail platform unparalleled in its omnichannel offerings, she also came to the United States at the ripe age of 16 years old with nothing but $200 in her pocket and a vision to create something impactful. 

 XY Retail CEO and Cofounder Susan Jeffers knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur by the time she was 12 years old. And not because her parents blazed a trail for her or anyone in her family gave her the idea that this should be her path, because she just knew she had the potential to create something amazing. For those of you who may not know, XY Retail is a fully hosted retail platform that connects all aspects of the retail business – from supply to demand – and allows brands the convenience and capacity to run their entire operations directly from their phone.

According to Susan, the customer journey is no longer a straight line. And customers expect a seamless, connected experience from start to finish and throughout the entire customer journey. So, she set out to solve this need and provide brands with the tools they need to give the experience they want. XY Retail is a unified platform built entirely in the cloud that offers everything from point-of-sale, e-commerce, and auto management solutions to data analytics, plug-and-play payments, and even custom applications. They target the high end, luxury fashion/retail sector and their loyal brands actually helped them build the platform. As for their competitive advantage, Susan touts their ability to allow brands to manage absolutely every aspect of their business from their mobile device, as well as the inherent functionality of a full service, one-stop-shop offering.

Tune in this week to hear Susan talk about her journey to CEO, where she sees the industry going in the next 2 to 3 years as it relates to a completely touch free and seamless user experience, and the thing she’s most passionate about for herself and those she mentors: financial independence enough to free you from social constraints.

My guest this week is a self-proclaimed “recovering consultant” with a love for technology and an eye for connectivity. Cantaloupe CEO Ravi Venkatesan joined Cantaloupe in December 2020 with a path for progress that’s already dominating their industry sector.

For those of you who may not know, Cantaloupe is the technology ally for any business that “doesn’t have roots in the ground,” according to Ravi. This includes unattended cafeterias, vending machines, parking lots, EV charging stations, laundromats, and self-service massage chairs, just to name a few. And one of the things that makes them such a main player in the industry is there IoT capacity. Not only do they provide the telemeter and card reader necessary to enable a self-service storefront, but they also have all devices connected to a proprietary cloud network, with a proprietary payments gateway and an enterprise SaaS solution that lets any customer successfully manage their inventory input and output. And, as if that wasn’t enough already, they just recently got into the self-service kiosk-based market with their recent acquisition of Yoke Payments.

Ravi and I have an interesting discussion about the self-service economy. Not only is it much more prevalent than we think it is, but it’s also expected to grow to be a $46 billion industry by 2027. According to Ravi, the three dominant drivers for this massive growth spurt include:  

·       Labor shortage 

·       Consumer preference 

·       And availability of technology

Tune in to hear Ravi talk about the projected growth spurt of an already prolific industry sector, the convergence of the physical and the digital worlds (coined phigital), and what it looks like to guide a company at the intersection of IoT, digital payments, enterprise SaaS, and self-service kiosk innovation.