Paypod: The Payments Industry Podcast

The continually growing numbers of gig workers has transformed the way many think about careers themselves. But gig workers have different needs, particularly on the financial and banking side than many traditional workers. Fortunately, fintechs are stepping up to directly service them and the gig economy itself. But how is it being done, and what’s to come in the future? Matt Spoke, CEO of Moves, the only all-in-one financial app helping gig workers manage their business and get ahead, joins to discuss. Find show notes and more: https://www.soarpay.com/2021/10/moves/

What if there was a way for consumers to move outside traditional search engines and digital advertising to protect privacy AND get financial rewards from use of their data? Blockchain technology and cryptocurrency offer key solutions. On this episode our guest is Dr. Kurt Nielsen, President of Partisia Blockchain, a WEB 3.0 public blockchain built for trust, transparency, privacy and speed of light finalization. Listen along as Kurt walks us through it all. Find show notes and more: https://www.soarpay.com/2021/10/partisia-blockchain/

For our 200th episode, we take a look at the big picture of payments to explore the latest trends, technologies, and forces driving change in the space! Paul Golding, Senior US Payments and Lifestyle Analyst for Macquarie Group, joins the show as a subject matter expert to offer key insights. Find show notes and more: https://www.soarpay.com/2021/10/macquarie/

Startup investment and VC funding are areas of finance ripe for innovation. As Fintech tools and platforms continue to evolve, cost reduction and efficiency become a primary focus. On this episode, Rémy Astié, Founder & Co-CEO of Vauban joins the show to discuss the growth in VC investing, and how their platform is making start-up investing faster, easier, and more accessible... which is great for both investors and the start-ups looking for capital. Find show notes and more: https://www.soarpay.com/2021/10/vauban/

eCommerce businesses continue to thrive, but only with the right strategy and supporting platforms like Shopify. Having the optimal payments stack is also crucial to success. Chase Clymer, Co-Founder of Electric Eye, a growth agency focusing on eCommerce brands using Shopify specifically joins the show to explore. Find show notes and more: https://www.soarpay.com/2021/09/electric-eye/

Micropayments, financial transactions involving small sums of money, typically online, have been overlooked by many traditional payments and financial organizations. However, the "microeconomy" is actually massive, and offers exciting opportunities for those that cater to it... and financial inclusion itself. Sushil Prabhu, Chairman and CEO of Dropp, a platform enabling micropayments, joins the podcast to break it all down. Find show notes and more: https://www.soarpay.com/2021/09/dropp/

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) not only has the chance to revolutionize the economy, it has the chance to save it. This makes bridging the gap between traditional finance and cryptocurrencies, neobanks, and beyond, absolutely crucial. Rachid Ajaja, CEO and Founder of AllianceBlock joins the show to discuss these opportunities, and how his company is helping DeFi products and services drive value and mainstream adoption. Find show notes and more: https://www.soarpay.com/2021/09/allianceblock/

Small and Midsize Businesses (SMB) have unfortunately often found themselves underserved by traditional banks when it comes to lending. How can fintech-powered solutions bridge the gap? On this episode, Brian Geary, President of Linear Financial Technologies joins the show to explore this and share his company's story. Quality tech platforms can reduce lending friction, reduce costs for banks (making it easier to service smaller players), and more.... listen along to find out how! Find show notes and more: https://www.soarpay.com/2021/09/linearft/

Digital transformations are happening across many industries, and banking is no exception. Banking customers have come to expect mobile apps and other digitized services, while open banking continues to establish itself as the future. Vikram Srivats, VP and General Manager at WaveMaker joins the show to discuss their low code development platform, and how banks can successfully navigate digital transformations. Find show notes and more: https://www.soarpay.com/2021/09/wavemaker/    

When it comes to fraud prevention, behavioral biometrics presents the latest, and perhaps greatest, way to leverage technology for increased security and privacy. Add in passive authentication and the implications for improved user experience across banking, payments, and elsewhere are significant. Bill Sytsma, Senior VP at Callsign, joins the show to discuss. Find show notes and more: https://www.soarpay.com/2021/09/callsign/

Many companies struggle with wasted time and effort around bill payments, spend management, and other accounting processes related to expenditures. Airbase aims to solve these problems by bringing these important mechanisms all under one roof. Listen along as Airbase Founder Thejo Kote joins the show to explore. Find show notes and more: https://www.soarpay.com/2021/08/airbase/

The contactless payment revolution continues, and on this episode we explore a unique payment method under this umbrella... pay by text. Larry Talley is the Founder and CEO of Everyware, a company simplifying the process of collecting payments by offering pay by text solutions. Listen along as Larry breaks down why this payment method is so powerful, and the keys to Everyware's success in a constantly shifting payments landscape. Find show notes and more: https://www.soarpay.com/2021/08/everyware/

Over the last year and a half, few industries have faced as many challenges as the restaurant industry. The silver lining of these challenges is that many restaurants have adapted to COVID-19 challenges and more by improving their management and payments solutions with the help of technology. Joel Montaniel is the CEO and Co-founder of SevenRooms, a technology company that has been helping restaurants digitally transform themselves and grow their revenues. Listen in as Joel walks us through how technology is evolving the restaurant industry. Find show notes and more: https://www.soarpay.com/2021/08/sevenrooms/

The fintech landscape continues to evolve, and a comprehensive marketing strategy remains critical to achieving growth. Whether it's deciding what channels to pursue, crafting messaging, or just crafting a landing page that is tested and effective... effective growth marketing strategies can yield incredible results. Listen along as Shameer Sachdev, founder of Growth Gorilla, a fintech marketing agency, joins the show to explore what works for organizations of all sizes. Find show notes and more: https://www.soarpay.com/2021/08/growth-gorilla/

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology continue to take the financial world by storm, attracting more investor interest than ever before. Learning about the ins and outs of crypto trading, what kinds of coins are out there, and more, isn't exactly easy. Bad information or a lack of understanding can lead to costly mistakes. Edmund McCormack, founder of Dchained, joins the podcast to share how his company is bringing crypto membership and DeFi education to a wide range of people. Ed also shares insights on the larger world of cryptocurrency, including what's coming next. Find show notes and more: https://www.soarpay.com/2021/08/dchained/

Contactless payment solutions, and particularly mobile payments, continue to rise. Beyond that, the need for a completely frictionless mobile experience uniting payments, banking, and beyond has become more apparent than ever. How can fintechs and payments organizations rise to meet this demand? Will Graylin, Founder and CEO of OV Loop joins the show to share his company's story and his vision for bringing all of the financial and payments accounts consumers have into one frictionless, highly secure, digital wallet experience. Find show notes and more: https://www.soarpay.com/2021/08/ov-loop/

Cryptocurrencies are here to stay, yet the criticisms of them as a legitimate payment method continue to abound. Peter Jensen, CEO of RocketFuel joins the podcast to share how his company delivers 1-click check-out solutions using Bitcoin, other crypto, and bank transfers to eCommerce merchants and their customers. Peter also provides insight on the most critical question... why crypto payments are so revolutionary and matter so much. Find show notes and more: https://www.soarpay.com/2021/07/rocketfuel/

We’ve all gotten used to this idea that you only receive paychecks at certain times of the month, and not necessarily when you actually worked the hours. But from a business and employee perspective, is that ideal? Listen along as Kayling Gaver, Co-founder and COO of Tapcheck joins the show to explore the benefits of on-demand pay and share her company's story. Find show notes and more: https://www.soarpay.com/2021/07/tapcheck/

Accessibility is one of the biggest challenges facing crypto adoption. Fortunately, there are fintechs working to solve the issue. Neil Bergquist, Co-founder and CEO of Coinme joins to share the story of this Bitcoin Kiosk company. They have partnered with Coinstar as well as Moneygram to enable people to exchange their cash for crypto in an easy and frictionless way. Find show notes and more: https://www.soarpay.com/2021/07/coinme/

Cryptocurrencies and the democratization of finance offers a tremendous amount of promise... particularly for those in under-resourced communities. But what will it take to truly deliver on it? Sheldon Gilbert, tech entrepreneur and founder of Proclivity Systems as well as Kura Labs, which matches college students and recent graduates with high-demand, high-paying jobs, joins the show to discuss. Find show notes and more: https://www.soarpay.com/2021/07/kura-labs/