October 21, 2025 • 32 mins
Cash flow shouldn’t depend on how many supplier portals your customers force you to use. We sit down with Bill360 president Kevin Sisk to unpack how true accounts receivable automation flips the script for small and midsize B2B companies, turning invoice chaos into a clean, controlled path to getting paid. Kevin’s journey from the Marine Corps through major processors and complex joint ventures to his first startup gives him a rare vantage point on why back-office change is hard and why now is the right time to make it stick.
We break down the pain most owners know too well: dozens of buyer-driven AP systems, manual steps, scattered approvals, and aging invoices. Kevin explains how Bill360 couples AR software with embedded payment facilitation to remove handoffs and deliver one accountable partner. The result is faster payments, automated reminders and dispute handling, and a full audit trail even as teams change. We also explore why a B2B-first design matters, where live human support fits into a “light touch” platform, and how partnerships with vertical software vendors complete industry workflows without forcing users to switch systems.
The conversation digs into the network effects that emerge when suppliers invite their buyers into a shared environment - suddenly the platform sees real relationships and behaviors instead of isolated transactions. That visibility powers smarter insights and, with AI, personalized recommendations that improve cash flow, reduce friction, and even execute actions with user consent. We zoom out to the broader payments landscape too: real-time rails, cross-border options, embedded finance and lending, and the rising need for security as fraudsters adopt AI. If you’re ready to reduce DSO, standardize invoicing, and bring clarity to collections, this episode is a blueprint for modernizing receivables without adding complexity.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to the Leaders in Payments Podcast,
where we talk to sea levelleaders from across the payments
landscape.
We'll be discussing the productsand services that impact the
payment space today, as well astrends and predictions for the
future of payments.
We will also hear stories fromour guests about their journeys
to the topic.
SPEAKER_01 (00:18):
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Leaders in
Payments Podcast.
I'm your host, Greg Myers, andtoday's special guest is Kevin
Sisk, the president of Bill 360.
So, Kevin, thank you for beinghere and welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_02 (00:29):
Thank you, Greg.
Thanks for having me.
Excited to be here.
SPEAKER_01 (00:33):
Great.
Yeah.
Just for the audience, Kevin andI actually worked together.
Can't believe it was like nearly20 years ago at Chase
Paymentech.
So definitely look forward tocatching up with you today.
SPEAKER_02 (00:44):
Yeah.
No, I know.
It's hard to when you say it outloud, it's just like, really?
Can't be that long, but I knowit's been a while, but it's
great to see you, great to behere, great to visit.
SPEAKER_01 (00:55):
Well, before we dive into your career in the company,
can you give us a quick snapshotof your personal background,
maybe where you grew up, whereyou call home today, a few
things like that?
SPEAKER_02 (01:03):
Yeah, sure.
So I I actually grew up in ElPaso, Texas.
And if anybody's ever beenthere, it's a it's uh about 700
miles west of Dallas.
So it gives you an idea how bigTexas is.
But uh so that was my hometown.
Right now I I currently live inDallas, Texas, my wife, my kids,
as we raised our kids.
But I spent an enormous amountof time in Tampa, Florida, and
(01:26):
or Jacksonville, Florida.
Tampa, Florida is our currentheadquarters for Bill 360.
And Jacksonville is our directsales office.
But I've been in Dallas, though,since 1994.
We separated from the military.
I was in the military beforethat.
Both my wife and I were in theMarine Corps separated from the
(01:47):
military, and then short time inAtlanta, and then we moved to
Dallas, and my brothers werethere, and then eventually my
mom, who was in El Paso, shemoved, and so uh so that's what
we call call home, even though Ispend just about every week in
Florida right now.
SPEAKER_01 (02:04):
Your second home is in Florida.
SPEAKER_02 (02:06):
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (02:08):
Awesome, awesome.
Well, can you walk us throughyour professional journey and
how you got to Bill 360?
SPEAKER_02 (02:14):
Sure.
So I've been in payments, and II tell everybody I've been in
payments really my my entireprivate, you know, or civilian
career.
So I was in the military andthen got out, landed in payments
in 1995, which was then firstUSA, that became payment tech
and ultimately part of JP MorganChase.
And so my very first job therewas a as a tech support rep.
(02:36):
And at the time I had not, Ididn't know anything about
payments.
I I really didn't know anythingabout the civilian community.
I was just trying to get a job.
And I remember one of the thingsthat the HR person that was
interviewing me asked me whatwhat my ideal, and you know how
they asked those questions, youknow, where you want to be in
five years, what's your ideal,this and that?
And so, and I hadn't reallypracticed anything, but she
(02:58):
asked me that question about,hey, what's your ideal work
environment?
I was just coming out of theMarine Corps and I said, Hey, if
it's climate control, then I caneat when I want to.
That's my ideal workenvironment.
And she uh she looked at melike, do I write that down?
Is he serious, or should I asksecurity to come take?
It was one of those moments, butI was dead serious.
(03:20):
I was like, man, if I, you know,when I'm hungry, I can eat, and
if it's inside, I don't carewhat I have to do.
But anyway, so that began myjourney in payments, and then I
had a host of different rolesand responsibilities along the
way, primarily on theoperational service side of the
(03:41):
house for the first, you know,six, seven years, and then I was
handed our agent bank business,and then ultimately our our ISO
or independent salesorganization business, and and
pretty much stayed within thatrealm for a handful of years,
left Chase, went to first aid atFireServe, essentially doing the
(04:02):
same role there, and then uh acouple of years as the chief
operating officer for Bank ofAmerica Merchant Services,
unwound that JV, which was a JVbetween Bank of America and
FireServe, and then another tourthrough FireServe as the GM for
the JV of Wells Fargo andFiveServe.
So I had a you know the JV ofPaymentech that was Chase and
(04:25):
First Data, and then with Bankof America and First Data, and
then with Wells.
So I I had my run through theJVs, but in that run during the
Chase days, the Paymentech days,is when I met Paul Hunter, who's
our CEO and founder of Bill 360.
And Paul was a customer of oursat the time.
(04:45):
His ISO, Sterling Payments,bought front-end authorizations
off of the Chase or the PaymentTech Network, which is actually
was here in Tampa.
And so that's how I becameacquaintances with Paul, and
then we got to know each otherpretty well over the years.
And the one thing about Paul, italways stood out.
And this this wasn't me justsaying it, it was all of us on
(05:06):
the Chase side who were exposedto the whole entire ISO
community, is that he was verymuch not your typical ISO-like
person, and uh and he had somemany other different businesses
and all that, and he kind of gotinto the payments in a
roundabout way, but he ran a youknow impeccable organization
(05:27):
that ultimately sold to Evo, andthen that resold again to Global
Payments.
So his business is now part ofglobal payments.
But he and I have known eachother then so you know it's 20
plus like you, you know, 20something years.
And when he started Bill 360,which was about January 2021, he
(05:49):
had some board members, uh, oneof which was Dan Sharon, one of
my former bosses, and many ofyou may know know the name.
And then Dan gave me a call, soI guess it was in late 2022 and
told me what Paul was up to andsaid we should connect.
And so Paul and I startedtalking, and the next thing you
know, because at the time I Ididn't know, I don't want to say
(06:09):
the word retire, but I wasthinking about, hey, do I do
something different?
Just completely outside ofpayments, you know, just not not
necessarily thinking aboutmoney.
It's like, hey, if you're gonnado something and you're not
thinking about money, you'rethinking about what do I want to
do.
And I actually contemplated fora brief period of time of and I
always love trains, is like,what would it like to be a you
know, a train engineer for thesefreight trains, you know, across
(06:32):
the country.
I thought, man, that'd be like,you know, as a kid, I always
thought that would be such a funthing.
But then I started talking toPaul and and was visiting him
here in Tampa, meeting the teamand all that, and then within a
couple months, you know, I wason board and I hadn't looked
back.
And so it's my first run througha startup.
Like I said, my you know, it'sthe military, and then it's all
(06:53):
been big corporate.
And it's been everything thatpeople think it is, uh, times
10.
So there's nothing easy aboutit, but there's a it's an it's
very, very rewarding.
And what I told Paul rightbefore we sort of you know
formalized our agreement, hesaid, hey, this could be you
know a great way to really endyour career, you know, and help
(07:16):
them build a company and aplatform and you know, leave a
mark in the industry.
And and I thought about that fora while, and then I said, you
know, Paul, I don't really thinkit was a great way to end my
career.
I said, now that I've got toknow the business better and
what they're doing, because Ispent, you know, a month, month
and a half, you know, before weactually, before, you know, full
(07:38):
time.
And I said, I feel like it'severything that I've done, you
know, even the military, bigcorporate, all that is really
was just preparation for this.
So it's almost as as if I feellike now I'm getting a jersey
and getting on the field.
Because when you're inside thebig corporations, right, I mean,
(08:01):
you and you can have people havesuccessful careers there and
everything else, but you'restill part of that big machine
and your impact, you know, it'shard to tell like how big is
that.
But in a startup, you know itquickly, and it can be really
good and it can also be reallybad, right?
They, you know, you you find outquickly.
The the marketplace doesn't isnot uh sensitive in that way.
(08:23):
And so, and so I really feellike everything up until I
joined Bill 360 was really justpreparation for this.
So it's not something basicallyit wasn't something, hey, I end
my career.
It's like this is like the testof everything you've been doing
is can you really do this thing?
And so so anyway, that's how Igot to Bill 360, and that's that
(08:45):
was in April of 2023, is when weformalized it.
I'd been going back and forth infrom January 2023, but we
formalized our agreement inApril of 2023 and haven't looked
back.
SPEAKER_01 (08:59):
Well, we've both said the name of the company
several times, so tell ouraudience what Bill 360 actually
does.
SPEAKER_02 (09:05):
Yeah, right.
So I guess that's a good point.
So Bill 360 is a we're a paymentfacilitator, but we're a
accounts receivable automation.
And I know that's a mouthful tosay, but our software provides
you know full service accountsreceivable automation for
primarily the small andmedium-sized businesses.
(09:26):
And and if you think of accountreceivable automation, there
there's there's some providersout there who will have software
that do elements of it, but ourour fundamental belief is to
really have that comprehensiveautomation, you have to be able
to facilitate the payment.
And so, and that was ourgenesis, right?
(09:46):
And so to become a paymentfacilitator so that when we
install the software to ourcustomers, that we also can make
the payment happen.
We don't have to introduce athird party, which is just more
friction or more points offailure.
And so we're the one throat tochoke for all the customers on
our platform.
But most people are familiarwith AP, a lot of there's tons
(10:07):
and tons and tons, you know,hundreds of AP systems out
there, and and probably a lot ofindividuals, you you sign up,
you know, for bill pay serviceso you can pay your water bill
and whatnot.
Well, if you think of accountsreceivable automation as kind of
the reverse of that.
So if you're a small businessowner and you have customers
that want to pay you through anAP system that they've signed up
(10:29):
with, will you as a smallbusiness, you have to, there's
some element of work you have todo to be basically signed up on
that platform.
But if you have hundreds ofcustomers and they're using
dozens and dozens of AP systems,then that's multiple things that
you have to sign up for as thebusiness to get paid that way.
AR automation reverses that.
(10:51):
So it puts the business owner inthe driver's seat to help their
buyers.
It gives them a way to moreeasily pay them, but this way
they're not having to sign upand manage all these multiple AP
systems.
And we're we're focused on B2B.
So any business out there thatsells to another business and
uses an invoice as the primarymeans of getting paid, that's
(11:16):
our target.
So we automate that wholeprocess.
And it's been a processfundamentally that it's from an
automation standpoint hasn'treally been touched because it
is hard.
It's very difficult to automatethat.
And uh so therefore it justhasn't been.
And so that's where we felt thatthat was a gap in the
marketplace, even though it'shard to fill and solve, but we
(11:39):
it's one that's now it's worthit's very worthwhile.
And we bring real change andreal uplift to these small
business owners where you knowthe Coca-Cola's of the world or
the IBMs or the Exxons, right?
They're always gonna find waysto automate their processes.
They have the resources andwhatnot, but the small,
medium-sized folks, they're justthey're just not, you know.
(12:00):
So it's until the technologyarrives at a point in time where
it's cost effective, one, forsomebody to build it and two for
them to consume it.
And so we're at that place now,but that's our primary solution
is the counts receivableautomation with uh payment
facilitation.
SPEAKER_01 (12:19):
So well, what would you say is the biggest challenge
your company is solving for yourcustomers right now?
SPEAKER_02 (12:24):
All these businesses, they have their
processes.
And and like any small business,primarily they're focused on
growing, right?
How do you get new sales andthings like that?
And oftentimes the back officeor the the receivable,
impayables just gets neglected.
And it's so it's somebody who'sbeen sitting back there for
years and they just figure outhow to do it manually, and
(12:45):
they've got their process, andand you know, people don't
question it.
And so for us, I always use theiPhone, even though it's not
quite that same you know,parallel, but it's similar.
Like we didn't know, you and Ididn't know we needed iPhones in
2007, but in 2008, you know,when iPhones came onto the
(13:05):
marketplace, we said, hey, weneed iPhone.
Accounts receivable automationis similar to that.
And so when we're talking to alot of these small, medium-sized
businesses, they have theserooted processes that are very
manual.
And so you're there's an elementof process change.
So it's one thing, you know,people can see it quickly and
(13:26):
go, wow, this is amazing.
It's easy, it makes my lifeeasier.
But then it's like, oh, now Ihad these three people that were
doing these functions that Idon't really need them to do
that much anymore, you know.
So all of a sudden you'reencroaching on this sort of
embedded process to thesebusinesses with modern
(13:46):
technology, and so so sometimesthat's an effort to help people
see like changing that processmeans hey, either you're gonna
have to repurpose some of thesepeople, or in some cases, you
know, they don't need themanymore, and that is not always
an easy thing to do.
And but it is a real dynamic inhelping people, you know, it's
(14:07):
not just adopting thetechnology, it's adopting a
process change.
And that tends to be a hard, youknow, for anybody, right?
Your change is process, and it'sit's it's bigger than you know,
than what you just installingnew software.
SPEAKER_01 (14:21):
So well, what would you say differentiates Bill 360
from your competitors?
SPEAKER_02 (14:26):
Right off the top, we are intensely focused in the
B2B space.
So there are some, you know, andI say competitors, you know, air
quote competitors, is that theyhave some elements of what we
do, but they it's really athey're really B2C centric, and
they put a little bit of a B2Bwrapper around it, but it in the
(14:48):
end, it's really a B2C offering,and that just doesn't fit small
businesses.
I mean, it may move them alittle bit, but not in the way
Bill 360 does.
And so our genesis was with thesmall business in mind that
sells to other small businesses,you know, to other business, I
mean they could be bigbusinesses too, but businesses
(15:09):
that are selling to business.
So we're intensely focused inthe B2B space, which includes a
service element of that withreal human beings, because we
also fundamentally believe thatsmall, you know, these business
owners deserve to have livecustomers and not trying to work
through a chat or email, and youknow, because some of the
competitors, you know, youreally can't find it.
(15:31):
And they don't they don't try tolike hide that.
They just their business modelisn't through a phone number,
their business model is throughthe chat bots or email, and we
fundamentally believe that youknow business owners deserve to
have a that human touch, and uhso that's a cornerstone.
But it's not, you know, ourplatforms built in such a way
(15:52):
that it's uh it's a very lighttouch, right?
They don't need a lot ofsupport.
Once they're up and running,they don't need a lot of
support.
But you know, from time to timethings come up or they're
confused about something, or weroll out new features and stuff
like that, and we like to callthem and talk through, help them
understand how they can use it.
All that is, you know, we gettons of feedback on that, that
they really, really love that.
(16:13):
They've got comparative data andin previous experiences where
they just could never talk tosomebody.
And I think you know, everybodyexperiences that to some level
and just in our personal lives,you know, if you call in eight,
you know, trying to get an 800,trying to get somebody, and you
got to get, you know, navigatethe mazes and everything else,
and it's just difficult.
And certainly as a smallbusiness owner, you know, when
(16:34):
you have some issues, especiallyas it relates to your money,
like it's nice to be able totalk to somebody and somebody
that knows what they're doing.
SPEAKER_01 (16:42):
Well, let's talk a little bit about the future.
Where do you see the biggestgrowth opportunities in your
segment of payments?
SPEAKER_02 (16:49):
So we're really the software, you know,
vertical-specific software.
So if you think there's a lot ofpick a software, right?
Or pick an industry and there'sdozens of software companies
that are serving the needs ofthat industry.
In other words, help thatindustry be more efficient in
how those businesses operate.
And so that's a core part of ourgrowth strategy is partnerships
(17:14):
with those types of softwarecompanies and helping their end
use.
So, in effect, what we do is weamplify that software because
most of them aren't going to dopayments and they're certainly
not going to bring accountsreceivable automation.
That's just, you know, if I'm anindustry-specific software
provider, I'm focused on all theattributes of that industry and
(17:38):
make it an easy industry.
I'm not going to go solve thisreceivable that's very
complicated, and back officesthat are very different from
business to business, even inthe same industry.
So they sort of stop there orthey'll create the invoice.
Well, we pick up there.
And so we make that softwarereally more complete for their
(17:59):
customers because then we bringhelping them get paid.
And not only helping them getpaid, getting them paid faster,
and how those customers actuallymanage the interactions with
their customers, you know,suppliers, buyers.
So we make that whole processmuch better so that customers,
the friction sometimes thatcomes when people are collecting
(18:22):
money, right, on an agedinvoice, that we help them
automate all that and do thingstoo where it doesn't become
aged, right?
If there's questions and thingslike that that a buyer might
have on an invoice that they cancommunicate easily with that
supplier and it's not an email,we got an integrated tool so
(18:45):
that way they're communicatingtogether.
And if people change, right?
If an employee at the supplieror an employee at the buyer, if
they change roles, somebody new,it's all that history is within
the tool, it's not withinpeople's email boxes.
So if I'm communicating withyou, and then I leave, and then
you're going, hey, where'sKevin?
(19:05):
Well, he left, and then you getso well, it's in Kevin's email.
Well, he's gone, so now we gotto go figure out his email.
So we have all in the tool.
So if people change, it doesn'tmatter.
The tool's still there, it hasall the residual history and
communications and invoicebetween those, the buyer and the
seller.
So it takes the friction out ofwhat sometimes could on the
(19:26):
collection side, we remove that,make it easy, let the tool
manage that, and then let thosebusiness owners, hopefully, they
spend more time on businessdevelopment or relationship
management.
SPEAKER_01 (19:37):
Aaron Powell Are those vertical software
companies that you mentioned,are they a sales channel or like
do you partner with them and getembedded in their software, or
is it more like a channel?
SPEAKER_02 (19:48):
Yeah, it's uh uh I mean we can do it either way.
We do full integrations, it canbe you know referral type
relationships, it can be youknow partial integrations.
It really depends on thesoftware partner and their
objectives with their owncustomer base.
We can do them all.
So if they want to fullyintegrate to us, we're all over
that.
(20:08):
If it's partial or if it's justreferral, but we have
comprehensive go-to-marketstrategies for each one of those
channels to ensure success, nomatter how they choose to
connect with us.
SPEAKER_01 (20:21):
Well, what does success look like for Bill 360,
say, over the next three to fiveyears?
SPEAKER_02 (20:27):
Yeah.
Well, in the next three to fiveyears, that we got hundreds of
thousands of buyers andsuppliers on our platform or
within our network that are thatwe're servicing every single
day.
And what's unique, and and Ididn't really touch on this, is
that in traditional payments,and I know there's a there's a
lot of people, you know, intraditional payment that that
(20:49):
might be listening, is that whenyou normally, you know, and I'll
use Chase as an example.
If Chase signs up a customer toaccept payments, it's kind of
one-dimensional, right?
They accept payments and that'sit.
But that the Chase doesn'tnecessarily know who that
customer they just signed up,who all their customers are,
(21:10):
right?
You know, as the transactionscome, they see the transaction,
all that.
Well, with Bill 360, when thedirect customer signs up with
us, which we call supplier, whena supplier signs up, on average,
you know, if they're sendingout, let's say, 200 unique
invoices a month to uniquecustomers or their buyers, is
what we refer to as, is now wehave visibility.
(21:32):
They sign up with us, synced ourplatform, we have visibility of
their customers.
So that's really we have the onesupplier who's now in the
network plus their 200customers.
So we sign one, our network justgrew by 200 in one.
And we have complete visibilityof that history between that
buyer and the and supplier, youknow, their past invoices, you
(21:56):
know, how often they buy, whatthey buy, what their average,
you know, purchase invoice, howmuch they spend.
So we have all this history thatin a normal relationship you
don't have.
And so, and there's a lot ofthings that we're that we're
gonna be doing within thatnetwork to bring value to those
buyers and and sub andsuppliers.
(22:18):
And so, you know, you ask threeto five years, is that we have
high aspirations around what wedo within that network that's
gonna be really beneficial toall the parties involved, but in
ways that you can't you can't doin just traditional merchant
acquiring.
So we're really excited aboutthat.
(22:39):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (22:39):
That network effect is is something kind of unique,
right?
To your business.
SPEAKER_02 (22:44):
Yeah, very okay.
SPEAKER_01 (22:45):
Well, what are some of the biggest trends that you
see reshaping the whole paymentsindustry?
SPEAKER_02 (22:50):
Dare I say AI?
SPEAKER_01 (22:53):
It comes up in every conversation.
SPEAKER_02 (22:54):
Right, it comes up in every conversation, everybody
says it, and it means a lot ofthings to a lot of people.
But, you know, and in you know,like many Ventechs and and
certainly startups, that we wehave an intense amount of focus
around that.
And not not in, you know, so ifyou think about it in two ways,
we think about it in internally,right?
(23:14):
And we do use it, you know,intensely internally to develop
faster our own service modelsand you know, all the things
that people are trying to do toleverage AI for uh productivity
output.
But then it's the things whatare you doing to actually help
your customers make make theirlives easier?
So the personalization of AI.
(23:35):
And so we have an enormousamount of uh focus around that,
which includes it back to thatnetwork, but helping our
customers make decisions abouttheir business in ways that
maybe they could get there ifthey were thinking about it and
they had somebody to do theright amount of analysis, but
we're gonna help them in waysthat they probably haven't even
(23:57):
thought about yet.
That's good, they could thatthey'll not only be able to make
better decisions, but we'llwe'll have options for them to
let the AI implement that optionif they choose it.
And so I think thepersonalization of AI, I mean,
of course, fraud prevention andall those things, I think those
(24:18):
are all gonna be big drivers aswe move forward in in payments.
But the personalization of it, Ithink, is gonna be a big driver
in the next 12.
It certainly is for us in howyou bring that to bear to really
help your customers' lives getbetter, make them make them
smarter about their business andjust easier to run it.
I think, you know, people alsotalk about real time and instant
(24:40):
payment.
I think those are also gonna be,you know, those are gonna get,
you know, more and moretraction, and especially, you
know, if if it's cross-bordertype things, that's that's
definitely gonna get legs andand along with digital digital
assets, you know.
So you kind of think of thoseall one group, I mean another
(25:01):
different, but it's still it'soutside the card networks,
basically.
The digital and certainly withthe regulatory environment,
that's gonna start adding moreclarity.
And with more clarity, right,then you're gonna have more
entrance into the market andhelping people to you know use
those assets is in in a way, youknow, is uh us as consumers
(25:25):
that's easy for us to use.
I think those are gonna bethat's gonna take on a new
momentum and embedded financeand embedded lending.
I think those are and those arethings we're you know, we're
focused on too, and we have anoffering.
And so I think people arefamiliar with the kind of the
buy now pay later model, butit's also you know, we think
(25:46):
there's gonna be a movement tosort of a kind of a traditional
lending within these embeddedapps, right?
Because with AI, you can do somuch more analysis and
underwriting and risk managementquicker, so it only makes sense,
right, that traditional lendingcould also take place in that
same sort of buy now, pay later,you know, embedded model.
(26:09):
Whereas before, right, it wasmore limited and it made sense,
and you kind of had thesepayment periods, whereas now
with the information you canhave access to, it's it's just
as easy to do kind of atraditional loan.
So anyway, those are some of thethings we we see.
This is certainly the next 12months.
There's uh there's other things,but that's a hand.
SPEAKER_01 (26:31):
Well, a couple of final questions.
Um so if you could go back andgive yourself some advice, maybe
at the start of your career,what would that be?
SPEAKER_02 (26:40):
Yeah, it's funny.
I just had this conversationwith a young man, close friend
of my son's.
They went to high schooltogether, and and he's kind of
in that transition period in hislife trying to figure out what
he's gonna do next.
And I and I pointed him towardspayments, and that's one of the
things I wished, you know, had Ibeen intentional about it,
(27:03):
because oftentimes in thepayment, and I like to ask
people that, and you're probablyno, most people swerve into
payments, right?
They don't get up and go intopayments like, hey, I want to go
be a lawyer, or I want to be achiropractor, or I want to be an
engineer, you know, those areintentional decisions.
It's rare that people are going,hey, I want to go into payments.
But I encouraged him and I gavehim some things to read and some
(27:26):
things to think about, and thatit's it's the one industry,
right?
Everybody needs it's needed, youknow.
We know we we agree to that, andyou know, sort of the recurring
nature of it, but it really isthe sort of the the glue of the
free enterprise system, right?
Making it increasingly easierfor people to move money between
(27:48):
businesses and individuals isalways going to be a necessity.
And so I I encourage this youngman to take a hard look at the
payments industry and startingout really on the selling side.
And you know, if I had it all todo over, knowing what I know
now, that's probably what I'dhave done day one, and with some
(28:09):
uh being intentional about it.
But but I think it's it's a it'sa great industry, and for you,
and especially for young folksthat are, you know, maybe they
just finished college or theydidn't go to college and they're
just thinking about or they'refresh out of the military, young
and trying to trying to think ofwhat the next thing to do.
I think it's just it's a it's agreat industry that's always
gonna be there.
(28:29):
And and it's also you know,you're running the tangent with
technology too.
So even though it's that corething, like the the need to move
money is always gonna be there,running the free enterprise
system, but also that technologythat's helping that, you're
always gonna be part of thatedge of technology too.
So it's not like, well, I wantto go into the tech space, so
(28:51):
therefore I can't do payments.
It's like it's the place you cango into, and then you're gonna
be part of that technology wave.
You'll always be on the edge ofthat.
So I mean maybe the way to sumit up is it's that's there's an
old Chinese proverb that says,you know, when's the best time
to plant a tree?
And the answer is 20 years ago,and then it's when's the when's
the next best time to plant atree?
(29:12):
Today.
And so I think in payments, it'sone of those things, the sooner
you get started, you won'tregret it.
SPEAKER_01 (29:18):
Yeah, and I I've I fell into payments.
I certainly, you know, was inother places before and just
kind of fell in, and here I am,you know, 20 years later, still
still doing it.
SPEAKER_02 (29:29):
Yeah, here we are talking about it, you know, and
it and and the same same thingfor me.
And and it's funny because I dopeople that have been in it for
a while, I always like to askthem that because there's always
a story there.
And it's never, hey, I decided Iwant to be a payments person.
You know, there's always a storyof how they got there, and it's
usually some a friend or eithersome fluky thing that got them
(29:54):
there, and you know, but thenthey stay.
That's the other thing, too, isthen they stay.
SPEAKER_01 (29:59):
Okay.
Well, one One final question.
What's one thing that peoplelistening to the show today
should be thinking about rightnow when it comes to payments?
SPEAKER_02 (30:08):
I think security, that's the thing.
And we haven't really touched onthat.
You know, we talk about AI andall the positive things that it
can and does do and has done.
I know everybody's used at somesome level, even their personal,
but it can also be weaponized,right, in the payment system.
And so the fraudsters also haveaccess to AI and very committed
(30:33):
to it.
And so I would just say securityin the you know the payments,
that's just like just beinghyper-vigilant all the time is
you just can't afford not to bethere because really because of
AI and and the speed with whichthe fraudsters evolve.
It's hard to stay up with them,but but we have to.
(30:54):
And so I would just that shouldbe on the top of everybody's
mind.
I know we didn't talk about itmuch, but it's it's always for
us.
I mean, it's a it's a nonstopthought, you know, security,
because you know, that secondyou're not paying attention or
you let your guard down is isnot a not a good thing.
So, but yeah, security.
And in your personal lives too.
(31:15):
I mean, change of path, allthose things.
I mean, they they're gettingbetter, their fishing attacks
get better.
All the deep fakes that thatthey can even in voices and
things like that.
So I would just say security,security, security.
SPEAKER_01 (31:29):
Well, I think that's a a great way to wrap up the
show.
So, Kevin, thank you so much forbeing on today.
I know your time is veryvaluable, so I really appreciate
you being here.
SPEAKER_02 (31:37):
Yeah, well, thank you, Greg.
It's great seeing you, andthanks for having me on.
It's great.
SPEAKER_01 (31:41):
Absolutely, yeah.
I really enjoyed it.
And to all your listeners outthere, I thank you for your time
as well.
And until the next story.
SPEAKER_00 (31:47):
Thank you for joining us this week on the
Leaders in Payments Podcast.
Make sure you visit our websiteat leadersandpayments.com, where
you can subscribe to the showand where you'll find our show
notes.
If you enjoyed listening, pleaseshare on your social channels as
well.
Welcome to the Leaders in Payments Podcast,
where we talk to sea levelleaders from across the payments
landscape.
We'll be discussing the productsand services that impact the
payment space today, as well astrends and predictions for the
future of payments.
We will also hear stories fromour guests about their journeys
to the topic.
SPEAKER_01 (00:18):
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Leaders in
Payments Podcast.
I'm your host, Greg Myers, andtoday's special guest is Kevin
Sisk, the president of Bill 360.
So, Kevin, thank you for beinghere and welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_02 (00:29):
Thank you, Greg.
Thanks for having me.
Excited to be here.
SPEAKER_01 (00:33):
Great.
Yeah.
Just for the audience, Kevin andI actually worked together.
Can't believe it was like nearly20 years ago at Chase
Paymentech.
So definitely look forward tocatching up with you today.
SPEAKER_02 (00:44):
Yeah.
No, I know.
It's hard to when you say it outloud, it's just like, really?
Can't be that long, but I knowit's been a while, but it's
great to see you, great to behere, great to visit.
SPEAKER_01 (00:55):
Well, before we dive into your career in the company,
can you give us a quick snapshotof your personal background,
maybe where you grew up, whereyou call home today, a few
things like that?
SPEAKER_02 (01:03):
Yeah, sure.
So I I actually grew up in ElPaso, Texas.
And if anybody's ever beenthere, it's a it's uh about 700
miles west of Dallas.
So it gives you an idea how bigTexas is.
But uh so that was my hometown.
Right now I I currently live inDallas, Texas, my wife, my kids,
as we raised our kids.
But I spent an enormous amountof time in Tampa, Florida, and
(01:26):
or Jacksonville, Florida.
Tampa, Florida is our currentheadquarters for Bill 360.
And Jacksonville is our directsales office.
But I've been in Dallas, though,since 1994.
We separated from the military.
I was in the military beforethat.
Both my wife and I were in theMarine Corps separated from the
(01:47):
military, and then short time inAtlanta, and then we moved to
Dallas, and my brothers werethere, and then eventually my
mom, who was in El Paso, shemoved, and so uh so that's what
we call call home, even though Ispend just about every week in
Florida right now.
SPEAKER_01 (02:04):
Your second home is in Florida.
SPEAKER_02 (02:06):
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (02:08):
Awesome, awesome.
Well, can you walk us throughyour professional journey and
how you got to Bill 360?
SPEAKER_02 (02:14):
Sure.
So I've been in payments, and II tell everybody I've been in
payments really my my entireprivate, you know, or civilian
career.
So I was in the military andthen got out, landed in payments
in 1995, which was then firstUSA, that became payment tech
and ultimately part of JP MorganChase.
And so my very first job therewas a as a tech support rep.
(02:36):
And at the time I had not, Ididn't know anything about
payments.
I I really didn't know anythingabout the civilian community.
I was just trying to get a job.
And I remember one of the thingsthat the HR person that was
interviewing me asked me whatwhat my ideal, and you know how
they asked those questions, youknow, where you want to be in
five years, what's your ideal,this and that?
And so, and I hadn't reallypracticed anything, but she
(02:58):
asked me that question about,hey, what's your ideal work
environment?
I was just coming out of theMarine Corps and I said, Hey, if
it's climate control, then I caneat when I want to.
That's my ideal workenvironment.
And she uh she looked at melike, do I write that down?
Is he serious, or should I asksecurity to come take?
It was one of those moments, butI was dead serious.
(03:20):
I was like, man, if I, you know,when I'm hungry, I can eat, and
if it's inside, I don't carewhat I have to do.
But anyway, so that began myjourney in payments, and then I
had a host of different rolesand responsibilities along the
way, primarily on theoperational service side of the
(03:41):
house for the first, you know,six, seven years, and then I was
handed our agent bank business,and then ultimately our our ISO
or independent salesorganization business, and and
pretty much stayed within thatrealm for a handful of years,
left Chase, went to first aid atFireServe, essentially doing the
(04:02):
same role there, and then uh acouple of years as the chief
operating officer for Bank ofAmerica Merchant Services,
unwound that JV, which was a JVbetween Bank of America and
FireServe, and then another tourthrough FireServe as the GM for
the JV of Wells Fargo andFiveServe.
So I had a you know the JV ofPaymentech that was Chase and
(04:25):
First Data, and then with Bankof America and First Data, and
then with Wells.
So I I had my run through theJVs, but in that run during the
Chase days, the Paymentech days,is when I met Paul Hunter, who's
our CEO and founder of Bill 360.
And Paul was a customer of oursat the time.
(04:45):
His ISO, Sterling Payments,bought front-end authorizations
off of the Chase or the PaymentTech Network, which is actually
was here in Tampa.
And so that's how I becameacquaintances with Paul, and
then we got to know each otherpretty well over the years.
And the one thing about Paul, italways stood out.
And this this wasn't me justsaying it, it was all of us on
(05:06):
the Chase side who were exposedto the whole entire ISO
community, is that he was verymuch not your typical ISO-like
person, and uh and he had somemany other different businesses
and all that, and he kind of gotinto the payments in a
roundabout way, but he ran a youknow impeccable organization
(05:27):
that ultimately sold to Evo, andthen that resold again to Global
Payments.
So his business is now part ofglobal payments.
But he and I have known eachother then so you know it's 20
plus like you, you know, 20something years.
And when he started Bill 360,which was about January 2021, he
(05:49):
had some board members, uh, oneof which was Dan Sharon, one of
my former bosses, and many ofyou may know know the name.
And then Dan gave me a call, soI guess it was in late 2022 and
told me what Paul was up to andsaid we should connect.
And so Paul and I startedtalking, and the next thing you
know, because at the time I Ididn't know, I don't want to say
(06:09):
the word retire, but I wasthinking about, hey, do I do
something different?
Just completely outside ofpayments, you know, just not not
necessarily thinking aboutmoney.
It's like, hey, if you're gonnado something and you're not
thinking about money, you'rethinking about what do I want to
do.
And I actually contemplated fora brief period of time of and I
always love trains, is like,what would it like to be a you
know, a train engineer for thesefreight trains, you know, across
(06:32):
the country.
I thought, man, that'd be like,you know, as a kid, I always
thought that would be such a funthing.
But then I started talking toPaul and and was visiting him
here in Tampa, meeting the teamand all that, and then within a
couple months, you know, I wason board and I hadn't looked
back.
And so it's my first run througha startup.
Like I said, my you know, it'sthe military, and then it's all
(06:53):
been big corporate.
And it's been everything thatpeople think it is, uh, times
10.
So there's nothing easy aboutit, but there's a it's an it's
very, very rewarding.
And what I told Paul rightbefore we sort of you know
formalized our agreement, hesaid, hey, this could be you
know a great way to really endyour career, you know, and help
(07:16):
them build a company and aplatform and you know, leave a
mark in the industry.
And and I thought about that fora while, and then I said, you
know, Paul, I don't really thinkit was a great way to end my
career.
I said, now that I've got toknow the business better and
what they're doing, because Ispent, you know, a month, month
and a half, you know, before weactually, before, you know, full
(07:38):
time.
And I said, I feel like it'severything that I've done, you
know, even the military, bigcorporate, all that is really
was just preparation for this.
So it's almost as as if I feellike now I'm getting a jersey
and getting on the field.
Because when you're inside thebig corporations, right, I mean,
(08:01):
you and you can have people havesuccessful careers there and
everything else, but you'restill part of that big machine
and your impact, you know, it'shard to tell like how big is
that.
But in a startup, you know itquickly, and it can be really
good and it can also be reallybad, right?
They, you know, you you find outquickly.
The the marketplace doesn't isnot uh sensitive in that way.
(08:23):
And so, and so I really feellike everything up until I
joined Bill 360 was really justpreparation for this.
So it's not something basicallyit wasn't something, hey, I end
my career.
It's like this is like the testof everything you've been doing
is can you really do this thing?
And so so anyway, that's how Igot to Bill 360, and that's that
(08:45):
was in April of 2023, is when weformalized it.
I'd been going back and forth infrom January 2023, but we
formalized our agreement inApril of 2023 and haven't looked
back.
SPEAKER_01 (08:59):
Well, we've both said the name of the company
several times, so tell ouraudience what Bill 360 actually
does.
SPEAKER_02 (09:05):
Yeah, right.
So I guess that's a good point.
So Bill 360 is a we're a paymentfacilitator, but we're a
accounts receivable automation.
And I know that's a mouthful tosay, but our software provides
you know full service accountsreceivable automation for
primarily the small andmedium-sized businesses.
(09:26):
And and if you think of accountreceivable automation, there
there's there's some providersout there who will have software
that do elements of it, but ourour fundamental belief is to
really have that comprehensiveautomation, you have to be able
to facilitate the payment.
And so, and that was ourgenesis, right?
(09:46):
And so to become a paymentfacilitator so that when we
install the software to ourcustomers, that we also can make
the payment happen.
We don't have to introduce athird party, which is just more
friction or more points offailure.
And so we're the one throat tochoke for all the customers on
our platform.
But most people are familiarwith AP, a lot of there's tons
(10:07):
and tons and tons, you know,hundreds of AP systems out
there, and and probably a lot ofindividuals, you you sign up,
you know, for bill pay serviceso you can pay your water bill
and whatnot.
Well, if you think of accountsreceivable automation as kind of
the reverse of that.
So if you're a small businessowner and you have customers
that want to pay you through anAP system that they've signed up
(10:29):
with, will you as a smallbusiness, you have to, there's
some element of work you have todo to be basically signed up on
that platform.
But if you have hundreds ofcustomers and they're using
dozens and dozens of AP systems,then that's multiple things that
you have to sign up for as thebusiness to get paid that way.
AR automation reverses that.
(10:51):
So it puts the business owner inthe driver's seat to help their
buyers.
It gives them a way to moreeasily pay them, but this way
they're not having to sign upand manage all these multiple AP
systems.
And we're we're focused on B2B.
So any business out there thatsells to another business and
uses an invoice as the primarymeans of getting paid, that's
(11:16):
our target.
So we automate that wholeprocess.
And it's been a processfundamentally that it's from an
automation standpoint hasn'treally been touched because it
is hard.
It's very difficult to automatethat.
And uh so therefore it justhasn't been.
And so that's where we felt thatthat was a gap in the
marketplace, even though it'shard to fill and solve, but we
(11:39):
it's one that's now it's worthit's very worthwhile.
And we bring real change andreal uplift to these small
business owners where you knowthe Coca-Cola's of the world or
the IBMs or the Exxons, right?
They're always gonna find waysto automate their processes.
They have the resources andwhatnot, but the small,
medium-sized folks, they're justthey're just not, you know.
(12:00):
So it's until the technologyarrives at a point in time where
it's cost effective, one, forsomebody to build it and two for
them to consume it.
And so we're at that place now,but that's our primary solution
is the counts receivableautomation with uh payment
facilitation.
SPEAKER_01 (12:19):
So well, what would you say is the biggest challenge
your company is solving for yourcustomers right now?
SPEAKER_02 (12:24):
All these businesses, they have their
processes.
And and like any small business,primarily they're focused on
growing, right?
How do you get new sales andthings like that?
And oftentimes the back officeor the the receivable,
impayables just gets neglected.
And it's so it's somebody who'sbeen sitting back there for
years and they just figure outhow to do it manually, and
(12:45):
they've got their process, andand you know, people don't
question it.
And so for us, I always use theiPhone, even though it's not
quite that same you know,parallel, but it's similar.
Like we didn't know, you and Ididn't know we needed iPhones in
2007, but in 2008, you know,when iPhones came onto the
(13:05):
marketplace, we said, hey, weneed iPhone.
Accounts receivable automationis similar to that.
And so when we're talking to alot of these small, medium-sized
businesses, they have theserooted processes that are very
manual.
And so you're there's an elementof process change.
So it's one thing, you know,people can see it quickly and
(13:26):
go, wow, this is amazing.
It's easy, it makes my lifeeasier.
But then it's like, oh, now Ihad these three people that were
doing these functions that Idon't really need them to do
that much anymore, you know.
So all of a sudden you'reencroaching on this sort of
embedded process to thesebusinesses with modern
(13:46):
technology, and so so sometimesthat's an effort to help people
see like changing that processmeans hey, either you're gonna
have to repurpose some of thesepeople, or in some cases, you
know, they don't need themanymore, and that is not always
an easy thing to do.
And but it is a real dynamic inhelping people, you know, it's
(14:07):
not just adopting thetechnology, it's adopting a
process change.
And that tends to be a hard, youknow, for anybody, right?
Your change is process, and it'sit's it's bigger than you know,
than what you just installingnew software.
SPEAKER_01 (14:21):
So well, what would you say differentiates Bill 360
from your competitors?
SPEAKER_02 (14:26):
Right off the top, we are intensely focused in the
B2B space.
So there are some, you know, andI say competitors, you know, air
quote competitors, is that theyhave some elements of what we
do, but they it's really athey're really B2C centric, and
they put a little bit of a B2Bwrapper around it, but it in the
(14:48):
end, it's really a B2C offering,and that just doesn't fit small
businesses.
I mean, it may move them alittle bit, but not in the way
Bill 360 does.
And so our genesis was with thesmall business in mind that
sells to other small businesses,you know, to other business, I
mean they could be bigbusinesses too, but businesses
(15:09):
that are selling to business.
So we're intensely focused inthe B2B space, which includes a
service element of that withreal human beings, because we
also fundamentally believe thatsmall, you know, these business
owners deserve to have livecustomers and not trying to work
through a chat or email, and youknow, because some of the
competitors, you know, youreally can't find it.
(15:31):
And they don't they don't try tolike hide that.
They just their business modelisn't through a phone number,
their business model is throughthe chat bots or email, and we
fundamentally believe that youknow business owners deserve to
have a that human touch, and uhso that's a cornerstone.
But it's not, you know, ourplatforms built in such a way
(15:52):
that it's uh it's a very lighttouch, right?
They don't need a lot ofsupport.
Once they're up and running,they don't need a lot of
support.
But you know, from time to timethings come up or they're
confused about something, or weroll out new features and stuff
like that, and we like to callthem and talk through, help them
understand how they can use it.
All that is, you know, we gettons of feedback on that, that
they really, really love that.
(16:13):
They've got comparative data andin previous experiences where
they just could never talk tosomebody.
And I think you know, everybodyexperiences that to some level
and just in our personal lives,you know, if you call in eight,
you know, trying to get an 800,trying to get somebody, and you
got to get, you know, navigatethe mazes and everything else,
and it's just difficult.
And certainly as a smallbusiness owner, you know, when
(16:34):
you have some issues, especiallyas it relates to your money,
like it's nice to be able totalk to somebody and somebody
that knows what they're doing.
SPEAKER_01 (16:42):
Well, let's talk a little bit about the future.
Where do you see the biggestgrowth opportunities in your
segment of payments?
SPEAKER_02 (16:49):
So we're really the software, you know,
vertical-specific software.
So if you think there's a lot ofpick a software, right?
Or pick an industry and there'sdozens of software companies
that are serving the needs ofthat industry.
In other words, help thatindustry be more efficient in
how those businesses operate.
And so that's a core part of ourgrowth strategy is partnerships
(17:14):
with those types of softwarecompanies and helping their end
use.
So, in effect, what we do is weamplify that software because
most of them aren't going to dopayments and they're certainly
not going to bring accountsreceivable automation.
That's just, you know, if I'm anindustry-specific software
provider, I'm focused on all theattributes of that industry and
(17:38):
make it an easy industry.
I'm not going to go solve thisreceivable that's very
complicated, and back officesthat are very different from
business to business, even inthe same industry.
So they sort of stop there orthey'll create the invoice.
Well, we pick up there.
And so we make that softwarereally more complete for their
(17:59):
customers because then we bringhelping them get paid.
And not only helping them getpaid, getting them paid faster,
and how those customers actuallymanage the interactions with
their customers, you know,suppliers, buyers.
So we make that whole processmuch better so that customers,
the friction sometimes thatcomes when people are collecting
(18:22):
money, right, on an agedinvoice, that we help them
automate all that and do thingstoo where it doesn't become
aged, right?
If there's questions and thingslike that that a buyer might
have on an invoice that they cancommunicate easily with that
supplier and it's not an email,we got an integrated tool so
(18:45):
that way they're communicatingtogether.
And if people change, right?
If an employee at the supplieror an employee at the buyer, if
they change roles, somebody new,it's all that history is within
the tool, it's not withinpeople's email boxes.
So if I'm communicating withyou, and then I leave, and then
you're going, hey, where'sKevin?
(19:05):
Well, he left, and then you getso well, it's in Kevin's email.
Well, he's gone, so now we gotto go figure out his email.
So we have all in the tool.
So if people change, it doesn'tmatter.
The tool's still there, it hasall the residual history and
communications and invoicebetween those, the buyer and the
seller.
So it takes the friction out ofwhat sometimes could on the
(19:26):
collection side, we remove that,make it easy, let the tool
manage that, and then let thosebusiness owners, hopefully, they
spend more time on businessdevelopment or relationship
management.
SPEAKER_01 (19:37):
Aaron Powell Are those vertical software
companies that you mentioned,are they a sales channel or like
do you partner with them and getembedded in their software, or
is it more like a channel?
SPEAKER_02 (19:48):
Yeah, it's uh uh I mean we can do it either way.
We do full integrations, it canbe you know referral type
relationships, it can be youknow partial integrations.
It really depends on thesoftware partner and their
objectives with their owncustomer base.
We can do them all.
So if they want to fullyintegrate to us, we're all over
that.
(20:08):
If it's partial or if it's justreferral, but we have
comprehensive go-to-marketstrategies for each one of those
channels to ensure success, nomatter how they choose to
connect with us.
SPEAKER_01 (20:21):
Well, what does success look like for Bill 360,
say, over the next three to fiveyears?
SPEAKER_02 (20:27):
Yeah.
Well, in the next three to fiveyears, that we got hundreds of
thousands of buyers andsuppliers on our platform or
within our network that are thatwe're servicing every single
day.
And what's unique, and and Ididn't really touch on this, is
that in traditional payments,and I know there's a there's a
lot of people, you know, intraditional payment that that
(20:49):
might be listening, is that whenyou normally, you know, and I'll
use Chase as an example.
If Chase signs up a customer toaccept payments, it's kind of
one-dimensional, right?
They accept payments and that'sit.
But that the Chase doesn'tnecessarily know who that
customer they just signed up,who all their customers are,
(21:10):
right?
You know, as the transactionscome, they see the transaction,
all that.
Well, with Bill 360, when thedirect customer signs up with
us, which we call supplier, whena supplier signs up, on average,
you know, if they're sendingout, let's say, 200 unique
invoices a month to uniquecustomers or their buyers, is
what we refer to as, is now wehave visibility.
(21:32):
They sign up with us, synced ourplatform, we have visibility of
their customers.
So that's really we have the onesupplier who's now in the
network plus their 200customers.
So we sign one, our network justgrew by 200 in one.
And we have complete visibilityof that history between that
buyer and the and supplier, youknow, their past invoices, you
(21:56):
know, how often they buy, whatthey buy, what their average,
you know, purchase invoice, howmuch they spend.
So we have all this history thatin a normal relationship you
don't have.
And so, and there's a lot ofthings that we're that we're
gonna be doing within thatnetwork to bring value to those
buyers and and sub andsuppliers.
(22:18):
And so, you know, you ask threeto five years, is that we have
high aspirations around what wedo within that network that's
gonna be really beneficial toall the parties involved, but in
ways that you can't you can't doin just traditional merchant
acquiring.
So we're really excited aboutthat.
(22:39):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (22:39):
That network effect is is something kind of unique,
right?
To your business.
SPEAKER_02 (22:44):
Yeah, very okay.
SPEAKER_01 (22:45):
Well, what are some of the biggest trends that you
see reshaping the whole paymentsindustry?
SPEAKER_02 (22:50):
Dare I say AI?
SPEAKER_01 (22:53):
It comes up in every conversation.
SPEAKER_02 (22:54):
Right, it comes up in every conversation, everybody
says it, and it means a lot ofthings to a lot of people.
But, you know, and in you know,like many Ventechs and and
certainly startups, that we wehave an intense amount of focus
around that.
And not not in, you know, so ifyou think about it in two ways,
we think about it in internally,right?
(23:14):
And we do use it, you know,intensely internally to develop
faster our own service modelsand you know, all the things
that people are trying to do toleverage AI for uh productivity
output.
But then it's the things whatare you doing to actually help
your customers make make theirlives easier?
So the personalization of AI.
(23:35):
And so we have an enormousamount of uh focus around that,
which includes it back to thatnetwork, but helping our
customers make decisions abouttheir business in ways that
maybe they could get there ifthey were thinking about it and
they had somebody to do theright amount of analysis, but
we're gonna help them in waysthat they probably haven't even
(23:57):
thought about yet.
That's good, they could thatthey'll not only be able to make
better decisions, but we'llwe'll have options for them to
let the AI implement that optionif they choose it.
And so I think thepersonalization of AI, I mean,
of course, fraud prevention andall those things, I think those
(24:18):
are all gonna be big drivers aswe move forward in in payments.
But the personalization of it, Ithink, is gonna be a big driver
in the next 12.
It certainly is for us in howyou bring that to bear to really
help your customers' lives getbetter, make them make them
smarter about their business andjust easier to run it.
I think, you know, people alsotalk about real time and instant
(24:40):
payment.
I think those are also gonna be,you know, those are gonna get,
you know, more and moretraction, and especially, you
know, if if it's cross-bordertype things, that's that's
definitely gonna get legs andand along with digital digital
assets, you know.
So you kind of think of thoseall one group, I mean another
(25:01):
different, but it's still it'soutside the card networks,
basically.
The digital and certainly withthe regulatory environment,
that's gonna start adding moreclarity.
And with more clarity, right,then you're gonna have more
entrance into the market andhelping people to you know use
those assets is in in a way, youknow, is uh us as consumers
(25:25):
that's easy for us to use.
I think those are gonna bethat's gonna take on a new
momentum and embedded financeand embedded lending.
I think those are and those arethings we're you know, we're
focused on too, and we have anoffering.
And so I think people arefamiliar with the kind of the
buy now pay later model, butit's also you know, we think
(25:46):
there's gonna be a movement tosort of a kind of a traditional
lending within these embeddedapps, right?
Because with AI, you can do somuch more analysis and
underwriting and risk managementquicker, so it only makes sense,
right, that traditional lendingcould also take place in that
same sort of buy now, pay later,you know, embedded model.
(26:09):
Whereas before, right, it wasmore limited and it made sense,
and you kind of had thesepayment periods, whereas now
with the information you canhave access to, it's it's just
as easy to do kind of atraditional loan.
So anyway, those are some of thethings we we see.
This is certainly the next 12months.
There's uh there's other things,but that's a hand.
SPEAKER_01 (26:31):
Well, a couple of final questions.
Um so if you could go back andgive yourself some advice, maybe
at the start of your career,what would that be?
SPEAKER_02 (26:40):
Yeah, it's funny.
I just had this conversationwith a young man, close friend
of my son's.
They went to high schooltogether, and and he's kind of
in that transition period in hislife trying to figure out what
he's gonna do next.
And I and I pointed him towardspayments, and that's one of the
things I wished, you know, had Ibeen intentional about it,
(27:03):
because oftentimes in thepayment, and I like to ask
people that, and you're probablyno, most people swerve into
payments, right?
They don't get up and go intopayments like, hey, I want to go
be a lawyer, or I want to be achiropractor, or I want to be an
engineer, you know, those areintentional decisions.
It's rare that people are going,hey, I want to go into payments.
But I encouraged him and I gavehim some things to read and some
(27:26):
things to think about, and thatit's it's the one industry,
right?
Everybody needs it's needed, youknow.
We know we we agree to that, andyou know, sort of the recurring
nature of it, but it really isthe sort of the the glue of the
free enterprise system, right?
Making it increasingly easierfor people to move money between
(27:48):
businesses and individuals isalways going to be a necessity.
And so I I encourage this youngman to take a hard look at the
payments industry and startingout really on the selling side.
And you know, if I had it all todo over, knowing what I know
now, that's probably what I'dhave done day one, and with some
(28:09):
uh being intentional about it.
But but I think it's it's a it'sa great industry, and for you,
and especially for young folksthat are, you know, maybe they
just finished college or theydidn't go to college and they're
just thinking about or they'refresh out of the military, young
and trying to trying to think ofwhat the next thing to do.
I think it's just it's a it's agreat industry that's always
gonna be there.
(28:29):
And and it's also you know,you're running the tangent with
technology too.
So even though it's that corething, like the the need to move
money is always gonna be there,running the free enterprise
system, but also that technologythat's helping that, you're
always gonna be part of thatedge of technology too.
So it's not like, well, I wantto go into the tech space, so
(28:51):
therefore I can't do payments.
It's like it's the place you cango into, and then you're gonna
be part of that technology wave.
You'll always be on the edge ofthat.
So I mean maybe the way to sumit up is it's that's there's an
old Chinese proverb that says,you know, when's the best time
to plant a tree?
And the answer is 20 years ago,and then it's when's the when's
the next best time to plant atree?
(29:12):
Today.
And so I think in payments, it'sone of those things, the sooner
you get started, you won'tregret it.
SPEAKER_01 (29:18):
Yeah, and I I've I fell into payments.
I certainly, you know, was inother places before and just
kind of fell in, and here I am,you know, 20 years later, still
still doing it.
SPEAKER_02 (29:29):
Yeah, here we are talking about it, you know, and
it and and the same same thingfor me.
And and it's funny because I dopeople that have been in it for
a while, I always like to askthem that because there's always
a story there.
And it's never, hey, I decided Iwant to be a payments person.
You know, there's always a storyof how they got there, and it's
usually some a friend or eithersome fluky thing that got them
(29:54):
there, and you know, but thenthey stay.
That's the other thing, too, isthen they stay.
SPEAKER_01 (29:59):
Okay.
Well, one One final question.
What's one thing that peoplelistening to the show today
should be thinking about rightnow when it comes to payments?
SPEAKER_02 (30:08):
I think security, that's the thing.
And we haven't really touched onthat.
You know, we talk about AI andall the positive things that it
can and does do and has done.
I know everybody's used at somesome level, even their personal,
but it can also be weaponized,right, in the payment system.
And so the fraudsters also haveaccess to AI and very committed
(30:33):
to it.
And so I would just say securityin the you know the payments,
that's just like just beinghyper-vigilant all the time is
you just can't afford not to bethere because really because of
AI and and the speed with whichthe fraudsters evolve.
It's hard to stay up with them,but but we have to.
(30:54):
And so I would just that shouldbe on the top of everybody's
mind.
I know we didn't talk about itmuch, but it's it's always for
us.
I mean, it's a it's a nonstopthought, you know, security,
because you know, that secondyou're not paying attention or
you let your guard down is isnot a not a good thing.
So, but yeah, security.
And in your personal lives too.
(31:15):
I mean, change of path, allthose things.
I mean, they they're gettingbetter, their fishing attacks
get better.
All the deep fakes that thatthey can even in voices and
things like that.
So I would just say security,security, security.
SPEAKER_01 (31:29):
Well, I think that's a a great way to wrap up the
show.
So, Kevin, thank you so much forbeing on today.
I know your time is veryvaluable, so I really appreciate
you being here.
SPEAKER_02 (31:37):
Yeah, well, thank you, Greg.
It's great seeing you, andthanks for having me on.
It's great.
SPEAKER_01 (31:41):
Absolutely, yeah.
I really enjoyed it.
And to all your listeners outthere, I thank you for your time
as well.
And until the next story.
SPEAKER_00 (31:47):
Thank you for joining us this week on the
Leaders in Payments Podcast.
Make sure you visit our websiteat leadersandpayments.com, where
you can subscribe to the showand where you'll find our show
notes.
If you enjoyed listening, pleaseshare on your social channels as
well.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.