September 11, 2025 • 30 mins
In the first episode of our three-part series with Payroc, Powering Payments Together: How Payroc Helps ISVs Scale Smarter, I sit down with Payroc President Adam Oberman to explore the shifting landscape of integrated payments. Once seen as a simple feature, payments have now become the financial backbone of successful software companies.
Adam explains why the relationship between ISVs and their payment partners has never been more strategic. The most successful software providers now generate 20–40% of their revenue through payments, making it a critical driver of both growth and valuation. As he puts it, “ISVs don’t outgrow payments - they outgrow their payment partners.”
We discuss how market expectations have evolved dramatically. ISVs are demanding global payment capabilities from day one - multi-currency processing, cross-border compliance, and frictionless user experiences are now table stakes. At the same time, the integration process itself has shifted toward low-code solutions that enable faster deployment without sacrificing functionality.
What stands out most in Adam’s perspective is the human element of payments. Clean APIs may get an integration live, but it’s strategic guidance, problem-solving, and white-glove support that build long-term partnerships. “People do business with people,” Adam emphasizes, highlighting why technical capability must always be paired with trust and service.
Looking ahead to 2026, Adam predicts payments will no longer be viewed as a utility but as a core competitive advantage. Companies that fail to prioritize their payment strategy risk falling behind more agile competitors not just in features, but in valuation and market position.
Whether you’re an established ISV or just beginning to explore embedded payments, this episode offers essential insights into selecting a partner who can scale with you, adapt to change, and deliver value far beyond transaction processing.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Powering Payments Together a special
three-part series on how Payrockhelps ISVs scale smarter.
You'll hear Payrock's visionfor the future of integrated
payments, a behind-the-sceneslook at their ISV program and a
real-world success story fromone of their partners.
Three episodes, one missionhelping ISVs grow faster.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hello everyone and welcome to the Leaders in
Payments podcast.
I'm your host, greg Myers.
This episode is part of ourthree-part series titled
Powering Payments Together howPayrock Helps ISVs Scale Smarter
, and is being brought to you byPayrock.
Today we're going to bediscussing how Payrock's vision
and go-to-market strategy alignwith the evolving world of
integrated payments.
In our second episode, we'regoing to be going inside the ISV
(00:45):
program at Payrock to betterunderstand how they partner and
support ISVs.
And in the final episode in theseries, we're going to be doing
a partner spotlight where youwill hear directly from an ISV
about their experience withPayrock and how Payrock has
helped them overcome integrationchallenges, unlock new revenue
streams and scale faster.
To kick off the series, we havea very special guest Adam
(01:08):
Oberman, the president atPayrock them overcome
integration challenges, unlocknew revenue streams and scale
faster.
To kick off the series, we havea very special guest Adam
Oberman, the president atPayrock.
So, adam, thank you so much forbeing here and welcome to the
show.
Thank you for having me, greg.
It's an honor, great.
So, just so folks know, adamhas been with us before, about
two years ago.
He's the president at Payrock.
So, if you don't mind, beforewe dive into the topic at hand.
(01:28):
Tell our audience a little bitabout yourself.
Maybe your professional?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
journey and a little bit about Payrock.
Yeah, no, thank you Appreciatethat Well, welcome everybody.
I've been in the industry foraround 21 years now, started
when I was 21 years old, so youcould do the math Started at a
risk and underwriting for alittle company called Retriever
Payment Systems and made my wayup, started my own ISO with my
brother Nick and my cousin Ryan,and then formed into what is
(01:50):
known as now Payrock.
So, look, the journey that'sgotten me here is a lot of hard
work and determination, butfirst and foremost, god's gotten
me here.
God's helped me through the way.
I am a very faithful andfaith-driven individual, so
without him, we wouldn't besitting here.
I wouldn't be sitting here.
I have a wonderful wife and sixlittle kids.
Yes, six kids.
(02:11):
It is a blessing.
I love it.
Yes, my family can be crazy attimes.
Work can be crazy at times withthe 1,200 plus employees, but I
look at it as a true blessingand an honor to do what I'm
doing, because I love what I'mdoing and I love being a father
to the six kids, and you know asgood as a husband I could be to
my amazing wife, so that'sreally some backstory to me.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Okay, great.
So maybe, for those who aren'tfamiliar, give us a quick
overview of Payrock and maybethe role it plays in the
payments ecosystem.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Historically people have thought Payrock.
When they thought of Payrockthey thought of an ISO, an agent
shop.
Sure, we are.
That's in our DNA.
That's what I started to do.
I started selling and knockingon doors myself 20 years ago.
But we've had to evolve.
Just like the world is evolvinginto more of the integrated
product-led merchant-facingorganization, so today
product-led merchant-facingorganizations.
So today we serve all types ofclients.
You name it, we serve it.
(03:14):
We are a global company.
Today we look to expand evenfurther in the global outreach
of what we're doing with some ofour acquisitions.
But we're a fairly large company, I mean when you compare us on
the scale of others.
But the good thing aboutPayrock is we do it differently.
We've always did it differently.
It's a people and people-ledorganization.
It's people doing business withpeople.
Sure, we have machines.
Sure, there's AI out there.
Sure, we have a huge tech andproduct organization.
(03:35):
But at the end of the day it'sso that people touch, it's so
that people integration.
And look, we have shifted inthe last couple of years with
some of our acquisitions to moreof a technology-led, with some
of our gateways, some of ourplatforms, some of our hubs,
some of the verticals that weserve.
We're not that agent ISOpartner company that everyone
(03:55):
views us as anymore.
We're a lot broader than that,but our bread and butter, of
course, is still the agent andISO world, and we have some
great legacy partners that havestill partnered with Payrock for
geez now 20 years now.
So we're never going to lookpast that because that's what's
gotten us here.
But of course there's alwaysgoing to be a shift.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Okay, great.
So tell us about your role atPayrock and then maybe what
excites you about the future ofpayments.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
My role at Payrock is really, I would say I'm the
counselor.
I'm joking, no, it's such a funrole.
You look at the company thatwe've evolved into.
When I look back, thinking, youknow three people sitting in a
10 by 10 room 20 years ago tohiring our first employee in
2010, to now having 1200employees and three more
(04:42):
acquisitions coming on over1,500 employees.
It truly is a blessing.
I love what I do.
I am very much in the weedswhen it comes to sales, finance
and product.
I have a finance and accountingbackground, but what's in my
blood is sales, sales andmarketing.
I'm learning this thing that wecall tech and product.
I've had to learn it the goodway and the hard way, but I have
(05:04):
such a strong leadership teamthat you don't really need to
get into the weeds with your CTOor your CPO or even your COO,
because they know what they'redoing.
They wouldn't be here if theydidn't know what they're doing.
So, look, I oversee as much asI can, I get involved where I
can and I try to stay out of theweeds and I try to be as
strategic as possible and it isa rare combination with our CEO
(05:26):
being my father.
A lot of people say how doesthat even work?
We've worked together for solong and we're so much alike
that it actually works.
We're connected at the hip.
If he's in California and I'min Florida, we know what we're
doing and that's the beauty ofit.
And sure, around the dinnertable you're going to talk about
work and your mom and your wifeis not going to be happy with
(05:47):
it, but at the end of the dayit's in our blood, it's what we
love to do.
And my thing is I've started itsince the beginning I want to
be involved as much as I can.
I don't know everything anymorebecause it's such a large
organization now, but I know westill have our core values and
the main thing I always talkabout is always do what's right,
even when someone's not looking, because it's going to catch up
(06:11):
to you.
And that's how I've guided thisorganization and that's what
I've done since the beginningand I try to put that out to all
the employees and all thepartners that hey, even if we
mess up, we're going to dowhat's right at the end.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
What excites you about payments and about the
future of payments?
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Oh, what excites me about payments is the unknown.
It's ever-changing.
It changes daily fromintegrated payments to embedded
payments, to SaaS, to PaaS, toverticals that people are
getting into.
Now to the experience thatpeople are giving their partners
, and what excites me the mostis just really that it's
evolving.
It's not going anywhere.
Payments are not going to goaway.
People talk about well, herecomes Bitcoin and here comes
(06:52):
this, another form of currencyor this new wave.
We're still here.
I've been doing it for 21 years.
Sure, things have changed, butat the end of the day, it's
still the core.
You have to serve the endcustomer.
The partner is the one thatpays the bills, and if you're
not partner centric, then you'renot going to win in this
marketplace.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Great.
So let's dive into the state ofintegrated payments.
I mean the concept ofintegrating payments into ISVs
or software companies.
I mean it really isn't anythingnew.
It's been around for a while.
Tons of press out there.
So what do software companiesneed to know about integrated
payments?
Speaker 3 (07:29):
For most ISVs, payments are already embedded.
The real question is whethertheir payments partner is
helping them grow.
I talked about being a paymentpartner and being that advisor.
The integration is just astarting line, but the success
it actually comes from a partnerlike ourselves who provides a
strategic management, the whiteglove support.
You know doing what's right,and it makes payments a true
(07:52):
growth driver rather than adistraction, because a lot of
people are out there saying it'sjust such a distraction.
I don't know how to get itseamless, I don't know the right
way to accept the payment.
The challenge isn't if thepayments are integrated, it's
how well are they driving growth?
Are they driving growth to thebusiness?
Is it a growth driver or not?
And so a lot of people look atpayments of oh, I'm just going
(08:15):
to collect the payment and moveon.
That's really not everything.
You have to not only collectthe payment, but you have to
make the experience better thanthe last person and the support.
The support is a differentiatorIf you think about it.
People do business with people.
Still, great APIs and docs willget you live, but at the end of
the day, the ongoing peoplesupport are what makes the ISVs
(08:39):
and the merchants successful,the APIs will win the demo.
Don't get me wrong.
We've won a lot of demos onAPIs, but it's that white glove
partner service and the customerexperience wins relationships.
And it's staying humble andtrue to saying I messed up, I
didn't deliver the service I wasgoing to give you.
Let me go and fix it.
Responsiveness One size fitsall programs could limit ISVs as
(09:03):
they scale.
You can't have one size fitsall.
Isvs need partners who adoptpayment models to fit their
stage of maturity, the verticalneeds and the go-to-market
strategy.
So look, they don't needanother.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
API.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
The ISVs don't need another API.
They need a partner, like I wastalking about with Payrock, who
makes payments a growth enginethrough support, flexibility and
strategic alignment.
Because, at the end of the day,if you're just going to plug in
a payments engine and not betheir payment advisor or their
support model, you're not goingto help that client grow 10%
year over year.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Well, let's peel the onion back a little bit.
What are the trends that you'reseeing?
That's shaping thedecision-making in this space?
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Well, people want that white glove service.
Of course, like I said, it's tosupport the ISV is going to
mature.
If they don't mature, they'renever growing, they're never
going to expand past theirfishbowl.
And it's Look, it's also theexperience.
I talk about experience a lot.
You can ask my leadership team.
If you give that end customerthe experience, the product, the
(10:03):
tech, the sales, the supportwill come as a bystander to that
.
You got to make it seamless forevery layer you know, for the
ISVs, for their merchants, forthe merchant's customer.
I look at it like Uber.
How easy is Uber?
Just like Uber, made paymentsinvisible.
They really did.
(10:24):
The ISVs now expect payments tobe frictionless, which is hard.
You got to fuel the merchantloyalty, cardholder satisfaction
and ultimately, the ISVretention and long-term growth.
Because you got to grow withthat partner.
You got to be flexible.
You got to give them theexperience across all the layers
.
You got to be transparent withthem and the onboarding is so
important.
If that client, that merchant,that cardholder has a bad
experience, onboarding or thatfirst touch, it's not going to
(10:49):
be a good experience.
The retention you got to lookat it as a growth driver.
Frictionalist payments itequals happier cardholders.
Happier cardholders equalsstickier merchants.
Stickier merchants equals ISVswith higher retention and
valuation.
And then, of course, globalexpansion.
We are very big in the globalexpansion of what we're doing
(11:10):
and how we're doing it, becausethey demand.
These ISVs demand global scaleAt the end of the day, the
multi-currency, the localacquiring, the compliance.
They need that from day one.
So when you kind of step backand look at the end of the day,
the multi-currency, the localacquiring the compliance they
need that from day one.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
So when you kind of step back and look at the
integrated payments kind of justmarketplace, where do you see
the industry headed Kind of?
Where do you feel maybe it'ssaturated?
Where are some opportunities?
Where is it underserved?
Where's the potential?
Any thoughts on that?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah.
So integrated payments it's nolonger just a feature, it's
becoming a financial backbone ofSaaS.
If you think about it, izs areshifting from payments as an
add-on to payments as a corerevenue stream.
It's so important that peopleunderstand what I just said,
because it's a revenue stream.
Now it's the market that'sdemanding low-code integration.
(11:59):
No one wants to code for hoursupon days, upon weeks, upon
months to get this integrationlive.
The real winners are going tobe those who pair with clean
APIs.
Look, if you have a clean API,it's golden, but they want that
white-glove partner supportstill.
The APIs are great, but theystill want that touch.
They want to deliver complianceout of the box and enable ISVs
(12:21):
to scale globally.
And look in five years thestrongest platforms won't just
process payments.
They're not going to.
They'll power verticalizedglobal payment ecosystems and
that's what we're trying to dohere at Payrock.
Isvs are monetizing payments as20% to 40% of their revenue.
That's huge.
Investors increasingly valuesoftware companies with
(12:44):
integrated payments built in.
When you look at valuations ofall these integrated SaaS-led
companies, they look at that andwhat are they getting from that
revenue add-on?
Pick a vertical and dominate it, and I talk about global scale.
Global scale on day one is sucha commodity.
You have to look at beingglobal, because these ISVs are
(13:06):
now demanding multi-currency,cross-border compliance and I
don't know how many companiesyou deal with that, but I get
that on a daily basis.
Right before this call, I wason a call with an ISV that
needed multi-currency, thatneeded one experience, that
needed one onboarding, andthere's a call with an ISV that
needed multi-currency, thatneeded one experience, that
needed one onboarding, andthere's a lot of clients and
partners out there that's notgoing to give them that first
(13:26):
Look.
Isvs expect the best of bothworlds clean developer
experiences and real partnerguidance.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Well, I think that's a great kind of overview of the
market and kind of what's goingon in the space.
Let's talk a little bit nowabout Payrock and how that
connects to the integrated space.
So, if you don't mind, wouldyou share what is Payrock's big
vision and what are you buildingtowards?
Speaker 3 (13:49):
We're building towards a scalable
infrastructure to where peoplecould just latch on and plug
right in.
You don't want someone thatcomes on board that takes months
to know, months to figure outwhat our code is or our API is.
You know we've invested heavilyin Northern Ireland and our
tech and product.
We have many employees outthere, from if it's a Cayenne
(14:12):
you know old team or the TESISteam to where we believe in what
they've done in the past andnow they're doing it again for
Payrock, and it's such ablessing that we have them in
the background building what weneed.
We want people to just come onand say this is my home.
These are real people.
They do business with people,they're accessible, they're not
(14:34):
beating around the bush and whatthey say is what they're going
to do.
And if we don't do that, wemake it right by the customer
and that's really it's theintegrity that you get out of
that.
I'm really big on integrity.
We actually acquired a companycalled Integrity Payment Systems
in 2018.
And I wanted to keep that namewithin our name because
integrity is so big in thisindustry, because you're going
(14:55):
to get a lot of people that arejust selling you the service or
selling you the product or thetech just to make a quick buck.
At the end of the day, if youdon't have the integrity and you
don't have a well-establishedname in the industry, you're
going to get beat up and whatwe're building is something
special that people want to be apart of.
(15:15):
When we hire an employee, theydon't want to leave, they want
to be here.
They love it here.
They love the flexibility whenit comes to their family and the
outings that they have withtheir family.
They love the innovation thatthey have.
Here at Payrock, to beinnovators, to make a difference
.
The partners come on because ofthe flexibility and the ease
(15:36):
and the accessibility.
And sure, we're not great ateverything.
At the end of the day, youcan't be great at everything.
You can be great at a couple ofthings, but what we try to be
great on is the things that ourpartner needs.
At the end of the day, we'reall trying to do what's best for
the end client.
If you take care of thatcustomer, everything else is
taken care of.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Okay, Well, you recently announced a few
acquisitions BlueSnap, PayIQ,Agalisa, a few, maybe even a few
others but how do those supportkind of that bigger vision that
you're talking about?
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Yeah, no, great question.
I'll start with PayIQ.
Look, PayIQ is end to end, baseone, base two.
It's something that we'vealways had in our wants and
hopes and dreams, ever since myfather joined us in 2015.
He always said I want to dothis and we've done 90% of it,
and that last 10% is plugging inPayIQ to really have the
(16:31):
end-to-end experience andtransaction flow to where we
control our own destiny.
Payiq is a differentiator for us.
It's something that we'vealways aspired and something
we're truly excited about reallysinking our teeth in to get the
platform up and live as soon aspossible.
The organization at PayRockknows this is the first, most
(16:52):
important thing that we have todo, because it's going to give
us more flexibility, more growth, more scale, more needs for our
partner and more transparency.
Payiq comes with somethingthat's going to be
transformational to theorganization.
Bluesnap is that global scale.
You look for the global scale.
The large clients comes with anamazing leadership team, an
(17:15):
amazing employee roster thatwe're excited to plug in and
cross-pollinate between ourintegrated team and their
integrated team.
We've already worked with themon three very, very large
opportunities.
Bluesnap, that is, and it'sjust been easy.
That's what I'm looking for.
I'm looking for easy, seamlessand once we integrate everything
(17:36):
which we integrate companies asfast as possible, once we
integrate everything in thePayrock ecosystem, then there's
that orchestration layer that'sgoing to allow us to embed
payments.
That's what I'm most excitedabout, because I kept talking
about that global reach.
With adding BlueSnap, we willhave that global reach.
Right now we are very big inPuerto Rico and Canada and sure,
(17:58):
we have clients in Europe andIreland and Mexico, but at the
end of the day, we're notcontrolling our own destiny in
all those areas.
With BlueSnap, it really givesus something that's a
differentiator.
And I talked about Puerto Rico.
The Agaliza acquisition is anamazing gateway down in Puerto
Rico and the Dominican thatpowers our business down in
(18:21):
Puerto Rico called DynamicsPayment Systems.
Dynamics Payment Systems was anacquisition three years ago and
they're doing an amazing job onthe island.
Evertech is the biggestcompetitor down there but every
single day we're taking marketshare from them and with the
control that we will get withAga Lisa, it controls our own
destiny and what to do, how tobe flexible and how to really
(18:43):
give that customer the bestexperience possible, because Aga
Lisa comes with a great staffthat knows payments and they
know what to do to win.
They're creative and they'reagile, and that's what I'm most
excited about.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah, we've had Blue Snap, prior CEO, current CEO.
We've had them both on the showin the last five years.
I guess I think they were oneof the, I think, first 10
episodes that we ever did, sovery familiar with BlueSnap.
Well, congratulations on allthose acquisitions, by the way,
and look forward to seeing howthey all get integrated.
Well, speaking specificallyabout your ISV program and we're
(19:17):
going to dive deep into this, Ithink, in the second episode
but can you tell us sort of whatare the programs that you offer
ISVs?
And I talked to a lot ofcompanies like Payrock that
offer, you know, all differentthings from ISVs that are just
starting out to those who you'vebeen talking about, that are
maybe ready to go global, butthere's a lot of gap in between
there.
So maybe, if you don't mind,walk us through at a high level
(19:37):
what those programs are that youoffer ISVs.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
When we first encounter an ISV it's kind of
like a doctor's approach towhere we say what's your pain
points, what don't you likeabout your current provider,
what's hurting you, how can wehelp fix that?
Because we don't know that.
We try to solve what they don'thave today and it comes with
the flexibility and theexperience that we're going to
give their end customers.
(20:02):
You know we try to meet theISVs where they are, you know,
offering right size programsthat does match their stage of
maturity.
I talk about low code a lot.
It's that low code integrationsfor speed.
It's that ISO style.
You know we come from the ISOworld.
It's that ISO style model forthose who want the full control.
Not everybody wants the fullcontrol of that.
(20:24):
So look, some prefer to stayout of the payments business and
choose their referral models,which I don't blame them,
because it's very complex andvery detailed, while others want
to lean into the monetizationand brand their own ownership.
Some want to control everythingand control their own destiny.
So, beyond the program type, wedo layer in vertical playbooks.
(20:45):
We try to help them withstrategy, distribution
opportunities how can we worktogether?
And then co-marketing supportso the ISV can scale both
software and payments revenueside by side, because revenue,
revenue, revenue that's whatdrives the business.
So you know we break it up indifferent stages and we look at
different approaches.
The early stage is how fast canwe get you live?
(21:07):
How can your team work with ourteam, our APIs?
We have a full team that justis there to integrate with
clients and to help them getlive as fast as possible.
Stage two is how can we look atgrowth opportunities and look to
expand your business from whatyou're doing today, if it's on
experience, if it's on product,if it's on more visibility or
(21:27):
transparency.
And then it's really looking atthe enterprise, the
orchestration layer, the globalscale.
Are you scaled globally?
Are you accepting paymentscross-border?
If you are, how are youaccepting them?
What kind of fees are yougetting hit with?
(21:55):
And then it's really thego-to-market, beyond integration
, the co-marketing, theco-selling them as a partner.
How can we do this together?
I have a lot of partners atPayrock.
At the end of the day, I lookat all of these ISV clients like
one of my partners If it's ourCOO, cfo, cpo, whatever that is.
But look, going to market withan ISV is about flexibility.
I talked about flexibility, alot Right-sized programs about
(22:15):
flexibility.
I talked about flexibility alot Right-sized programs,
verticalized strategies andgo-to-market support to grow
within the business.
We understand it's complex, weunderstand it's a lot and we try
to offer ISVs that payment's ina box the experience, the
control, the flexibility and weask them their pain points and
(22:37):
we try to fix their pain pointsand enhance what they don't see
today.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
So I think we have a good idea of sort of the Payrock
vision, understanding yourintegrated payments, isv
programs.
But let's flip it.
What's in it for them?
What's in it for the ISVs?
What's the value for them?
Speaker 3 (22:53):
So great question.
I think the value is that feelof protection.
Our approach matters because itdoes protect the ISVs.
There's many ways that the ISVsdon't see it, but they protect
the ISVs, focus and acceleratestheir growth.
We try to help them grow anyway we can with the right model
and partner support, because wepride ourselves on support.
They can monetize paymentswithout even over-engineering
(23:17):
things the differentiation andvertical soft solutions and
softwares.
How can they expand fasterthrough distribution and scale
globally without being boxed in?
A lot of companies will box youin and it doesn't feel right.
It feels like you just have tosit there and do what's inside
of these walls.
We try to expand outside thatbox and get the partner to think
(23:38):
, hey, what haven't you thoughtabout?
We've done this quite a while.
How can we help expand you?
In short, we turn payments in acompetitive advantage for a
long-term growth engine becausethey need to grow.
They need to grow, like I said,the 10% year over year, maybe
it's 20%, whatever that may beto them, but at the end of the
day, if they're not growing,they're not monetizing payments.
(23:59):
20%, whatever that may be tothem, but at the end of the day,
if they're not growing.
They're not monetizing payments, they're never going to win in
the marketplace.
The tailored flows per vertical.
You got to look at the verticaland say, okay, what vertical
are you in?
What kind of products, whatkind of technology can we give
you that's going to bringstronger merchant adoption,
that's going to bring strongerclients over to you.
We like to expand the reachwherever we can.
I talk about globally.
(24:20):
And then, of course, we prideourselves on our risk and our
underwriting and how we dothings.
We always like to take the riskand reduce the risk out of all
of our partners and our ISVs.
How can we be a processoragnostic architecture plus
compliance built in?
How can we give that customereverything within that one box
(24:44):
but looking outside saying, hey,this is what we're going to do
for you and this is how we'regoing to do it?
And this comes down to trust.
I'm a big fan of trust.
I trust people way too early.
Sometimes my wife says but I'ma very trustworthy person and if
we show you we're honest and wedo the right thing, it's a
building process, but it's builton trust.
It's human-centered support andongoing, ongoing merchant
(25:07):
support.
It's the onboarding that we give, the merchant satisfaction, the
stickiness, Because once weboard an ISV, we don't want them
to lose their clients.
How can we create thatstickiness for them?
So look the way Payrock does goto market, because there's
different ways that we do go tomarket.
It does matter.
They don't need aone-size-fits-all partner.
They need a partner who's goingto scale with them, who's going
(25:29):
to sit next to them andstrategize with them and be
innovative with them and saywhat's next?
How can we get you to that nextlevel?
How can we help you grow yourrevenue and how can we help you
dominate Not only win, butdominate the vertical you're in,
Because, at the end of the day,if they're not winning, we're
not winning.
We have a whole team that justfocuses on growing the clients.
(25:51):
I mean, that's their main goal.
Hey, this is what you do.
Go grow our ISVs, Take themfrom here to here, Help them,
partner with them give themexperience.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
So that's really how we help people.
Well, let's wrap up by talkinga little bit about the future.
So let's say you go to dinnerwith the CEO of a SaaS company.
What do you tell him or herthey should be thinking about,
maybe for the rest of 2025 andinto 2026, when it comes to this
space?
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Well, I would say by 2026, payment is going to be
more than a utility.
It really is.
It's going to be a core driverof growth and global
competitiveness for ISVs theISVs that aren't global today.
I suggest you find a partnerthat you could do that with,
because it's coming and it'sgoing to come soon.
The key question from them,from these ISVs, is how quickly
(26:44):
can I adopt and scale?
Can I scale with the partnerI'm with?
How ready am I to supportmerchants globally?
They have to be askingthemselves these questions
because this is all coming downthe line.
How do I make payments feelseamless to my merchants while
maximizing revenue?
Isvs who partner for flexibility, vertical expertise and global
(27:05):
reach are going to be the onesthat are pacing the competition.
Clean APIs alone won't be thedifferentiator anymore.
They just won't.
Isvs are going to expect APIfirst, global scale, flexibility
and vertical specialization.
If you're not going to get thatand your head's not there
thinking about the future,you're going to lose.
(27:25):
So look to end the year out in2026, the ISVs are going to pull
ahead, are the ones who treatpayments.
They don't treat them as anafterthought.
They're going to be front andcenter.
They look at it as a growthstrategy built for a global
scale.
And if they're not looking atit like that and they're just
looking at it as, oh, it's justanother add-on, it's just going
(27:45):
to be another add-on and they'regoing to slowly lose market
share, and that's not somethingthat we want to see with our
partners or our clients.
I don't want to see that in theindustry.
I want to see everybody win.
I love when I watch people win.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Well, if you're talking to a SaaS company or an
ISV that hasn't even embeddedpayments yet, why would you tell
them to do it right now?
Speaker 3 (28:06):
You know the cost of waiting is just lost revenue.
It really is when you're goingto wait and wait and wait.
I'm a move fast type of guy.
I mean, like I said, I have sixkids in 10 years.
I like to move very fast.
But look, you're going to belost.
The valuation is going to godown if you don't embed the
payments as soon as possible.
They're not just growing faster, they're building more valuable
(28:27):
companies.
They really are the companiesthat you see that are growing
are doing it right with theright partner.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
It's been a great discussion.
One last question.
So if you were to summarizethis whole conversation and give
one piece of advice to theseISVs or software companies, what
would that advice be?
Speaker 3 (29:01):
grow and expand your company, your business, your
market that you're in.
The right partner today doesn'tjust process payments.
There's so many partners outthere that process payments.
You have to find the partnerthat's going to protect and help
you grow your businessalongside of you.
Find that right partner.
Maybe that's a hard decision tomake to let go of that partner
that you've had for a long time.
But have that upfront, honest,transparent conversation and
show them your aspirations andyour roadmap of what you want to
(29:24):
get to and, if they're not, inyour future.
You have to find the rightpayments partners.
Look, isvs don't outgrowpayments, they outgrow their
payment partners.
So you've got to find the rightpartner to partner with to
ensure that you're getting theright service, the right product
, the right technology, and ifnot, you've got to look
elsewhere.
That'd be the best advice thatI can give.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Oh, I think that's great.
I think it's a great way towrap up the show.
So, adam, thank you so much foryour time today.
It's been a great discussion.
I really appreciate you beinghere.
I know your time is veryvaluable.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Okay, and one final note beforewe go.
Coming up in the next episode,as I mentioned, we're going to
be doing a deeper dive into thespecific ISV program with Con
(30:06):
Byrne, who has done manyintegrations and worked with
many partners over the years, soit's going to be another great
episode.
And finally, to all youlisteners out there, I thank you
for your time as well and untilthe next story.
I thank you for your time aswell, and until the next story.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Thanks for joining us for Powering Payments Together
a special series on how Payrockhelps ISVs scale smarter.
To explore more resources andinsights, visit
https//partnerspayrockcomleaders-in-payments.
Welcome to Powering Payments Together a special
three-part series on how Payrockhelps ISVs scale smarter.
You'll hear Payrock's visionfor the future of integrated
payments, a behind-the-sceneslook at their ISV program and a
real-world success story fromone of their partners.
Three episodes, one missionhelping ISVs grow faster.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hello everyone and welcome to the Leaders in
Payments podcast.
I'm your host, greg Myers.
This episode is part of ourthree-part series titled
Powering Payments Together howPayrock Helps ISVs Scale Smarter
, and is being brought to you byPayrock.
Today we're going to bediscussing how Payrock's vision
and go-to-market strategy alignwith the evolving world of
integrated payments.
In our second episode, we'regoing to be going inside the ISV
(00:45):
program at Payrock to betterunderstand how they partner and
support ISVs.
And in the final episode in theseries, we're going to be doing
a partner spotlight where youwill hear directly from an ISV
about their experience withPayrock and how Payrock has
helped them overcome integrationchallenges, unlock new revenue
streams and scale faster.
To kick off the series, we havea very special guest Adam
(01:08):
Oberman, the president atPayrock them overcome
integration challenges, unlocknew revenue streams and scale
faster.
To kick off the series, we havea very special guest Adam
Oberman, the president atPayrock.
So, adam, thank you so much forbeing here and welcome to the
show.
Thank you for having me, greg.
It's an honor, great.
So, just so folks know, adamhas been with us before, about
two years ago.
He's the president at Payrock.
So, if you don't mind, beforewe dive into the topic at hand.
(01:28):
Tell our audience a little bitabout yourself.
Maybe your professional?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
journey and a little bit about Payrock.
Yeah, no, thank you Appreciatethat Well, welcome everybody.
I've been in the industry foraround 21 years now, started
when I was 21 years old, so youcould do the math Started at a
risk and underwriting for alittle company called Retriever
Payment Systems and made my wayup, started my own ISO with my
brother Nick and my cousin Ryan,and then formed into what is
(01:50):
known as now Payrock.
So, look, the journey that'sgotten me here is a lot of hard
work and determination, butfirst and foremost, god's gotten
me here.
God's helped me through the way.
I am a very faithful andfaith-driven individual, so
without him, we wouldn't besitting here.
I wouldn't be sitting here.
I have a wonderful wife and sixlittle kids.
Yes, six kids.
(02:11):
It is a blessing.
I love it.
Yes, my family can be crazy attimes.
Work can be crazy at times withthe 1,200 plus employees, but I
look at it as a true blessingand an honor to do what I'm
doing, because I love what I'mdoing and I love being a father
to the six kids, and you know asgood as a husband I could be to
my amazing wife, so that'sreally some backstory to me.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Okay, great.
So maybe, for those who aren'tfamiliar, give us a quick
overview of Payrock and maybethe role it plays in the
payments ecosystem.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Historically people have thought Payrock.
When they thought of Payrockthey thought of an ISO, an agent
shop.
Sure, we are.
That's in our DNA.
That's what I started to do.
I started selling and knockingon doors myself 20 years ago.
But we've had to evolve.
Just like the world is evolvinginto more of the integrated
product-led merchant-facingorganization, so today
product-led merchant-facingorganizations.
So today we serve all types ofclients.
You name it, we serve it.
(03:14):
We are a global company.
Today we look to expand evenfurther in the global outreach
of what we're doing with some ofour acquisitions.
But we're a fairly large company, I mean when you compare us on
the scale of others.
But the good thing aboutPayrock is we do it differently.
We've always did it differently.
It's a people and people-ledorganization.
It's people doing business withpeople.
Sure, we have machines.
Sure, there's AI out there.
Sure, we have a huge tech andproduct organization.
(03:35):
But at the end of the day it'sso that people touch, it's so
that people integration.
And look, we have shifted inthe last couple of years with
some of our acquisitions to moreof a technology-led, with some
of our gateways, some of ourplatforms, some of our hubs,
some of the verticals that weserve.
We're not that agent ISOpartner company that everyone
(03:55):
views us as anymore.
We're a lot broader than that,but our bread and butter, of
course, is still the agent andISO world, and we have some
great legacy partners that havestill partnered with Payrock for
geez now 20 years now.
So we're never going to lookpast that because that's what's
gotten us here.
But of course there's alwaysgoing to be a shift.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Okay, great.
So tell us about your role atPayrock and then maybe what
excites you about the future ofpayments.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
My role at Payrock is really, I would say I'm the
counselor.
I'm joking, no, it's such a funrole.
You look at the company thatwe've evolved into.
When I look back, thinking, youknow three people sitting in a
10 by 10 room 20 years ago tohiring our first employee in
2010, to now having 1200employees and three more
(04:42):
acquisitions coming on over1,500 employees.
It truly is a blessing.
I love what I do.
I am very much in the weedswhen it comes to sales, finance
and product.
I have a finance and accountingbackground, but what's in my
blood is sales, sales andmarketing.
I'm learning this thing that wecall tech and product.
I've had to learn it the goodway and the hard way, but I have
(05:04):
such a strong leadership teamthat you don't really need to
get into the weeds with your CTOor your CPO or even your COO,
because they know what they'redoing.
They wouldn't be here if theydidn't know what they're doing.
So, look, I oversee as much asI can, I get involved where I
can and I try to stay out of theweeds and I try to be as
strategic as possible and it isa rare combination with our CEO
(05:26):
being my father.
A lot of people say how doesthat even work?
We've worked together for solong and we're so much alike
that it actually works.
We're connected at the hip.
If he's in California and I'min Florida, we know what we're
doing and that's the beauty ofit.
And sure, around the dinnertable you're going to talk about
work and your mom and your wifeis not going to be happy with
(05:47):
it, but at the end of the dayit's in our blood, it's what we
love to do.
And my thing is I've started itsince the beginning I want to
be involved as much as I can.
I don't know everything anymorebecause it's such a large
organization now, but I know westill have our core values and
the main thing I always talkabout is always do what's right,
even when someone's not looking, because it's going to catch up
(06:11):
to you.
And that's how I've guided thisorganization and that's what
I've done since the beginningand I try to put that out to all
the employees and all thepartners that hey, even if we
mess up, we're going to dowhat's right at the end.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
What excites you about payments and about the
future of payments?
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Oh, what excites me about payments is the unknown.
It's ever-changing.
It changes daily fromintegrated payments to embedded
payments, to SaaS, to PaaS, toverticals that people are
getting into.
Now to the experience thatpeople are giving their partners
, and what excites me the mostis just really that it's
evolving.
It's not going anywhere.
Payments are not going to goaway.
People talk about well, herecomes Bitcoin and here comes
(06:52):
this, another form of currencyor this new wave.
We're still here.
I've been doing it for 21 years.
Sure, things have changed, butat the end of the day, it's
still the core.
You have to serve the endcustomer.
The partner is the one thatpays the bills, and if you're
not partner centric, then you'renot going to win in this
marketplace.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Great.
So let's dive into the state ofintegrated payments.
I mean the concept ofintegrating payments into ISVs
or software companies.
I mean it really isn't anythingnew.
It's been around for a while.
Tons of press out there.
So what do software companiesneed to know about integrated
payments?
Speaker 3 (07:29):
For most ISVs, payments are already embedded.
The real question is whethertheir payments partner is
helping them grow.
I talked about being a paymentpartner and being that advisor.
The integration is just astarting line, but the success
it actually comes from a partnerlike ourselves who provides a
strategic management, the whiteglove support.
You know doing what's right,and it makes payments a true
(07:52):
growth driver rather than adistraction, because a lot of
people are out there saying it'sjust such a distraction.
I don't know how to get itseamless, I don't know the right
way to accept the payment.
The challenge isn't if thepayments are integrated, it's
how well are they driving growth?
Are they driving growth to thebusiness?
Is it a growth driver or not?
And so a lot of people look atpayments of oh, I'm just going
(08:15):
to collect the payment and moveon.
That's really not everything.
You have to not only collectthe payment, but you have to
make the experience better thanthe last person and the support.
The support is a differentiatorIf you think about it.
People do business with people.
Still, great APIs and docs willget you live, but at the end of
the day, the ongoing peoplesupport are what makes the ISVs
(08:39):
and the merchants successful,the APIs will win the demo.
Don't get me wrong.
We've won a lot of demos onAPIs, but it's that white glove
partner service and the customerexperience wins relationships.
And it's staying humble andtrue to saying I messed up, I
didn't deliver the service I wasgoing to give you.
Let me go and fix it.
Responsiveness One size fitsall programs could limit ISVs as
(09:03):
they scale.
You can't have one size fitsall.
Isvs need partners who adoptpayment models to fit their
stage of maturity, the verticalneeds and the go-to-market
strategy.
So look, they don't needanother.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
API.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
The ISVs don't need another API.
They need a partner, like I wastalking about with Payrock, who
makes payments a growth enginethrough support, flexibility and
strategic alignment.
Because, at the end of the day,if you're just going to plug in
a payments engine and not betheir payment advisor or their
support model, you're not goingto help that client grow 10%
year over year.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Well, let's peel the onion back a little bit.
What are the trends that you'reseeing?
That's shaping thedecision-making in this space?
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Well, people want that white glove service.
Of course, like I said, it's tosupport the ISV is going to
mature.
If they don't mature, they'renever growing, they're never
going to expand past theirfishbowl.
And it's Look, it's also theexperience.
I talk about experience a lot.
You can ask my leadership team.
If you give that end customerthe experience, the product, the
(10:03):
tech, the sales, the supportwill come as a bystander to that
.
You got to make it seamless forevery layer you know, for the
ISVs, for their merchants, forthe merchant's customer.
I look at it like Uber.
How easy is Uber?
Just like Uber, made paymentsinvisible.
They really did.
(10:24):
The ISVs now expect payments tobe frictionless, which is hard.
You got to fuel the merchantloyalty, cardholder satisfaction
and ultimately, the ISVretention and long-term growth.
Because you got to grow withthat partner.
You got to be flexible.
You got to give them theexperience across all the layers
.
You got to be transparent withthem and the onboarding is so
important.
If that client, that merchant,that cardholder has a bad
experience, onboarding or thatfirst touch, it's not going to
(10:49):
be a good experience.
The retention you got to lookat it as a growth driver.
Frictionalist payments itequals happier cardholders.
Happier cardholders equalsstickier merchants.
Stickier merchants equals ISVswith higher retention and
valuation.
And then, of course, globalexpansion.
We are very big in the globalexpansion of what we're doing
(11:10):
and how we're doing it, becausethey demand.
These ISVs demand global scaleAt the end of the day, the
multi-currency, the localacquiring, the compliance.
They need that from day one.
So when you kind of step backand look at the end of the day,
the multi-currency, the localacquiring the compliance they
need that from day one.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
So when you kind of step back and look at the
integrated payments kind of justmarketplace, where do you see
the industry headed Kind of?
Where do you feel maybe it'ssaturated?
Where are some opportunities?
Where is it underserved?
Where's the potential?
Any thoughts on that?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah.
So integrated payments it's nolonger just a feature, it's
becoming a financial backbone ofSaaS.
If you think about it, izs areshifting from payments as an
add-on to payments as a corerevenue stream.
It's so important that peopleunderstand what I just said,
because it's a revenue stream.
Now it's the market that'sdemanding low-code integration.
(11:59):
No one wants to code for hoursupon days, upon weeks, upon
months to get this integrationlive.
The real winners are going tobe those who pair with clean
APIs.
Look, if you have a clean API,it's golden, but they want that
white-glove partner supportstill.
The APIs are great, but theystill want that touch.
They want to deliver complianceout of the box and enable ISVs
(12:21):
to scale globally.
And look in five years thestrongest platforms won't just
process payments.
They're not going to.
They'll power verticalizedglobal payment ecosystems and
that's what we're trying to dohere at Payrock.
Isvs are monetizing payments as20% to 40% of their revenue.
That's huge.
Investors increasingly valuesoftware companies with
(12:44):
integrated payments built in.
When you look at valuations ofall these integrated SaaS-led
companies, they look at that andwhat are they getting from that
revenue add-on?
Pick a vertical and dominate it, and I talk about global scale.
Global scale on day one is sucha commodity.
You have to look at beingglobal, because these ISVs are
(13:06):
now demanding multi-currency,cross-border compliance and I
don't know how many companiesyou deal with that, but I get
that on a daily basis.
Right before this call, I wason a call with an ISV that
needed multi-currency, thatneeded one experience, that
needed one onboarding, andthere's a call with an ISV that
needed multi-currency, thatneeded one experience, that
needed one onboarding, andthere's a lot of clients and
partners out there that's notgoing to give them that first
(13:26):
Look.
Isvs expect the best of bothworlds clean developer
experiences and real partnerguidance.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Well, I think that's a great kind of overview of the
market and kind of what's goingon in the space.
Let's talk a little bit nowabout Payrock and how that
connects to the integrated space.
So, if you don't mind, wouldyou share what is Payrock's big
vision and what are you buildingtowards?
Speaker 3 (13:49):
We're building towards a scalable
infrastructure to where peoplecould just latch on and plug
right in.
You don't want someone thatcomes on board that takes months
to know, months to figure outwhat our code is or our API is.
You know we've invested heavilyin Northern Ireland and our
tech and product.
We have many employees outthere, from if it's a Cayenne
(14:12):
you know old team or the TESISteam to where we believe in what
they've done in the past andnow they're doing it again for
Payrock, and it's such ablessing that we have them in
the background building what weneed.
We want people to just come onand say this is my home.
These are real people.
They do business with people,they're accessible, they're not
(14:34):
beating around the bush and whatthey say is what they're going
to do.
And if we don't do that, wemake it right by the customer
and that's really it's theintegrity that you get out of
that.
I'm really big on integrity.
We actually acquired a companycalled Integrity Payment Systems
in 2018.
And I wanted to keep that namewithin our name because
integrity is so big in thisindustry, because you're going
(14:55):
to get a lot of people that arejust selling you the service or
selling you the product or thetech just to make a quick buck.
At the end of the day, if youdon't have the integrity and you
don't have a well-establishedname in the industry, you're
going to get beat up and whatwe're building is something
special that people want to be apart of.
(15:15):
When we hire an employee, theydon't want to leave, they want
to be here.
They love it here.
They love the flexibility whenit comes to their family and the
outings that they have withtheir family.
They love the innovation thatthey have.
Here at Payrock, to beinnovators, to make a difference
.
The partners come on because ofthe flexibility and the ease
(15:36):
and the accessibility.
And sure, we're not great ateverything.
At the end of the day, youcan't be great at everything.
You can be great at a couple ofthings, but what we try to be
great on is the things that ourpartner needs.
At the end of the day, we'reall trying to do what's best for
the end client.
If you take care of thatcustomer, everything else is
taken care of.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Okay, Well, you recently announced a few
acquisitions BlueSnap, PayIQ,Agalisa, a few, maybe even a few
others but how do those supportkind of that bigger vision that
you're talking about?
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Yeah, no, great question.
I'll start with PayIQ.
Look, PayIQ is end to end, baseone, base two.
It's something that we'vealways had in our wants and
hopes and dreams, ever since myfather joined us in 2015.
He always said I want to dothis and we've done 90% of it,
and that last 10% is plugging inPayIQ to really have the
(16:31):
end-to-end experience andtransaction flow to where we
control our own destiny.
Payiq is a differentiator for us.
It's something that we'vealways aspired and something
we're truly excited about reallysinking our teeth in to get the
platform up and live as soon aspossible.
The organization at PayRockknows this is the first, most
(16:52):
important thing that we have todo, because it's going to give
us more flexibility, more growth, more scale, more needs for our
partner and more transparency.
Payiq comes with somethingthat's going to be
transformational to theorganization.
Bluesnap is that global scale.
You look for the global scale.
The large clients comes with anamazing leadership team, an
(17:15):
amazing employee roster thatwe're excited to plug in and
cross-pollinate between ourintegrated team and their
integrated team.
We've already worked with themon three very, very large
opportunities.
Bluesnap, that is, and it'sjust been easy.
That's what I'm looking for.
I'm looking for easy, seamlessand once we integrate everything
(17:36):
which we integrate companies asfast as possible, once we
integrate everything in thePayrock ecosystem, then there's
that orchestration layer that'sgoing to allow us to embed
payments.
That's what I'm most excitedabout, because I kept talking
about that global reach.
With adding BlueSnap, we willhave that global reach.
Right now we are very big inPuerto Rico and Canada and sure,
(17:58):
we have clients in Europe andIreland and Mexico, but at the
end of the day, we're notcontrolling our own destiny in
all those areas.
With BlueSnap, it really givesus something that's a
differentiator.
And I talked about Puerto Rico.
The Agaliza acquisition is anamazing gateway down in Puerto
Rico and the Dominican thatpowers our business down in
(18:21):
Puerto Rico called DynamicsPayment Systems.
Dynamics Payment Systems was anacquisition three years ago and
they're doing an amazing job onthe island.
Evertech is the biggestcompetitor down there but every
single day we're taking marketshare from them and with the
control that we will get withAga Lisa, it controls our own
destiny and what to do, how tobe flexible and how to really
(18:43):
give that customer the bestexperience possible, because Aga
Lisa comes with a great staffthat knows payments and they
know what to do to win.
They're creative and they'reagile, and that's what I'm most
excited about.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah, we've had Blue Snap, prior CEO, current CEO.
We've had them both on the showin the last five years.
I guess I think they were oneof the, I think, first 10
episodes that we ever did, sovery familiar with BlueSnap.
Well, congratulations on allthose acquisitions, by the way,
and look forward to seeing howthey all get integrated.
Well, speaking specificallyabout your ISV program and we're
(19:17):
going to dive deep into this, Ithink, in the second episode
but can you tell us sort of whatare the programs that you offer
ISVs?
And I talked to a lot ofcompanies like Payrock that
offer, you know, all differentthings from ISVs that are just
starting out to those who you'vebeen talking about, that are
maybe ready to go global, butthere's a lot of gap in between
there.
So maybe, if you don't mind,walk us through at a high level
(19:37):
what those programs are that youoffer ISVs.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
When we first encounter an ISV it's kind of
like a doctor's approach towhere we say what's your pain
points, what don't you likeabout your current provider,
what's hurting you, how can wehelp fix that?
Because we don't know that.
We try to solve what they don'thave today and it comes with
the flexibility and theexperience that we're going to
give their end customers.
(20:02):
You know we try to meet theISVs where they are, you know,
offering right size programsthat does match their stage of
maturity.
I talk about low code a lot.
It's that low code integrationsfor speed.
It's that ISO style.
You know we come from the ISOworld.
It's that ISO style model forthose who want the full control.
Not everybody wants the fullcontrol of that.
(20:24):
So look, some prefer to stayout of the payments business and
choose their referral models,which I don't blame them,
because it's very complex andvery detailed, while others want
to lean into the monetizationand brand their own ownership.
Some want to control everythingand control their own destiny.
So, beyond the program type, wedo layer in vertical playbooks.
(20:45):
We try to help them withstrategy, distribution
opportunities how can we worktogether?
And then co-marketing supportso the ISV can scale both
software and payments revenueside by side, because revenue,
revenue, revenue that's whatdrives the business.
So you know we break it up indifferent stages and we look at
different approaches.
The early stage is how fast canwe get you live?
(21:07):
How can your team work with ourteam, our APIs?
We have a full team that justis there to integrate with
clients and to help them getlive as fast as possible.
Stage two is how can we look atgrowth opportunities and look to
expand your business from whatyou're doing today, if it's on
experience, if it's on product,if it's on more visibility or
(21:27):
transparency.
And then it's really looking atthe enterprise, the
orchestration layer, the globalscale.
Are you scaled globally?
Are you accepting paymentscross-border?
If you are, how are youaccepting them?
What kind of fees are yougetting hit with?
(21:55):
And then it's really thego-to-market, beyond integration
, the co-marketing, theco-selling them as a partner.
How can we do this together?
I have a lot of partners atPayrock.
At the end of the day, I lookat all of these ISV clients like
one of my partners If it's ourCOO, cfo, cpo, whatever that is.
But look, going to market withan ISV is about flexibility.
I talked about flexibility, alot Right-sized programs about
(22:15):
flexibility.
I talked about flexibility alot Right-sized programs,
verticalized strategies andgo-to-market support to grow
within the business.
We understand it's complex, weunderstand it's a lot and we try
to offer ISVs that payment's ina box the experience, the
control, the flexibility and weask them their pain points and
(22:37):
we try to fix their pain pointsand enhance what they don't see
today.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
So I think we have a good idea of sort of the Payrock
vision, understanding yourintegrated payments, isv
programs.
But let's flip it.
What's in it for them?
What's in it for the ISVs?
What's the value for them?
Speaker 3 (22:53):
So great question.
I think the value is that feelof protection.
Our approach matters because itdoes protect the ISVs.
There's many ways that the ISVsdon't see it, but they protect
the ISVs, focus and acceleratestheir growth.
We try to help them grow anyway we can with the right model
and partner support, because wepride ourselves on support.
They can monetize paymentswithout even over-engineering
(23:17):
things the differentiation andvertical soft solutions and
softwares.
How can they expand fasterthrough distribution and scale
globally without being boxed in?
A lot of companies will box youin and it doesn't feel right.
It feels like you just have tosit there and do what's inside
of these walls.
We try to expand outside thatbox and get the partner to think
(23:38):
, hey, what haven't you thoughtabout?
We've done this quite a while.
How can we help expand you?
In short, we turn payments in acompetitive advantage for a
long-term growth engine becausethey need to grow.
They need to grow, like I said,the 10% year over year, maybe
it's 20%, whatever that may beto them, but at the end of the
day, if they're not growing,they're not monetizing payments.
(23:59):
20%, whatever that may be tothem, but at the end of the day,
if they're not growing.
They're not monetizing payments, they're never going to win in
the marketplace.
The tailored flows per vertical.
You got to look at the verticaland say, okay, what vertical
are you in?
What kind of products, whatkind of technology can we give
you that's going to bringstronger merchant adoption,
that's going to bring strongerclients over to you.
We like to expand the reachwherever we can.
I talk about globally.
(24:20):
And then, of course, we prideourselves on our risk and our
underwriting and how we dothings.
We always like to take the riskand reduce the risk out of all
of our partners and our ISVs.
How can we be a processoragnostic architecture plus
compliance built in?
How can we give that customereverything within that one box
(24:44):
but looking outside saying, hey,this is what we're going to do
for you and this is how we'regoing to do it?
And this comes down to trust.
I'm a big fan of trust.
I trust people way too early.
Sometimes my wife says but I'ma very trustworthy person and if
we show you we're honest and wedo the right thing, it's a
building process, but it's builton trust.
It's human-centered support andongoing, ongoing merchant
(25:07):
support.
It's the onboarding that we give, the merchant satisfaction, the
stickiness, Because once weboard an ISV, we don't want them
to lose their clients.
How can we create thatstickiness for them?
So look the way Payrock does goto market, because there's
different ways that we do go tomarket.
It does matter.
They don't need aone-size-fits-all partner.
They need a partner who's goingto scale with them, who's going
(25:29):
to sit next to them andstrategize with them and be
innovative with them and saywhat's next?
How can we get you to that nextlevel?
How can we help you grow yourrevenue and how can we help you
dominate Not only win, butdominate the vertical you're in,
Because, at the end of the day,if they're not winning, we're
not winning.
We have a whole team that justfocuses on growing the clients.
(25:51):
I mean, that's their main goal.
Hey, this is what you do.
Go grow our ISVs, Take themfrom here to here, Help them,
partner with them give themexperience.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
So that's really how we help people.
Well, let's wrap up by talkinga little bit about the future.
So let's say you go to dinnerwith the CEO of a SaaS company.
What do you tell him or herthey should be thinking about,
maybe for the rest of 2025 andinto 2026, when it comes to this
space?
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Well, I would say by 2026, payment is going to be
more than a utility.
It really is.
It's going to be a core driverof growth and global
competitiveness for ISVs theISVs that aren't global today.
I suggest you find a partnerthat you could do that with,
because it's coming and it'sgoing to come soon.
The key question from them,from these ISVs, is how quickly
(26:44):
can I adopt and scale?
Can I scale with the partnerI'm with?
How ready am I to supportmerchants globally?
They have to be askingthemselves these questions
because this is all coming downthe line.
How do I make payments feelseamless to my merchants while
maximizing revenue?
Isvs who partner for flexibility, vertical expertise and global
(27:05):
reach are going to be the onesthat are pacing the competition.
Clean APIs alone won't be thedifferentiator anymore.
They just won't.
Isvs are going to expect APIfirst, global scale, flexibility
and vertical specialization.
If you're not going to get thatand your head's not there
thinking about the future,you're going to lose.
(27:25):
So look to end the year out in2026, the ISVs are going to pull
ahead, are the ones who treatpayments.
They don't treat them as anafterthought.
They're going to be front andcenter.
They look at it as a growthstrategy built for a global
scale.
And if they're not looking atit like that and they're just
looking at it as, oh, it's justanother add-on, it's just going
(27:45):
to be another add-on and they'regoing to slowly lose market
share, and that's not somethingthat we want to see with our
partners or our clients.
I don't want to see that in theindustry.
I want to see everybody win.
I love when I watch people win.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Well, if you're talking to a SaaS company or an
ISV that hasn't even embeddedpayments yet, why would you tell
them to do it right now?
Speaker 3 (28:06):
You know the cost of waiting is just lost revenue.
It really is when you're goingto wait and wait and wait.
I'm a move fast type of guy.
I mean, like I said, I have sixkids in 10 years.
I like to move very fast.
But look, you're going to belost.
The valuation is going to godown if you don't embed the
payments as soon as possible.
They're not just growing faster, they're building more valuable
(28:27):
companies.
They really are the companiesthat you see that are growing
are doing it right with theright partner.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
It's been a great discussion.
One last question.
So if you were to summarizethis whole conversation and give
one piece of advice to theseISVs or software companies, what
would that advice be?
Speaker 3 (29:01):
grow and expand your company, your business, your
market that you're in.
The right partner today doesn'tjust process payments.
There's so many partners outthere that process payments.
You have to find the partnerthat's going to protect and help
you grow your businessalongside of you.
Find that right partner.
Maybe that's a hard decision tomake to let go of that partner
that you've had for a long time.
But have that upfront, honest,transparent conversation and
show them your aspirations andyour roadmap of what you want to
(29:24):
get to and, if they're not, inyour future.
You have to find the rightpayments partners.
Look, isvs don't outgrowpayments, they outgrow their
payment partners.
So you've got to find the rightpartner to partner with to
ensure that you're getting theright service, the right product
, the right technology, and ifnot, you've got to look
elsewhere.
That'd be the best advice thatI can give.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Oh, I think that's great.
I think it's a great way towrap up the show.
So, adam, thank you so much foryour time today.
It's been a great discussion.
I really appreciate you beinghere.
I know your time is veryvaluable.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Okay, and one final note beforewe go.
Coming up in the next episode,as I mentioned, we're going to
be doing a deeper dive into thespecific ISV program with Con
(30:06):
Byrne, who has done manyintegrations and worked with
many partners over the years, soit's going to be another great
episode.
And finally, to all youlisteners out there, I thank you
for your time as well and untilthe next story.
I thank you for your time aswell, and until the next story.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Thanks for joining us for Powering Payments Together
a special series on how Payrockhelps ISVs scale smarter.
To explore more resources andinsights, visit
https//partnerspayrockcomleaders-in-payments.
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