Tilled: My Founder Journey
As someone who has worked in the Payments industry for nearly a decade, I am often asked to help software companies monetize their payments. Unable to find a solution that didn’t require my clients to compromise on either technology or economics, I decided that I needed to build my own solution. That led me to build Tilled and create what we are calling PayFac-as-a-Service.
I first started working in the payments industry while I was in college, co-founding a credit card processing independent sales organization, or ISO, with a few of my friends. Beginning with very traditional credit card processing customers including restaurants, salons, liquor stores and other brick and mortar businesses, Merchant Services Done Right later expanded into processing services for e-commerce businesses, software companies and more.
Working with software companies using a traditional ISO model, sometimes referred to as an Integrated Payments 1.0 model, I was often hearing complaints from my customers about the onboarding experience for their merchants. While the software companies all had developed a streamlined and easy implementation for their core product, the same was rarely true for their integrated payments offering. When it came to payments, their merchants were required to fill out paper applications, scan and email them back, and then wait days for approval before they could begin processing payments. In some cases, it was more than just a complaint, and led to drop-off and customers not signing up for payments services because of the friction in the signup process.
Over the years, I have also consulted for larger software companies processing anywhere from $100M to over a Billion in annual payments volume. These clients needed a payments expert to help them negotiate agreements, develop new pricing models, and maximize their revenue from credit card processing.
One company in particular asked me to help them decide if they should become their own registered PayFac. Around the same time, PayFac-in-a-Box providers like Finix and Infinicept had just come on the market, so I spent a lot of time learning about their solutions to determine if it would work for my consulting client.
At the board meeting where I presented the plan for what it would take for this company to become their own PayFac, the board members looked at me like I was crazy. It was quickly apparent to everyone in the room that, with the personnel they would need to hire, the time and money it would take, and the liabilities they’d be responsible for, becoming a registered PayFac just wasn’t an option. And this company was processing over $1 billion every year.
It was working with these businesses that I realized software companies who were looking to optimize their integrated payment processing solution were really looking for two key things. One, an instant digital sign-up experience for their customers. And two, to maximize the revenue they could earn.
At the time, there wasn’t an option that could fulfill both of those requirements easily. Stripe, with an instant onboarding experience, provided nothing in terms of revenue. In order to fulfill number two, companies would often turn to ISOs for referral partnerships at the expense of their customer experience. As an ISO operator himself, even Caleb could admit that they were selling an inferior product that was far from what people really wanted.
The only way to meet both requirements was to spend 6+ months of time, hire several new employees, and spend hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars to become a registered PayFac through a PayFac-in-a-Box provider. Which, even for companies processing over a billion dollars a year, just wasn’t a realistic option for most companies.
These companies, and thousands of others, needed a new solution. And so several years ago, I began investigating what it would take to create a solution that would fulfill what I call the PayFac Holy Grail — an easy to implement solution that offers an instant onboarding experience with economics that provide a substantial revenue stream to the software companies leveraging the Tilled platform. And so Tilled was born.
But more than just the PayFac Holy Grail, I also founded Tilled with the same ethos we had from day 1 at Merchant Services Done Right — transparency, integrity, and doing right by everyone involved. My years in the industry showed me how many processors take advantage of their customers by offering terrible commissions, constantly raising rates, and nickel and diming them with hidden fees every step of the way. At Merchant Services Done Right, our customers are guaranteed the same rates for the life of their accounts, with no contracts and absolutely no hidden fees. Customers stay with us because they are happy, and because they have found a true payments partner for their business.
Tilled operates in exactly the same way. Based on a model of being your company’s payments partner for the entire life of your business, Tilled isn’t just a pit stop along the way. With aligned incentives, Tilled doesn’t grow unless you do, and we’re invested in your success. That idea has been fundamental for my entire career, and it’s fundamental to Tilled as well.
About Tilled
Tilled’s revolutionary PayFac-as-a-Service platform allows software companies to enjoy all of the benefits of becoming a PayFac without any of the upfront investment or ongoing overheads. All while capturing the lion’s share of the economics. Are you ready to Get Tilled?
Visit us today at www.tilled.com to learn more and get started.
