Secrets of Checks Surviving the Tech Wave! How CheckAlt uses modern tech for the future of checks.
Shai the chairman and CEO of czecho he’s really a Pioneer who saw the Maze of payment processing and didn’t just find a way through it he decided it was a time to build a brand new map when I co-founded vintage filings with uh my partner Seth fman and we recognized that we could do the same thing better faster and cheaper we repeated that similar Playbook a couple of times I don’t know if anything that we do is overly revolutionary but rather it is just thoughtful business processes that we believe that we can do um intelligently and understanding how to provide phenomenal customer service I kept on a hearing and everyone was saying checks are dead checks are dead and checks are dead and they’re dying and they’re dead and just they’re done and it it with me as payment mechanisms and payment utilization does not change people don’t change Behavior so quickly and therefore checks are not going to die check processing is not as simple as receiving a check and suddenly it ends up in your bank account what happens in the process how does that actually transfer the piece of paper be digitized how does it turn into a deposit what happens to the data alongside it if there are over two billion payments that begin as a digital payment as an online payment and the system actually kicks them out and puts them into the mail and mails them the average value of that check is 450 so it’s 900 billion dollar begins online should stay online we want it to stay online but it doesn’t and it gets into the mail exposing all these challenges and it gets processed that way the scenic Roots I truly believe that every financial institution and every business were they to know that there is an opportunity to take those Bill paychecks out of the system and never receive another bill paycheck again they would run our job is to understand what do our clients want what is going to make their lives easier what is going to bring them more efficiencies for the banks that we service what is going to help them attract more deposits and get them a better experience for their clients before we dive into today’s episode let’s Spotlight a game changer in the financial World clearing Works simplify your financial management with a One-Stop solution for all your AR needs and with a single login are you intrigued visit clearing works.com to schedule your demo today welcome to fintech confidential bringing you to people Tech and companies that change how you day and get paid welcome to an episode of fintech confidentials leaders oneon-one I’m your host Ted Huff here to bring you fintech industry insights market trends news and life stories from fintech leaders thinkers and doers I had the pleasure of attending checkouts event knowledge and nourish earlier this year in February it was an opportunity to really get to know the checkout leadership some of their clients and their part Partners in a face-to-face setting it was two days of great information and some really amazing conversations and it was fantastic to meet Shai in person I want to dive in and let you know more about Shai the chairman and CEO of czecho he’s not just another suit in the crowd he’s really a Pioneer who saw the Maze of payment processing and didn’t just find a way through it he decided it was a time to build a brand new map and that started everywhere from his early days flipping the script with vintage filings and then all the way up to today where he’s leading the charge at checkle Shai’s all about making sure your hard-earned cash doesn’t take the scenic route to its destination or get intercepted by the bad guys Shai welcome to the show man thank you T for having me it’s an honor Shai everyone loves a good light bulb moment what was yours and what catapulted that spark into what you’ve done today with checkal my background is being able to look at different Industries see the incumbents who are there and be able to see a gap in how they are servicing the industry and servicing their clients that began when I when I co-founded vintage filings with uh my partner Seth fman and we recognized that we could do the same thing better faster and cheaper and that was a a story and a journey in and by itself self and we repeated that similar Playbook a couple of times and then I always wanted to have the right entry point into the payments industry and I kept on a hearing and everyone was saying checks are dead checks are dead and checks are dead um and they’re dying and they’re dead and just they’re done and it it resonated with me as folks were telling me years earlier that SEC filings were no longer going to be utilizing Edgar and one day the SEC will say you can use a PTF or a word doc and or Google doc and Google’s re-engineer or Microsoft will re-engineer the Edgar system and I said nah that’s never going to happen governments don’t change so quickly and I said here payments payment mechanisms and payment um utilization does not change people don’t change Behavior so quickly and therefore checks are not going to die well I can’t tell you how many times throughout my career like it’s been over 25 years now that I’ve heard checks are dead no no no no they’re just dying wait a second there are more checks now than ever how many checks are we seeing today and and what is that represent volume wise there are full differences of opinions about how many CH are those who said they are dead we’ll probably still say they are dead and when you show a piece of paper they’ll say no fake checks um it’s not real and there those who say they’re dying will say there’s a number around 10 billion or maybe a little bit less than those who say the number is 12 or 13 billion still remaining but what is really interesting to note is that check processing is not as simple as receiving a check and suddenly it ends up in your bank account but rather what happens in the process how does that actually transfer the piece of paper be digitized how does it turned into a deposit what happens to the data alongside it if it’s a business payment there usually a coupon or some barcode information or it could be a medical payment but there are over two billion payments that begin as a digital payment as an online payment and the system actually kcks them out and puts them into the mail and mails them over two billion the average value of that check is $450 so it’s $900 billion begins online should stay online we want it to stay online but it doesn’t and it gets into the mail exposing all these challenges and it gets processed that way the scenic rout as you say that it makes me wonder what what was it that steered you towards revolutionizing the way that people look at these paper checks I don’t know if anything that we do Ted as much as I’m honored by you calling me a revolutionary but that we that we do is overly um revolutionary but rather it is just thoughtful business processes that we believe that we can do um intelligently and understanding how to provide phenomenal customer service what’s happened in the in the Czech industry is that there are historical incumbents in who process checks these wonderful companies wonderful people all intending beautifully to Service banks and their clients but as the comments have been that checks are dying and then mobile is the future and digital is the future crypto and blockchain or the future well companies can only spend limited amount of time where they can invest in commitment towards the future and suddenly checks get left behind to die so those who believe they were going to die and they didn’t die you just leave them on the side of the road and say well if they’re going to die I’m no longer going to invest in what’s needed in them and then suddenly you wake up years later and they have not died and they need to be cared for and need to be processed and then you have conversations regarding check fraud and the need for apis and the need for a better courage and that’s where we come into play and how we look at the business we all wish that we are in a world where specifically check payments would just Glide super smoothly from point A to point B absolutely no hiccups no detours and that seems to be the check all promise and just saying enough to this old clunky old school process of logging into a bunch of different portals um manually moving stuff around really having to key things in you guys have gone and done a lot of those things how are you getting to that point of of streamlining that whole experience and reducing the friction there are a whole variety of use cases and checks and how they need to be processed and for whom and where they need to go umh and we look at each one of those processes individually and say can we automate any part of this process if someone’s writing a check or they’re printing a check and mailing it then it it ends up at a post office it ends up when we receive those items our job is to gohe and say how quickly can we go ahead and get them up into the system to create a deposit there are two real key goals in that and that is number one getting the money deposited and two is getting the data into the accounting system or the Erp system so they know actually pay this bill the question is how much of that process is manual and how much of that process can become automatic how much of the process is Antiquated and because it’s been done so long in this way does it just remain there or C A little bit of wisdom and a little bit of machine learning or AI actually accelerate that or does that acceleration through machine learning or AI provide a better reporting experience or better compliant experience or does it give a less risk experience so we have a phenomenal team and the team analyzes every single one of the processes to say we know that certain things are never going to become completely automated but if you automate parts of it or majority of it or whatever that percentage is depending on the process you’re already adding Great Value I had the opportunity to sit there with your team and and partners and clients there seem to be this feeling and this discussion of you guys have seen things that others haven’t how did you find that and how are you leveraging those unseen items that others just haven’t when you have a business that says our name is checkal we process checks we are then offering alternative additional value added Solutions but the glue that makes our business what it is is that we process checks wherever those checks originate from there there are checks that origin from a handwritten item that need to be deposited at an ATM or in an office or a lockbox or a branch or mobile will we be able to see something that might be overlooked that might not be able to receive the same attention and focus when businesses have competing priorities we know that those and they also have shareholders or publicly traded stock price that gets managed quarterly they have to manage to those competing priorities those initiatives what folks are all saying what they think is the next thing our job over here at checkle is what do our clients want what is going to make their lives easier what is going to bring them more efficiencies uh for the banks that we service what is going to help them attract more deposits and get them a better experience for their clients so we look at the audience that we service and we Service banks credit unions fintex and corporates our job is to understand for example that a bank will say okay can you get on the phone with our property management company or Medical Healthcare company or our Merchant our business and help us as to why they need a lock box why they need this solution to take the bill paychecks out of the system but spend time that’s what they want that’s the behavior of a financial institution a ftech says we don’t want to ever talk to you send us your AP it so being able to understand the behaviors of our audiences and where they’re able to invest time thoughtfulness in versus Outsourcing hey czecho this is your business checks are real pain the ass we know where can you go ahead and help us that’s where we spend our time and the talent that we have attracted over here at Czech of folks who have wonderful perspectives of the industry from different organizations enables us to really be a great leader and a great partner to our clients you guys have a number of products you offer to the fintex to financial institutions as well as large corporates do you have a favorite story where Czech alt really turned the tide for a client to really get them to that next level Financial organizations are searching for solutions to combine operational efficiency with Innovation look no further as lone Pro allows lenders to enhance their origination servicing Collections and payments using the foundation of a modern lending core check out lanpro doio to learn more about how over 600 Financial organizations have modernized their Tech stack with lone Pro you know I have six children I’m very blessed and I tell all my children they’re my favorite and we have six levers over here at Czech and uh my top to say that they’re all my favorite but you ask for the favorite my favorite solution and I and I like to really speak about this is the $900 billion problem of these Bill paychecks I I really believe this is such a problem and such a unique discussion that I truly believe that every financial institution and every business were they to know that there is an opportunity to take those Bill paychecks out of the system and never receive another bill paycheck again they would run and they would on board and they would say sure why would I not sign up for this we see that there are clients of ours that are receiving I call them bricks of checks that are Bill pays bricks meaning all these were they began online and they got mailed and we get a delivery of a brick of checks that we just take them and go run through the system and they get onboarded and then we give them a call we say look you can sign up we can onboard you for our solution called catch and all those payments are just going to stay online your day sales outstanding are going to become abbreviated your data is going to become better you’re not putting a check in the mail um to let the bad guys even have a shot at it it’s be sold on the dark web all the conversations that we can put aside or get rid of because of this solution and then when we see the actual success of those Bill pays staying there and the customers are happy and they’re it’s it’s very rewarding uh to see that success so this is my I I love the the catch solution that we have I love talking about it I truly believe that every bank that I can get in front of uh by the time I’m done with them and a good meal I believe they going to uh to be signing up for it but it’s just it’s just natural good value I will say that uh your choice and food when you bring everybody together for meals is Bar None one of the best that I I’ve ever had the opportunity to participate in thank you and you know as as you’re talking about this product do you have an example or a story of how that changed for a specific client you don’t have to call them by name but just kind of walk us through how they went from the manual process to what it did for them in their overall business well to bring on the catch product is easy it’s a very simple onboarding process um our team does a great job on it we think it’s less than a week to be able to onboard a merchant onto the solution the integration to the Erp platforms are very valuable to them the way that I tell this story about catch is um is I tell the story about my mom my mom should liveing me well she a wonderful woman but my mom like but many in her generation are never going to stop writing checks my daughter at the same time is never going to start writing checks just a different generation behaviors uh my mom can still take a taxi and pay with you know cash and my daughter will always take Uber it’s just the way life is generational differences so my daughter now says to Grandma and says hey Grandma they call my mother actually sofa and says to my mother hey sofa uh you know you can pay your bills online and she goes I know I can but I write the checks it’s all good put in the mail put the stamp on nobody even knows what a stamp cost today but she’s good with it and that’s her behavior but my daughter finally goes and convinces soft do to go ahead and to make her five Bill pays online and she goes one month in the 14th and goes on to Chase or whatever BFA account and pays these five bills done it comes now she receives her invoices for those five vendors at the next cycle and she has assessed a $35 $40 late fee at every one of those five vendors calls my daughter over and she says what is this I paid the bill on the 14th you saw me pay the bill calls up all five vendors and she says I paid my bill online and my daughter helps her show them a screenshot well they say well too bad uh Mrs Stern you actually mailed us a check here’s a C of the check that we received now my mother no says that’s not true here’s a screenshot they go here an is here’s the bill pay cuz most clerks in their rebles Departments of these businesses have no idea what a bill paycheck is versus a handwritten check now this business has spent how much time losing an argument to my mother because for sure right she’s absolutely for sure going to win the argument when they’re going to reverse delay charge and all that this never needed to happen now if they would have been using cash the whole time the bill would have been paid on time and life would have been beautiful there are millions of merchants that need to be on this solution it’s a good solution for them it helps them it hits the accounting system it saves the endless amounts of time and as we’re so busy with trying to get things that are analog to go digital this a digital that is dropping to analog let’s just keep it where it’s intended to be so there are all these merchants and banks that they are forever thankful to us for introducing them to this and we want to spend more time educating others about this value of keeping the bill paychecks online getting your money quicker having integrate to your European accounting system and having your business hum the way it really should one of the things that really shows how much these types of products and this message is resonating is 2023 was a banner year for check and not only that but you continue to build out what what I would call A Dream Team roster that would make just about anybody in your space just Swoon over who you’ve brought on board and it’s not just about the numbers and who you brought on but it’s really about how they’re bringing that to the market how are you adjusting your playbook to keep that momentum from 2023 and what are the targets you’re really striving for in 2024 um so first thank you for acknowledging the team when I moved back from Los Angeles to New York the summer of 21 that was the number one Focus can we go ahead and build a team that can lead us to a whole new level and and levels be beyond that and that was a very strong commitment of M and focused very deeply on it from Chief people officer CFO Chief Operating Officer then to really uh continue to enhance an upgrade across all the functions that we have here but we sit together as a team we have a lot of interesting conversations a lot of dialogue there’s a company call every Friday there are multiple meetings throughout the week where we look at the pipeline look at the solutions we hear the different feedback from our customers industry Trends and all that and we stay very focused you know our six levers of lockbox software the catch feature that we highlighted apis that we have merchant processing and ATM deposit automation enable us to stay very very in tune with our customers we spend a lot of time educating our customers about values that they should be showing their merchants in our Solutions so our team of client experience folks and our relationship management folks they lead webinars and education we put together some great materials that we really try to understand what’s going on in our clients it’s difficult customers clients financial institutions they’re not used to getting this kind of bespoke service they’re typically accustomed to hollering screaming complaining waiting for things to Break um and waiting for things to break and the challenge that I have set forth over here is that we need to interact with customers all the time not waiting for something to go bad when we interact with them let’s show them different use cases about how other financial institution clients are using us how other fchs are using us how the apis that we built why are we building them and do they have Merchants as well that can benefit the interaction the focus the curating of information the curating of content to the right people that we are engaging with you know at a financial institution or fintech or these businesses you can have many time where you need to be engaging with maybe 5 10 15 20 30 40 50 Folks at a at a business at an institution where it’s on us if you want to be a great provider you can never assume that you can share the information with one person at a bank and that person isn’t going to go in and Train everybody else it doesn’t work that way let’s understand who else is there let’s understand who we can influence who we can engage with who we can make feel good and curate the content to their liking and when you do that I think that we then develop a great momentum that will be rather fulfilling to keep our customers happy to keep them growing then obviously inevitably we’re going to become a great partner as you talk about the the communication within your team and in your team with with all your your partners and your clients I have this question I’m going to name off a few people that I’ve really enjoyed spending time with is you’ve got star players like Rachel book you’ve got Patrick law Linda Frain Jen Linton on board I’m curious to how their wisdom has been weaved into cck Al’s fabric to really make it stronger and to deliver on those client promises that you just discussed the most common cause of bad customer experience isn’t that high-tech it’s embarrassingly simple yep it’s answering questions in e-commerce it’s really easy to get bogged down with common questions whether that’s where’s my package how do I return or exchange this item or just to cancel a subscription DOL paath is an aid driven customer customer support system that enhances the customer experience with visual formats and self-served Technology to empower your customers to handle their own support requests get the best customer support system for your business get solv paath get started by visiting get solv path.com [Music] I I love the question I love it richel Buck is my right hand she’s our cheap people offer search but just an amazing amazing partner and someone who I am so um grateful to have on my team and someone who I am always looking to learn from her how I can better lead the organization and does an incredible job in leading all of our employees caring for them inspiring them making sure they understand what’s expected of them that’s the fabric of who we are because our people are everything you know technology companies we’re a tech enabled services company but services and solutions are all run by people and you and she does just an absolutely phenomenal job and every day that I get to have her on my team and we hope it’s for decades and decades ahead Patrick law first of all besides him being an amazing leader he served our country in two different tours he’s an amazing human we have so much honor and respect and we thank him so much for who he is as a person but he has 27 years experience in running banking Ops and being a leader and being able to attract Talent motivate Talent push Talent like really drive people to know that and achieve more it has an amazing ability to take what’s in my head and execute so beautifully on it his wisdom around Ops and Tech uh is really second to none in the industry and I believe that that will continue to thrive lindra that Patrick brought on his great wisdom as understanding what customers are looking for and how to interact with them how to sell how to build relationships possesses beautiful elegance and the way she goes about it so to be a salesperson and a relationship management person but yet have Elegance is such a unique quality that we really admire and Jed Linton who runs product for us is someone who Patrick identified who coming here to check all from coming from a large organization I look at her thoughtfulness her diligence her collaboration with her team her upbeat attitude meaning the pleasantness of this woman as a leader um and her demeanor is something that is infectious within our entire organization so I hope it’s coming across how much I love my people um so oh it is it is and I can go through all 200 plus folks of the company how much I am so honored and humble that that these folks are here at Cold helping us become the business that we are becoming you called out some amazing things about all of these people and and I I I agree with everything that you said my question is how is all of those great qualities of these leaders building a stronger version of Czech Alt to move forward into 2024 and Beyond Talent is what builds companies period Ed the story exclamation point talent talent talent uh when you have talent that foundationally is strong talent that foundationally um enjoys working together that knows how to collaborate that is one unit one check Al all uh together with goals that are very clear or marching together we enjoy each other’s company at least I enjoy their company I’m the boss I hope they enjoy my company as well but we really enjoy each other’s company we spend a lot of time together even though we are a remote company we have 10 locations where we process but myself Rachel Tony we in New York Jon’s in Houston and Patrick is in Dallas and we’re not always together physically but we’re always together the team foundationally and the strength of this unit together if someone says to me you know is your team strong enough to lead you to a AIG billion dollars in revenue or and higher absolutely this is a team that can manage scale of real proportion really guide us there and just we’re so excited to see you know where we are at the end of 24 25 26 and and the payments real significant payments business that we are on the path to building can you share just a little glimps of the strategies that you’re looking at to really Propel check Al and to achieve the goals that you’ve set checks are our glue it’s check Al we know checks are not going away and I said that like we know it like checks are not going away that’s our thesis and check technology is required an in an increased investment to check technology and all that comes around it is very necessary that means software software receivable software to process software that giv us a good experience good reporting good technology good risk and compliance protection um is that investment today where we are most of our Revenue still today is on Tech enabled Services lockbox people sending us to work or ATM deposit automation that mix of Revenue is going to shift as we do more in software as we receive more in apis as we do more in payments as this cat feature continues to explode and continues to gain more momentum the mix of our revenue is going to become way more software payment apid driven and that’s going to make us um significantly more into a payments company than known as a check company that’s why we named the company check alt we began as check but it’s all these alternative revenue streams that we already have that we built into our platform the software and the apis of payments that are really going to see the company go check alt value added continue to build and we see that happening we see the way some of our partnership are are growing if you look at some of the greatest success stories in the payments industry over the last decade are apis or or software companies that embedded within an industry that industry grew and they grew with it so we have built great software and a lot of apis and some great Partners where they took our apis and they built it in and those apis is those businesses grow and they get significantly funded their growth trajectory is astronomical and they’re Road seeing that growth happening and we’re going along for that ride because our value to them as an embedded partner is of Great Value to their goals and to where their strategy is so I I think that software payments abis that’s going to be the future but always to glue the Supreme board is our check business looking at that strategy what do you see as the most complicated problem that your clients face and how are you solving it receivables departments at businesses have a lot coming at them they receive payments coming from checks a card wires sometimes cash and many times they’re coming in multiple locations receivables departments are always underfunded they’re under resourced always always always people look at the finance team um whether right or wrong it’s not for us to decide as being an expense for the business so getting the cash in and trying to find the most efficient way to get your money in to run your business or get it the quickest way or the most efficient way businesses don’t spend too much time thinking about that until there’s a problem they don’t really think about how they’re getting their money in to run their business we have to always be thoughtful to say how can we help the receivables Departments and our clients hum better how can we give them ideas or tools to go ahead and to become more successful so we’re we make a lot we’ve made north of 20 fintech Investments one of the things that we don’t speak about too publicly to often but we’ve made some phenomenal fintech Investments and we love investing into ftech entrepreneurs where we believe we can add value to them we’ve invested in a whole bunch of companies where we believe that their value to us and to our clients can be very very powerful we invested recently into an a we just announced this one recently called Ground pay e is a service business we’re very excited about it I love will will will freaking amazing love will right will Ms is great uh we invested years ago into bank Joy a mobile banking platform that we l Mike Duncan and the team over there um we love Jeremy bulin at today pay what he’s doing over there with refunds as a service and we’re going to announce in the next you know week or so that we invested into another company that does digitization of medical lockbox that is a tremendous problem for many financial and their Healthcare customers and their Healthcare clients but we invested into others that are beneficial and in other various Industries so we’re always looking to see how to make our clients and their clients be more thoughtful and be more efficient that is the benefit of having a great team I can go to Tony I can go to Patrick I can go to Jen the crew and say Hey guys does this make sense this is the way I’m looking at it you guys think this is can you analyze it suddenly the team says yes I said okay now run with it and go you’re going to see a lot more ability to onboard quicker automation a lot of AI that we’ve built in already what we did with Leo Rocko’s company and confidence what we have with script. a in machine learning or invoice coding a lot of thoughtful Investments that we’ve made and that we will continue to go ahead and to do uh We’ve made three Acquisitions we we’d love to find more um I believe there’s going to be opportunity you and I have discussed that in the past uh that um with the team that we have today um can we acquire more more and integrate quicker and integrate more wiser uh the answer is absolutely the resources that we have today across all um functions within our organization so um we believe we haven’t even scratched the surface to what we can achieve the team is what’s helping us really go get there the market is absolutely recognizing that checks need the right provider to take care of them properly and the right way and we’re really enjoying this year and what we’ve done in the past and we look forward to a great great bunch of years ahead well it sounds like you guys are just moving forward at a pace and with the momentum to really just do whatever it is that you guys want to do but everybody loves a good Underdog Story and I I would love for you to share one where the checkal team was able to turn the tables from where you felt like you were in a position of not being able to deliver on something whether it be something new or something existing and we’re able to to leverage that experienced team that we’ve talked about to flip it over to a win okay you touch the nerve Ted you ready for it you touch the nerve I’m ready I have a very strong aversion to rfps in this industry bank they love we need to go to RFP so first of all they should know that the folks who are responding to rfps they using Ai and chat gbt humans AR even responding to this questions that’s number one number two two is in the RFP World in every industry the incumbents always win no one’s ever going to be fired by selecting this company you have nonusers of the service and the solution or folks when the procurement division deciding going to use or to put numbers on answers it takes out all the value of a business value of a business is the technology that’s being used value of the business are the people that are you can always rely on so most times if we get an RFP we know that um we’re not going to win we know that they’re going to automatically decide on a multi-billion dollar publicly Trader company because some Bozo in the procurement division is GNA say I’m not going to get fired for choosing these guys which is true I believe that you’re never going to get fired if you go there and they mess up because they are who they are yeah that that makes me think of the the old adage you know I’ve worked for some large corporations and the engineering and it team would always say no one ever got fired for choosing IB there you go and of course I’m dating myself a little bit right but that’s something that comes to mind as you’re describing this and I’d love to hear the rest of the story hey Ted Huff here ever thought about how you could streamline your application and underwriting process well let me introduce you to under why keep using the outdated methods of PDFs when you can digitize them effortlessly all you got to do is upload the PDF send it out for digital signature and voila you’re set for the digital age are you curious on how to make that happen head over to under. sftc and get started for free it’s really that simple so we’re the underdog so when it comes to RFP is I typically tell my team don’t respond you know we’ve turned down rfps from large Fortune 50 companies I say I’m very honored that you include them in the RFP but I know I’m not going to win so why would I spend the time doing it so we had a call from a uh corporation that every single human in this country knows the name every single human not let to username publicly but every single human of this country knows and they call me up and they go hey Shai you know we want to include you in an RFB and it actually was the business decision maker it wasn’t the procurement guy and I said Hey Kevin I’m flattered to be in the company of these other incumbents these other wonderful organizations the guys who run them are my friends I have great relationships with them but we’re going to humbly pass on participating in the RFP and he goes well I need three participants I said well you got one two and then find an EXT luuck I’m not doing it and I said elegantly and I said that we’re we’re not going to participate because I don’t have a 100 hours these RPS take tens and tens of hours oh yeah to apply to I’m not doing it and and I said but if you give me your word sir that we’ll have a fair shot to win the business you give me your word that we have a fair shot to win the business I’ll don’t going to go ahead and participate will respond he goes you know that’s a fair question I can’t give you the answer now if I can give you a fair shot I’ll call you back he was honest in that he said I don’t know if I can give you a fair shot or if I just need a third participant he called me back two weeks later and he goes to me I’m giving you a fair shot can you please respond I said fair shot is a fair shot I mean we won the business fast forward you met this fellow Tad when you in our offices the night before you met him so you know the story and you know how the story is true but the night before I had the honor of having dinner with this fellow and his wife they came in for our event on their own dime even dinner you know to buy dinner all the right compliant rules we follow them of course over dinner I asked why did choose us that was the you could have gone anywhere else he goes I chose you because number one your software is light years ahead two your onboarding integration timeline was so far ahead of others three your pricing wasse better and then he says to me two more things I want to tell you one you’re the only CEO who I can get to answer a cell phone and I know that every time I call or text you you’re going to answer and respond to me I said that’s true he goes but the people that you have at Czech alt are hacked with wisdom intelligence kindness they’re fun they’re engaging and he goes and are we going to do business with people business has to be done with people and we chose check off because of the people they’re a great client of ours they enjoy who we are they advise us if they see things initi they think we shouldn’t be building out we ask them questions because we want to glean from their experience and their wisdom and it’s worked out beautifully but if you were to ask me prior was there a shot that us as an underdog would ever win that piece of business the answer is no but over my career every one of my businesses has been the underdog has been the guy going in there I can go ahead and beat these guys up and do something good while having a great relationship with them because of the flexibility the drive the motivation that we have and that we truly believe in our thesis and our strategy as a business I think the you sitting in on that session with Kevin and and Patrick really gave me a perspective of how institutions of their magnitude diverse of diversity of product sets truly honors and appreciates that Personal Touch because I think just about every time that there was a question it was about that and the response came back to that time and time again so that is something that is really really cool and I can even attest like it doesn’t it doesn’t matter I I could text you I could call Lynn it it doesn’t matter but the people are always there to provide that help and to provide that guidance it’s been fantastic to experience that with them thank you thank you what I always do towards the end of the episode is I like to take a peer through the fintech Looking Glass and see what holds for the future and in this case according to your eyes through the checkout lens what is the next Frontier and how do you plan on conquering it the next Frontier is to continue with our strategy to continue down the strategy these six levers you got to stay focused in every business that I build if you stay focused you win if you look too far ahead and you try to chase the next shiny object you’re done all the folks that we brought on here came here for this strategy came here because they know checks are not going anywhere the technology that we’re building in the receivables platform is very powerful there’s a massive Market that needs it the ability to process checks the ability to offer software apis payments if we Des serve this catch opportunity it’s a $900 billion doll opportunity all of it for all these millions upon millions of merchants that they don’t have to wait for that one check that might be stolen or lost in the mail and it gets integrated into their accounting system there’s a huge opportunity here and I think that we’re going to see a lot of consolidation on this Market we going to see a compression where folks who began businesses that were a one trick or a one solution opportunity are going to be better suited being part of a larger company like in many Industries you’re going to have a lot of it’s going to take time um but by us at Czech I think our success will absolutely come by staying the course just got to stay the course and if we stay the course with patience calmness balancing it with great ambition um and elegance I I I think um we’re going to wake up in a couple years from now and be a great payments business that folks are going to be wanting to do business with because we’re always going to maintain a very high level of customer touch great customer service understand your needs we’re going to stand for accordingly and I think that if we do that and keep on investing in software technology we’re going to be more than okay I can’t help but think through our conversation today and you’ve mentioned a number of these and I’d love for you to distill it down just a little bit of what advancements and shifts that are aligning with the strategy of those six pillars I think that Banks years ago were not open to cloud-based software today everyone’s accustomed to cloud-based software I think that years ago folks were not really interested in building apis today that’s a necessity I think that you’re going to see that the dialogue about how banking as a service Custom Companies are bad or their compliant risks or they’re being thrown out already because you know they laid off 10 or 15% of their staff that’s going to come back roaring I mean the folks who run some of these bass companies and the banks who service are very very talented people but we’re going to see how the business will continue to evolve with payments and API and software that is our Focus that is our mission that is our belief it’s our strategy we’re going to continue to find the right companies to invest and or to acquire we going to continue to seek out the best talent to bring on to our team that wants to believe in this vision of where we’re headed but the next Frontier of technology and payments is anybody’s guess which one’s going to be the actual one that’s going to take off and become the next stripe but you know we don’t need to become the next stripe we just want to take care of our clients and the marketplace properly so the last very last question of today is if you were sitting down with one of these fintech entrepreneurs like many that you’ve already invested in and you only able to give them one sentence of advice what would it be and why one be kind to your wife and your family most important thing being an entrepreneur means that you need the support of the loved ones to go ahead and to understand that you’re you’re working you’re doing you’re focused don’t neglect those who love and support you it wasn’t a business answer but it’s a human answer and I think that’s very important I I love my wife you know we’re married 28 years and we’re blessed and she puts up with a crazy entrepreneur that I’ve been for all these years we have to be aware of the sacrifices our family makes for us to go out there and realize our strategies and our dreams that is the human answer on the business answer is if you believe in your strategy which every entrepreneur should believe and believe in your strategy and a lot of times entrepreneurs will see things that others will ridicule they will mock they will tell you that what you’re seeing is nuts and everybody else has tried it or this part of the industry is dead or this one is not happening yet or you’re seeing too far out I don’t see the adoption one believe in your strategy two don’t believe your own gut or as they say right don’t overb believe in yourself allow yourself to engage with mentors whether it be a board member or an outside Mentor or someone who has experience and be open to hearing their wisdom be honest be truthful don’t be stubborn and as you build your team trust your team if you invest in a team the way everyone should to scale allow them to do what you brought them on for and Empower them and let them go ahead and Thrive every single person needs a mentor every single person need those who they can always be incredibly honest with with what is challenging them internally and don’t ever stop doing that be humble and always have it I’ve got my partner my mentor he’s 77 years old he’s been my everything for close to 30 years I don’t mention his name publicly because he doesn’t like to be get any recogn I’ve benefited so much from him over these three decades and he’s always available and I always will ask a question so here I am as a CEO I have someone who I always ask and then I always have those who I lead so being able to always have that balance of being able to glean wisdom and be able to always go ahead and Lead is um is what I really would like to guide everyone shy as always man you’re full of amazing insights and amazing strategies in business I appreciate you taking the time out of your day today to to Really dive into what you’re doing and the team at checkal are doing to move that product and that part of the industry forward so I really appreciate it man thank you Ted I’m humbled you’re a wonderful man and uh I always appreciate spending time with you well folks that is another episode of fintech confidentials leaders one onone if you want to learn more about what the next moves for checkal is go ahead and check out their website at checkout.com and you can find them on the social channels at checkal and as always keep moving forward as we wrap up today’s episode I’ve got one last thing for you if you’re in the trenches fighting fraud and financial crime you know it’s a complex Battlefield that’s where Hawks AI tools for real time payment screening AML transaction monitoring and dynamic customer risk rating come into play these aren’t just buzzwords they’re game changers designed to make your compliance more effective and less of a headache imagine slashing through false positives with precision and giving your compliance strategy The Edge it needs head on over to get hawaii.com to sign up for a demo and discover how their platform can revolutionize how you fight fraud and financial crime this has been a production of dd3 media with all rights reserved this is provided for informational purposes only it is not offered or intended to be used as legal tax investment Financial or other advice we strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information but will not be responsible for any missing facts or inaccurate information you comply and understand that you should use any of this information at your own risk cryptocurrencies are highly volatile Financial assets so research and make your own financial decisions
Join Tedd Huff in this episode of FinTech Confidential as he discusses the future of payment processing with Shai Stern, CEO of CheckAlt. Discover CheckAlt’s innovative strategies to improve check processing efficiency, integrate new technologies, and minimize the use of physical checks through digital solutions. Shai Stern shares valuable insights from his extensive background in financial services, addressing the misconceptions surrounding the obsolescence of checks and highlighting the importance of automation for smoother transactions. He also advises fintech entrepreneurs on staying adaptive and the significance of support from loved ones.
Takeaways
1️⃣ Are Checks Really Outdated? Shai Stern Reveals All!
Contrary to popular belief, Shai Stern explains why checks are still crucial in today’s financial transactions and debunks myths about their demise.
2️⃣ CheckAlt’s Secret Weapon: The Catch Solution Explained!
Learn about CheckAlt’s Catch solution, which aims to minimize the use of paper checks by keeping bill payments online, streamlining processes, and enhancing security.
3️⃣ How Automation Is Transforming Payment Processes!
Shai highlights the transformative impact of automation in speeding up payment processes and increasing efficiency, ensuring customer transactions are smoother than ever.
4️⃣ Shai Stern’s Essential Advice for Fintech Startups!
Shai shares invaluable tips for fintech entrepreneurs, emphasizing the importance of robust support systems and openness to continuous learning and adaptation.
5️⃣ The Future of Fintech: Where Is CheckAlt Heading?
Get a glimpse into CheckAlt’s future plans, which focus on further developing their technologies and solutions to stay ahead in the fast-evolving payment industry.
Links:
CheckAlt: Website: https://checkalt.com
LinkedIn: Company: https://www.linkedin.com/company/checkalt
LinkedInShai Stern: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaistern1
Twitter: https://twitter.com/checkalt
YouTube: @checkalt3239
Fintech Confidential Links:
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fintechconfidential
Supporters:
CheckAlt ClearingWorks: Your one-stop solution for AR needs. Learn more at https://clearingworks.com.
MPC24: Engage with the latest in digital commerce. Register now at https://mpcevent.com/register-now-payment/.
Under.io: Revolutionize merchant applications with digital transformation. Discover more at https://under.io/ftc.
HAWK:AI: Enhance compliance with advanced AI. Visit https://gethawkai.com.
LoanPro: Modernize your lending solutions. See how at https://loanpro.io/demo.
Solvpath: Elevate customer support with A.I.-driven technology. Get started at https://www.getsolvpath.com.
Timestamps
[00:00:00] Introduction to CheckAlt and Shai Stern
[00:02:26] Revolutionizing Payment Processing
[00:05:29] The Truth About Check Processing
[00:08:39] Automating Processes and Improving Customer Experience
[00:13:43] Introducing Catch: Keeping Bill Paychecks Online
[00:25:39] The Wisdom of CheckAlt’s Team
[00:28:03] Looking Ahead: CheckAlt’s Plans for the Future
[00:28:16] Building a Stronger CheckAlt with Talent and Collaboration
[00:30:21] Investing in Check Technology, Software, APIs, and Payments
[00:33:10] Shifting Revenue Mix & Becoming a Payments Company
[00:39:30] Providing Value to Clients through Fintech Investments and Acquisitions
[00:41:44] Success as an Underdog: Staying Focused & Delivering Exceptional Customer Service
[00:46:58] The Future Frontier: Continuing the Strategy & Focusing on the Six Levers
[00:50:36] Aligning with Advancements and Shifts in the Fintech Landscape
[00:51:21] Advice for Fintech Entrepreneurs: Kindness, Belief, and Mentorship
Shai Stern Co-chairman and CEO:
Mr. Shai Stern is the co-chairman and CEO of CheckAlt, the largest independent provider of treasury and lockbox solutions. Mr. Stern is an influential figure in the fintech space, serving on the board of Bankjoy and facilitating the acquisition of Gopago from JPMorgan in 2013. His extensive experience and leadership have significantly contributed to the fintech industry, particularly in payment processing and digital transactions.
CheckAlt: CheckAlt is the largest independent provider of receivables management and payment and deposit processing solutions in the U.S., serving more than 1,000 clients across a broad range of industries, including financial institutions of all sizes, property management, healthcare, utilities, municipalities, and nonprofits.
Tedd Huff:
With over two decades in fintech, he is the President and founder of Diamond D3. He brings his extensive experience to the Fintech Confidential series, ensuring that the content is not only informative but also engaging.
Production by Diamond D3, Media.