Payment Pulse – Ep. 1

Payment Pulse: The go-to source for simplified insights into the ever-evolving world of payments.

Designed for software providers, SMBs, and industry professionals, our podcast breaks down complex topics like embedded payments, economic trends, and SMB innovations into understandable, engaging discussions.​

Each week, we deliver 10-minute episodes that keep you informed on the latest trends, key innovations, and forces shaping the payments landscape – all while keeping things practical and relatable. ​

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Episode Transcript

Steve: Good morning, world. Welcome to Payment Pulse, A podcast by Clearent by Xplor. My name is Steve Bell. I’m here with my co-host, Max.

and Max, we’re starting a podcast, man. We’re really doing it.

I’m super excited. The, the goal of this, and what we’ll get into this a little bit more later is to really simplify and humanize payments, but I’m really excited to get this rolling.

Yeah. I, I think that’s both of us, man.

Max: Yeah. I, I think that’s both of us, man. It’s, it’s going to be great. We’re going to have a lot of fun and. Hopefully we’ll learn a lot along the way ourselves. So, let’s get, let’s get right into it.

Steve: No. I think it’s going to be good. I think we bounce off each other. Max and I both kind of have slightly different experiences in the payment’s world.

I’ll kind of just briefly introduce myself. I started out at a competitor about 2018 in the merchant services department. And that’s really like the core foundation for all my experience. And then I translated into a senior marketing position here at Clearent.

Max, what’s your experience in the industry as well so far?

Max: Yeah, I’m actually fairly new to this industry. I joined Clearent about a year and a half ago maybe even a little bit more than that. And previously I was at Ernst and Young doing quantitative economic work for them and their consulting teams and. Prior to that, I was a grad student doing public policy.

And so I come to Clearent very much through the lens of finance and just the desire to learn about how transactions happen in this world. And I’ve kind of fallen in love with it just because it’s kind of the ecosystem that drives all business. So excited to get into, you know, the economics of this industry.

What are the drivers and, and some of the competitors of this industry that you know, are going to shape the future of, of our business world. So yeah, I mean, we, I think we have a great mix of experience between the two of us and can’t wait to, you know, go back and forth on some of the things happening in payments.

Steve: Yeah, no, thanks for that that insight there. Yeah, at the end of the day, we’re all consumers, right? And so we’re experiencing these. These payment methods in real time and in first person. So it’s interesting to be, you know, kind of on a, a deeper layer with it, but it is quite fascinating and that’s what we want to bring to you all.

So yeah, who is Clearent? We introduced ourselves, but who is Clearent?

We are a leading full-service payments provider, often offering payment services direct to merchants, as well as via partnership through embedded payment solutions to vertical software providers in the form of a solution such as PayFac as a Service.

Excuse me. But yeah. Max, I know you kind of gave some insight into it a little bit ago there, but, you know, why are we doing this podcast? Like, what can listeners expect as we go into it? Yeah.

Max: We are here to teach. We are here to learn ourselves. We are here to interview and at the end of the day, it’s just to make payments clear for everyone, whether you were an investor, whether you’re a business owner, whether you’re a payments operator.

There’s always something that can be learned about this industry, and in fact, I’d argue that no one really has a full grasp of everything happening in the FinTech and payment space. And so this, this industry is evolving at such a fast clip. The more we talk about it the more we’re going to find out and the more we’re going to find that, that there’s never going to be a one way of doing something in this industry.

And so I’m really excited because we’re going to interview a lot of great. Guests across Clearent and outside of Clearent about the industry and their experience. We’re also going to think about kind of current events and how that impacts the industry, how it impacts consumers, merchants the whole, the whole value chain.

And so, we’re really doing this for our own curiosity, but also to provide value to all those listeners who, who tune in. So yeah, Steve, I mean, what, what’s really exciting to you about this?

Steve: Yeah. For me, I think it’s, it’s really the format. You know, we want to bring these episodes weekly. Internally we’ve been calling it a micro podcast, and that’s very intentional. We’re not going into hour and a half, two-hour long discussions. At least not on every topic. Now, it’s not to say it could come up if there’s something drastic that changes and, you know, we need to go more in depth, but it’s meant to be very consumable, something that you consume.

You know, as you’re having your cup of coffee or on your way to work to really stay up to date with, you know, the trends and the things that that are shifting the payments landscape. So I’m just excited because I think it’s a, it’s a good high level. And while yes, it’s meant to be quick, it’s, again, the purpose is to be as educational as possible.

So, we’re going to really try and stick to, you know, 10 to 15 minute episodes. Again, if the topic warrants it and there’s a massive shift you know, we, we might be going longer on conversations, but that’s what that’s what’s really exciting to me about it.

Max: Yeah, that’s awesome. So, you know, moving forward, like what are some of the things we might talk about?

I’ve said it before now, it’s going to be probably the third time I say it, but we’re going to talk about economics, we’re going to talk about technology trends. We’re going to talk about some of the things happening in business. And the trends happening inside and outside of Clearent.

Max: So, although we have Xplor Technologies and Clearent on our hats and on our, on our chests we are going to be talking about the industry as a whole and keeping everyone in the loop on. The, the trends happening inside and outside of clearance. And in particular focused on making it real, making it digestible for a broad audience.

But hopefully teaching everyone a little bit more than they knew before coming to the podcast. You know, we’re going to. We’re going to make this relatable as possible. And we want feedback whether you’re on YouTube, whether you’re on Apple, or Spot Apple Podcasts or Spotify, we want your feedback.

And so if you’re an industry professional, if you’re an investor, if you’re somebody who listens to our shows, please, please, please give us feedback. We want to hear from you, and we want to be that per that source of, of information that that is valuable. So, I look forward to tons of great conversations down the road.

Steve: Yeah, no, we, we really want this to be engaging. You know, this is meant to be conversational between Max and I, but also you as well. While you might not be here on the call with us, but yeah, like, like Max said, you know, keep an eye out for these next episodes coming up. We are going to be posting every Friday on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and if you’re a video podcast watcher it’ll be available on video, on YouTube as well.

But yeah, drop comments on the social platforms for, for any questions or comments or feedback as Max mentioned. You know, anything that you want to see specifically or people that you know, you, you might suggest that we have on for a specific topic.

Steve: But yeah, keep a, keep an eye out for that next coming episode. Again, dropping weekly every Friday. Meant to be a quick recap you know, to the week or just to kind of set you up for the next week ahead. All things payments. So again, appreciate the time listening. Max, really looking forward to this man.

Max: Steve. It’s going to be epic. I can’t wait. Alright, talk soon.