Sramana Mitra: How big is this segment you’re catering to? Brian Cox: I always say a third of the country. Miami Herald did an article this year talking about the impact of the infrastructure bill. There are a couple of programs that are based on income level qualifiers. One of those is the affordable connectivity
Sramana Mitra: What are the gating items on the education side? What are the needs of this community on education? Brian Cox: It’s funny you ask that, but that thought had crossed my mind. I have two sons in high school. I was thinking about education and how boring school is sometimes but how interesting
Sramana Mitra: You have come this far and you are in 8,000 stores, and you have done it with commission reps. Brian Cox: Yes, and by finding smaller companies that have plateaued. We were able to acquire them and rebrand them. It doesn’t matter what kind of services you’re giving that clerk behind the counter
Sramana Mitra: I imagine that because this consumer base doesn’t have credit cards, the entire e-commerce capability will be enabled by something like what you’re talking about. Amazon is one e-commerce vendor but Walmart probably wants to get to that segment and various other people who cater to that customer base. Even the food guys.
Sramana Mitra: Let me probe something very specific. When you made the switch by digitizing that whole process of scratchable prepaid cards but were still catering to this low-end consumer base, what was the go-to-market strategy? How do these consumers reach you and find you? Brian Cox: That’s a great question. I failed every which
Brian elucidates a world of underbanked, underserved consumers that we don’t hear much about – many lessons for global entrepreneurs interested in unleashing fortune at the bottom of the pyramid. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself as well as to SurgePays. Brian Cox: I’m the CEO of SurgePays. I’ve been a