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Bootstrapping a Credit Card Processing Business: Payscape CEO Adam Bloomston (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: What else is interesting in that 2010 to 2014 growth story?

Adam Bloomston: For us, our focus has always been on revenue. We have always been focused on selling something, selling it well, and supporting it well. I think the most interesting thing we have done is, we created Payscape University. It is an intensive month-long training course where sales representatives for the headquarters are trained  for a few days on-site. Then, they have ongoing training for couple of weeks. It’s highly focused on sales and generating revenue. >>>

Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: Jacob Cooke, CEO of Web Presence in China (Part 6)

Jacob Cooke: One more thing I should point out is it’s not that you can’t contact those users. Even with those unique identifiers on Tmall, it’s actually the same as their AliWangwang account, which is similar to Skype. You still can contact that user. You just have to work within that ecosystem. You have enough consumer data to work with. You always have the shipping addresses as well, so you can go and send offline flyers. >>>

Bootstrapping a Credit Card Processing Business: Payscape CEO Adam Bloomston (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: Have you done other verticalized product acquisitions or solutions?

Adam Bloomston: We have. We purchased an electronic invoicing company called Billion, probably in 2011. It is an electronic invoicing program on a web-based platform. If you are in any kind of service business or any kind of business, you  send them an invoice online. >>>

Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: Jacob Cooke, CEO of Web Presence in China (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: What happens if you’re a new merchant?

Jacob Cooke: If you’re a new merchant, you’re in the sandbox for 30 days. That can be tough. You probably want to focus on pricing for the first 30 days. You also might want to up the guarantee level. Basically, every sector is different. One of the most competitive sectors is clothing. That’s basically what we want to do. We want to go in and benchmark where everybody else is at. You probably want to make a few sample purchases with those guys. You want to be a little bit better. You’ll probably engage our firm, for example, to set those bars for your people with experience to create that fulfillment system. >>>

Bootstrapping a Credit Card Processing Business: Payscape CEO Adam Bloomston (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: How long did it take you to get zero to one million in revenue and how many people were involved in the company at that point?

Adam Bloomston: It took us about two to three years. Maybe four.

Sramana Mitra: Three years? Just around the 2007-2008 timeframe, you hit that milestone?

Adam Bloomston: Probably right around there, yes.

Sramana Mitra: And how many people were you at that point? >>>

Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: Jacob Cooke, CEO of Web Presence in China (Part 4)

Jacob Cooke: Some of the software that we’ve developed plugs into all of the stores, so we can actually take products, put them in warehouses, and fulfill for JD.com, Yihaodian, or Tmall out of one logistics center. Once you’ve got your legal and licensing details worked out, they really push you towards getting into the platform. >>>

Bootstrapping a Credit Card Processing Business: Payscape CEO Adam Bloomston (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: So were they paying you as consultant at that point and you would set up their credit card processing function?

Adam Bloomston: No. In credit card processing, the way it works is we would set up one account and then have them for months and years as a client.

Sramana Mitra: I see. And where did the technology of doing this come from? >>>

Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: Jacob Cooke, CEO of Web Presence in China (Part 3)

Jacob Cooke: What Alibaba has done is take that a step further and acted as the mediator between the transactions. Owner Jack Ma is one of the richest and most trusted people in the country, just the way Steve Jobs or Bill Gates are perceived in the West. What he’s done is add a level of guarantee. To be in the Tmall platform, for example, you have to accept the fact that anybody can return any product within seven days with no questions asked or in thirty days if there is a product defect. Consumers in China had no real worries about losing their credit card information or getting ripped off. They know it’s very safe.

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