Startups today have more opportunities than ever before, with funding available to match their ambitions. In this episode of The Yield, Yieldstreet’s Peter Kerr, CFA and Plooto Co-Founder and CEO Hamed Abbasi discuss the future of B2B payments. As payment management platforms automate and streamline this process there are greater implications for underlying consumers and investors. Plooto is an all-in-one B2B payments and receivable platform that provides greater financial control.
[1:25] 70% of small businesses fail due to poor cash management, and Plooto is working to change that.
[6:00] Defining SMBs and the factors that lead to their likelihood of succeeding.
[12:08] A certain level of financial skills are necessary to succeed in any business.
[15:12] Major challenges facing SMBs and expansion opportunities for Plooto.
[18:41] Eliminating the friction that stands between SMBs and their cash.
[21:01] Blockchain and digital coins are not integrated into many SMBs — yet.
[25:17] Insights into the gamification of investing from a pro gamer.
[29:43] Plooto’s impressive plans for expansion.
SMBs, or small- and medium-sized businesses, are faced with failure in large part because of poor cash flow management, but companies like Plooto are working to change that. By combining everything from data entry and reconciliation to payment processing and auditing into a single platform, Plooto is both simplifying and improving the payables and receivables process for SMBs. With the Plooto platform, payments are completed real time and automated, transforming a process that traditionally takes two weeks into a completed process in a matter of clicks.
Every business requires some measure of financial skill to run successfully, and the ease that comes with automating and streamlining so many of these mundane operations has the potential to serve small businesses very well.
In addition to managing accounting, payments, and working capital, SMBs everywhere are also faced with hiring challenges. In today’s intensely competitive environment, small business owners are competing with every other business out there to find, motivate and hire the best talent. But with expansion happening in both Canada and the United States, and plans to continue growing so that they can reach as many customers as possible, Plooto is hiring like crazy.
And while Plooto isn’t looking to dive into the accounting aspect of helping SMBs improve their finance processes, they are passionate about doing everything they can to increase the velocity to access cash. Hamed walks listeners through the process that happens behind the scenes whenever a transaction takes place, and the friction that keeps SMBs from getting their cash as soon as you get your coffee from them. Payment infrastructures that were built in the 1970s and 80s are still in place today. Banks still don’t communicate with each other and payments still have to be settled through a central clearing house. In the meantime, SMBs have to buy and produce that coffee, pay that employee that sold it, and wait for a period upwards of seven days to get the payment of the sale back in their hands.
All of these friction points can stand to be greatly reduced, and the innovation that is happening on the payment side to make settlements real time is of critical importance to SMBs.
Of course, no conversation about current fintech trends would be complete without a look at the impact of cryptocurrencies and blockchain. While many SMBs don’t see a need to adopt these latest offerings just yet, the demand for such services may be in the very near future.
And as a former gaming SMB entrepreneur himself, Hamed shares some fascinating insights into the gamification of investing. He dives into the possibilities that cryptocurrencies offer gamers, how digital coins can be used in gaming and why, as he puts it, he’s a big, big fan of using cryptocurrency in gaming. It’s just one of the ways that the future of finance is being made available to investors everywhere. To learn more visit www.yieldstreet.com today.
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Published:
01/19/2022
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