00:07.620 --> 00:09.450 Sean Murray: Hello everybody, it's Sean Murray here from 00:09.480 --> 00:13.170 deBanked TV. We are live at the Southeast Acquirers show down in 00:13.170 --> 00:15.900 Bonita Springs, Florida. I'm here with Johny Fernandez. 00:16.020 --> 00:18.510 Johny Fernandez: And welcome you guys. And obviously we are very 00:18.510 --> 00:22.080 excited to be here, Sean, the weather has been great so far. I 00:22.080 --> 00:24.690 mean, we've been talking compared to New York, very 00:24.690 --> 00:28.590 similar, sunshine, palm trees all around and just exciting to 00:28.590 --> 00:31.920 see the amount of people that are here at the 20th annual SEAA 00:31.950 --> 00:36.450 2021 Conference. So Sean, so far, let's talk about what we've 00:36.450 --> 00:38.490 been seeing since we've been here. So if you've been to the 00:38.490 --> 00:40.020 state, kind of walk us through that. 00:40.050 --> 00:42.420 Sean Murray: Yeah, there's a lot of people here. Yeah. Yeah, I'm 00:42.420 --> 00:44.910 hearing that there's over 900 people here today. So the 00:44.910 --> 00:48.720 conference circuit is back it's going big, payments is here, 00:48.720 --> 00:51.720 payments is back. And we're having a great time there's a 00:51.720 --> 00:54.660 big exhibit hall behind us. There's a lot of people, I don't 00:54.660 --> 00:56.730 know if you can see in the camera angle, but we have a lot 00:56.730 --> 00:59.880 of people mingling and networking. We have special 01:00.510 --> 01:03.150 badges that we'll be wearing that we're wearing now that 01:03.150 --> 01:04.650 we'll we'll hear more about. We'll hear more about. Yeah, 01:04.650 --> 01:05.460 we'll hear more about. 01:05.489 --> 01:07.049 Johny Fernandez: But Sean first, let's talk about your shirt. 01:07.080 --> 01:07.500 Sean Murray: Okay. 01:08.380 --> 01:11.140 Johny Fernandez: Talk to me. So, what's this guy's name Toucan 01:11.140 --> 01:11.740 Sam? 01:12.070 --> 01:13.420 Sean Murray: That would be Toucan Sean. 01:13.470 --> 01:13.770 Johny Fernandez: Sean. 01:13.830 --> 01:14.160 Sean Murray: Yeah. 01:14.190 --> 01:16.035 Johny Fernandez: So he's gonna be with us throughout the rest 01:16.077 --> 01:18.593 of the night. Yeah. Awesome. I like the color too, it brings 01:18.635 --> 01:21.277 out, I feel like we went for a very Florida vibe. That was what 01:21.319 --> 01:21.990 we're going for. 01:22.050 --> 01:23.040 Sean Murray: Is that Florida? 01:23.040 --> 01:24.960 Johny Fernandez: That is kind of Florida, it's like business 01:24.960 --> 01:28.050 casual in Florida. You're more like, hey, I'm here. I'm here to 01:28.050 --> 01:30.960 make a comeback. Just like the event space that we're at today. 01:30.990 --> 01:32.850 Sean Murray: Yeah, I got to come up with like a saying like, 01:32.880 --> 01:33.990 follow your nose. 01:33.990 --> 01:37.260 Johny Fernandez: Follow your nose, that'd be good. Or maybe, 01:37.260 --> 01:41.640 something like, follow the Sam Tucan Sam. Or follow the Sean. 01:41.640 --> 01:44.580 Follow the Sean. Tucan Sean. Okay, alright I'm kind of 01:44.580 --> 01:46.290 feeling it. Well we'll work on it throughout the rest of the 01:46.290 --> 01:49.170 night. Okay. Well, you know what, now let's bring in one of 01:49.170 --> 01:51.930 the Board of Directors of the event, he can kind of walk us 01:51.930 --> 01:54.600 through a little bit more about what's going on and what people 01:54.600 --> 01:58.080 can expect, here at the event. Derek Vowel want to welcome you. 01:58.080 --> 01:59.310 Derek Vowel: Hi, we're so glad to have you guys. 01:59.310 --> 02:00.870 Johny Fernandez: Likewise, Thank you so much for being here. 02:01.200 --> 02:02.460 Derek Vowel: That's Tou Sean now. 02:02.580 --> 02:06.960 Johny Fernandez: Tou, tou Sean, yeah. 02:07.650 --> 02:09.060 Sean Murray: Well, you have plenty of time to think about 02:09.060 --> 02:09.240 it. 02:10.229 --> 02:11.219 Derek Vowel: Well no, hey. 02:14.640 --> 02:16.710 Johny Fernandez: So Derek, let's go ahead and talk a little bit 02:16.710 --> 02:19.770 about the event. So walk us through how many people are 02:19.770 --> 02:20.280 here. 02:21.300 --> 02:24.450 Derek Vowel: The last time I checked registration, we had 924 02:24.450 --> 02:28.260 people. And we usually have about 100 walk ins day of so 02:28.290 --> 02:31.440 we're clearly going to surpass the minimum. Back when we 02:31.440 --> 02:34.680 started planning the show two years ago, we're falling here. 02:34.950 --> 02:37.440 And during all the COVID stuff, I thought we'd get like 400 02:37.440 --> 02:40.890 people that was gonna be the high watermark. But here we are. 02:40.920 --> 02:43.200 There's everybody but Jesus apparently at my show. 02:43.800 --> 02:46.050 Johny Fernandez: So kind of walk us through obviously, some 02:46.050 --> 02:48.870 people, you know, are trying to be a little bit more aware of 02:48.870 --> 02:50.010 like social distancing. 02:50.010 --> 02:50.430 Derek Vowel: Yes. 02:50.460 --> 02:52.350 Johny Fernandez: And obviously with the whole COVID factor. So 02:52.350 --> 02:53.370 walk us through the stickers. 02:53.400 --> 02:53.730 Derek Vowel: Okay. 02:53.790 --> 02:57.570 Johny Fernandez: And what exactly it is. So, obviously. 02:58.230 --> 03:00.000 Derek Vowel: That is don't get near me, please. 03:00.060 --> 03:02.610 Johny Fernandez: So if people see this on their shirt. 03:02.610 --> 03:04.710 Derek Vowel: You smile and wave at them, you know, they're not 03:04.710 --> 03:06.900 interested in participating in your conversation. They're here 03:06.900 --> 03:07.950 for education only. 03:08.070 --> 03:09.720 Johny Fernandez: So let's walk through the yellow one. 03:10.140 --> 03:12.450 Derek Vowel: At here you're like. I like you, but not that 03:12.450 --> 03:14.820 much you're going to know about. That's literally why we called 03:14.820 --> 03:15.210 them off. 03:15.270 --> 03:18.480 Johny Fernandez: Alright. And so let's go ahead and talk about. 03:18.900 --> 03:21.480 Derek Vowel: These are for our wild and crazy people. They're 03:21.480 --> 03:22.350 here to have fun. 03:22.350 --> 03:22.710 Sean Murray: That's me. 03:22.710 --> 03:23.040 Derek Vowel: That's you. 03:23.460 --> 03:24.150 Sean Murray: I'm here to have fun. 03:24.150 --> 03:27.060 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. I'm gonna go ahead and that will be me 03:27.060 --> 03:27.330 today. 03:27.390 --> 03:27.750 Sean Murray: Okay. 03:27.780 --> 03:30.630 Derek Vowel: I'm gonna be purple angry. Like, I'm here. I'm 03:30.630 --> 03:31.140 ready. 03:31.260 --> 03:32.760 Johny Fernandez: Let's talk about the purple. 03:32.790 --> 03:35.460 Derek Vowel: I'm a vaccinated person. So I'm good to go. No 03:35.460 --> 03:39.360 mask, we've put the exhibit all tables spaced out about three 03:39.360 --> 03:42.570 feet apart, like to give it enough space. And we're not 03:42.600 --> 03:44.790 normally when you go to the exhibit hall, you just walk 03:44.790 --> 03:47.970 around where you want, we're going to open the doors, you can 03:47.970 --> 03:51.360 go this way, for one day, the next day, you come in the 03:51.360 --> 03:53.700 opposite way. And I like it because it means all of our 03:53.700 --> 03:56.610 exhibitors are gonna get intensely touched instead of 03:56.610 --> 03:58.980 people not making it to the corner to the middle. Because 03:58.980 --> 04:01.830 once you get in a line, you can't go back. Yeah. So I think 04:01.830 --> 04:02.760 it's good for everybody. 04:02.790 --> 04:04.980 Johny Fernandez: So let's talk a little bit about like the setup 04:04.980 --> 04:08.220 and how comfortable you guys had made other people feel about 04:08.220 --> 04:10.530 coming to the event. Because obviously, we've talked about it 04:10.530 --> 04:12.270 and there's 900 plus people here. 04:12.300 --> 04:16.350 Derek Vowel: Yeah, we've tried to communicate space, do 04:16.350 --> 04:18.330 everything we can so that everybody's happy and 04:18.330 --> 04:21.060 comfortable. And a lot of people are still wearing masks, and 04:21.060 --> 04:24.390 that's just fine. Like it's your comfort level. It's like this is 04:24.390 --> 04:26.640 your show, but I want you to have a good time, we don't want 04:26.640 --> 04:29.130 no one to not enjoy their days here. 04:29.820 --> 04:31.500 Sean Murray: What what can you tell me about payments? What's 04:31.500 --> 04:32.730 happening in payments right now? 04:33.870 --> 04:36.930 Derek Vowel: It's a changing game every minute. Fintech you 04:36.960 --> 04:40.050 nothing's boring. Like, I've been in this for half my life. 04:40.050 --> 04:41.670 So I guess 24 years. 04:42.480 --> 04:43.260 Johny Fernandez: You're like 10 though. 04:44.490 --> 04:45.960 Derek Vowel: I literally was told by somebody that hadn't to 04:45.960 --> 04:48.030 see me in a while. They're like, you look like a little boy. I'm 04:48.030 --> 04:52.230 like, that's the highest compliment I've had in years. So 04:52.260 --> 04:55.230 fintech changes on the daily. There's new products, like I 04:55.230 --> 04:59.520 work for Aliaswire, and we're the, we're a cartesian company 04:59.520 --> 05:02.760 that works with commercial settlement to make money off of 05:02.760 --> 05:05.160 it. So it's just funny. It's like, patented that no one can 05:05.160 --> 05:07.560 do it, it's so much fun. It's like every day you learn 05:07.560 --> 05:10.950 something new. That's what's kept me in it. It's exciting. 05:11.430 --> 05:11.880 Not boring. 05:11.970 --> 05:13.590 Johny Fernandez: What changes have you guys seen having to 05:13.590 --> 05:16.470 make this event and moving forward? Like, I guess what will 05:16.470 --> 05:18.870 you guys be doing now? Because it's a changing game. 05:18.960 --> 05:22.110 Derek Vowel: Yeah, we've had, we've made changes virtually 05:22.110 --> 05:26.070 daily for six months. Like the hotels like a, can't be doing 05:26.070 --> 05:30.360 that you now you can do that. So it's been perplex perplexing and 05:30.360 --> 05:33.540 puzzling in trying to pull this off. And to be honored. Y'all 05:33.540 --> 05:38.010 wanted to be here, we have 1000 people, this is nuts. It's 05:38.010 --> 05:38.580 exciting. 05:39.270 --> 05:41.880 Sean Murray: I mean, I think the exhibit hall is a testament to 05:42.150 --> 05:45.360 the the desire for people to get back and networking again, like 05:45.360 --> 05:47.790 I just walked over there before, and it was like, it was like 05:47.790 --> 05:48.870 2019 all over again. 05:48.870 --> 05:52.590 Derek Vowel: Right. It's crazy. Yeah. I mean, I had a year ago, 05:52.590 --> 05:55.320 I didn't think I'd be at the show without a mask on. Here I 05:55.320 --> 05:56.400 am, I can smile again. 05:57.270 --> 05:59.400 Johny Fernandez: So what what can people expect when they come 05:59.400 --> 06:02.610 here? Besides the restrictions and the changes, but overall 06:02.610 --> 06:05.040 about the experience here, what what can they expect from that? 06:05.460 --> 06:07.680 Derek Vowel: I think everyone's gonna walk away with a smile on 06:07.680 --> 06:10.500 their face. We had good age educational tracks, so it's 06:10.500 --> 06:13.380 like, there's something for everybody. I think it's gonna be 06:13.380 --> 06:15.990 a great show. Then next year, we're gonna be at the Loews 06:15.990 --> 06:19.860 Midtown Atlanta. And that was our prior record of 1000. So 06:19.860 --> 06:22.380 we're going back, we're at a big one. So that'll be next year. 06:22.650 --> 06:24.960 Johny Fernandez: So and how many exhibitors are actually here? 06:24.990 --> 06:27.570 Derek Vowel: We had to shrink it this year. So there's only 90, 06:27.570 --> 06:30.930 we usually have about 105. But to get some of the food in not 06:30.930 --> 06:34.770 all of it, we just sort of had to make so many changes. So 06:34.770 --> 06:37.800 that's we got 90, we had tp hard cap, there's no room with the 06:37.800 --> 06:40.860 social distancing. And you'll notice like a 10 of the tray 06:40.860 --> 06:43.590 pass where you'd normally deal with, we have food stations, 06:43.590 --> 06:47.130 because still can't be doing that you have to go up and get 06:47.130 --> 06:50.310 served. So it's still still restrictions to make people safe 06:50.310 --> 06:50.970 and comfortable. 06:51.570 --> 06:53.310 Sean Murray: Do you feel like there were any technological 06:53.310 --> 06:55.980 changes that took place in payments because of COVID, that 06:56.070 --> 06:58.350 might have otherwise not have occurred or occurred quicker? 06:58.740 --> 07:01.350 Derek Vowel: I think everybody's everyone's been wanting to do 07:01.350 --> 07:03.720 contactless for years, no one was really doing it. Now you 07:03.720 --> 07:07.260 have to cause COVID. Now, that's the big thing that and the NSC 07:07.260 --> 07:10.230 stuff, they've beeen pushing that for six years. I didn't 07:10.230 --> 07:12.570 think we we're ever going to do it. Now. It's on everybody has 07:12.570 --> 07:15.990 to do so. It'll change tomorrow, if you ask me. Probably. 07:17.340 --> 07:19.560 Johny Fernandez: Awesome. Awesome. And last question, the 07:19.560 --> 07:23.550 big takeaway about this event, and also moving forward and what 07:23.550 --> 07:26.760 people can expect later on. In future shows. 07:26.760 --> 07:28.830 Derek Vowel: You never know what we're gonna do. I'm like, 07:29.130 --> 07:31.110 everyone thinks they're the best we like to think we're best in 07:31.110 --> 07:35.880 class, we don't go to boring resorts. We never have bad food. 07:35.910 --> 07:39.780 Like, this is an experience. Like I'm a salesperson, I should 07:39.780 --> 07:43.410 be selling. I'm not selling. I'm here to like, just show you. So 07:43.410 --> 07:46.230 yeah, this is great. You can do everything. And I'm here in 07:46.230 --> 07:48.090 shorts. Best day ever. 07:48.630 --> 07:50.250 Johny Fernandez: Nice. Well, Derek, thanks so much for 07:50.250 --> 07:50.550 joining. 07:50.550 --> 07:52.530 Thank you guys if you need anything like you'll see me 07:52.530 --> 07:53.010 around. 07:53.160 --> 07:53.940 Sean Murray: Okay. Thanks again. 07:53.940 --> 07:54.210 Derek Vowel: Thank you. 07:54.210 --> 07:54.840 Sean Murray: Appreciate it. 07:55.230 --> 07:57.150 Johny Fernandez: That was great. And that was so interesting to 07:57.150 --> 08:02.520 really hear about how people still want to be in with other 08:02.520 --> 08:05.400 people and network with other people versus being locked up. 08:05.400 --> 08:07.890 Because that's what we've been seeing. People want to come 08:07.890 --> 08:08.280 back. 08:08.310 --> 08:08.730 Sean Murray: Yeah. 08:09.060 --> 08:09.990 Johny Fernandez: So go ahead. 08:10.020 --> 08:11.760 Sean Murray: I was just gonna say that, you know, here we were 08:11.760 --> 08:14.400 talking about, like, 900 people. Yeah. I didn't realize that 08:14.400 --> 08:17.580 there were walkins, too. Yeah. And that the number as he said 08:17.580 --> 08:21.420 is actually over 1000, when you count them all up. I think 08:21.420 --> 08:25.410 that's an incredible number to be to have already in the month 08:25.410 --> 08:28.320 of May, right? Yeah. Because certain states like New York, we 08:28.320 --> 08:31.260 just got to the point where you can take your mask off outside. 08:31.290 --> 08:34.140 Yeah. Now we have 1000 people indoors, some, some of them are 08:34.140 --> 08:37.230 wearing masks. But we have 1000 people indoors at a show 08:37.260 --> 08:41.520 networking literally behind us. It feels like 2019. 08:41.549 --> 08:43.499 Johny Fernandez: It does and like you said, it's a comeback. 08:43.529 --> 08:46.439 It's a big comeback. And I think that's what everyone was worried 08:46.439 --> 08:50.789 about was was there going to be an event like this ever? Yeah. 08:50.789 --> 08:54.149 And clearly, we're seeing that it is going to happen, and it is 08:54.179 --> 08:57.659 happening now. And that we don't have to wait till you know, 08:57.659 --> 09:00.209 everything is over. Because people are willing to come out. 09:00.209 --> 09:03.569 I think having things like the stickers is a very smart idea. 09:03.659 --> 09:06.299 You know, now when you speak with someone, alright, this 09:06.299 --> 09:09.719 person is, you know, doesn't want to associate, doesn't want 09:09.719 --> 09:12.179 to talk. Yeah. Or they do want to talk and they're willing to 09:12.179 --> 09:15.089 network. Yeah. And just when we go to the exhibit hall, and 09:15.089 --> 09:18.089 we'll be showing that a little bit later on between today and 09:18.089 --> 09:22.889 tomorrow, that there are you know, more than 90 booths set 09:22.889 --> 09:26.669 up, ready to network and ready to communicate with other people 09:26.669 --> 09:29.969 in the industry and the payments industry and seeing obviously 09:29.969 --> 09:32.699 how much of that has changed throughout the last couple of 09:33.149 --> 09:35.879 months and last year. Yeah. So. 09:35.910 --> 09:38.280 Sean Murray: You know people said that everything was going 09:38.280 --> 09:42.120 to be remote afterwards. You had to do events online. It was all 09:42.120 --> 09:44.430 going to be Zoom forever. I was never a believer in it. I think 09:44.430 --> 09:46.920 you and I actually did like a Zoom call with each other. I 09:47.820 --> 09:49.500 think it was like literally a year ago. Yeah. I think it might 09:49.500 --> 09:51.780 have been like May of last year. Oh yeah, yes. Well, literally 09:51.780 --> 09:55.440 like a year. A year ago, yeah. And I think we realized even 09:55.440 --> 09:58.050 then that there was gonna be a return to in person networking. 09:58.050 --> 10:02.040 Yeah. You know, this is just proof positive of it, people 10:02.070 --> 10:04.050 want to do this in person, there were there was a lot of things 10:04.050 --> 10:06.150 where like this will never be the same, or you know, this has 10:06.150 --> 10:08.520 changed forever. That's just not the case, I think you know, a 10:08.520 --> 10:12.150 lot of technology has come in and been added to the industry 10:12.150 --> 10:14.250 that otherwise wouldn't have been or have been faster. 10:14.580 --> 10:17.190 Because of COVID. Yeah. But when it comes to general networking 10:17.190 --> 10:21.180 events, online is just never going to replace the the in 10:21.180 --> 10:22.230 person altogether. 10:22.260 --> 10:24.390 Johny Fernandez: And it's like the experience, overall, the 10:24.390 --> 10:28.470 experience factor from something as simply as simple as walking 10:28.470 --> 10:33.360 into a hotel, and just feeling the energy that when you walk 10:33.360 --> 10:36.300 in, you're like, alright, like, these are people like me, you 10:36.300 --> 10:38.790 know, we're in the same industry, and we're really here 10:38.790 --> 10:42.540 to network and to meet people. But then there's also just like, 10:42.570 --> 10:46.140 meeting the educational aspect of it. But also, you know, just 10:46.170 --> 10:49.260 seeing the booth and, and just talking to someone that maybe 10:49.260 --> 10:52.800 you don't know, and having a cocktail and having some food 10:52.800 --> 10:56.070 and like that is never gonna get old. And we've always talked 10:56.070 --> 10:59.700 about it, and the fact that this has been going on for 20 plus 20 10:59.730 --> 11:03.900 years. Yeah. Says things that speaks volumes, because at the 11:03.900 --> 11:06.450 end of the day, people are going to want to still do this and be 11:06.450 --> 11:10.050 here. And it's exciting to see that more than 900 people are 11:10.140 --> 11:13.200 already here. And it's just the first, it's not even the opening 11:13.200 --> 11:14.580 ceremony hasn't even started yet. 11:14.610 --> 11:16.380 Sean Murray: Yeah, you know, and we're talking about events in 11:16.380 --> 11:18.930 general. But I think an important thing to mention is 11:18.930 --> 11:22.560 that we're at a payment show. And at deBanked, we often talk 11:22.560 --> 11:24.720 about small business finance, alternative lending, and so 11:24.720 --> 11:27.450 forth. And when we talk about payments, we end up talking 11:27.450 --> 11:30.660 about companies like Square, PayPal, we talk about the tech 11:30.660 --> 11:33.390 companies, because they have a lending component to them. And 11:33.390 --> 11:37.560 it could look like to an outsider that that's older as in 11:37.560 --> 11:40.380 payment, yet it has eradicated the rest of the payments 11:40.380 --> 11:42.330 industry. You know, that's crazy. That's not the case at 11:42.330 --> 11:45.150 all. Yeah. It's not that we're misrepresenting how it works. 11:45.180 --> 11:48.630 It's more just, that's the angle that we often report from. Yep. 11:48.750 --> 11:50.610 But if you look around us, all these people are from the 11:50.610 --> 11:52.740 payments industry. Well, that although we have seen some 11:52.740 --> 11:55.050 people from the Small Business Finance space here too, we 11:55.050 --> 11:55.440 bumped into. 11:56.880 --> 11:58.590 Johny Fernandez: People are like Sean, Johny, we're like, hey, 11:58.590 --> 11:59.370 what's going on? 11:59.670 --> 12:02.070 Sean Murray: Yeah, but payments is a very, very big industry, 12:02.520 --> 12:06.300 multi billion, if not multi trillion dollar industry. And 12:06.300 --> 12:08.850 it's a lot bigger than just you know, Square, Pay Pal and all 12:08.850 --> 12:11.490 the rest. And so that's one of the one of the good things about 12:11.490 --> 12:13.800 being at a show like this is seeing what else is out there, 12:14.130 --> 12:17.640 and what everyone else is doing. And, you know, at the exhibit 12:17.640 --> 12:21.240 hall, back here, if you look around is you just see that 12:21.270 --> 12:22.350 there's so much else going on. 12:22.380 --> 12:24.570 Johny Fernandez: There really is. And on top of that, I think 12:24.630 --> 12:29.730 something to really kind of make this experience even better is 12:29.730 --> 12:34.440 that the the weather is great. And just overall, it feels 12:34.440 --> 12:37.290 normal, it feels normal, it feels like normal times again, 12:37.800 --> 12:40.890 even though we technically aren't. Yeah. Still like, 12:40.890 --> 12:43.710 completely free. Yeah. But yeah, it feels like it's one more 12:43.710 --> 12:46.290 time. And I think, you know, they're going to be having from 12:46.740 --> 12:50.280 five to 630, the opening reception here. And then from 12:50.280 --> 12:53.550 seven to 10, there's going to be an after hours party. So people 12:53.550 --> 12:56.220 are going to be able to network and pretty much talk to each 12:56.220 --> 12:58.410 other, maybe they haven't seen each other in a year, a year and 12:58.410 --> 13:00.960 a half. So that's gonna be a good experience for people here. 13:01.080 --> 13:04.500 And then tomorrow, it's going to be a couple of events going on 13:04.500 --> 13:07.830 from nine to 10, the exhibit hall is going to be opening up 13:08.010 --> 13:12.300 and then from 10 to about 12 is going to be some opening 13:12.300 --> 13:15.600 remarks, there's going to be some breakout sessions from 130, 13:15.780 --> 13:19.560 to about 230. Then again, another breakout session from 13:19.590 --> 13:23.760 230 to three o'clock until like five so a lot of different 13:23.760 --> 13:26.520 breakout sessions, you know, educational aspects of it. Yeah. 13:26.550 --> 13:29.160 And then also just networking, because that's a lot of the big 13:29.160 --> 13:32.640 key aspects of why people are here, and you can see it keeps 13:32.640 --> 13:36.690 getting busier and people are still are arriving right now. 13:36.690 --> 13:36.960 So. 13:36.960 --> 13:39.450 Sean Murray: And bear in mind, this isn't even the exhibit 13:39.450 --> 13:42.360 hall. That's No, it's not this is so packed that people are 13:42.360 --> 13:45.450 actually overflowing out into here. That's how crazy it is. 13:45.480 --> 13:48.180 Johny Fernandez: It's It's exciting to see and it's gonna 13:48.180 --> 13:50.610 be really exciting. awesome to see tomorrow out. Everything 13:50.610 --> 13:53.010 kind of plays out. Yeah, and just like the different 13:53.010 --> 13:58.380 components of this event, so I'm definitely excited for it. Sean, 13:58.470 --> 13:58.800 go ahead. 13:58.860 --> 14:01.020 Sean Murray: I was just gonna say earlier, right before we 14:01.020 --> 14:03.900 went on the air, someone asked, or someone commented that it was 14:03.900 --> 14:06.540 good to see deBanked at a payment show. Yeah. As if that 14:06.540 --> 14:09.360 was totally unique. And although I did mention, before that we 14:09.360 --> 14:11.940 spent a lot of time talking about the tech side of payments, 14:12.270 --> 14:15.090 I think it's important to also mention the fact that deBanked 14:15.090 --> 14:18.480 started in the payments industry. Yeah. A long time ago 14:18.510 --> 14:21.450 deBanked was called merchant processing resource. 14:21.630 --> 14:23.160 Almost ten years, like a little bit after. 14:23.430 --> 14:27.000 Like, yeah, it's like 10, 11, 10, 11 years ago. Yeah. And you 14:27.000 --> 14:29.880 know, it had a very long name merchant processing resource, 14:30.000 --> 14:33.060 right. And it's kind of sounded kind of generic, and it had .com 14:33.060 --> 14:35.310 at the end, and people would type in the wrong thing. So it 14:35.310 --> 14:37.530 wasn't branded very well. Yeah. And it was very payments 14:37.530 --> 14:40.020 focused. Yeah. And the reason that was that a lot of the 14:40.020 --> 14:43.770 alternative lending industry that we talk about now, it was 14:43.770 --> 14:47.100 born out of payments. Yeah. So all of the all of the funding 14:47.100 --> 14:50.700 that people do now, it wouldn't have been made possible if some 14:50.700 --> 14:53.700 payment processors didn't come up with the idea to take a 14:53.700 --> 14:58.230 percentage of a business's sales as a form of paying back 14:58.320 --> 15:01.080 finance. It used to be you know, you had to go to a bank and the 15:01.080 --> 15:03.720 bank wouldn't lend you money. That was the end of it, right? 15:03.750 --> 15:05.610 And then these payments, companies came in and said, 15:05.820 --> 15:08.190 well, we understand that you're high risk, and it's probably not 15:08.190 --> 15:11.070 a good idea to debit your bank account. But we can take a 15:11.070 --> 15:13.770 percentage of something we already have access to, and 15:13.770 --> 15:16.860 that's your credit or your debit card sales. And so that was that 15:16.860 --> 15:20.280 was the the entry point for the alternative lending industry. 15:20.310 --> 15:24.570 And in fact, that's how I got started, like, people think you 15:24.570 --> 15:28.260 know that I came strictly from small business funding or MCA, 15:28.260 --> 15:31.440 it started in payments, I was boarding merchant accounts, I 15:31.440 --> 15:35.220 was changing over hyper, hyper com T seven terminals. Honestly, 15:35.220 --> 15:38.100 I don't even know if that's like a model they use anymore. But, 15:38.460 --> 15:40.260 you know, you had to know everything about the payments 15:40.260 --> 15:43.470 industry. And so it's really not all that unusual. And what's 15:43.650 --> 15:45.750 kind of weird, I guess, you could say in the sense is that 15:45.900 --> 15:50.070 it went from payments, and then financing split off from 15:50.070 --> 15:53.070 payments and became its own thing. And then it came back 15:53.070 --> 15:57.120 around. You had companies, you have companies like PayPal and 15:57.120 --> 16:00.780 Square now doing what people think is revolutionary. Yeah. 16:00.810 --> 16:03.780 But it's actually what people were doing 10, 15, 20 years ago. 16:03.840 --> 16:05.370 Johny Fernandez: And that's something we have talked about 16:05.370 --> 16:08.850 that usually every 10 plus years, things kind of come full 16:08.850 --> 16:12.810 circle. And then we're right back with at the same topic 16:12.810 --> 16:15.600 doing the same thing. But it's just a different name. Yeah. So 16:15.600 --> 16:18.150 it's always interesting to see things come full circle. Yeah. 16:18.210 --> 16:20.940 And I think being here, it's also cool, because people have 16:20.940 --> 16:23.610 stopped you. They know who you are. They know who what deBanked 16:23.610 --> 16:26.700 is. But it's also, you know, I like being in a space like this 16:26.700 --> 16:29.760 where we can also meet other people. So if you are coming 16:29.760 --> 16:33.000 here, you know tomorrow and you see us, please stop by say hi to 16:33.000 --> 16:36.900 us. Love to meet people that are here and see them in person. 16:36.930 --> 16:39.510 Yeah. So it will be exciting to see that. What are you looking 16:39.510 --> 16:41.730 forward to the most being here? 16:42.660 --> 16:44.160 Sean Murray: Honestly, just seeing how people interact with 16:44.160 --> 16:47.070 you, how people interact with each other. You know, on the way 16:47.070 --> 16:51.600 here, I started thinking about how people pay for anything. 16:51.720 --> 16:54.630 Yeah. I think we take it for granted. Yeah. Like when we go 16:54.660 --> 16:57.210 we were at Starbucks earlier. Yeah. And we bought a coffee. 16:57.240 --> 17:01.050 Yep. And where do you know, where did that transaction 17:01.230 --> 17:01.980 happen? Do you 17:01.980 --> 17:02.340 Johny Fernandez: I don't know. 17:02.610 --> 17:03.630 Sean Murray: Did you think about it? 17:03.630 --> 17:04.380 Johny Fernandez: I did not think about it. 17:04.380 --> 17:05.940 Sean Murray: Well, a lot of different things happen in that 17:05.940 --> 17:08.640 whole process, right? You have all these different levels that 17:08.640 --> 17:11.250 made that transaction possible, it starts with the technology. 17:12.030 --> 17:14.490 You know, it's one of those things where, before you pay for 17:14.490 --> 17:17.490 anything, maybe take a look to see what it is you're using, you 17:17.490 --> 17:20.760 know, what, what brand is on it. And all the different layers 17:20.850 --> 17:23.040 that go through it, you know, like people think like, oh, 17:23.040 --> 17:27.510 Visa, MasterCard, or American Express. And that's it. But you 17:27.510 --> 17:29.790 know, those are just the payment networks. And they have all 17:29.790 --> 17:33.030 these different layers in between. And for a lot of people 17:33.030 --> 17:36.300 who work in the space, they're on the frontline signing up 17:36.300 --> 17:39.210 merchants not signing up people to take payments. And that 17:39.210 --> 17:42.630 starts with offering merchants obviously, the the ability to 17:42.630 --> 17:44.850 process that might be the technology giving them like a 17:44.850 --> 17:47.760 POS system, giving them some type of terminal. A lot of 17:47.760 --> 17:50.220 people today they want you know, they want the interface for you 17:50.220 --> 17:54.600 know, on the on the monitor and all that stuff. And, you know, 17:54.600 --> 17:57.270 that's kind of changed the game. And a long time ago, people used 17:57.270 --> 18:01.080 to be very rate sensitive. Where you were competing on rate 18:01.080 --> 18:03.540 because everyone's technology was essentially the same. Yeah. 18:03.570 --> 18:05.880 You know what it's like to compete on rate. 18:05.910 --> 18:07.590 Johny Fernandez: Yeah, cause that was something that you're 18:07.590 --> 18:11.190 like, wait a minute, it's going to charge you X, Y, and Z. If 18:11.280 --> 18:14.700 you use this or yeah, so. Yeah. Because there's certain 18:14.700 --> 18:15.690 scenarios that I've been in. 18:15.750 --> 18:19.590 Sean Murray: Where yeah were you in a in a rate competitive 18:19.590 --> 18:20.070 environment? 18:20.070 --> 18:21.030 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. So. 18:21.270 --> 18:23.520 Sean Murray: Well, you know it was, back when I was doing it, 18:23.520 --> 18:25.890 it was kind of a race to the bottom. Where when you were 18:25.890 --> 18:27.960 signing, when you were competing to get a merchant to accept 18:27.960 --> 18:30.450 credit cards, debit cards, whatever. You were competing 18:30.450 --> 18:32.820 against somebody who essentially had the same technology 18:32.820 --> 18:35.190 offerings as you. Yeah. And it was a race to the bottom and who 18:35.190 --> 18:38.640 could charge the lowest rate? And for awhile, it seemed like 18:38.640 --> 18:42.210 the merchant account industry was dead. Yeah. But all this 18:42.210 --> 18:45.300 technology, it just recreated everything. Yeah. Like, when 18:45.330 --> 18:47.370 like when Square came onto the scene. And they started 18:47.370 --> 18:52.710 charging, you know, three plus percent per transaction. You 18:52.710 --> 18:55.500 know, on a swipe, right, that just changed everything, because 18:55.590 --> 18:58.920 it showed that people weren't as rate conscious, as you thought 18:59.220 --> 19:02.430 that that there was another value proposition to be had. And 19:02.430 --> 19:05.190 that just reinvented the whole whole industry. And it 19:05.190 --> 19:08.280 reinvigorated the whole thing. Every everyone in the chain now 19:08.550 --> 19:11.550 has a lot more to work with then then than they did before. 19:11.610 --> 19:13.680 Johny Fernandez: And I think like Derek said, especially with 19:13.710 --> 19:16.740 with the last year, that was the things that we've been through 19:16.740 --> 19:20.850 the last year. Now people want to use this type of technology, 19:20.940 --> 19:24.270 because they don't want to kind of go back to what we how we 19:24.270 --> 19:26.430 were doing things before. So like you said, it's definitely 19:26.430 --> 19:30.420 brought up more and more of, you know, things like this, like a 19:30.420 --> 19:34.020 credit card processing payment industry to make, you know, it 19:34.020 --> 19:37.140 brought it back to life. Yeah. No one wants to do things a 19:37.140 --> 19:40.200 certain way because of what we've lived through so. Yeah. 19:40.920 --> 19:43.500 Sean Murray: Now, one thing I'll comment on individually is it's 19:43.500 --> 19:45.840 kind of anecdotal. But a lot of time ago when you were getting 19:45.840 --> 19:49.380 into a cab, you pretty much had to pay cash. Right? 19:49.380 --> 19:50.220 Johny Fernandez: Atleast in Manhattan. 19:50.430 --> 19:53.220 Sean Murray: Okay, yeah. we're New Yorkers. 19:54.480 --> 19:55.470 Johny Fernandez: In Manhattan, like. 19:55.470 --> 19:56.970 Sean Murray: In Manhattan, if you got in and you said you want 19:56.970 --> 19:59.040 to pay by credit card, there's a good chance that they will kick 19:59.040 --> 20:00.750 you out of the car. Yeah. You know, they weren't gonna they 20:00.750 --> 20:03.840 weren't going to take they didn't want you, right? That's 20:03.840 --> 20:04.800 not acceptable anymore. 20:04.800 --> 20:07.980 Johny Fernandez: No. Now, it's if you don't have a card, they 20:07.980 --> 20:11.460 look at you like, you have seven heads and they'll kick you out. 20:11.760 --> 20:12.000 Well. 20:12.060 --> 20:15.090 Sean Murray: Have you actually gotten kicked out? Sorry, your 20:15.090 --> 20:16.680 cash is no good here. Does that happen? 20:16.710 --> 20:18.090 Johny Fernandez: It didn't happen. But I didn't have my 20:18.090 --> 20:21.780 credit card. And I ended up using my credit card that I had 20:21.780 --> 20:24.330 linked to my phone. So thank God, I had my phone. And that's 20:24.330 --> 20:27.810 why I paid which blew my mind even more paying with my phone 20:27.810 --> 20:31.050 now, I didn't even have to have my credit card on me, and I 20:31.050 --> 20:33.330 didn't have cash. Yeah. And the guy was like, alright how are 20:33.330 --> 20:35.850 you gonna pay? And it's like, alright, I'm gonna pay with my 20:35.850 --> 20:37.050 credit card through my phone. 20:38.010 --> 20:40.500 Sean Murray: And I think there's actually still some room to go. 20:40.800 --> 20:44.610 Being in New York, maybe we become overly accustomed to 20:44.610 --> 20:48.090 everyone accepting credit cards. But I was in Toronto, I think it 20:48.090 --> 20:52.680 was, I guess, at this point two years ago. And I took a cab as I 20:52.680 --> 20:57.060 do. Yeah. Because I take. I take cabs everywhere, right? And I 20:57.060 --> 20:59.580 want to pay by credit card, and I didn't have any cash. First of 20:59.580 --> 21:03.240 all, I was in Canada, and I didn't do any exchange for cash, 21:03.270 --> 21:06.900 I didn't even bring in American cash to exchange, right. And so 21:06.900 --> 21:09.060 I gave him a card and he still had the old, the old knuckle 21:09.060 --> 21:13.320 buster. Where they take it and. They take the imprints and the 21:13.320 --> 21:15.780 taxi driver was like 100 years old. So he was like right in his 21:15.780 --> 21:18.960 element anyway. But it goes to show that there was you know, 21:18.960 --> 21:20.880 there was still room for improvement. And even even on 21:20.880 --> 21:24.900 the way here, we were in, we were in a cab. And I was 21:24.900 --> 21:29.190 actually with with Keith. Yeah, who was about behind the scenes, 21:29.460 --> 21:32.490 and I started want to pay by credit card, and the guy did 21:32.490 --> 21:35.760 kind of gave me a look like, like, this is gonna be a thing, 21:35.790 --> 21:38.880 not because it causr of the fees. But because of the 21:38.880 --> 21:42.270 process. He's like, this is going to take a few minutes, you 21:42.270 --> 21:44.670 know, he had to like, take out the instruction manual, and 21:44.670 --> 21:47.460 like, read this thing. Give these guys a hard time. All 21:47.460 --> 21:49.500 these things, all these things were happening. You know I'm not 21:49.500 --> 21:53.160 I'm not, I'm not criticizing him, right. But it just goes to 21:53.160 --> 21:57.540 show that there's still more room to go in payments, there's 21:57.540 --> 22:01.140 still more room to grow, there's still businesses out there that 22:01.140 --> 22:04.830 are not completely up to date with tech that can benefit from 22:04.830 --> 22:08.520 that kind of thing. Like you just you just see it. And it 22:08.520 --> 22:12.840 only takes a cab ride for you to find out how much you know shows 22:12.840 --> 22:14.250 like this, and people like this will like really make a 22:14.250 --> 22:15.000 difference in the world. 22:15.030 --> 22:16.950 Johny Fernandez: They do. And it's also interesting just to 22:16.950 --> 22:20.400 see the new technology that's also coming out with the growing 22:20.400 --> 22:22.770 technology, because there's two different things new and 22:22.770 --> 22:28.560 growing. And just to see how you know what's next, for the future 22:28.560 --> 22:31.800 of this industry specifically. So it's exciting to talk to a 22:31.800 --> 22:34.170 lot of the guys the guys here and see like, what they're 22:34.170 --> 22:36.570 doing, what they're going through, how they've recovered, 22:36.600 --> 22:40.560 and just moving forward, you know what their game plan is. So 22:40.560 --> 22:43.770 it's gonna be interesting. It's exciting. And I'm excited to be 22:43.770 --> 22:46.560 here, I'm excited to be here with you. And the gang. Yeah. 22:46.620 --> 22:49.590 deBanked to just, you know, show everyone back in New York and 22:49.590 --> 22:52.470 the world. What's going on here in Florida? 22:52.500 --> 22:57.270 Sean Murray: Yeah, for sure. For sure. Just another anecdotal 22:57.870 --> 23:02.430 tidbit. I was buying lunch the other day, and I swipe my card. 23:02.820 --> 23:06.780 And they it gave me some type of reward for having gotten lunch 23:06.780 --> 23:10.050 there before. Yeah. And I'm like, how did they know who I 23:10.050 --> 23:12.990 am, had my name on the screen and all that stuff. That all 23:12.990 --> 23:16.380 comes from the tech. So if you like by five sandwiches to get 23:16.380 --> 23:20.490 the sixth one free. I don't have to sign up for anything. It just 23:20.490 --> 23:21.990 knows automatically. It just knows. But where did that come 23:21.990 --> 23:23.850 from? It comes from the tech it comes from come from the 23:23.850 --> 23:26.700 payments companies. There's always value add products, and 23:26.700 --> 23:30.570 you know what I actually will continue to eat there gonna 23:30.570 --> 23:35.760 forget five stars. That sixth star, it's a free, it's a free 23:35.760 --> 23:38.820 sandwich, and I didn't have to sign up for anything. I didn't 23:38.820 --> 23:41.280 have you know I didn't have to opt in. Or maybe you know what, 23:41.490 --> 23:44.700 maybe there was a button that required me to opt in. I didn't 23:44.700 --> 23:49.230 even know it. But that's just another another like, component 23:49.590 --> 23:50.640 to everything that's happening. 23:51.270 --> 23:54.150 Johny Fernandez: That's it's amazing. It's interesting to 23:54.150 --> 23:57.750 just o see how the world is overall changing. Yeah. And how 23:57.750 --> 23:59.610 they just lured you into buying a sixth sandwich. 23:59.700 --> 24:02.880 Sean Murray: Yeah, well, the sixth one is free. But but then 24:02.880 --> 24:04.800 you know what, after I get the sixth one, I'm gonna I'm gonna 24:04.800 --> 24:05.760 want more after that. 24:05.760 --> 24:08.310 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. No, that's interesting. Yeah, that's 24:08.310 --> 24:08.640 cool. 24:08.910 --> 24:11.190 Sean Murray: So we've talked a lot about payments, but there 24:11.190 --> 24:13.470 are, there are small business funding people here. 24:14.250 --> 24:15.870 Johny Fernandez: We've seen some already that they. 24:16.290 --> 24:20.220 Sean Murray: They've come up one of those one of those, right? 24:20.250 --> 24:23.880 Yeah. So the worlds are still colliding. I think it would be a 24:23.880 --> 24:26.910 mistake if anyone is out there in the Small Business Finance 24:26.910 --> 24:29.400 world, or even the financial, forget about small business 24:29.400 --> 24:31.680 financial, if you're in finance, you have to pay attention to 24:31.680 --> 24:34.470 payments. It's a big, it's a big part of everything. Yeah. Those 24:34.470 --> 24:37.830 who are in the know are here. Maybe they don't broadcast and 24:37.830 --> 24:40.470 advertise it on their social media. Some of them have a 24:40.470 --> 24:43.980 booth. These are, these are finance companies. Some that we 24:43.980 --> 24:47.460 would report on normally, like fintech. Yeah. Type players. And 24:47.460 --> 24:50.610 so I think that's just like proof positive that everything 24:50.610 --> 24:52.920 continues to to mess with each other. 24:52.950 --> 24:54.930 Johny Fernandez: Yeah, no it's definitely definitely 24:54.930 --> 24:55.710 interesting to see that. 24:55.740 --> 24:57.630 Sean Murray: Yeah. How about you? Are you gonna be are you 24:57.630 --> 24:59.640 gonna be looking at your green badge? That means you're gonna 24:59.640 --> 25:00.960 be meshing and mingling? 25:01.380 --> 25:02.940 Johny Fernandez: Yeah, and that sort of thing. I chose this one 25:02.940 --> 25:06.690 out of all of them, because this is, I'm okay to interact. And 25:06.810 --> 25:09.390 just to get to know, the guys here because, like I said, I 25:09.390 --> 25:13.350 think just the interaction overall is something that is 25:13.350 --> 25:15.990 needed, especially, you know, when you work with two different 25:15.990 --> 25:18.930 types of industries overall, you know, and you see how they 25:18.930 --> 25:22.830 collide. And you see, just, you know, without one, the other one 25:22.890 --> 25:25.470 will go missing and vice versa. So it's definitely interesting 25:25.620 --> 25:28.740 to see and to meet all these people and to see, you know, 25:28.740 --> 25:31.920 what's coming up in the future. So. Yeah. I think with that and 25:31.920 --> 25:34.860 your shirt. Yeah. I think it's going to be a good good next 25:34.860 --> 25:35.430 couple of days. 25:35.430 --> 25:36.720 Sean Murray: What, what was it Tou Tou Sean. 25:36.720 --> 25:38.040 Johny Fernandez: Tou Sean. Sean. 25:38.070 --> 25:39.420 Sean Murray: I don't know why I didn't think of that one. That's 25:39.420 --> 25:41.670 good, yeah, that was good. Yeah, that was really good. 25:41.700 --> 25:43.410 Johny Fernandez: Well, Sean, I guess like, we'll start wrapping 25:43.410 --> 25:46.290 up now. We'll definitely be back within the next couple of 25:46.290 --> 25:48.990 minutes to speak with some more people that are on the ground 25:48.990 --> 25:49.320 here. 25:49.350 --> 25:51.240 Sean Murray: Yeah, we are gonna have some guests. Yeah. It's not 25:51.270 --> 25:54.150 gonna just be Johny and I for the entire time. No that'd be 25:54.150 --> 25:57.180 boring. I will be speaking with a guest. A little bit later on, 25:57.180 --> 26:00.600 not too long from now, from the, from Dedicated Commercial 26:00.600 --> 26:03.690 Recovery. You may know Shawn Smith will be with us quite 26:03.690 --> 26:05.310 soon. And. 26:05.310 --> 26:06.660 Johny Fernandez: We also have more guests coming. 26:06.870 --> 26:09.480 Sean Murray: Yes. That's right. Before you were talking about 26:09.480 --> 26:10.080 the agenda? 26:10.320 --> 26:10.920 Johny Fernandez: Yes. 26:11.040 --> 26:12.720 Sean Murray: We are only gonna be live streaming during 26:12.720 --> 26:16.230 specific times when the exhibit hall is open. Actually, the 26:16.230 --> 26:19.890 times are on our website. If you click an article, the article 26:19.890 --> 26:23.790 that says SEAA show, it should show you the times that we're 26:23.790 --> 26:26.250 going to be live during the exhibit hall time. So it won't 26:26.250 --> 26:29.460 be the entire day straight. But we'll we will be starting quite 26:29.460 --> 26:31.740 early in the morning. Yeah. So even before most of you get to 26:31.740 --> 26:34.140 work, so if you wake up and if you want to tune in straight 26:34.140 --> 26:38.730 away, you can go ahead and do that. debanked.com/tv or even 26:38.760 --> 26:39.660 even the homepage too. 26:39.750 --> 26:41.250 Johny Fernandez: You can do it on your phone too, we'll be live 26:41.250 --> 26:44.520 streaming from the phone. Yeah. Your website, your computer, you 26:44.520 --> 26:46.560 can go on the website. So definitely looking forward to 26:46.560 --> 26:48.810 that and definitely looking forward to seeing you know how 26:48.810 --> 26:51.750 the rest of the day goes ,the event tomorrow goes. It's an 26:51.750 --> 26:54.090 exciting time to be here. And I think overall, it's exciting to 26:54.090 --> 26:57.810 be in person with people, 2021 we never thought this would 26:57.810 --> 26:59.310 happen. But we are finally here. 26:59.370 --> 27:01.020 Sean Murray: I can't wait to see what happy hour looks like. 27:01.050 --> 27:02.280 Johny Fernandez: I know me neither that's gonna be a great 27:02.280 --> 27:06.030 time. So alright, you guys from here, Bonita Springs, Florida. 27:06.030 --> 27:08.670 We will be back soon. I'm Johny Fernandez. 27:08.730 --> 27:09.780 Sean Murray: I'm Sean Murray, see you soon. 27:09.810 --> 27:11.070 Johny Fernandez: And this is Tou Tou Sean. 27:11.100 --> 27:11.400 Sean Murray: Tou Sean. 27:11.430 --> 27:12.120 Johny Fernandez: Tou Sean. 27:12.120 --> 27:14.070 Sean Murray: Tou Sean Sam. Or Tou Sean, Sean.