00:02.400 --> 00:04.680 Johny Fernandez: Welcome back. I'm here with Sam Shapiro from 00:04.710 --> 00:07.260 Fundomate, Sam. Welcome. Thank you for being here. 00:07.290 --> 00:09.060 Sam Shapiro: Yeah it's good to be here. Nice sunny Florida. 00:09.060 --> 00:11.010 Johny Fernandez: I know it's great, great weather. Great. 00:11.160 --> 00:12.240 Great day so far. 00:12.240 --> 00:13.680 Sam Shapiro: Yeah. Beautiful, beautiful event. 00:13.710 --> 00:14.460 Johny Fernandez: So Sam. 00:14.460 --> 00:15.480 Sam Shapiro: It's good to be back in person. 00:15.540 --> 00:17.070 Johny Fernandez: Yeah, exactly. That's what we were talking 00:17.070 --> 00:19.170 about the fact that you know, we're actually here being able 00:19.170 --> 00:22.170 to network. So Sam, let's go ahead and talk about Fundomate, 00:22.260 --> 00:25.380 kind of walk me through what you guys do and how long ago did you 00:25.380 --> 00:25.920 guys start? 00:26.010 --> 00:28.290 Sam Shapiro: So Fundomate's been around about five years, we 00:28.290 --> 00:31.290 started out as a as an automated, like Kayak for 00:31.290 --> 00:33.990 lending for business owners that needed funding. And what we 00:33.990 --> 00:36.900 learned was is that going directly to the businesses, when 00:36.900 --> 00:39.030 they're shopping in multiple places, it's hard to actually 00:39.030 --> 00:41.730 give the better businesses, what they're looking for. So we 00:41.730 --> 00:45.240 started a white labeled square capital model, per se, where we 00:45.240 --> 00:47.730 go to payment processors, and we offer them a white label, plug 00:47.730 --> 00:51.000 and play lending platform, funding platform. So we take 00:51.000 --> 00:54.360 data in real time, give them an API into their POS system, or 00:54.360 --> 00:57.030 any other platform or an email directly to their merchants 00:57.210 --> 00:59.910 taking processing data, what we're able to do is, is give 00:59.910 --> 01:02.760 them an offer. So the merchant clicks an offer, accepts the 01:02.760 --> 01:05.520 offer, gets funded. And it's just a one touch funding 01:05.520 --> 01:06.120 program. 01:06.930 --> 01:09.720 Johny Fernandez: Quick and easy. Yeah. One and done. So five 01:09.720 --> 01:12.810 years ago, obviously, when you guys started it, the business, 01:12.960 --> 01:15.480 it was completely different than what we just went through last 01:15.480 --> 01:18.900 year, in a quick elevator elevator like response, kind of 01:18.900 --> 01:20.970 walk me through what 2020 will look like for you guys. 01:20.970 --> 01:22.920 Sam Shapiro: So starting in March, you know, obviously, like 01:22.920 --> 01:26.070 everybody else, we panic. And then obviously, thank God with 01:26.070 --> 01:28.530 God's help the human race is resilient. And we realize how 01:28.530 --> 01:31.110 much stronger we can become. The first thing that happens is 01:31.110 --> 01:33.120 we're worried about how our collections is going to go when 01:33.120 --> 01:35.640 you have a lot of money out on the street. So thank God for the 01:35.640 --> 01:38.640 US government giving business owners money. But what that also 01:38.640 --> 01:41.970 did was, is gave businesses so much money that you're competing 01:41.970 --> 01:44.640 with a trillion dollar zero interest lender. So I think 01:44.640 --> 01:47.250 everybody in this space realizes that funding slowed down, 01:47.550 --> 01:51.030 because you have people getting money from the government. But 01:51.030 --> 01:53.490 what it also did was since our model is working with payment 01:53.490 --> 01:56.400 processors, and getting a percentage of their sales, so 01:56.400 --> 01:59.250 the first couple months, sales were down, processing was down. 01:59.430 --> 02:02.100 So our collection percentage was down. But as soon as their 02:02.100 --> 02:04.320 collections went back up, we didn't have to go back into 02:04.320 --> 02:06.480 collections, we were getting a percentage of their sales. So 02:06.480 --> 02:08.490 that went back up again. But we are seeing they're coming, 02:08.700 --> 02:11.790 roaring back now as the economy opens up. And I think one of the 02:11.790 --> 02:16.560 best benefits of what PPP and EIDL did was it showed 02:16.560 --> 02:19.770 businesses that not necessarily like taking lending, and like 02:19.770 --> 02:22.770 taking money, what it ended up doing is showing them that how 02:22.770 --> 02:25.740 much value cash is for them. So now we see businesses that 02:25.740 --> 02:28.830 wouldn't actually borrow money, start borrowing money and start 02:28.830 --> 02:31.470 paying for money, because it infuses their business with 02:31.470 --> 02:32.040 growth. 02:32.250 --> 02:34.770 Johny Fernandez: So seeing obviously, this difficult time 02:34.770 --> 02:37.470 you guys went through how you guys are overcoming it. Let's 02:37.470 --> 02:40.620 look into the future in the next year, in the next five years, 02:40.650 --> 02:42.570 what does Fundomate look like to you? 02:42.900 --> 02:45.060 Sam Shapiro: So we're actually looking to start branching out 02:45.060 --> 02:47.790 into the ISO business and start providing a platform we're 02:47.790 --> 02:51.090 giving A plus businesses programs that aren't available, 02:51.090 --> 02:54.000 like what Square's doing and Stripe's doing to the ISO model. 02:54.150 --> 02:56.400 And that's why I'm here discussing it on deBanked. But 02:56.400 --> 02:58.620 also more importantly, we want to change how businesses look at 02:58.620 --> 03:01.560 credit. You know, any successful businesses in America today or a 03:01.560 --> 03:04.890 successful financially set person has access to capital at 03:04.890 --> 03:07.260 all times, right, you pick up the phone, you get a banking 03:07.260 --> 03:09.870 line, you get a car line, you get a house line, etc. Small 03:09.870 --> 03:12.810 businesses, they're kind of have a constraint on them for to 03:12.810 --> 03:15.180 access to cash, and they're always living from, you know, 03:15.180 --> 03:18.540 sale to sale. And every time a big expense comes up is when 03:18.540 --> 03:20.760 they need short term capital, what we're looking to do is 03:20.760 --> 03:23.730 what, companies like Brex and Stripe and Square are doing and 03:23.730 --> 03:25.800 say, hey, we want to give you a dashboard that gives you access 03:25.800 --> 03:29.190 to capital before you need it. Almost like a mini VC, except 03:29.190 --> 03:31.080 we're not taking a piece of their business. So we're 03:31.080 --> 03:34.050 offering payment processors, and ISOs. And businesses right now 03:34.050 --> 03:36.900 as a dashboard that kind of predicts what their processing 03:36.900 --> 03:39.480 is going to be in the future and makes that money available for 03:39.480 --> 03:42.030 them for free, really short term. And what that does 03:42.030 --> 03:44.730 business wise, is now positions ourselves to be in front of 03:44.730 --> 03:47.910 those businesses, to be able to get them the money, they need 03:47.910 --> 03:50.880 longer term, and being able to create a network of adding 03:50.880 --> 03:52.410 businesses to that network. 03:52.800 --> 03:54.960 Johny Fernandez: That's great. That's awesome. That's exciting. 03:54.990 --> 03:58.350 Good. So as a business leader, what has this whole time taught 03:58.350 --> 04:00.360 you about moving your business forward? 04:00.810 --> 04:04.230 Sam Shapiro: So really, it's about slicing and dicing focus, 04:04.410 --> 04:06.600 and realizing when you look at everything in a big picture it 04:06.600 --> 04:09.570 becomes overwhelming, you know, and it can become really, really 04:09.570 --> 04:13.170 scary. And everybody at some point throughout this turbulent 04:13.170 --> 04:16.140 time was scared of something, you know, whether people did 04:16.140 --> 04:19.590 lose family members, the economy did get shut down. It's been a 04:19.590 --> 04:22.560 turbulent election period. So there's a lot going on. But when 04:22.560 --> 04:26.250 you realize that how resilient we are, and we have, you know, a 04:26.250 --> 04:28.320 God that has a plan and everything that's going on, and 04:28.320 --> 04:31.260 you really need to focus on small, you know, mini bites and 04:31.260 --> 04:34.320 small baby steps, then that's how really big things happen by 04:34.320 --> 04:35.490 taking small steps. 04:35.550 --> 04:38.160 Johny Fernandez: Awesome. And any advice to business owners 04:38.160 --> 04:41.970 that were in your shoes, you know, less than 10 years old, 04:41.970 --> 04:44.010 just trying to move forward? What advice would you give to 04:44.010 --> 04:44.280 them? 04:44.310 --> 04:46.950 Sam Shapiro: Stay calm and power on you know, that's our, one of 04:46.950 --> 04:50.970 our lending models is, you know, stay calm and finance online. So 04:50.970 --> 04:54.540 find us on that line, you know, so it's really about really just 04:54.540 --> 04:57.120 staying in the moment because when you think too much into the 04:57.120 --> 04:59.940 past and too much into the future. There's a lot of anxiety 04:59.940 --> 05:02.310 involved in, that there's a lot of stress. There's so much 05:02.310 --> 05:05.220 overwhelmingness there's so much to conquer. But when you stay in 05:05.220 --> 05:07.740 the moment, you realize that I just really need to take care of 05:07.740 --> 05:10.140 one step at a time. And that's really how you double down, 05:10.500 --> 05:11.610 compound and grow. 05:11.880 --> 05:13.440 Johny Fernandez: So people that are interested in checking your 05:13.440 --> 05:16.110 business out where can they go, and how can they contact you? 05:16.200 --> 05:18.390 Sam Shapiro: Sam at Fundomate.com, Fundomate 05:18.420 --> 05:21.000 automate, Fundomate.com. 05:21.270 --> 05:21.780 Johny Fernandez: Awesome. 05:21.840 --> 05:23.760 Sam Shapiro: F U N D O M A T E .com. 05:23.790 --> 05:24.330 Johny Fernandez: Thanks so much. 05:24.360 --> 05:24.900 Sam Shapiro: Thank you, man. 05:24.960 --> 05:26.820 Johny Fernandez: Likewise, alright thank you guys for 05:26.820 --> 05:29.790 tuning in. Like I said, we will be back with more interviews 05:29.940 --> 05:30.870 right after this.