Feb 16, 2023 · 23m · top-founders
Bootstrapped to $18m by door knocking while competing with Toast, Square, and other fintechs
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this interview, host Nathan Latka talks with VizyPay CEO Austin McNamby about bootstrapping a fintech payments company to an $18 million run rate by serving overlooked small businesses in rural America. McNamby explains their grassroots sales model, transparent point-of-sale hardware placements, predictable transaction margins, and the strategic advantages of operating out of Iowa.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 28.5% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Nathan as informed peer 3.9 Guest teaching 3.7 Guest disagreement 1.6 Nathan pushing back 2.3
speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 19:05 Rejecting conventional corporate and customer-first doctrine
McNamby explicitly challenges standard business orthodoxy by asserting that clients are neither number one nor always right, while bluntly calling the payments industry a predatory nightmare.
Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 5:47 Host insists free hardware requires severe lock-inLatka interrupts and directly challenges McNamby, arguing that giving away $2,000 equipment without a strict lock-in contract is impossible.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 11:04 Clarifying transaction profit vs flat fee percentageMcNamby educates Latka on card payment mechanics, correcting Latka's assumption about flat fee revenue sharing by explaining baseline interchange costs and pricing markups.
Nathan holds their own ▶ 7:53 Calling out specific hardware manufacturers and unit costsLatka demonstrates deep industry awareness by naming PAX Technology and Deja Vu terminals to challenge the guest's $40M hardware balance sheet assumption.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Nathan as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Nathan pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Introducing Austin McNamby and Payments Background | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Latka sets up the interview by asking how a fintech company thrives in rural Iowa and probing for customer use cases. McNamby amicably explains the tech divide facing mom-and-pop shops in rural America. | |
| Hardware Strategy and Subsidized POS Equipment | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | Latka presses McNamby on how a bootstrapped company can afford to give away multi-thousand-dollar POS hardware without restrictive lock-ins. McNamby breaks down their equipment placement model and cancellation penalties. | |
| Fleet Size, Terminal Distribution, and Partner Hardware | 6 | 5 | 2 | 5 | Latka runs the math on equipment expenses and cites specific hardware vendors like PAX Technology and Deja Vu. McNamby clarifies the distinction between smart terminals and full POS systems and explains interchange margins versus flat revenue share. | |
| Multiple Pricing Models and Merchant Flexibility Options | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | Latka calculates average ticket size from unit economics while McNamby explains cash discounting, surcharging, and standard interchange plus pricing models. McNamby also shares the origin story of door-knocking his first customer. | |
| Processing Volume Scale and Bootstrapped Revenue Trajectory | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Latka rapidly calculates annual transaction volume and swipes on the fly based on average ticket size. McNamby confirms the bootstrapped trajectory from $96k in 2017 to nearing $30M. | |
| Three-Pillar Sales Strategy and Fintech Software Expansion | 2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | McNamby outlines his three sales channels and delivers a passionate monologue against private equity and corporate fintech norms. He forcefully argues that internal culture precedes customer demands and criticizes industry greed. | |
| Recession Resilience and Relocating Talent to Iowa | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Latka asks about navigating macroeconomic downturns before closing with the Famous Five. McNamby explains how credit card usage remains constant during recessions and why Iowa's low cost of living is a competitive advantage. |
Statements from this episode (17)
VizyPay Targets Rural Mom-and-Pop Shops Over Major Metro Areas
“We don't focus on big towns like Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, all these other areas. We focus on mom, pa shops in rural America.”
McNamby: Rural Businesses Resist Tech Due to Cost and Complexity
“When they want to level up, the technology is way too robust and way too costly with too many long-term contracts. Therefore they resist.”
VizyPay gives merchants up to $3,000 in free POS equipment
“Well, in our situation, we have an equipment placement program, so based on volume, et cetera, that we will place it there at no cost to them, so we're contributing two, 3000 dollars worth of equipment, you know, to their doorstep, and we give them options to …”
Austin McNamby: VizyPay is fully bootstrapped with zero outside money
“We're still bootstrapped. Not one dollar from outside money.”
McNamby: Major POS competitors charge $15k to $25k cancellation fees
“While most companies will say, Hey, by the way, you're going to owe us 15, 20, 25,000 dollars to cancel because that's the profit we would have made on your account.”
Austin McNamby: VizyPay serves over 10,000 clients across the US
“We have a little bit over 10,000 clients across the United States, but that doesn't count maybe like the hardware because some locations have two or three pieces at their location, right? So if you just did a baseline of 10,000, cool, but you could probably ad…”
Austin McNamby: About 90% of VizyPay clients use basic terminals
“About 90%, a little bit about 90% of our clientele don't need a POS system that's two or 3000. It's mainly for restaurants and bars and retail locations that have a lot of inventory, but a lot of them are, it is the basic terminals”
McNamby: VizyPay earns 58 to 60 cents profit per transaction
“I'm just telling you on our end, on our profit, there's about 58 to 60 cents per transaction we make, you know, out of the millions of transactions we do a month across the United States.”
McNamby: VizyPay's Average Merchant Ticket Is Between $25 and $35
“About 20, about 25, 35 dollars across the board.”
McNamby: VizyPay processed nearly $1.8B in payment volume in 2022
“Processing volume last year was close to 1.8000000000 that we processed.”
VizyPay grew from $12.7M to nearly $18M in revenue in 2022
“You know, in 2021, it was 12.7 million. This last past year was close to eighteen million.”
McNamby: VizyPay will reach $27M to $30M in revenue in 2023
“I think we'll be close to a 27 to 30, depending on how the sales force goes with our hiring list we just had.”
McNamby: VizyPay launching à la carte fintech SaaS in months
“Including the kind of a silent channel, which is our FinTech, which we're building out technologies. That will eventually have sassies attached to them based on what the client needs kind of a la carte, which we're launching in the next couple months.”
Austin McNamby: Over 95% of VizyPay Staff Come From Outside Payments
“So we have 63% minorities, 27% women, and over 95% of our staff come from outside the payment space.”
McNamby calls the payments industry a nightmare that exploits people
“It's just a fucking nightmare, our industry in general, of taking advantage of people.”
McNamby: Credit card payment volume persists regardless of economic recessions
“Well, the crazy thing is, you know, with this industry, if it's a recession or we're not a recession, everyone uses a credit card. So today, if people don't have money, they're using a credit card. They're going in debt, unfortunately, but they're still using …”
VizyPay relocates talent to Iowa from California, Florida, and Mexico
“And as they're doing these layoffs, et cetera, we're actually moving people to Iowa. You know, I just moved, you know, I've moved people from Florida, from You know, California. I moved people from Mexico before. I moved people from, you know, other parts of t…”