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Dec 2, 2016 · 17m · top-founders

EP 496: PayByGroup $3.4M Raised, $10m in Transaction Volume to Help Groups Pay with CEO Camilo Acosta

Nathan Latka · 8m spoken Camillo Acosta · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

Host Nathan Latka interviews Camilo Acosta, CEO of PayByGroup, exploring how the fintech company raised $3.4 million to scale its embedded group payment checkout solution across more than 300 merchants.

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 56.3% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.0 Guest teaching 2.8 Guest disagreement 1.3 Nathan pushing back 2.3
05100:0010:001:35–5:33 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 PayByGroup's Value Proposition and Monetization Model Latka pushes to understand the revenue model and attempts mental math on the 2.9% cut for vacation rentals, prompting Acosta to clarify the fee structure and the $25 per-person cap.5:33–12:40 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Founding Background, Team Size, and Previous Venture Latka drills down on historical transaction volume, customer counts, and connects Acosta's first client Rent Like a Champion to a recent interview he hosted. Acosta explains why payment volume rather than raw user count is their core KPI.12:40–15:34 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Long-Term Company Vision and Enterprise Focus Acosta outlines the long-term vision of international expansion and enterprise focus while Latka offers commentary on team location costs and website UX simplicity.15:34–16:30 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard Famous Five rapid-fire exchange where Acosta gives concise answers about his favorite book, tools, sleep habits, and moving to San Francisco.1:35–5:33 · Guest teaching 4/10 PayByGroup's Value Proposition and Monetization Model Latka pushes to understand the revenue model and attempts mental math on the 2.9% cut for vacation rentals, prompting Acosta to clarify the fee structure and the $25 per-person cap.5:33–12:40 · Guest teaching 4/10 Founding Background, Team Size, and Previous Venture Latka drills down on historical transaction volume, customer counts, and connects Acosta's first client Rent Like a Champion to a recent interview he hosted. Acosta explains why payment volume rather than raw user count is their core KPI.12:40–15:34 · Guest teaching 2/10 Long-Term Company Vision and Enterprise Focus Acosta outlines the long-term vision of international expansion and enterprise focus while Latka offers commentary on team location costs and website UX simplicity.15:34–16:30 · Guest teaching 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard Famous Five rapid-fire exchange where Acosta gives concise answers about his favorite book, tools, sleep habits, and moving to San Francisco.1:35–5:33 · Guest disagreement 2/10 PayByGroup's Value Proposition and Monetization Model Latka pushes to understand the revenue model and attempts mental math on the 2.9% cut for vacation rentals, prompting Acosta to clarify the fee structure and the $25 per-person cap.5:33–12:40 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Founding Background, Team Size, and Previous Venture Latka drills down on historical transaction volume, customer counts, and connects Acosta's first client Rent Like a Champion to a recent interview he hosted. Acosta explains why payment volume rather than raw user count is their core KPI.12:40–15:34 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Long-Term Company Vision and Enterprise Focus Acosta outlines the long-term vision of international expansion and enterprise focus while Latka offers commentary on team location costs and website UX simplicity.15:34–16:30 · Guest disagreement 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard Famous Five rapid-fire exchange where Acosta gives concise answers about his favorite book, tools, sleep habits, and moving to San Francisco.1:35–5:33 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 PayByGroup's Value Proposition and Monetization Model Latka pushes to understand the revenue model and attempts mental math on the 2.9% cut for vacation rentals, prompting Acosta to clarify the fee structure and the $25 per-person cap.5:33–12:40 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Founding Background, Team Size, and Previous Venture Latka drills down on historical transaction volume, customer counts, and connects Acosta's first client Rent Like a Champion to a recent interview he hosted. Acosta explains why payment volume rather than raw user count is their core KPI.12:40–15:34 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Long-Term Company Vision and Enterprise Focus Acosta outlines the long-term vision of international expansion and enterprise focus while Latka offers commentary on team location costs and website UX simplicity.15:34–16:30 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard Famous Five rapid-fire exchange where Acosta gives concise answers about his favorite book, tools, sleep habits, and moving to San Francisco.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 79.9% · guest 20.1%0:00 · Nathan 79.9% · guest 20.1%3:00 · Nathan 32.8% · guest 67.2%3:00 · Nathan 32.8% · guest 67.2%6:00 · Nathan 33.9% · guest 66.1%6:00 · Nathan 33.9% · guest 66.1%9:00 · Nathan 50.4% · guest 49.6%9:00 · Nathan 50.4% · guest 49.6%12:00 · Nathan 55.6% · guest 44.4%12:00 · Nathan 55.6% · guest 44.4%15:00 · Nathan 89.2% · guest 10.8%15:00 · Nathan 89.2% · guest 10.8%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 2:31 Acosta rejects marketplace framing

Acosta promptly shuts down Latka's categorization of the company as a marketplace, insisting that it is strictly a checkout button.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 7:24 Latka challenges untracked buyer metrics

Latka pushes Acosta to justify why the business does not track the aggregate number of individual buyers using the platform since inception.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 7:30 Acosta on transaction volume vs user count

Acosta educates Latka on unit economics, explaining that aggregate transaction volume is a far healthier indicator of business strength than total user headcounts.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 9:04 Latka connects client to Shark Tank episode

Latka demonstrates his network knowledge by immediately recognizing Acosta's first client Rent Like a Champion and noting he recently interviewed their founders after their Shark Tank deal.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
PayByGroup's Value Proposition and Monetization Model 5423 Latka pushes to understand the revenue model and attempts mental math on the 2.9% cut for vacation rentals, prompting Acosta to clarify the fee structure and the $25 per-person cap.
Founding Background, Team Size, and Previous Venture 6414 Latka drills down on historical transaction volume, customer counts, and connects Acosta's first client Rent Like a Champion to a recent interview he hosted. Acosta explains why payment volume rather than raw user count is their core KPI.
Long-Term Company Vision and Enterprise Focus 3211 Acosta outlines the long-term vision of international expansion and enterprise focus while Latka offers commentary on team location costs and website UX simplicity.
The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions 2111 Standard Famous Five rapid-fire exchange where Acosta gives concise answers about his favorite book, tools, sleep habits, and moving to San Francisco.

Statements from this episode (6)

Disclosure
Acosta: PayByGroup charges invited participants 2.9% and is free for organizers
“It's free for the organizer, but everyone that you invite is going to pay 2.9%.”
Camillo Acosta Dec 2, 2016 ▶ 4:26
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Acosta: PayByGroup has handled group purchase splits up to $30,000
“We've had 30,000 dollar purchases that get split.”
Camillo Acosta Dec 2, 2016 ▶ 4:58
Assertion Partly supported
Acosta: Average vacation rental booking is $1,500 to $2,000
“1500 to 2000 dollars is the average vacation rental.”
Camillo Acosta Dec 2, 2016 ▶ 7:03
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Acosta: Over 300 merchants use PayByGroup
“We have over 300.”
Camillo Acosta Dec 2, 2016 ▶ 7:13
Insight
Acosta: Total payment volume beats user count as a fintech health metric
“Because payment volume is, is, is a better indicator of company kind of health than number of people. Because you know, you can have few people spending a lot of money versus a lot of people spending a little small amounts of money. We'd rather have less peopl…”
Camillo Acosta Dec 2, 2016 ▶ 7:30
Disclosure
Acosta: PayByGroup is neither raising capital nor trying to sell
“No, no, no, we're not, neither, neither raising nor selling. The goal is really to just build a big business.”
Camillo Acosta Dec 2, 2016 ▶ 13:00
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