On this episode of Coffee with a Founder, Beck Bamberger sits down with Jo Phillips and Will Corbera, Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of Payabli.
Jo and Will open the conversation by sharing their journey to founding Payabli together—from recognizing the massive gap in how software companies manage and monetize payments, to realizing they were uniquely aligned in vision, chemistry, and conviction. Their story highlights the complementary strengths that brought Payabli to life and the shared belief that fintech infrastructure needed a better, bolder approach.
They also dive into the leadership philosophies and cultural principles that fuel Payabli, walking through the company’s core values:
Team First: Investing in people to build a culture where everyone loves showing up each day.
Customer Love: Wooing customers so fully that they feel compelled to write love letters.
Small Giant: Prioritizing purpose and long-term thinking as Payabli grows sustainably.
Run to the Fire: Leaning into hard problems and doing the right thing, even when it’s tough.
Bias for Action: Moving with urgency and never postponing what can be done today.
Little Things Count: Elevating the Payabli experience through thoughtful, detail-driven touches.
Punch Above Our Weight: Using nimbleness as a strategic advantage—and competing with confidence.
Truth Seekers: Valuing honesty, accountability, and open communication over ego.
Throughout the episode, Jo and Will share what personally motivates them as they navigate the highs and lows of startup life, and how these values guide them as leaders in a fully remote world.
A powerful look at the heart, mindset, and mission behind our team at Payabli.
In the ever-evolving world of fintech, payment operations—commonly known as Pay Ops—are becoming a critical component for software companies looking to optimize their payment processes. While many businesses focus on the transactional side of payments, the operational side—merchant onboarding, risk management, compliance, and payout orchestration—often gets overlooked. However, neglecting Pay Ops can lead to inefficiencies, higher costs, and compliance risks.
In our final episode on the Leaders in Payments podcast, hosted by Greg Myers, Payabli’s Co-Founders and Co-CEOs, Jo Phillips and William Corbera explored the growing importance of Pay Ops and how Payabli is pioneering advancements in this space. Here’s what software companies need to know about modern payment operations and why embedding the right Pay Ops strategy is essential for long-term success.
What Are Payment Operations and Why Do They Matter?
Payment operations encompass everything beyond the transaction itself—merchant underwriting, pricing controls, reconciliation, fraud detection, and compliance management. For vertical SaaS platforms, these processes can be complex and resource-intensive. Without the right infrastructure, companies may struggle with slow merchant onboarding, high chargeback rates, and inefficient fund flows.
Payabli is reshaping the Pay Ops landscape by providing software companies with a unified infrastructure to streamline and monetize payments. By integrating Payabli’s API-first payment solutions, software platforms can optimize their Pay Ops, improve cash flow, and enhance the customer experience.
One of the key differentiators that Payabli offers is its API-first approach to payment operations. This means that software platforms gain flexibility and control over their Pay Ops, enabling them to customize:
Merchant onboarding – Automate KYC and underwriting processes.
Risk and compliance – Leverage AI-driven fraud detection and risk monitoring.
Pricing and monetization – Implement dynamic service fees and revenue-sharing models.
Payment routing – Optimize payment flows for cost efficiency and better conversion rates.
By leveraging Payabli’s infrastructure, software companies can move away from rigid, traditional payment facilitation models and build a more scalable, customizable payment system tailored to their business needs.
Real-World Impact: How Payabli Is Transforming Payment Operations
Payabli’s impact on software businesses is already evident. Here are two real-life examples showcasing the power of modern Pay Ops:
Property Management SaaS Platform: A leading property management company initially operated as a Payfac but faced significant operational overhead. By switching to Payabli, they decommissioned their Payfac model, refocused on their core business, and streamlined their Pay Ops using Payabli’s infrastructure and Pay Ops suite.
Regional Bank’s Online Payment Portal: A regional bank integrated Payabli’s payment infrastructure into its online banking platform, enabling small businesses to access payment processing services with ease. This transformation enhanced their customer experience while improving security and compliance.
The Future of Payment Operations: AI, Risk Management, and Efficiency
As Pay Ops continues to evolve, AI and automation are becoming essential for fraud prevention, underwriting, and compliance. In the podcast, Jo and Will emphasized how AI-driven Pay Ops can:
Reduce fraud risk by analyzing transaction patterns in real-time.
Automate underwriting to onboard merchants faster and more efficiently.
Enhance security by detecting and preventing suspicious activities before they escalate.
For software companies struggling with inefficiencies in their Pay Ops, adopting an API-driven, modern payment operations strategy is no longer optional—it’s a competitive necessity.
Optimizing Payment Operations with Payabli
For SaaS platforms aiming to embed payments, optimize revenue, and enhance user experience, partnering with a next-gen Pay Ops provider like Payabli is the key to success. With a flexible, API-first infrastructure, Payabli empowers software businesses to take control of their payment operations, streamline workflows, and unlock new monetization opportunities.
Watch the podcast here:
To learn more about how Payabli can transform your payment operations, check out our latest insights or connect with us today.
Interested in learning more about our Pay Ops offering?
As embedded finance continues to evolve, more software platforms are integrating payment acceptance to create new revenue streams. However, many businesses overlook the potential in payouts – a critical yet often misunderstood component of payments infrastructure. In the second episode of Payabli’s series with the Leaders in Payments Podcast hosted by Greg Myers, our co-founders and co-CEOs, Will Corbera and Jo Phillips, dive into why payouts are becoming the next frontier for SaaS platforms and how businesses can capitalize on this shift.
Why Payouts Matter
Most software companies understand the value of embedding payment acceptance, but payouts remain an afterthought. Traditionally, payouts have been viewed as a simple settlement function—sending funds to merchants, gig workers, or vendors. However, Payabli takes a different approach, treating payouts as a fully embedded payables solution that enables SaaS platforms to streamline money movement and unlock new revenue.
Many businesses still issue thousands of manual checks each month, creating inefficiencies, delays, and unnecessary operational costs. Automating this process through a unified API eliminates these bottlenecks while improving vendor relationships and compliance.
How SaaS Companies Can Monetize Payouts
One of the biggest takeaways from the conversation was that payouts can be a major revenue driver—sometimes even exceeding payment acceptance. This is achieved through:
Virtual card issuance – Vendors are paid using virtual cards, generating interchange revenue when the payment is processed.
Enhanced ACH transactions – Faster and more reliable ACH payments can be monetized as part of an embedded solution.
On-demand payouts – Real-time disbursements provide flexibility for businesses while opening new revenue opportunities.
The Shift Toward Embedded Payouts
To fully embed payouts, SaaS platforms must think beyond traditional accounts payable solutions. Payabli follows what they call the Three P’s of Embedded Payments:
Pay In – Payment acceptance and acquiring
Pay Out – Vendor, supplier, and contractor payments
Pay Ops – Payment operations and infrastructure
This comprehensive approach allows SaaS companies to own the full money movement experience rather than relying on multiple third-party providers. By integrating both pay-in and pay-out functionality, businesses create a seamless financial ecosystem that increases platform stickiness and retention.
Security, AI, and the Future of Payouts
As payouts scale, security and risk management become even more critical. Payabli is investing heavily in AI-driven fraud detection, using:
Dynamic risk scoring to assess vendor trustworthiness
Automated payment decisioning to ensure compliance
Real-time monitoring to prevent fraudulent transactions
With faster payments come higher security risks, making AI a necessary tool for safeguarding transactions. The next phase of embedded payouts will likely include even more advanced fraud prevention and compliance automation.
Looking Ahead
Payouts are no longer just a back-office function—they are a key part of embedded finance that software companies can use to drive efficiency, improve vendor relationships, and unlock new revenue. As the industry moves toward a fully embedded payments experience, companies that embrace both money in and money out will have a significant competitive advantage.
For software platforms looking to expand their financial capabilities, the opportunity in payouts is clear. The question is: are you ready to capitalize on it?
Watch the podcast here:
To learn more about Payabli’s offerings and what’s coming next, stay tuned for the next episodes in this series, which will explore Pay Ops.
Interested in learning more about our Pay Out offering?
In Episode 370 of the Leaders in Payments podcast, our co-CEOs, Jo Phillips and Will Corbera, joined host Greg Myers to dive into how vertical SaaS companies can harness modern payment infrastructure to drive growth and deliver superior user experiences. This episode marks the beginning of a special three-part series focused on Payabli’s three pillars: Pay In, Pay Out, and Pay Ops, starting with Pay In.
The Shift to Embedded Payments
During the discussion, Jo and Will highlighted a tectonic shift in the payments industry. Traditional payment processing systems are being replaced by embedded solutions, where vertical SaaS platforms integrate payment functionalities directly into their offerings. This transformation is not just changing how businesses manage transactions but is also creating new revenue streams and enhancing customer retention.
For us at Payabli, embedding payments isn’t just about processing transactions—it’s about creating seamless, value-added experiences for users. With the right approach, SaaS companies can unlock significant revenue opportunities, boost enterprise value, and strengthen customer loyalty.
Understanding the Challenges
Jo shared his experience scaling ServiceTitan, a leading SaaS platform for the trades industry, and how it inspired the creation of Payabli. Many SaaS companies face challenges with fragmented legacy systems or opaque, one-size-fits-all solutions like Stripe Connect. These options often lead to inefficiencies, limited control over user experience, and suboptimal revenue realization.
Each vertical has its own unique set of challenges, whether it’s supporting specialized payment methods or meeting industry-specific compliance requirements. At Payabli, our mission is to solve these problems with a unified API infrastructure that combines cutting-edge technology with hands-on advisory services.
What Sets Payabli Apart
Our approach to solving these challenges is built around our “three Ps”: Pay In, Pay Out, and Pay Ops. In this episode, we focused on Pay In, (our payment acceptance product offering) which enables SaaS platforms to seamlessly integrate diverse payment options into their systems for payment acceptance. From credit cards to ACH and mobile check capture, Payabli’s solutions empower businesses to meet the specific needs of their verticals.
One of our standout features is our “no-code environment,” which allows product teams to build customized payment workflows without writing a single line of code. This simplifies PCI compliance and accelerates time to market.
Realizing the Benefits of Embedded Payments
The benefits of embedded payments go far beyond revenue generation. By embedding payments, companies gain better control over the user experience, leading to increased customer lifetime value and higher retention rates. This stickiness directly impacts a SaaS platform’s enterprise valuation, making embedded payments a strategic priority for leadership teams.
At Payabli, we also invest in innovative features like split funding capabilities, allowing businesses to route funds to multiple accounts from a single transaction. This is particularly valuable in regulated industries like property management or education, where fund segregation is critical.
Looking Ahead
As Jo and Will shared, Payabli is dedicated to driving innovation in embedded payments. Our roadmap includes advancements in offline payment capabilities, AI-powered tools, and expanded payment modalities such as real-time payments and digital lockboxes.
Watch the podcast here:
At Payabli, we see payments not just as a backend utility, but as a strategic advantage that can help SaaS companies unlock growth, improve customer satisfaction, and future-proof their operations. To learn more about Payabli’s offerings and what’s coming next, stay tuned for the next episodes in this series, which will explore Pay Out and Pay Ops.
Interested in learning more about our Pay In offering? Schedule a demo with one of our payment experts today.
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Payabli and Huntington Bank Join Forces to Bring Payments to the Digital Banking Experience
