Adi Ekshtain of Amaryllis Payment Solutions
An exclusive Tech Tribune Q&A with Adi Ekshtain, the co-founder and CIO of Amaryllis Payment Solutions, which was honored in our:
Tell us the origin story of Amaryllis Payment Solutions – what problem were you trying to solve and why?
Prior to launching Amaryllis, I was designing secure and highly scalable mission critical payment systems of all kinds: payment gateways for credit card processing, eWallet applications, subscription billing systems, fraud detection and prevention engines, B2B payment disbursement systems, credit card issuing platforms, payment facilitation programs, and many more.
It was through implementing these payment systems that I noticed a pattern: companies in all markets and verticals were reinventing the payments wheel.
Most of these companies spend hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars to build a payment system that takes too long to build and then is very expensive to maintain.
So together with Ori Hay, we launched Amaryllis Payment Solutions, and the world of solving complex payment problems became our obsession. We molded all our knowledge, knowhow, and expertise into a payment technology stack that others can use, instead of re-inventing the wheel.
What was the biggest hurdle you encountered in your journey?
Early on, we struggled to win new enterprise customers. They all loved our payment platform, but there was always something missing for them. Without it, they cannot be successful in their market.
It took us time to realize that enterprises always need something that nobody else provides and is pivotal for their business. So they end up building new payment systems from scratch, just so they can add an extra feature to the mix.
Once we realized that just like everyone else, we were offering our customers a box, we could use that to our advantage. We figured out that our tremendous investment in building an extensible and modular payment platform helps enterprises because we can always extend it to add that one thing that gives them a competitive advantage in their market.
What does the future hold for Amaryllis Payment Solutions?
To date, Amaryllis Payment Solutions has served about any industry you can think of, from healthcare to real estate and ride sharing, and about a dozen industries in between.
We are serving independent software vendors (ISVs), value added retailers (VARs), independent sales organizations (ISOs), SaaS companies, and marketplaces. All of our customers are benefiting from our ability to customize our robust payment platform to their specific needs.
With the emergence of payment facilitators (PayFacs), more and more software companies are embedding payments into their offering. Amaryllis is positioned to transform software companies into payment companies.
What are your thoughts on the local tech startup scene in West Palm Beach?
West Palm Beach is gaining a lot of momentum as an attractive hub for tech startup companies.
With three international airports in a radius of 65 miles, it is suited for travel anywhere in the North America, and as a launchpad into Latin America.
There are over two dozen colleges and universities campuses near West Palm Beach and the area
benefits from a growing pool of tech talent.
What’s your best advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?
It well suits entrepreneurs to take advantage of today’s uncertain times. Entrepreneurs are agile, think out of the box, and can act when opportunities present themselves.
A savvy entrepreneur can find opportunities to joint venture, get endorsed by, and connect to key influencers, because more than ever before, they are open to expand their revenue streams to compensate or reduce the risk that the pandemic presents.
Unfortunately, there are many businesses that struggle to survive in this environment. If you are launching a startup these days, you can find assets that are very inexpensive to acquire, or can be used in some form of a deal that is a win-win for both parties.
Lastly, with unemployment numbers skyrocketing, there is a pool of highly skilled workers that recently collaborated, sold to, and conversed with top-level executives and decision makers. Those people may never be as accessible to you as they are today, and you can find them on various platforms and social networks. These people can introduce your startup to key decision makers, venture capitalists, and angel investors in weeks rather than the months and years it would have taken you otherwise.