When we came to Camp, Paysail only had a few lines of code and an idea to transform B2B invoicing, and we are excited to be leaving Camp with a fully functional international payments platform! Over the last eight weeks, Paysail had the privilege of going through the Celo Camp incubator. We had a fantastic experience throughout Camp, building both our payments MVP and many new friendships. We loved the opportunity to join a community with an intellectual vitality and passion for global financial inclusion. Every step of the way, we were encouraged and supported as demo day was barreling towards us. After many missteps, coffees, laughs, and late nights, our Paysail team is so grateful for the experience.
The idea behind Paysail has been germinating for our founder Liam for over a decade. Liam began invoicing at age 11 after starting a neighborhood lawn business that he ran for eight years. At the time, he used a hodgepodge of invoicing solutions to bill his clients and accepted checks as the only payment form. To be frank, the invoice creation and management processes he used were terrible, but they got the job done. Liam assumed that invoicing solutions of “real businesses” were much more efficient and effective. However, as he worked at startups, fintech companies, and eventually BlackRock, he realized this was not always the case.
The current business-to-business (B2B) invoicing and payment solutions are fragmented, inefficient, and expensive, and they are often not designed for emerging economies. Liam began wondering if there could be a better way—leading him to found Paysail in the fall of 2020! Paysail’s dream is to facilitate instant, global B2B invoicing and payments without fees. Liam quickly recruited his longtime friends CJ Box and Jacob Adolphe. Both CJ and Jacob were aware of the current ineffective solutions and had the technical expertise to help tackle the problem.
A friend of Liam’s recommended Celo Camp as a fantastic opportunity that would support Paysail’s work with Celo. We were still in the very early stages of building Paysail when we applied. Yet, we saw the immense value Celo Camp could provide to young founders like ourselves. To our surprise, we were accepted into Celo Camp after the application process and interview.
There were many significant parts of Celo Camp—from working alongside incredible and likeminded founders to insightful speaker series to invaluable product feedback. We bonded with the 16 other teams during candid conversations, product testing, and the Speaker Series. Everyone in the Camp was willing to offer insights and support. Additionally, the Growth Series provided a venue to further our education in essential topics like user-feedback, UX design, and product security. We often relied on the other teams, program directors, and our mentor, Yannick, to provide invaluable opinion on the many iterations of our early product. We also really appreciated the constant support and encouragement from the entire Celo Camp community.
Building on Celo provided Paysail with the necessary payment infrastructure for instant borderless transactions between businesses. We are excited to leverage the power of Celo as we build out Paysail’s invoicing solutions and begin serving merchants. Though this is only the beginning of what will hopefully be a long journey, we are so appreciative for the opportunity to participate in Celo Camp.
For more information on Paysail visit https://paysail.us/
Author: Liam Burke - Paysail, Founder
Comments