I’m immensely proud of this achievement and of the team at Payment Source who’ve made it happen.
Canada’s Best Managed Companies is Canada’s leading business awards program, recognizing excellence in private Canadian-owned companies. Each year, hundreds of entrepreneurial companies undergo a rigorous application process, but only the best are awarded with this prestigious designation.
To be completely honest, we underestimated the application process and the level of effort required for this award. We were confident that Payment Source was well positioned with tight procedures, audited financials and a great company culture. The business was performing well and we had big plans that we were on track to achieve. What’s more, we knew that Payment Source had the fintech sizzle to go with the more conventional fundamentals of revenue and profit. How difficult could it be? Complete the application… win the award.
But the ask was a lot more than we expected. The application consisted of a long list of incisive questions that required us to examine every aspect of the company. It made us stop, reflect, and articulate on things that in the blur of day-to-day activities are perhaps taken for granted. And when all was said and done…the process itself realized as much ‘reward’ as the ‘Best Managed’ designation.
To give you a better idea of what I mean, here are just a few of the insights generated along the way:
- Our business isn’t easy to explain. That’s a funny thing to admit. After all, my partner, George DeMarchi and I both bet the proverbial farm when we started this business. How could it be that four years later we were struggling to concisely define what we do? But that is our reality. And I suspect we’re not so unusual in this regard. Sometimes you need someone to ask the right questions before you know the answers yourself.
- When you say the word ‘pivot’ in a business context, people think of an immediate right hand turn. But our ten year pivot from a prepaid telecom distributor to an alternative payments provider defies that notion. We are the product of innumerable pivots, both small and large that collectively have transformed the company.
- Contrary to what you might assume about a company that underwent a decade long ‘pivot’, we highly value speed. We rely heavily on our nimbleness and ability to react to rapidly changing business conditions. We have long term objectives, but rarely forecast beyond 12 months out. In fact, most of our planning has been focused on six month cycles. That’s so different from the traditional strategic planning approach but it’s a pace that has differentiated us and been a key driver of our success.
- Not everyone thinks about in-person transactions, cash payments and Canada’s underbanked the way we do. We were surprised at the extent to which we had to explain and defend our views. It isn’t intuitive to educated professionals that there is a financial divide in Canada and a material portion of the population does not want or is not able to perform their transactions online. Our products and services are a choice and a convenience for some, but are a necessity for others.
Perhaps intuitively we already knew these things. But putting pen to paper forced us to distill these ideas down. And that’s given us clarity and a renewed sense of purpose.
George and I, as partners in the business, are grateful to all the smart and dedicated employees who have made Payment Source into the excellent company that it is. Being awarded Canada’s Best Managed is a major milestone and fantastic recognition for us as a team. But beyond the recognition, I think the process has made us stronger. So watch this space – we’re going to make our mark and have much more to achieve.