Specialist
Former executive at Plastiq
Agenda
- Operating environment for Plastiq and broader B2B payments trends
- Stress testing demand environment for Plastiq’s card and AR/AP (accounts receivable/accounts payable) automation solutions, noting opportunities in cross-border payments
- Competitive positioning of Plastiq against B2B payments competitors, legacy peers and smaller, emerging players
- 3-5-year performance outlook and scenario analysis based on product strategy execution and the broader macroeconomic climate
Questions
1.
What are your thoughts on Plastiq’s operating environment, highlighting 2-3 key trends or drivers you feel we should be monitoring?
2.
What has Plastiq’s transition from a single-product consumer company to a multi-product B2B payments platform meant in practice? What monetisation opportunities does that open for the company?
3.
What are the challenges to driving the network effect you’re describing? I understand the initial adoption of these digital capabilities and credit card acceptance on the B2B payments side and how that trajectory was over the past few years. What might adoption be over the next 3-5 years, and would adoption be more challenged?
4.
What are the building blocks to addressing Plastiq’s challenges to network adoption? Where might we see the most challenges to adoption, either in terms of size segments such as SMBs to enterprise-level customers or in certain industry verticals such as manufacturing or more on the retail or e-commerce side?
5.
How are the economics of owning the AR/AP [accounts receivable/accounts payable] loop different from being focused on one or the other, because a number of players are dedicated to one side or the other? How does owning both sides of that transaction benefit Plastiq in terms of the economic profile of an individual merchant account?
6.
How does the difference between facilitating transactions from either a credit card, ACH [automated clearing house] or push payment network change the economics in terms of profit sharing for Plastiq?
7.
What is Plastiq’s strategy for finding that perfect balance between scaling up new customers through higher interchange and revenue modalities – such as the card payments – and then, once they reach a certain scale, shifting over and incentivising more on the ACH side to drive engagement?
8.
Could you discuss the B2B BNPL [buy now, pay later] trend that you’re seeing and the risks associated with exploring that market further from Plastiq’s perspective?
9.
Why would a partnership structure limit the upside opportunities for Plastiq? Could you elaborate on the limitations of using credit card as that primary vector for addressing cash flow management?
10.
What are the challenges and opportunities as it relates to cross-border and Forex payments in B2B payment flows?
11.
Could the BNPL structured be layered into the cross-border capabilities? Does that combination actually make sense in reality?
12.
How should we be think about competition for Plastiq, given legacy players and large even card networks are going into the B2B payment space, alongside smaller businesses with highly dedicated and focused capabilities? Does having that breadth of services give the company such a competitive edge that it can meaningfully compete against these different business groups?
13.
When might customers reach the inflection point where they begin comparing Plastiq’s offerings vs other players? How might that be different across that spectrum of businesses size segments, given the company’s focus on upper mid-market and lower enterprise space?
14.
What do you make of Plastiq’s proposed SPAC IPO? How do you think it will affect the company’s position as well as performance going forward?
15.
Do you think the gross margin at 20% Plastiq is targeting in 2023 is sustainable beyond that period, or is there any room for expansion? Do you feel it might come down as the company enters more of a maturity phase?
16.
Is there anything additional you’d like to highlight regarding Plastiq?
