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Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech’s most innovative B2B founders. In today’s episode, we’re speaking with Stephany Kirkpatrick, CEO and Founder of Orum, an API integration platform for instant payouts that aims to solve the “time to money” problem and empower a better financial system. The company has raised over $85 million in funding to date.
Key topics discussed in this episode:
While there is increased intent to fund female-founded startups, Stephany believes that the lack of women in tech entrepreneurship stems from a deeper supply problem. To create generational change, we need to invest in exposing girls to STEM, computer science, and technology from an early age, enabling them to become future founders and leaders.
In the payments space, having a minimum viable product (MVP) is not enough. Customers need to experience a fully functioning solution before they are willing to switch providers. Focus on building a complete offering that demonstrates your unique value proposition and differentiates you from competitors.
Coming from a consumer background, Stephany had to learn and iterate on her approach to B2B sales and marketing. From creating compelling demos that showcase the customer experience to structuring flexible pricing models, founders need to continuously adapt to the needs of their target market.
While Orum currently sits at the intersection of payments infrastructure and financial services infrastructure, the company's long-term vision is to enable entirely new categories of innovation by rewriting the underlying infrastructure layer. By solving fundamental constraints, they aim to empower their clients to build groundbreaking products and services.
Orum's ultimate goal is to power a better financial system where everyone has the freedom to build to their potential. By providing the scaffolding for a new financial infrastructure, they seek to inspire new habits and possibilities, embolden their partners and users, and create a more inclusive framework for financial services.
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