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Spotlighting companies that promote
innovation in the payments industry
No Guts, No Glory:

Acing Your Hockey

Stick Journey

T • Phase 1: Tinkering: This stage takes founders from initial discovery and experimentation to commitment and

he payments industry rewards those who successfully navigate each critical phase of growth, described by
Principles,” as follows:
Bobby Martin in his bestselling book, “The Hockey Stick

willingness to take risks. As Wayne Gretzky said, “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
• Phase 2: The Blade Years: This stage, which can last as long as 3 or 4 years, is when founders commit full-time
to the venture, despite low or break-even revenue performance.
• Phase 3: The Growth/Inflection Phase: This stage occurs when a perfected business model begins to drive up
revenue. Scaling up quickly can place additional pressure on the business.
• Phase 4: Surging Growth: This is the stage features accelerated growth and complexities associated with

Custom pages on our high-tra c website showcasing
leading and managing an enterprise. To stay agile, a rapidly growing company must set goals and make
major branding decisions. Will it become a corporate enterprise with a large footprint or stay lean with a
your company’s unique message
smaller employee base?
While every founder’s journey is unique in some ways, Martin said these principles are universal. He encouraged business
owners to embrace change and keep an open mind. “You may discover a whole different way to make or deliver the
• Your own, customized News from the Wire that highlights
product than you’ve expected; you may come to the conclusion that you need a partner; or you may even come up with
a whole different idea that you think is better to pursue,” he wrote. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Payment professionals
stories about your company
and enterprises constantly pivot in response to emerging tech, consolidation, and everchanging consumer behavior and
regulatory trends.
• Featured content: updated monthly, either by your in-house
Blazing Trails
writers or by one of ours
Nick Cucci, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Fluid Pay Inc., traced his own payments journey to the early 2000s,
when he began his career at a domain registrar called ItsYourDomain.com. “I was young in high school and surrounded
• Custom infographics and videos
by amazing mentors that really helped me shape great habits very young,” he said, recalling the great advice he received
from his father, Ted Cucci, and Jim McKenzie, the original founders of ItsYourDomain.com and Network Merchants, Inc.

• Premier content placement in each issue of e Green Sheet
(NMI). “They told me to Build the Machine; DO NOT be the Machine,” he said. “It took until my late 20s to realize what
that meant, that time is your greatest asset, the one thing you can’t get back. As I get older, especially now that I have a
• And so much more...
family, I realize how valuable my time is and why I never want to be the machine; I want to build it!”
Building the Machine
Sometimes the best way to predict the future is to understand where we’re from and how we got here. This series will
explore key lessons learned from the tinkering years and how payment pros can overcome barriers and surpass inflection
points to achieve their goals. As you reflect on your personal career journey, which phase most closely describes your
current position on the ice, your tolerance for risk, and how fast you’re growing? As you look ahead to the future, where
do you see the hockey puck going? Rick@greensheet.com
About Fluid Pay

Fluid Pay has built a secure Level 1 PCI Compliant cloud-based payment gateway to process transactions anywhere in
707-284-1693
the world, from a variety of devices. Working with ISOs, VARs, MSPs, and developers of all applications, our solution is
maintained 24/7/365, enabling our partners and their merchants to run their businesses from a single, processor-agnostic
platform. You can contact us at https://www.fluidpay.com/

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