Vertical SaaS that handles a customer's payments — taking deposits, paying suppliers, processing invoices — unlocks economics that software fees alone can't match, and deepens the lock-in dramatically.

The embedded-payments play

  • Find the money flow in the workflow. Where does cash move in your customer's process? That flow can run through your software.
  • Take a slice of the transaction. Payment economics often dwarf subscription revenue, and they scale with the customer's success.
  • Increase the stickiness. Software a business merely uses can be swapped; software their money flows through is deeply entrenched.
  • Handle the responsibility. Money movement raises the bar on reliability and compliance — earn it before you ship it.

Bottom line: route the customer's money through your software to add a transaction revenue stream and lock-in that subscriptions alone can't buy.