After Nearly 25 Years in Business, This Company Keeps Innovating Founder Michael Nardy has spent the last quarter century growing Electronic Payments into an industry powerhouse.

Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, it's no surprise that Michael Nardy caught the entrepreneurial bug early on. Back in 2000, while still a college student in Boston, he founded Electronic Payments. His mission was to help small- and mid-size businesses succeed and grow through new payment technologies.

Today, as Electronic Payments approaches its 25th anniversary, the company has grown to a team of more than 200 and become a leader in payment technologies spanning mobile payments, online billing solutions, tokenization, e-commerce and traditional point of sale (POS) solutions.

Finding inspiration in unexpected places.

Nardy wasn't always set on a career in tech. As an English and history major, his academic interests naturally leaned toward the humanities. However, his curiosity about computers and the burgeoning internet in the late 1990s led him down a different path. "When I was a freshman in college, PayPal and eBay had started up and were becoming big names. And this got me thinking: I wasn't a computer science major, but I could read books, so I could teach myself a thing or two," Nardy recalls. "It was a very wild, wild west type of environment, even though the big money was starting to get into the internet."

He began building websites and eventually ventured into creating an auction software similar to eBay. This foray into e-commerce introduced him to the world of online payment processing—a complex but fascinating aspect of the digital marketplace.

As Nardy worked on what he then assumed was a side job, he was preparing to take over the family pest control business. "Our family started this business in the 1950s, and as I was finishing college, I was preparing to bring my entrepreneurial skills to the family company," he says. His father had other plans.

"I was working for the family business and running this payments gig at the same time, so I was serving two masters," Nardy says. But his father encouraged him to find something he was more passionate about than pest control. When looking back, his father jokingly reminds Nardy that he was the one who "told him to go national with the company." So, Nardy continued to work on his startup and began to scale operations from a one-man team to something much larger and now boasts an international presence as the 97th largest transaction processor in the world.

Starting small and building a better model.

Nardy's initial experience with payment processing involved reselling services from established banks. He recognized the limitations of this model, particularly the burden placed on small businesses that were applying for accounts. This experience fuelled his desire to create a more accessible and supportive platform in Electronic Payments.

While working as a reseller, Nardy also observed a concerning trend—companies prioritizing themselves over their sales agents. He envisioned a different approach, one that empowered and supported the salespeople. He eliminated minimums, quotas, and anxieties around income stability. Nardy's sales program offered agents:

• Ownership and control. They weren't beholden to quotas or the fear of losing income.
• Financial stability. They were paid reliably on the 15th of every month.
• A strong support system. Nardy built a dedicated team to assist the sales agents.
• Free tools. They received business cards, websites, and email access to streamline their work totally free of charge.

This unique model, centered on sales agent empowerment, proved successful. Ultimately, he was building a business on strong relationships, not bureaucracy. And this empowerment became a core differentiator for the company. Electronic Payments eventually attracted a growing network of salespeople, leading to a significant increase in revenue year after year.

Nardy's company also grew steadily without relying on outside investors. He calls it a "prudent use of capital," reinvesting profits into developing new products and services. This self-funded approach allowed Nardy to maintain control and build a company fully based on his vision and values. "We had this amazing flywheel effect where our re-investments into the company led to more products, more people, and more merchants, and the cycle would continue," he says.

Promising startup to industry leader.

From its humble beginnings in Nardy's dorm room, Electronic Payments has grown into a leader in its industry. The company is the 25^th largest U.S. acquirer and processes tens of billions of dollars annually.

They also recently launched Cygma®, a next-generation payment platform that's designed to streamline operations for small- and mid-size businesses. Built internally, Cygma integrates payment processing, same-day funds availability, POS systems, and various business tools such as Interchange optimization, into a single, cohesive system to help businesses enhance efficiency and profitability. The payments landscape is constantly evolving and Nardy sees a bright future for his company. With Cygma as the foundation, he says they are well-positioned to develop cutting-edge solutions that meet the ever-changing needs of businesses and consumers.

Click here to learn more about Electronic Payments and the innovative solutions it offers.