Guides

Most vertical software companies should take a rate on merchant volume without becoming a PayFac. The first pick is Connect-style platform payments (an application fee on someone else's license) or PayFac-as-a-service (you set price, they stay registered). Becoming the facilitator is a later ownership decision. This page is the decision tree, not a ranked list.

Embedded banking is how a software company puts accounts and money movement in the product without a charter. The first pick is middleware BaaS, the bank's own APIs, or treasury that only moves money. A sponsor bank still holds the deposits. You are not the bank. This page is the decision tree, not a ranked list.

Embedded lending is offering credit inside software the borrower already uses. The software company is usually not the lender. The first pick is SMB working capital (often MCA-shaped), a bank-originated business loan, or consumer installment at checkout. This page is the decision tree, not a ranked list.

The stack is the infrastructure a vertical software company embeds to take a rate: payments, banking, cards, lending, and the work around the money. It is not the industry software itself. Most teams start with payments. This page is the map. The pick guides are the decisions. How we pick is the rules.