EP135 – How MSPs Can Get Paid Faster with Tom Pope

Tom discusses Adfin as a "new, better GoCardless," arguing it offers stronger support, more competitive pricing, and a broader product: direct debits, cards (including Apple Pay/Google Pay), open banking, and bank transfers in one platform with integrated chasing and reconciliation via Xero. He says the market has lacked innovation for 15–20 years and positions Adfin's goal as getting businesses paid faster at lower cost through automation and AI-driven personalization (e.g., mandates and chasing from a user's own email domain). Adfin is UK-focused, accepts international card payments, and plans euro and USD bank transfers within six months. A key differentiator is an automated direct debit migration process that moves mandates from other providers in about five weeks without customer action beyond notification. The episode also covers VRP skepticism, configurable payment limits/rules, virtual accounts for automated bank transfer reconciliation, and optional surcharging for expensive business cards.

00:00 Are We The New GoCardless

00:42 Why Adfin Wins

02:03 Why Challenge The Incumbent

03:56 Startup Speed Vs Scale

05:16 Payments Platform Explained

05:58 International Payments Roadmap

07:07 Switching Without Risk

09:26 VRP And Open Banking Reality

13:14 MSP Workflow Examples In Xero

15:43 Chasing Emails And Payment Limits

17:47 High Value Bank Transfers