IAM325 – Accidental Entrepreneur Helps Level the Playing Field for the Financially Vulnerable

An engineer by training and entrepreneur by accident, Safwan is the Founder and CEO of PayActiv. After selling a previous company and committing to his golf game, Safwan pulled himself out of retirement to launch PayActiv and level the playing field for the financially vulnerable.

Safwan’s work connects the dots between math, economics, history, and music. His first book, It’s About TIME: How businesses can save the World (one worker at a Time), turns conventional wisdom on its head and calls for businesses to embrace the mantle of saving the world.

• CEO Hack: No single hack but spend 2-3 hours doing deep immersive work.
• CEO Nugget: Have no fear. If you have doubts, then you are not committed enough / Don't do 2 things at the same time.
• CEO Defined: Working for others.

Website: http://www.payactiv.com
Other Site: http://www.itsabouttime.io
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF01dG-ikug
It's About TIME: https://amzn.to/2J4x4U0

Full Interview

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Transcription

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INTRO 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Safwan Shah of PayActiv.

Safwan, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Safwan Shah 0:39

Thank you very much, Gresh. I'm excited to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:42

Super excited to have you on as well. What I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Safwan, so you'd hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. An engineer by training and an entrepreneur by accident. Safwan is the founder and CEO of PayActiv, after selling a previous company and committing to his golf game Safwan pulled himself out of retirement to launch PayActiv and level the playing field for the financially vulnerable.

Safwan's work connects the dots between math, economics, history, and music. His first book, it's about time how businesses can save the world, one worker at a time turns conventional wisdom on its head and calls for businesses to embrace the mantle of saving the world.

Safwan Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Safwan Shah 1:24

Yes, very ready.

Gresham Harkless 1:26

Let's do it. So they kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about your background in your CEO story. And what led you to start your businesses?

Safwan Shah 1:33

Yes, so I'm by training, as the bio said, and by training an engineer, and ended up in Silicon Valley after my PhD. And one thing led to another I just frankly, I didn't I couldn't get a job. So or a job that I liked to be more accurate. So I ended up like most people in Silicon Valley, Northern California, where people become entrepreneurs. And I started one company didn't get anywhere started another and another, and so on and so forth.

As you know, I had a very successful payments company. And after finishing that I thought I'd never work again. And I actually did that I was retired for two and a half years and discovered the mysteries of golf. Literally play 300 days a year, for a couple of years. And the usual thing trying to figure out, it's almost like you know, you lose your bearings, when most of the things you're taught, you're going to do like education and a better job a good job, you've done all that in a company and your worries are different.

And that's what led to PayActiv. So the foundation of PayActiv is introspection, and realizing the state of the human condition. And trying to answer the question that why is it that in the richest country of the world, we have a huge number of people living paycheck to paycheck, so PayActiv, was sort of created, operated, and grown to solve that problem.

Gresham Harkless 3:14

Nice, I definitely appreciate that. And you'd like us mentioned, it's funny how you know the world goes and how sometimes we have it planned out, we're gonna do abcde. And then sometimes the world takes you or the universe sometimes takes you in a different way. And, and I'd love to do that. And I don't know, if you find that out, especially here in Silicon Valley, I'm, you know, on the other side of the states, but I find that the engineering skill, the ability to be able to problem solve is kind of integral to being an entrepreneur and business owner. So even though you know that you transitioned, you know, from being an engineer to that it kind of seemed like it went seamlessly for you, maybe

Safwan Shah 3:52

Nothing goes seamlessly. Sometimes, you know, as you if you see a destination, like imagine that you're looking at a mountain in the distance, but you don't notice the ravine that is in the way when you get to the mountain, you don't notice the water, you don't notice all the other trouble that is in the middle. But you're so fascinated, you're so focused on that. It's never what you think it is. But if your purpose and your focus are laser-focused, then you find a way to navigate all the stuff that is thrown your way.

Gresham Harkless 4:32

Absolutely. And that definitely makes sense. If you're if your why and your purpose is as strong then you find a way to fix those problems and navigate all through that. So I know you've been able to do that with PayActiv and I know you have a very strong mission for there. So I want to hear a little bit more about that what you're doing and how you're serving the clients that you're working with.

Safwan Shah 4:51

Yes, so So PayActiv has a very well-defined purpose and that is to alleviate financial stress for the way we work, to alleviate financial stress for hardworking Americans with financial security, dignity, and no additional debt. So the underlying premise is that 2/3 of America is living paycheck to paycheck. Many of them are hourly workers, about 78 million. And they're borrowing between that paycheck period, the two-week period, or the one-week period. They're borrowing money from payday lenders and all kinds of other alternative financial services. And my whole thesis or underlying premise of PayActiv Is that why are they borrowing it when they already have some money earned every day?

So if you're under the seventh day of a 14 Day pay cycle, you have seven days of income that you've already earned, it's just not accessible to you, a in a manner of speaking, it has been loaned to the employer, the employer owes you that money. And in anticipation, you're getting hit by an overdraft or taking a payday loan, which costs you $35 each time. So my whole underlying thesis was that money should move faster between the worker and their employers, especially when they need it. There should be no embarrassment to ask Mr. or Mrs. Employer, I earned $300 Can I get 100 out of it. Because it's their money that is being held.

Gresham Harkless 6:26

Alright.

Safwan Shah 6:26

So that was the underlying premise of PayActiv, and we started it. And of course, in the first few years, it will be thought that it will never work. And I made a conscious decision to go into business. So it's a B2B thing. And I said to businesses, Hey, your employees needed. And I can provide you with the technology to accomplish it. And so my company funds that money. And then the employer reimburses us on payday.

So we assume the bi-weekly cycle and the lower income worker employee paycheck to paycheck person can get the $100-$200 when they need it, without having to do these little loans, and so on and so forth. So that's the business that's PayActiv, it activates your pay.

Gresham Harkless 7:18

Nice. I love that. I love how that definitely, you know, solves a problem because like you mentioned, you know, if the money's already kind of allocated or earmarked, maybe that might be a better word. within the company and organization, you're doing the work and you already know you're going to do the work to get there then enable to get that if you need it at a certain point is a lot better than going to potential alternative funds.

Safwan Shah 7:40

Gresham, this is not even an earmark, this is already earned.

Gresham Harkless 7:44

Okay. seven hours of catching, okay.

Safwan Shah 7:49

You're never giving money that is from the future. In fact, we are correcting this, it's already there in a timesheet, that Safwan has worked 37 hours this week. And if he's making $20 an hour, he's made whatever $700. That money is owed to Safwan by the employer. If he quits that moment, we'll get that money. So all I'm saying if they need it, let them access it. If there's any way

Gresham Harkless 8:22

That makes sense because you've already it's kind of putting a I don't wanna say a monkey wrench, but in the whole, like two weeks cycle, because as you said, you've already worked this seven hours or seven days of a week, then if you need it, then you can get it and I have access to it.

Safwan Shah 8:35

Yeah, I usually give this like the 32nd example, that we pay our landlords in advance. We pay our vendors upon delivery, or we have terms that you know, I'll give you 30 days later and 2% more, and our customers pay us the moment they get the service like you can't walk into a Starbucks, get a cup of coffee, and not pay them and say to them, Hey, I'll send you the money in two weeks. work that way. But the person who's serving you behind the counter will wait two weeks to get paid. And it hurts them sometimes. So it's a strange system, right?

Gresham Harkless 9:11

Yeah.

Safwan Shah 9:12

The one who needs it the most has to wait the longest.

Gresham Harkless 9:16

Absolutely, yeah. And I never even thought about it like this. So I appreciate you for not just, you know, thinking of that and seeing that kind of problem, but actually creating something for that in true entrepreneurial form. And I want to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce, and this could be for you, or it might be for your organization, you might have already touched on this. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Safwan Shah 9:37

So number one is the power of the idea. The fact that everybody thought that the employer was doing a favor to the employee, which they do in some sense because they give them a job. But the fact that employees are actually loaning money to the employer for two weeks, nobody had thought of that before. Because it's the legacy of kingdoms and generals and you know, you got paid when the war was won, or you, you paid your subjects when loyalty was needed by royalty.

So the secret sauce of doing this was to solve three different problems, which nobody had taught. One was how to figure out a way to work with businesses, where they have, you know, time in attendance systems, clock in, clock out all that stuff, where time is sitting, how many hours so and so it's worked. So finding a way to link to so many different types of systems and do it seamlessly.

Also talk to every payroll system, so that when the paycheck goes to the employee, it is reflected that, hey, this is your paycheck of $1,000, you've already taken 220, so that everything is compliant in the regulatory world, to build all this technology together, and to move money to employees in such a way that if on a Thursday night at 9 pm, the person has done the hours needs $100. How do you move that money to the person instantaneously. So it was pretty much like building a complete financial infrastructure.

Gresham Harkless 11:20

That makes perfect sense. And yes, I definitely liked that. There's this book called Opposable Mind where it says a lot of the great ideas come from not just one thing, but it's the ability to bring together two things and to solve multiple problems at the same time. So it definitely sounds like you guys are doing that, which I definitely appreciate. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I wanted to ask you about what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app or book or habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Safwan Shah 11:49

So to me, I see there is no single hack. For me, every day is better, you're gonna start a day I from start very early, like it's early in the morning, and I'm talking to you, I'm on the West Coast. I start very early in the morning, and spend at least two hours, if not two to three hours just working, like deep immersive work. And every evening, I switch off completely, and I only think. So, mornings are to do things and evenings are to think through things. So that it's like for me because you know, I'm in a purpose-driven business. So I'm I don't see my personal and professional in conflict ever, I do what I love. So that is my only hack to spend mornings focused and immersed in doing things, starting things.

Gresham Harkless 12:52

Exactly. That makes perfect sense. And now I want to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or if you can happen to a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Safwan Shah 13:03

I think the first thing my nugget is that have no fear. Fear only comes when you have doubts about what you're doing. And if you have doubts, then you're not yet committed enough.

Gresham Harkless 13:18

I truly appreciate that. And I know you touched on this a little bit as well, too. I wanted to ask you what being a CEO means to you. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote, CEOs on the show entrepreneurs, and business owners, but what does being a CEO mean to you?

Safwan Shah 13:31

For me, it is working for others. I see. You know, I'm a big, proponent and believer in servant leadership. I will never say that I have employees, I will also always say they're my colleagues. And so, never seeing anyone as an employee, but always seeing them as co-workers, partners, and team members as being a CEO means to me that I've just got a different responsibility. I have to absorb more pain than others. And I have to lead by example and lead from the front, which is fearlessness.

Gresham Harkless 14:09

Absolutely, yeah, if you want to see something, or some culture within your company, or organizations, and it's important for you to kind of leave from the front, as you said, and then understand that you know, you are working with others, and then you are that leader. So I appreciate that definition. And what I want to do is pass you the mic, so to speak Safwan, and see if there's anything additional, you can let our readers and listeners know and then of course, how best they can get a hold of you get a copy of your book and hear about all the awesome things that you're doing.

Safwan Shah 14:36

I rarely have good ideas to give advice with. But I believe in the power of entrepreneurship. And one thing that I would say to, I want everyone to kind of hear is that don't do two things at the same time, either commit. So those people because entrepreneurship is not easy. You're gonna have I said you're trying to, you know, handle resources that you don't necessarily control. The most important thing, in my opinion, is to do one thing and commit to it completely. So I'm on LinkedIn, I rarely tweet, but I'm safwanshah on Twitter. I'm on LinkedIn, of course, and my book is on Amazon. It's called, It’s About TIME.

So if you search for my name, Safwan Shah on Amazon, you'll find the book. It'd be great if you review it, and read it. It's kind of an intellectual autobiography of my school of hard knocks and observations and my view of the world other than that, I'm safwan@payactiv.com Send me an email, I love to talk to entrepreneurs love to hear their ideas and to my to the best of my ability to help and assist as much as I can.

Gresham Harkless 16:04

Nice Well, I definitely appreciate you appreciate your time appreciate all this. These nuggets and knowledge that you've provided. What we'll do is we'll have those links in the show notes as well. And I appreciate you again, I hope you have a great rest of the day.

Safwan Shah 16:16

Thank you, Gresham. Have a great day.

OUTRO 16:18

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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