Epoch! Chris Mallick Leaves?

[Nickatilynx]

Christopher Mallick has departed Paycom.net/Epoch, and is no longer its
CEO. Paycom will be managed by its founders - Clay Andrews, the
President and Joel Hall, the Manager and Chief Technology Officer -
along with Esther Martinez, who has been promoted to Chief Operating
Officer. Paycom has the most experienced team in the industry, and that
team will continue to run day to day operations.
************************************************** ****

Is this true.

[Phoenix]

that part is true ive spoken with Rand....the rumours of them losing their merchant bank are false.


change in management can be healthy for any company

[NickPapageorgio]

Companies in and around this biz change employees like I change socks. It's really a culture shock entering into this industry after being in another where employees stayed on through retirement. Something I am still getting used to. It adds a level of distrust into my mind by default I guess. I have started to learn though to get to know the person and not the company.

[gonzo]

Pres from Ibill gone too in the same week?

I smell shit stirring.

[TheEnforcer]

I think what shocks people is that Epoch has been a stable force in the third party billing area for a bit now and change makes people worry that it might affect stability. It's an overblown fear but it's still there for some.

[Nickatilynx]

From what I'm hearing Nick this action is in part to ensure the company's continued stability.

[*KK*]

Yes, this is true. Chris is no longer with the company, Clay and Joel are still there, and have been since day one.

The irony of the departure being announced a day after Cathy left IBill is interesting but totally unrelated.

[Almighty Colin]

Years ago, I had two VCRs break on the same day.

[wig]

Originally posted by *KK*@Feb 17 2005, 12:43 PM
Yes, this is true. Chris is no longer with the company, Clay and Joel are still there, and have been since day one.

The irony of the departure being announced a day after Cathy left IBill is interesting but totally unrelated.
As is the recent departure of the COO of CCBill and the President of Jettis. B)

[Nickatilynx]

Originally posted by *KK*@Feb 17 2005, 09:43 AM
Yes, this is true. Chris is no longer with the company, Clay and Joel are still there, and have been since day one.

The irony of the departure being announced a day after Cathy left IBill is interesting but totally unrelated.
OK...so reading between the lines...


Does that mean we can expect an announcement that Kathy has joined Epoch?

;-)

[pushpills]

edit: chris responds

http://www.oprano.com/msgboard/index.php?showtopic=16699

[Newton]

Paycom/Epoch is and always will be an amazing company and I wish them continued success. :okthumb:

[gonzo]

My bet is your going to see a new processor POP up.

[Dravyk]

Originally posted by wig+Feb 17 2005, 01:01 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (wig @ Feb 17 2005, 01:01 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-*KK*@Feb 17 2005, 12:43 PM
Yes, this is true. Chris is no longer with the company, Clay and Joel are still there, and have been since day one.

The irony of the departure being announced a day after Cathy left IBill is interesting but totally unrelated.
As is the recent departure of the COO of CCBill and the President of Jettis. B) [/b][/quote]
Coincidences happen in threes!

... Now who believes in coincidences? :)

[Biggy]

Originally posted by gonzo@Feb 17 2005, 10:19 AM
My bet is your going to see a new processor POP up.
I hope so.

That would be the best thing for this industry.

[TheEnforcer]

Originally posted by gonzo@Feb 17 2005, 01:19 PM
My bet is your going to see a new processor POP up.
Now that wouldn't surprise me in the least.

[*KK*]

Originally posted by wig+Feb 17 2005, 10:01 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (wig @ Feb 17 2005, 10:01 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-*KK*@Feb 17 2005, 12:43 PM
Yes, this is true. Chris is no longer with the company, Clay and Joel are still there, and have been since day one.

The irony of the departure being announced a day after Cathy left IBill is interesting but totally unrelated.
As is the recent departure of the COO of CCBill and the President of Jettis. B) [/b][/quote]
ROFL, his last day is tomorrow I think ;)

[Phoenix]

Originally posted by gonzo@Feb 17 2005, 10:19 AM
My bet is your going to see a new processor POP up.
im betting more then one

everyone has seen the opportunity for sometime

[KC]

Originally posted by Almighty Colin@Feb 17 2005, 12:44 PM
Years ago, I had two VCRs break on the same day.
Conspiracy! Was is the day the DVD player entered the market??

[Hell Puppy]

Originally posted by Phoenix+Feb 17 2005, 02:41 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Phoenix @ Feb 17 2005, 02:41 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-gonzo@Feb 17 2005, 10:19 AM
My bet is your going to see a new processor POP up.
im betting more then one

everyone has seen the opportunity for sometime [/b][/quote]
I dont see it happening anywhere under the juristiction of Visa USA.

Chris leaving Epoch not by Chris' choice does nothing to make me think Epoch is not on the ball. Clay or Joel leaving would bother me...

[Evil Chris]

Originally posted by gonzo@Feb 17 2005, 02:19 PM
My bet is your going to see a new processor POP up.
and then go POP again soon thereafter.

Who would move their processing? Certainly not me.

[Hell Puppy]

Originally posted by Evil Chris+Feb 18 2005, 09:41 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Evil Chris @ Feb 18 2005, 09:41 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-gonzo@Feb 17 2005, 02:19 PM
My bet is your going to see a new processor POP up.
and then go POP again soon thereafter.

Who would move their processing? Certainly not me. [/b][/quote]
Move processing? No.

Add more processing? Yeah.

If it looked solid, the more baskets for the eggs the better.

I fear a new processor would face the same issues most alternative billing mechanisms face though. They'd primarily get the rejects from the big two. So they get an unnatural portion of problms.

[*KK*]

For someone to successfully start a new processor, they'd have to be reputable, have big bank, have passed the IPSP process with the card associations, and be able to market.

Could it be done? Maybe. Will it be done successfully? No.

Jettis is a perfect example of this. I was working at CQ for Ken when he launched Jettis. At the time he didn't want to do third party, the only reason he did was because a few people bugged him to do it and it started out as a favor. But Jettis was late to the game (and remember this was '99), DMR had just gone under, Epoch was issuing promissory notes instead of checks, and the card associations had much, much looser rules about everything, and Ken Lawson had the respect of the entire industry.

Consequently as things got tougher, Jettis made the decision over the years not to aggressively court third party business or to offer some of the processing tricks (while perfectly within card association rules) that other processing companies allowed. The third party portion of their business never grew at a pace that would have given them the business that an IBill, CCBill or Paycom generated, and thus made it a much less important part of their business. Ken's never been accused of being stupid, especially when it comes to business, and selling that portion of his business to Paycom was a well thought out decision he made in order to focus on what makes money for Jettis with the least amount of headache and hassle.

There are no more Ken Lawson's in this business that will start processing companies. Sure, there are people that have worked for other companies who are attempting to process transactions, but with the current situation the way it is, both in rumors and actual card association policies, I don't see them creating a successful business solution as an IPSP. Most of them attempt, imo, to subvert the rules, do end runs around the banks, etc. And that's the kind of thing that sets such a business up for failure before it even gets its house in order to start running any kind of volume.

The thing I find most sickening about this business, as always, is that people just love to rumor monger and talk about impending doom. It's just like rain in California, people can't drive because the sky is falling.

Any processor, no matter how stable, exists at the whim of their acquiring bank. Whether it is your own merchant account (as we saw with the First Data wholesale dumping of adult accounts last year) or as an IPSP, your strength is only as good as your banks backing of your business.

My advice hasn't changed over the years. Diversify. Spread your rebills out among any and every method you can find that's somewhat trustworthy, and tailor your join pages to your surfers. Offer any form of regional billing solution to a non-US surfer that you possibly can. Offer check joins to US surfers as a primary method of payment. Yes, I understand the returns on checks are higher than the chargebacks and refunds on credit cards. But until the FDIC starts regulating checks in the same way that credit cards are regulated, there is never any worry that you'll lose your rebills. Get your own merchant account and spread some of the risk off to it, with your prime transactions. That's nothing different than banks or other lenders do -- they pass their best loan risks to certain backends with lower transaction fees and interest and the sub-primes are sent elsewhere and charged more interest because they are at a higher risk for default.

This isn't rocket science, it's a simple matter of risk analysis and doing what's best for your business for either a long term or short term strategy, depending on which way you think about your business.