Sadapay - Pakistan's First Free Debit Card & Mobile Wallet With No Fees

Introduce yourself and tell us about Sadapay?

My name is Brandon Timinsky and I’m the CEO & Founder of Sadapay. I’ve been a technology entrepreneur for 14 years across energy, big data, enterprise SaaS, marketing, and Fintech. After landing an acquisition for my last startup in the US, I became infatuated with the opportunity for financial technology to make a real impact in emerging markets. I first explored Mexico, then relocated to Asia to learn more about the markets on this side of the world.

I was introduced to Pakistan by an old friend from university in 2018 & was truly impressed by the macro conditions here. Conditions that have been hidden from entrepreneurs and investors around the world due to Pakistan’s unfortunate perception issue. The large unbanked population paired with thriving digital growth were some of the obvious indicators that fintech would thrive here.

What are your responsibilities as a business owner?

There are many responsibilities, I believe the most important is to spend most of their time being “salespeople.” It’s really important to foster the soft skill of being a master at sales. I say this because the CEO has to constantly sell not only their product or service to customers, but they also have to sell their vision to employees, business partners, and investors.

This ability to “sell” is critical for motivating the right people to join your mission. After all, business owners can only go so far if they are by themselves. It takes a team to really accomplish something special.

What sacrifices have you made to become an entrepreneur?

In the pursuit of success, all entrepreneurs end up making sacrifices. Common ones like losing out on a steady salary, working overtime 7 days a week, having less family time, and overall comfort. The media portrays entrepreneurship to be glorious, when in fact it can be absolutely grueling.

Personally, one of my biggest sacrifices beyond time, money, and energy, I’ve moved away from my family & closest friends to the other side of the world, to chase my mission to make a massive, lasting impact for hundreds of millions of people through technology. Thankfully, I can still be in touch with them nearly every day over video calls!

How are you marketing your business?

We haven’t done that much marketing yet for SadaPay, but the little that we’ve done has been extremely effective. I think there’s a lot of underpriced attention via performance marketing but in video form. Furthermore, I’m a strong believer in providing content over our blogs and social channels that provides real value for customers.

I believe quality video content that provides educational or entertainment value will be best for the long-term sustainability of building brand affinity. Building a strong brand will be our top priority, and it’s an investment that will continue to yield returns for many years to come.

What have been your most satisfying moments in business?

When a customer is so grateful for you that they defend your company when someone else says something negative. If we can build a brand that people fall in love with, I think that’s the best way to ensure the longevity of our organization.

Tell us about a time when you had to take a risk in your business?

In my last business, my co-founder and I self-funded the initial launch from our own savings. We failed to get traction with the original business model and had a hard time raising money from VCs. Together, we agreed to take the risk to continue to fund the business from the rest of our personal savings so that we could pivot our direction to try something different. We still needed more capital, so my partner and I started a separate e-commerce business as a “side-hustle,” which was able to generate some profits that we could use to fund our startup. Eventually, we ended up acquiring some Fortune 500 customers and later got acquired by our main competitor.

What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Entrepreneurs need to be relentlessly resourceful. You’ll encounter speed bumps & roadblocks on your journey to success. It takes persistence and resourcefulness to navigate around every obstacle. When you’re stuck and don’t know how to move forward, we must find a way.

We can learn new skills, bring in outside help, or sometimes we just need to think outside of the box. Whatever the challenge, we must figure out the solution.