Young Entrepreneur Blog

Today we are going to interview Jarad Isaacman who was recently featured as one of America’s leading young entrepreneurs.

This is an exclusive interview that you will not find anywhere else online.

Profile: Jared Isaacman put together the plan for United Bank Card, a nationwide transaction processing company, alone in his parents’ basement. The idea, he says, was not really unique. He simply noticed—he was working in IT for a credit-card company at the time—that the big financial institutions ignored the processing end of the credit-card business and focused more on issuing the cards to consumers.

The industry was using outdated hardware, and transaction processing and setup times for new business customers were slow. Once he realized he was onto something big, Isaacman recruited close friends and family, who worked 100-hour weeks to build the framework for the company. Instead of thinking about locating venture capital, Isaacman says he took the $10,000 in stocks his grandfather had given as far as he possibly could.

That was in 1999. In 2005, the company did $56 million in business and Isaacman says he expects 2006 to be similar. This year, United Bank Card processed more than $5.5 billion in credit-card volume for over 60,000 unique businesses across the country.

Exclusive Interview

1 – What inspired you to create United Bank Card? First its really important to realize that United Bank Card is not a “dot com” company. We are very much a brick and mortar financial services company. Our focus is anything but e-commerce or internet. United Bank Card is a registered transaction processor with Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover.

Our business is to electronically process credit card transactions for merchants around the country. When it comes to credit cards there are two parties to the equation - the “issuers” - who are big names like Bank of America, Chase, MBNA, Capital One, etc. Their purpose is to get as many credit cards in your wallet as possible. The other half to the equation is the “acquirers” the companies that process those credit card transactions on behalf of Bank of America, Chase, MBNA, etc. That is where United Bank Card fits in. As an example if a consumer went to an electronics store and wanted to buy a Television set for $500 with their Capital One credit card. United Bank Card would essentially authorize the credit card transaction and electronically move the $500 from Capital One to the electronics store. The vast majority of our customers are traditional retail businesses, restaurants, supermarkets, home based merchants and some e-commerce websites. United Bank Card currently handles the credit card transactions for over 75,000 businesses across the country who process in excess of 6.5 billion dollars a year.

I started United Bank Card based on the tremendous opportunity I saw in the payment processing industry. It was not long after I got my first job in this business that I discovered all the inadequacies that existed in the industry. All of the money, resources, technology and innovation was being directed to the card issuers. The payment processing side of the equation, which is equally important to the entire concept of a “credit card”, was completely neglected. I saw plenty of opportunity to reinvent the industry through new technology, more efficient procedures, eliminating out-sourcing that was lowering the quality of service of the competition and increasing the compensation package of the industries sales force. With those objectives in mind - United Bank Card was incorporated.

2 – What were the main challenges you faced in getting www.unitedbankcard.com off the ground? I believe one of my biggest challenges was my age. When I started United Bank Card I was only 16 years old. It was relatively difficult to start a major financial services company when I was not even old enough to drive.

3 – What single factor would you say helped you the most in getting www.unitedbankcard.com where it is today? I believe United Bank Card had the right product, the right service, the right technology and the right management team at the right time. I believe we were very fortunate to be able to execute our vision of the perfect payment processing company during the time our industry needed it the most.

4 – Did you want to be an entrepreneur when you were a child? I actually wanted to be a doctor. I spent a lot of time volunteering at a hospital and reading medical books at a young age. The payment processing industry and its opportunity was discovered at a critical time in my life.

5 – If you could go back in a time machine to the time when you were just getting started. What business related advice would you give yourself? “Get prepared Jared, because this company is going to grow faster than you could ever possibly imagine”. There were many times in our companies history that we experienced growing pains. I think that comes with the territory for any fast growing business, but it can be frustrating at times. We have learned tremendously from our past growth and have been in a much better position to manage it.

6 - Do you think that entrepreneurialism is something that is in your blood? Or is it something that can be learned? I think a lot of people have great business ideas but few are prepared or have the focus to execute on them properly. Being an entrepreneur is about making sacrifices, making difficult decisions and seeing the answers to what appears to be impossible obstacles in order to ensure the success of your business. A lot of these qualities I believe you are either born with or not, but seldom learned.

7 - Is there anyone that you look up to and model yourself on? I have been very fortunate to have two mentors in my life. My father and the owner of one of my competitors who both have been instrumental in guiding me through life and business.

8 – What is the best advice you have ever been given? Business owners have a habit of diversifying unnecessarily from core competencies, jumping at exciting opportunities and spending more than your company profits. With that understood - I was told very early on to stay focused and “stick to what makes you money”.

9 – What is the best thing about being a successful young entrepreneur? I think there is a great sense of accomplishment to reflect back on the beginning - where the company started, where it has been, what it is today and where its going. It is a feeling few get to experience on such a scale and I am thankful for it each day.

10 – What are your plans for the future? United Bank Card is growing at a phenomenal rate organically. I plan to continue executing on United Bank Card’s strategic objectives and ensuring the companies ongoing success for many years to come. In the little spare time I have, I plan to continue my passion for aviation. I am a private pilot and am looking forward to flying on a few adventures and possibly purchasing some ex-military fighter planes.