The hidden costs of going global in payments with Rainforest’s Aaron Steinberg & Max Jewell

Expanding payments beyond borders sounds like the next logical step after you’ve scaled in the US market. But for most vertical SaaS platforms, it's more complicated. And way more costly than it actually appears.

The unit economics that make embedded payments so powerful in the US don't automatically transfer to international markets. Interchange structures are different. Banking infrastructure varies by country. And the "easy button" of a single global processor often comes with hidden trade-offs that can slow down your primary market just when it's gaining momentum.

In this episode, Aaron Steinberg, VP Revenue and Max Jewell, Director of Platform Success joined host Brooke Smith – all from Rainforest to break down what vertical SaaS platforms actually need to know before expanding payments internationally.

They discussed:

• What payments expansion means for your take rate and revenue expectations 
• How the unit economics of embedded payments in the US don't transfer to international markets 
• The hidden costs of choosing a global processor that doesn't match your US model
• Why the hybrid approach of optimizing your primary market first and using a low-effort, referral-based solution is the right move for most platforms
• How to size the global opportunity, watch the data, and only invest heavily in markets where the numbers actually support it

‍

‍