SnapCheck’s mission is to eliminate paper checks and empower businesses to adopt digital payments. This unique open-ecosystem platform, founded in 2015 was created so that any business could pay any vendor, supplier, contractor or employee, anywhere with the familiar form of a check, but without all the problems inherent in the paper thus reducing the cost to the business by 70% and the risks of fraudulent activity by 90% over any current payment method.

The History

On what inspired him to start SnapCheck, Ken Kruszka, CEO & Founder of the company noted that SnapCheck was born of a pain that he himself had as a small business owner trying to easily pay his bills and invoices, and feeling disheartened at the pervasiveness of paper checks. Ken noted that he ended up blocking four days a month just to pay payroll, and it was this pain that spurred the idea of creating the ‘paper check killer’. “Businesses do not have options that are quick and easy and painless. SnapCheck brings that same convenience of a service like Venmo to the business world, giving them an easy way to transact without having to overhaul their back-office processes. From these humble beginnings, we created a way to make any-to-any payments that are democratic and instantaneous as well as a fully functional business suite with APIs to customize to each business’s unique needs” he added.

Challenges Galore

Noting that over two-thirds of business payments are still being conducted by paper check, Ken added, “In this golden age of fintech, businesses are still using the oldest payment method known to man. That’s why we have developed the paper check killer. He added that the dependency on legacy technology, processes, and methods remains the key challenge in the fintech world.

Solving Fintech Companies’ Issues

Ken observed that repeatedly companies are developing technology without fully understanding the problem. “In most cases, the problem isn’t a technology problem at its heart but is really a people problem. Users are uncomfortable with change and generally scared and confused by technical jargon. So, when companies develop and try to market a highly technical solution, they need to understand the hopes, dreams, fears, and goals of their users better.”

Fintech Companies – The Lifeline

Expressing his passion for his work, this zealous entrepreneur added, “I simply love fintech. I love that it’s a hard industry to work in. There’s heavy regulation. There are major incumbents. There are legacy technology issues. But, fintech and money are the lifeblood of our economy, our businesses, our families, and our entire society. So, it’s worth battling through all the challenges to improve this industry because by doing so, we can uplift everyone in the world.”

Most Memorable Moments of Success

One of the greatest achievements has been creating the first mobile remittance service in the US, which involved person-to-person cross border money transfer. Reminisced Ken Kruszka how he was demonstrating the company’s ability to send money anywhere in the world by being the first company to send $1 fully around the world by mobile. “But we faced a situation in Costa Rica, where the entire country’s national cellular network was down. But this was our one and only chance.  We had all the key stakeholders in the country in one room.  So, we went for it…We dialed up the SMS command to initiate a transfer, hit the ‘send’ button on the phone, and to everyone’s surprise in 2 seconds we got that familiar ‘ding’ that the money had arrived at our other phone.  We never told them how we pulled it off,” he said with a sense of pride.

A Piece of advice

An accomplished entrepreneur himself, Ken also advises early-stage companies looking to establish product-market fit and accelerate growth on a global scale. “I believe the best advice is to stay grounded. Know who you are, know your customers, know their problems and then go for it without fear, because fear will only hold you back from doing great things” Ken signed off.