Meet The Disruptors: How Marwan Forzley of Veem Is Shaking Up The Online Payment Services Industry
We’re working hard to move the company towards globalization and obtaining a wider geographic footprint. Today we’re in 100+ countries, and we are looking to further develop into even more regions in the near term. We are also actively looking to expand our partner set of partners to work with.
As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Marwan Forzley the co-founder and CEO of Veem, a global payments network helping small businesses transfer money domestically and internationally. Veem is revolutionizing global business payments with innovative technologies like blockchain to help small businesses grow at home and abroad.
He is also the author of “Small Business in a Big World: A Comprehensive Guide to Doing International Business”, which teaches small businesses everything they need to know about taking their operations to the international level, from business culture to negotiation tactics.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
Absolutely — I have always been passionate about building companies through disruptive technologies and global strategies, and have deep experience in the fintech space. After founding and selling eBillme to Western Union, I became the GM of eCommerce and Strategic Partnerships with Western Union. I then went on to founding Veem, where I am fortunate enough to continue improving the business payments process and experience.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
I think there’s a number of disruptive elements that make Veem what is today. One is the user experience itself, which unlike traditional one-sided payment platforms, offers a unique experience for the payment sender and a unique experience for the payment receiver. Second, Veem has an integrated user experience, where our product seamlessly works with the tools that businesses use every day, such as Quickbooks, Magento and Xero. And third, Veem is bridging the gap when it comes to cross-border transactions, streamlining the entire system, which in itself is disruptive and has been a game changer for small businesses.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I was raising money for the company, during the early days of the company. There was a mix up in scheduled and ended up presenting the company in the wrong room to a very different investor set. Few minutes into the presentation the original presenter showed up and we quickly all realized that there is a mix up in schedules. Having said, one of the investors liked the presentation and we ended up exchanging contact info. Lesson learned — make the best of the situation you are dealing with :-)
Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
I am indebted to many great people have helped me through my career, but the one who stands out is an investors. He gave me advice that I still hold onto to this day. He said, when you start your own company, you don’t need to have every little thing figured out right away. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, so it’ll take time for all the pieces to come together. What you can do is embrace the journey by learning, adapting and transforming over time. That is something I still tell myself when I am feeling overwhelmed, and it helps put things into perspective. The progress you make over time is what moves the needle.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
There’s a lot of stories of industry disruptors who failed and went nowhere, but that doesn’t mean that the disruption was negative. There’s always going to be an opportunity in disruption. The benefit of disruption, whether it succeeds or fail, on a macro level, is to push the needle on these new innovations just by existing and testing them out. Take AI for example, although it is revolutionary, some of the results derived from it, like a decreased need for manual labor can be seen as a negative.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
Don’t do everything in the beginning. When I started my first company I was excited and wanted to see overnight success. From handling my business through the years, and being involved in multiple startups, I’ve learned that good things take time.
Always be persistent. This journey is like a marathon that requires a lot of patience and time. Sometimes, the plan doesn’t work how you intended it to work, which is why you need to be persistent and always aim to reach your goals.
No startup can make it without some hustle. Creating a successful startup is hard, which is why most people give up. That 1% of people that keep hustling are those that reach success.
Lead generation is one of the most important aspects of any business. Can you share some of the strategies you use to generate good, qualified leads?
My go-to strategies are a combination of partnerships, SEO, SEM…and most important customer bringing other customers to the platform.. At the end of the day, there isn’t one catch-all answer, but a combination of effective methods.
How are you going to shake things up next?
We’re working hard to move the company towards globalization and obtaining a wider geographic footprint. Today we’re in 100+ countries, and we are looking to further develop into even more regions in the near term. We are also actively looking to expand our partner set of partners to work with.
Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?
The Black Swan, by Nassim Nicholas Talen, has definitely impacted my way of thinking in work and in life. The book changed how I look at risk, and how to be more conscious of the risks in business as some risks can be worth taking and some are large events that can have significant impact on outcomes of the business and industry. Without risk, our lives would be at a standstill. The booked helped me launch my startup, since you need to be conscious of the events that could influence your success and change the business entirely.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
When running businesses and startups you worry about things that dont end up being that important in the long run. it is important that the events of the day — end up being just that.. temporary events that dont alter long term goals.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I’m sure that many are thinking the same, but given the landscape we are currently in, I would love to create a movement to cure all pandemics and viruses. I would also like to find a way for humanity to respect each other, their individual processes and unique ways of thinking. As I mentioned earlier, we each choose our own career path and it is through trial and error that we reach success. This is why we have to be patient with each other.
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