Commerce Conversations

The New Era of Embedded Payments, with Brandon Lloyd

Episode Summary

At the first-ever Fintech NerdCon in Miami, Dan Rosen sits down with Brandon Lloyd, founder and CEO of Forward, for a candid conversation about the past, present, and future of embedded payments. Brandon shares how a “side problem” in an early software company turned into a 20-year journey building payments-powered businesses, including a prior exit to Fiserv, and why those scars led him to start Forward to better serve vertical software companies. They break down the three eras of payments (banks and processors, e-commerce, and now embedded software), why most SaaS platforms are still capturing less than 20% of their payments potential, and how Forward helps founders turn payments from a bolt-on feature into a major revenue line. Brandon also explains why he’s bullish on AI for risk, operations, and settlement, but skeptical about near-term “true” agentic commerce, before sketching his vision for continuous, 365-day settlement without relying on credit facilities. Along the way, he shares lessons from live-event outages, raising four kids while scaling a hypergrowth company, and what it really takes to persevere through the hardest days as a founder.

Episode Notes

In this episode, Dan and Brandon cover:

• Brandon’s founder journey: from building software in college to multiple exits and now leading Forward
• The pain points of legacy acquiring and why funds-held and outdated tech nearly cost him a business
• The three 20-year “eras” of payments and why embedded software is just getting started
• Why most vertical SaaS companies vastly under-monetize payments, and how to move from ~20% attach to 50–70%
• How Forward pairs modern infrastructure with hands-on program design instead of a DIY “here are the APIs” approach
• Forward’s growth (800%+ this year) and what makes their integration experience so fast for CTOs
• A nuanced take on AI: where it’s already transforming risk, operations, and interchange optimization
• Why Brandon is skeptical that true agentic commerce (autonomous agents completing purchases) will reach scale soon
• The vision for continuous, 365-day settlement without leaning on expensive credit or warehouse lines
• Leadership, family, and sports: what Brandon learned from his Military-officer dad, college basketball, and parenting four kids
• Real-world founder advice on surviving outages, hard days, and the long grind of company building