A vertical SaaS platform moved from referral to PayFac economics · Midcore Operations
Midcore Operations
Payments & Fintech Advisory

A vertical SaaS platform moved from referral to PayFac economics

A platform earning a thin referral share on customer processing wanted the margin that sat with its processor, without the registration, capital, and compliance headcount a full PayFac requires.

Field-services SaaS platform
Client type
About 5 months to first boarding
Duration
Consulting project, then fixed-price build
Engagement model
3
Services used

01 The challenge

  • A legacy referral agreement paid a fraction of the processing economics and gave the platform no control over onboarding.
  • Sub-merchant approvals ran through the processor's queue, so the platform could not promise its customers a timeline.
  • The board was asking for a payments attach rate the team could not calculate.

02 What we did

  1. 01 · Assess

    We modelled the existing referral revenue against ISO, PayFac-as-a-Service, and full registration over five years, using the platform's own volume and merchant mix.

  2. 02 · Match

    Four PFaaS providers were shortlisted on vertical acceptance, risk appetite, and API quality, then reduced to two after technical review and reference checks.

  3. 03 · Structure

    We reviewed revenue share, reserves, liability, termination, and data ownership before signature, and modelled the economics side by side.

  4. 04 · Build

    Our engineering practice built the branded onboarding flow and sub-merchant portal on the partner's APIs.

  5. 05 · Launch

    Go-live checklist, first sub-merchant boarded, then a handoff to the platform's own team with runbooks.

03 What changed

  • Onboarding moved in-house, so the platform could quote its own approval timelines.
  • The economics moved from a referral share to PayFac-style margin on the same volume.
  • The board got a payments model the finance team maintains itself.
The recommendation followed the numbers, not what anyone was selling. That is why we trusted the rest of it.
VP Product, Field-services SaaS platform
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Every engagement starts with an Assess

A 30-minute call, then a written read of one to three pages: what is happening, what it costs or risks, and which services fit, and which do not.

  • No obligation, and no rate card pitch
  • A US-based practice lead, not a salesperson
  • Anything you share is handled under NDA
  1. 01Within 1 business dayA US-based practice lead replies and books the call.
  2. 02On the call30 minutes on the model, the volume, and the constraints.
  3. 03After the callA written read of one to three pages, yours to keep.
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Every engagement opens with an Assess: a written read of what is happening, what it costs, and what to do about it. It is quoted on its own and you can stop after it.

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