Insights

The Lab

Independent thinking on embedded payments, model selection, and the margin hiding in your platform.

March 2026
ISV Referral vs. PayFac Lite: How to Choose the Right Embedded Payments Model
The two most common paths for vertical SaaS platforms — and how to know which one matches your stage, volume, and risk tolerance.
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March 2026
What Embedded Payments Actually Costs to Implement
A clear-eyed breakdown of implementation cost across all four models — before you commit to a vendor or a path.
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March 2026
Why Merchants Don't Use Embedded Payments (And What to Do About It)
Activation is where payments programs fail. Here's why — and what the platforms that get it right do differently.
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March 2026
How to Read a Payments P&L
What the numbers actually mean, where the margin comes from, and how to know if your payments program is performing.
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March 2026
The Margin Multiplier: How We Model Payments Revenue for SaaS Platforms
A walkthrough of the framework behind the Margin Multiplier — the four models, the inputs that matter, and how to interpret the output.
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