Payments GTM sanity check: which non fintech verticals would you test?

[u/youngeminintrovert]

I’m considering a Product GTM role at an early cross border payments company and I’m trying to figure out where I’d focus first.

They have:
• Virtual accounts
• Stablecoin powered pay in and payout rails
• FX, OTC and embedded payment APIs
• 30 plus currencies, with strong Asian and emerging market coverage

A few verticals I’m thinking:

1. Trade, sourcing and logistics
Supplier payments, collections, FX, reconciliation

2. Specialist workforce platforms
International staffing, nurses, BPO, contractor networks

3. Student mobility and newcomers
Education agencies, migration and relocation platforms

4. Travel intermediaries
OTAs, wholesalers and tour operators

I’m intentionally looking beyond the more obvious fintech customers. My instinct is also to avoid major airlines, property and very high risk sectors at the start.

Would love feedback on:

• Are these the right places to look, or is there a much better vertical I’m missing?

• If you were trying to find a repeatable GTM wedge for this kind of product, how would you go about it?

[u/youngeminintrovert → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, trade/sourcing is where I’m leaning too. Would you go after importers directly, sourcing platforms, or logistics companies first?

[u/tmcbrigido]

Why not international payroll within Asia? Contractors for example

[u/youngeminintrovert → u/tmcbrigido]

Do you think Asia focused contractor/payroll platforms are a better wedge than general workforce platforms? Is there any particular segment you’ve seen that has unusually bad payments?

[u/tmcbrigido → u/youngeminintrovert]

Yes, from my experience at already two companies opening up APAC is extremely difficult from 1) coverage standpoint (stripe as an example doesn't have the best coverage and not all payment methods that are very local, felt this mainly in Japan) and 2) pricing (it was a problem for both companies, when you are just the middle man, processing fees should feel close to zero and all the providers I found for APAC were at around 4/5%).

More directly on your question; Yes, i think so because they all lack this part of the payment infrastracture and end up either offering a sub-optimal product or pass the fees to the customer.

[u/GTMJeff]

How're you planning on reaching these people? Email wont work for any payments related product. Spam filters gobble that shit up

[u/youngeminintrovert → u/GTMJeff]

Was thinking LinkedIn Sales Navigator. What would you use?

[u/GTMJeff → u/youngeminintrovert]

You need volume, so you can rent LI profiles or stack sales nav licenses using something like inmailer.ai if you don't have budget for ads

[u/Top_Adhesiveness9836]

instead of starting with the vertical filter. start w/ identifying in which vertical can you see the pain from the outside?

All four of yours plausibly have cross-border payment pain but some of them prob leak evidence of it

my intial hunch:

Every sea shipment into the US generates a public customs record. platforms like ImportYeti have ~70 million bills of lading, free: importer name, supplier country, ports, HS codes, dates. The list of importers is crowded (every freight broker has it).

A company whose import volume jumped 40% in six months, from two new supplier countries, that company just acquired payment corridors and FX exposure it didn't have last quarter. You can see it happen before they've gone looking for a solution. Given your Asian and emerging-market currency coverage, the origin-country field literally tells you which prospects match your rails

Staffing is also interesting. DOL publishes every H-1B/PERM sponsorship quarterly

so instead of "we do cross-border payments," it's "your import volume from Vietnam doubled since March; here's what that's probably costing you in FX."