Travata

Brett Turner had been tracking the enterprise software market for years. After three successful startup exits and roles at companies like Amazon and WorldwidePacked, he noticed a glaring gap: while fintech was revolutionizing consumer banking (Plaid, Square, etc.), enterprise treasury and cash management remained trapped in a pre-digital age—spreadsheets, manual workflows, no innovation for 20 years. "Everything that hits consumer generally works its way into the enterprise about 5 to 7 years later," he observed. If fintech was exploding on the consumer side, treasury had to be next. The thesis had been brewing for 20 years in his mind.

Unlike founders who jump into building immediately, Turner spent roughly 2.5 years in pure discovery—talking to VCs on Sand Hill Road, treasury leaders, CFOs, and finance professionals. He was obsessed with de-risking the business before committing capital. One mentor told him: "You're gonna kiss a lot of frogs on this journey." Turner took it to heart, turning over every rock.

But discovery revealed a brutal constraint: to automate cash workflows, Travata needed data from banks. In 2016, enterprise banks didn't have APIs—they used legacy file formats (SWIFT, proprietary standards) that took 2-3 years just to connect all a company's banking relationships. Turner made a massive bet: he'd build the product as if bank APIs would soon exist, betting that banks would eventually be forced to modernize due to fintech pressure. "If they don't, I'm screwed," he admitted. He was burning cash for over 2 years waiting.

When JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America finally launched corporate APIs, Travata was the first to connect. But the real insight came next: banks realized their customers didn't want to connect directly to messy APIs—they needed a bridge. Travata became that bridge, and the banks saw they were solving problems the banks themselves should be solving. JP Morgan became Travata's first institutional investor and referral engine.

Treasury professionals are professional risk managers—hard sells by nature. Turner's go-to-market was multi-pronged: direct sales to early adopters (tech companies like Square, whose treasurer Tim Murphy became an early believer), combined with bank-sourced referrals. The credibility transfer was crucial: "We're JP Morgan-backed," became part of the early pitch. It didn't win deals alone, but it got the door open. Turner invited bank reps into demos to ride shotgun and become mini-testimonials of Travata's quality. He also moved fast on SOC 2 compliance—way earlier than typical—because he couldn't afford to make JP Morgan look bad through poor security.

The bank bet was a double-edged sword. It took far longer than expected (2+ years), putting enormous pressure on cash burn and forcing Turner to continually justify the risk to himself and investors. But once it paid off, it unlocked a genuine partnership flywheel: banks validated their API thesis through Travata's success, Travata gained credibility through bank backing, and customers got the enterprise-grade rigor they needed.

Direct sales remained the primary channel, but Turner learned to stack multiple channels: direct, bank referrals, and the credibility of JP Morgan's investment. He was maniacal about details—financial operating plans, cash flow modeling, every aspect of go-to-market had to be thought through in advance. "There's no shortcuts in building a great company," he told the host.

Six-plus years after launch, Travata has grown to roughly $10M in ARR, 200+ customers, and ~100 employees. Turner has raised just shy of $60M. The team he assembled—including his early CTO/CPO hire who left and returned once funding came through—is diverse and high-functional. Growth is running at 2.5x year-over-year. Turner feels like they're "just scratching the surface," given how universal cash management is across all industries.

But the journey tested him. After 18 months, he was confessing to his wife: "What have I gotten myself into?" The startup world, he concluded, remains "an everyday contact sport." Even for someone who'd done it six times before. "There are no shortcuts," he emphasized. "It's hard every time."