Addressing Card Adoption Challenges

The "I want to use my own card" objection is real, and we've designed our system specifically to overcome it. Our solution has three components:

1. We're implementing what we call "use-restricted incentives." The cards issued through our platform offer up to 2% cashback specifically on all spend - significantly higher than general purpose cards for these categories. For a flipper spending $100K on renovations, that's $2,000 in added revenue.
2. We're partnering with 64% of major big box retailers like: Delta Skymiles, Hilton Honors Home Depot and Lowe's to match or exceed their proprietary card benefits when using our card. This includes their no-payment periods and bulk purchase discounts, eliminating that advantage.
3. Most importantly, we're structuring the draw process around the card. When a borrower requests a draw, the funds are instantly available on their card rather than waiting 3-7 days for checks, wires or ACH transfers. This timing advantage is enormously valuable to investors who need to pay contractors or purchase materials quickly.

For the remaining holdouts, we've developed an integration approach that allows them to link their existing cards to our platform. While this doesn't give us interchange revenue, it still provides the critical SKU-level data through receipt capture and integration with major retailer APIs.

Remember, we don't need 100% card adoption to succeed - we need sufficient data to build our risk models, which we can achieve at 60%+ adoption.

Addressing Cash Payment Preferences

Cash payments to contractors are indeed common in this industry, and we don't expect to eliminate them entirely.

For contractor payments, we've developed a hybrid solution. Contractors can receive payments directly to their bank accounts through our platform, with the lender or investor incentivizing this approach through faster payment processing. Contractors who insist on cash can still be accommodated, but the platform requires receipt documentation and site verification.

The key insight is that we can track progress through multiple verification points - not just payments. Our system correlates material purchases, inspection reports, and geolocation data to validate progress even when some payments occur outside our platform.

In markets where cash payments are most prevalent, inspection frequency and validation requirements increase. This creates a feedback loop that still gives us the data we need for risk assessment, even if some transactions occur in cash.

The common pattern is that the contractors initially resistant to digital payments become advocates once they experience the speed and reliability. We're actually becoming a competitive advantage for investors who can tell contractors "I can pay you today through InstaFi" versus "I'll have a check for you in a few days."

Technology Adoption by Non-Technical Users

This is a legitimate concern that we've addressed through a deliberately delightful UX design.

Our UI/UX philosophy is "consumer-grade simplicity with enterprise-grade capability." We've invested heavily in creating intuitive interfaces that require minimal training. The mobile app, which is the primary interface for most users, follows familiar patterns from banking and payment apps they already use.

Our onboarding strategy includes:

1. White-glove setup for each lender, with dedicated implementation specialists
2. Transaction-based learning rather than traditional training
3. In-app guided workflows that provide context-specific assistance