The Fast-Growing Fintech with a Trick up its Sleeve

Ed Trick, CFO | Pay.com.au

At a time when many CFOs would be forgiven for slowing down, tightening belts and waiting out global uncertainty, Ed Trick is going hard in the other direction.

“I’m definitely not the person telling everyone to stop spending – I’m actually telling people to spend more in some instances,” he says.

As CFO of pay.com.au, Trick sits at the financial helm of a business growing fast, expanding into the US, and processing billions of dollars in payments annually. It’s the kind of environment where opportunity doesn’t knock politely – it barges in, gatecrash-style, with a crowd of very alluring friends in tow.

That puts Trick and his finance team in charge of opportunity triage. They decide where and how fast growth happens, and what gets killed early.

Why opportunity overload is the real risk

Pay was born out of frustration: as a business owner, co-founder Ed Alder grew increasingly dissatisfied that he was only able to earn frequent flyer points on about 10-20% of his company’s available expenditure. That left a lot of business spending unrewarded – and Alder decided this was unacceptable.

The result of this insight is a fast-growing scale-up with a vast addressable market. In Australia alone, there are 2.7 million SMEs. The US has more than 36 million. Add global loyalty programs, evolving payment infrastructure and strong customer appetite for better digital experiences, and it’s easy to see why the pay team feels like it’s operating in a world of “endless opportunity”.

Sifting through these opportunities requires ruthless prioritisation, where every initiative – whether it’s a product feature, a new market, or a hiring request – is filtered through a simple lens: does it move the dial toward pay’s North Star?

That North Star is an ambitious one.

“We have a long-term ambition to process $1 trillion of payments annually,” Trick says. “It sounds ludicrous, but this helps us align opportunities internally. And if an opportunity doesn’t get us there – either quickly, or if it requires a significant amount of resources versus the value out – then we shelve it.”

Spending aggressively, not recklessly

In the current market, caution makes a lot of sense – but not a lot of cents. So, although pay’s willingness to invest can look unusual, Trick is unapologetic about it.

“Right now, we’re focused on investing in growth as opposed to chasing short-term profitability. We’re deliberate about where we deploy our capital in a way that delivers returns.”

That return is measured obsessively – in terms of lifetime value to customer acquisition cost, payback periods, and incremental contribution to growth. If a dollar spent today will reliably bring back four or five more, Trick considers it a no-brainer.

This philosophy puts pay in familiar company. As Trick points out, global fintechs like Airwallex and Revolut followed similar playbooks in their own scale-up years.

“When you’ve got a business that’s completely digitally scalable, with a lot of customer demand and a very unique opportunity to plug in to new markets, then you’ve got to take the ground that’s right there ahead of you now.

“Otherwise, someone else is going to do it – or it’s not going to be there in five years, because the world’s moved on.”

Lean teams as a consequence of clarity

Despite the aggressive growth agenda, Trick keeps his own finance team deliberately lean.

“I’m actually extremely stingy with hiring, especially with my own team,” he says, cheerfully. “I only hire where we absolutely need to.”

When he does hire, it’s with a high bar and a clear purpose. He looks for “A-players” who can operate autonomously, think commercially and take real ownership – without the need for micromanagement.

The approach extends beyond finance. Across pay, flexibility is the norm and work is measured by output, not presence. So if someone needs to duck out to get their car serviced or attend an appointment, they do it. As long as they deliver, no one’s counting keystrokes.

It’s a philosophy that also supports retention and the high-performance culture pay relies on to reach its goals. Every employee is offered equity, reinforcing the idea that they are all pulling toward the same destination.

As Trick notes: “If you don’t have work-life balance, you’re probably working with the wrong people.”

Where the modern CFO really adds value

Trick doesn’t think his core role as CFO has fundamentally changed over the years. It’s just become more consequential.

When he joined pay three years ago, a billion-dollar valuation felt aspirational. Today, it feels achievable. The goalposts keep moving, and the stakes keep rising.

But now, as ever, Trick believes that being an effective, value-adding CFO boils down to the same formula.

“It’s about partnering with the business to make evidence- and data-backed decisions that move the dial,” he says. “You start with the strategy and where you’re trying to go, appraise every initiative against that North Star, and then bring stakeholders with you on the decisions that will get you there.”

There’s no shortage of uncertainty ahead for any of us. But for Trick, the bigger danger isn’t external volatility. It’s losing focus in a sea of possibility.