In this episode of Verticals, Luke Sophinos and Nic Poulos sit down with Rahul Hampel, GM & VP of FinTech at ServiceTitan, to break down what embedded finance actually looks like when it’s done right, and where most vertical SaaS founders go wrong.

Rahul has built and scaled fintech platforms at Plaid, Yelp, and now ServiceTitan. He’s seen companies 3–5x revenue per customer by layering in payments and financial products at the right moment, and others burn months building the wrong thing, too early, or for the wrong reasons.

This conversation cuts through fintech hype and focuses on real operator frameworks: when to add payments, how to think about attach rate vs take rate, why Stripe benchmarks can be misleading, and how vertical SaaS companies should sequence fintech products without losing focus.

Whether you’re pre-launch, scaling to $50M+ ARR, or debating Stripe vs Adyen vs building in-house, this episode offers a practical playbook grounded in real-world experience, not theory.

We cover:

• When it’s actually time to build payments
• The one metric that signals fintech readiness
• Realistic take rates for embedded payments (and why founders get this wrong)
• Attach rate vs usage: what really matters early
• Stripe vs Adyen vs embedded providers vs in-house builds
• How and when to expand beyond payments into lending, financing, and BNPL
• Why fintech should feel invisible — not bolted on
• Go-to-market and sales comp lessons for fintech products
• Where agentic payments and automation are headed next

If you’re a founder, operator, or investor building or backing vertical SaaS, this episode is a must-listen guide to turning fintech into a durable growth engine — without falling into common traps.

New episodes drop every Wednesday.

Episode Minutes

00:00 – Intro: Why every SaaS company becomes a fintech company 02:30 – Rahul’s background: Plaid, Yelp, and ServiceTitan 07:00 – Why vertical SaaS is uniquely positioned to win in fintech 11:30 – When founders should actually add payments 17:00 – The one metric that tells you you’re ready (attach rate vs usage) 23:00 – Real take rates vs Stripe benchmarks 29:30 – Stripe vs Adyen vs embedded providers vs in-house 36:00 – Payments as infrastructure, not a feature 41:30 – When to expand into lending, financing, and BNPL 48:00 – Go-to-market, sales comp, and fintech incentives 55:30 – Why fintech must feel invisible to customers 1:01:00 – Agentic payments, automation, and what’s coming next 1:07:00 – Final advice for vertical SaaS founders