IMPACT Award Finalist: Entrust Bankcard

Third Time Is The Charm

Fortune is in the Cards After Disappointment

Nathan Reis is a classic example of business failure. That’s what makes him so successful.

A top salesman at a global financial services firm by age 24, Reis made his first million at 25 but felt something was missing. “I was making plenty of money, but I was increasingly unsatisfied. I had to do something on my own,” he says.

So he invested his savings in his own business, which promptly went under. He started a second venture. It also failed.

“It was the business of being in business that put me out of business,” Reis reflects. “It had nothing to do with the product. It was payroll, getting a website, email, business cards, office space. All of a sudden, six months later, I’d almost burned through my savings.”

Nothing if not persistent, Reis founded Entrust Bankcard in 2006. The Mesa-based provider of payment processing services for small businesses has grown from five employees working at a kitchen table to 100 employees and more than $8 million in revenue in 2010. “For the price of one employee, we’ll handle your books, insurance, ATM machine and your website, all in a very usable platform,” Reis says.

Entrust pursues lofty goals while keeping down-to-earth relationships with its customers. Reis plans to have a minimum of 100,000 customers within five years and being “the benchmark for small business services in America” in ten. The roadmap? The Entrust Cookbook, a “recipe for success,” defining the company’s culture, management style, mission and promise to the customer. It’s all part of growing beyond the bankcard business in support of their motto, “Fighting for the Small Business.”

“I wouldn’t be where I am had I not failed before,” Reis admits. With that attitude and the knowledge of what doesn’t work, there’s no telling where he’ll go next.

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Entrust Bankcard
www.entrustbankcard.com

The 2011 IMPACT Awards will be presented at a luncheon on Thursday, May 19 at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa. Will you be there? Click here to reserve your seat for the event.