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MeetTheExpert

Steve Sotis What is your opinion of the various
mobile payment options today?

It's the same old hat. We have been doing mobile payments
since the summer of 2000. For the Palm Pilot VIIx, we
had a clip-on swiper, and we were swiping transactions
through Omaha, and First Data had no idea what we were
doing. We went to Nextel soon after that. We do not see
anything really revolutionary on the acquiring side today
at all; to me it's all the same old thing. The only thing
that's new is on the issuing side ‒ things like Apple Pay

What memorable moments in your life have
had the most impact on you?

Having children, seeing them go to college and growing
the business, too. I started doing this business in a spare
bedroom on my own time, quitting my job, hiring my first
employee and going full time. That was a big change.

Who was the biggest influence on you
when you were growing up?

My dad is a retired architect. He always had his own
practice on Long Island starting back in the '50s and '60s,
so there was a lot of growth, and he was pretty successful.
reen Sheet Advisory Board member Steve He was very professional: he wore a white shirt, suit and
Sotis is the founder and President of ePro-
cessing Network LLC, which has offered soft- tie. I looked up to and admired him. I was proud of him and
G ware services to the payments industry since wanted to be as successful as him. He was not mechanical
1996. As such, he devotes significant time to developing in any way. I was rebuilding lawnmower engines for mini
bikes, go carts and car engines at the age of 13. I wanted to
software and service products that meet the needs of
merchants as the industry evolves. In this article, he talks be as successful as he was but in a different way.
about how he started eProcessing Network from his spare
bedroom, how his father has influenced his success, the What is the biggest challenge for people
difference between engineering and technology, and how in the payments industry today?
he maintains his competitive edge.
Keeping up with technology.

What inspires you in your profession?
Is there a big push to establish technology
The payments industry itself. I started out as a standards in the payments industry?
programmer in the graphics industry, and I had a terrific
job with System Development Inc., a good company that My experience is there is no such thing as a one-size-fits
treated me well and paid me very well. That company is all technology for merchants; it's just not going to happen.
still there today with the same employees. I wanted to do It is too broad. There are too many variables merchants
my own thing. I couldn't get into that company because contend with that eliminate the viability of the one-size-
they were top heavy with owners, so I went off on my fits all solutions.
own. I had been an entrepreneur since I was a kid doing
landscaping, lawn maintenance and playing bass guitar
in live music on the side. This was the next logical step. How does eProcessing Network help its
Finding this industry, to me, was inspirational because as customers be more competitive?
a programmer, it's like an artist's canvas; you can just keep
throwing more paint at it. We don't sell direct, and we don't sell merchant accounts.
We don't compete with our sales offices; we are strictly a

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