[0:00]I would say the net new American dream is being a founder. This is inspiring because as an immigrant like you see a future you can build from ground up.
[0:15]Goch, thank you so much for joining me today. I'm super excited to talk about you and Calder and all that you're building. Before we get into all the details, give me a little 30-second rundown of who you are. Definitely. Well, thank you for having me. Um, this is a dream for everyone and was for me too. So, great to be here. Um, 30 seconds about me is I'm founder and CEO of Calder. Uh, I was born and raised in Turkey and um, had um, a passion for marketing and rewards because I didn't myself have a bank account till 18. And, um, coming to US, I was very, like, excited about, um, the ideas of, um, like emerging, like rewards and, like, marketing space and was early in, like, places like Robinhood and Open Sea and, um, started working with brands early to help their loyalty tools. Wanted really well and we scaled and that's how I started building Calder. So Calder is a company that provides software for companies, correct, that you basically allow your clients to create customer loyalty programs, cashback programs for their customers. How exactly does the platform work? Like what are you providing to these clients that you have? Yeah, that's a great question. So Calder essentially is a white labeled partner rewards platform. So, uh, if you look at giants like Amex, United and Starbucks, what they did great for the past decades is they built financial technology capabilities inside their marketing machines. And it came to a place where they made more money selling rewards than their core businesses, like flights or coffee. And seeing that, that was my first amazement about the space, that every brand in the world should be able to sell rewards and build partner programs. So essentially we, uh, started building the automated tools for building partner rewards like Amex rewards for any brand and do it without spending millions or decades in regulation and tech. And so in the process of, you know, kind of what you're facilitating for companies, you'll allow them to create cashback or loyalty programs for their customers, which will bring them more customers along the way. Yes. But how do you make money throughout that? Yeah. So we essentially become that partner rewards hub for them and we charge like in two ways.
[2:41]So we charge per like connected account, what means is, like, you can have millions of customers, but we know that maybe your partner, like your customer might not be using that reward system. Uh, the moment they connect their card, we will charge for that user. And then we have a flat rate of a commission percentage from every time we make a brand earn money. Like, let's say we are processing $5 revenue or $5 million revenue for you, we will take our commission, uh, like while we are processing it. This is also very different from the like players we see in the ecosystem because they charge per transaction and they start building relationships with your own partners. What we realized is brands want to have their direct relationships with their partners, like, uh, in their award ecosystem and they don't want a middleman, and we were very transparent about it. We are very flat and we are not, we are just a network and they really loved it, like, they really started converting to use Calder instead of other providers. So when one customer comes onto your platform, then how many other reward systems or rewards can their, their own customers get? Is it, you mentioned that there's like a network. So how are you kind of facilitating what that ecosystem looks like? How many other companies or or brands can then the customers use their rewards for? Yeah, so to this date, Calder has 25,000 indexed merchants across our network in US, EU, and like, and also across the world, and we do have, like, global coverage that we're increasing. But every, um, our end customer, so your loyal, like, let's say you're an airline and your end user would not see all those brands. It is the airline's job to invite partners or invite their own partners to curate that and that's also intentional because curation of a partner rewards really matter. Like you probably will not have a target in like Sack's fifth program and that's why we also have this what we call B2B dating in the back end, where we matchmake brands saying I think these could be good for you and try to help them curate that. And with these customers that you've brought on board, can you name some of them for me and how did you kind of get your foot in the door to these major companies that have, you know, hundreds of millions of customers that you're now facilitating interactions with? Yeah, definitely. We focus on working with leading airlines, hospitality groups, retailers, uh, emerging banks, and sports teams. And we started with sports teams because a lot of sports teams were excited to earn revenue and reward their fans day-to-day. What we do is essentially if your brand has a lot of like customers that you, that are loyalty and want to earn your existing loyal tee points, then you're probably fit for Calder. So we provide the back end for them to add partners and uh like customers to link their card. And um, the first time what worked for us is to directly be able to go to a grocer or a sports team and say, look, you can earn millions from selling your rewards in the back end. And did you know that this is how Amex rewards and United and players like Starbucks make money. And that was very exciting and when you say that even from a LinkedIn cold out bound, they reach out back to you and that's actually how we got our first customers. And results have been promising. So we model this partner rewards program after a Portuguese sports team and right now, uh, with Calder's model, only with 50,000 customers, they're making 4.5 million every year. And customers are spending triple them more and engaging more because we started rewarding them beyond their app, right? Your customer doesn't spend your everyday in your app. So you need to think about their journey and reward them. In this kind of space, you're talking about things like financial, you know, improvements in financial awards, some, you know, back-end text systems, but also marketing. Why do you consider yourself a marketing company when you have so many kind of different facets of the brand? Yeah, that's a great question. So we help marketers to not worry about Fintech. In fact, I think that's, like, what's changed loyalty dynamics today. If you look at loyalty, every tool will try to sell you a discount generator or a software as a service, but what you see is the giants are not playing like that. They're setting up wallets, they're selling their rewards. So marketing is essentially a financial technology operation in the back end and sadly, if you even talk with, like, billion dollar companies, uh, and holdings, they are scared of taking that regulatory and technology technological risk. And that's where we come in. We only serve to marketing teams, we only work with loyalty tools and loyalty directors, and we tell them, look, we are your fintech partner rewards program and we are here to reward your customers and make you money that you never made before. And sadly loyalty is notorious in the marketing world as being a cost generator rather than a revenue generator, and I think that's what we are changing for the first time. What were you doing before you launched Calder and how did those experiences allow you to build a brand like this? Yeah, so I am a designer and engineer at the core. So sales growth came to me from, um, just like, um, like, um, like survival mode and understanding within the ecosystem. Um, before this, um, I was, I worked at Robinhood, which is like the, um, consumer like trading app and Open Sea, which is, um, digital like collectibles marketplace. And I was a product designer in one and an early engineer in another. And there were two things happening. One, I fell in love with the idea of capturing a user's journey and essentially like enhancing it. And two, that was my first time actually building in rewards like software, like looking at credit debit cards, uh, in my previous jobs, and, uh, understanding that, um, became a rewards girl and started like everyone does this, but starting like trading and exchanging your rewards across points systems and starting to see how I can build that reward exchange network. And then last pivotal moment for me is I started taking the chance at myself. So I started working with a brand to help set their membership reward system and say, look, you need to be different and you need to start making money from your rewards and selling your memberships because you're not a clothing company anymore. And that worked well where they made 3 million in a week from that sales, and I was just an advisor, and that was the time I took a, like, a chance for myself, left my, uh, like job, boot strapped for six months and started building Calder. I want to ask too, you mentioned your experience working with Robinhood and in the N F T and Web3 space, you've also had experience. How do you see those industries? There was obviously a huge boom in them for a while. Maybe there's been a plateau in the past, you know, couple of years. How do you see those industries impacting what Calder's doing today and the, you know, the the marketing and honestly Fintech industries in general? Yeah, that's a great question. So what we're seeing is that neither brands or the customer would care about the technology. It is just the back end. So like Calder actually has, um, like, um, has incorporated AI, or like, every kind of, um, kind of word that, like, now is like hot in tech. Um, but what we see is we need to solve problems and we need to be customer first. What our brands care about is that they're making money and they're also rewarding customers every day. And, um, most importantly, creating what we call win-win-win situations. So, like, uh, that your, uh, brand is winning when you swipe your card at a partner store, partner store is winning because they now acquired a new customer cheaply, and lastly, the customer is winning because they just earned a reward. So I think in Fintech, like, Fintech and marketing, I want to say, uh, is very much, like, uh, very much changing because marketers are now very much more analytical about their spend and ROI with customer acquisition raising. Um, and we are seeing a shift where we need to see clear revenue opportunities from every marketing initiative. So, what's next for the kind of combination of marketing and Fintech space? What are you projecting in the future, knowing that, like, maybe the technology has to catch up a little bit, but there is a lot of, you know, money being poured into these industries and a lot of innovation that is happening. What do you see as some projections for the future of this industry? I think in the next 5 to 10 years, every brand will become a Fintech company in the back end. Like, they have to and they have the opportunity to. What this means is, um, now that we have the opportunities to democratize access for building financial operations under marketing teams. This is a net new revenue in these brands' balance sheet and every brand will capitalize on this. And we are seeing this, like, we have brands that have as low as 1,000 customers using their loyalty programs and as big as 70 million customers in their in our database. And the sheer difference is because only because of accessibility. Like, essentially, selling rewards or, like, exchanging commissions were a big liability before, but if you automate accounting and automate the commissions, then the question becomes, why not my marketing team building partner awards programs? And the answer becomes, yeah, why not? Let's do it. Um, and I do think this is going to be pivotal moment for the next five years because then people will start thinking, why do I have my co-branded card? Why am I not upselling and cross-selling more marketing relating Fintech operations? And this has been going for decades, it has just been secretly going for the big like giants that we shop at, and I just think every brand in in like across the world should be able to do this. Yeah, that's super interesting. I want to switch gears a little bit and talk about the startup space in general. You grew up in Turkey. Now you've been in New York for a couple of years, correct? How is the business industry different in those spaces? Very different. I think, um, like if you look at, um, US, I would say the net new American dream is, especially in California and New York, being a founder. And, uh, I think this is inspiring because as an immigrant, like, you see a future you can build, no matter who you are or where you're from. And I think, like, I'm so, like, like, glad I'm from Turkey because I was able to see opportunities and problems I want to solve and was able to be exposed to the stories from ground up. Like, I never had to there's the two startup founder funnels. Either you like, uh, read stories and solve for someone or you solve for yourself. I feel like I was always lucky to solve problems for myself, so I can solve it faster and, uh, that's what I'm like, um, grateful for. But I think, um, US is still the center of the world for building your startup and making your dream come true, um, in like before, like tech, especially Fintech. Yeah. And you've raised around $11 million. Yes. Correct. What has that journey looked like and has that been different since you've been in the states or how has, yeah, what is that kind of trajectory looked like for Calder? Yeah, so I was in Berkeley before, um, I, like, and I, like, studied there, so I had couple years in in US before I started my company and the last year of Berkeley, I, like, essentially started it. Uh, I would say, uh, that of course I was privileged to have the, like, background degrees, and I think more than that, the network. Like, um, the reason I saw, like, that I want to be a founder in myself is because the moment I was in as a freshman in Berkeley, people start dropping out of building companies and I'm like, no, I want to be one of them. And I think I have the great ideas. Um, and those were kind of trials, right?
[14:53]And even in Calder, um, we are so like, like, like we are so happy with our lead investor, who, like, and our partner there is the one who built United Mileage Plus like today. Uh, and he built the back end for it. So, like, we have the perfect people on around the table now. But before this, like, there were times, like, again, I, like, boot strapped Calder for six months, like, started, like, trying to get the traction and customers. And, um, and I think the biggest thing you realize is that, especially if you're a design and engineering background, it's not only about design and engineering. It's really much about, uh, like being thrown things and then figuring out on the way, and that's was, that's like hurdle and excitement every day. Yeah, that's the life of a CEO, I guess. Exactly. What are some of the things that you're excited about for the future? Are there any other big changes coming with Calder or some other big growth opportunities that you're excited about? Yeah, so, uh, we, like, recently announced our, again, like, 7 million seed, then 11 million raised to this date. So, for us, this was a pivotal moment to signal that we are scaling Calder. So, the new year, you guys will be seeing very big players we have signed that I'm so excited about, like, the, like, one of the biggest banks in US. Um, like, uh, grocers, teams that you guys, like, everyone is passionate about and I used to be a like a pro soccer player, so I'm personally excited about those. So, this, this is essentially signaling that, uh, Calder is not going to stop until every brand, like, team in the world has a partner award with us and that we will be global. So, we actually have big releases coming in Spain, France, and Turkey, too. Players like Amazon of Turkey and, um, and basically we want to increase our global coverage because this is really tied back to our mission where we want to democratize access to Fintech tools for marketing teams.
[17:49]You were a pro soccer player? Yes. Where did you play? Uh, I was, like, I played in Besiktas, like, when I was, like, 13 for, like, uh, in high school and women's, like, women's soccer teams, like, were not common back then. So, we were the first, like, kind of professional soccer team and Besiktas then, like, became a partner to us too. I've paid my way in. Yeah. When you were that young, did you expect to be a soccer player your whole life? Did you always want to be a founder? Like, what was your vision when you were in those spaces? I think it's always, like, the, the, like, discipline, uh, about, like, doing something really well and wanting it. Uh, like, I think, and also seeing, like, kind of opportunities. For example, I did Equestrian before, too. So, sports was always core to my life and I always liked to compete. But I moved to soccer because soccer was a taboo in Turkey and nobody was willing to start a team. So I was like, look, like I want to start it and I will be one of the first professionals in it. And I basically recruited a lot of my high school friends to, like, start it, and then I started a nonprofit around it. So, I would even say, soccer is one of the reasons I tasted and understand what it is to be a founder because I had to do, like, the zero to one work of building a nonprofit around it. And that scaled very well, like, we got a UNDP grant at the time, we, like, scaled across three countries. So that was, like, when I did that in high school, I knew, like, there and then, I only want to build things from scratch and want to solve problems I want to see in the world, but I didn't name it, like, I want to be a startup founder at the time. Yeah. What's your biggest piece of advice for other maybe like 13 year olds that have a big idea out there and want to be a builder in the future? I think go for it, like, and especially in the time where we have wide accessibility, like, we are just one LinkedIn DM away from someone or one, uh, like, MVP away from building your product. We have never been at a place where, like, building your dreams to be alive has been, like, this accessible and democratized. And sometimes I, I, I look at my childhood and I say, I'm, like, young but, like, I wish I had that when I was five. I would have built a lot of things. Um, so I would say, like, the biggest, um, kind of understanding I had when I started, um, this, like, um, non-profit is people are actually very willing to help you and are excited. So, I reached out to this, uh, person who became my co-founder at the time, and she already had a soccer non-profit, saying, I have these camps idea, can you do it with me? And I remember walking to her office on a rainy day and I just had to walk because there was no other ways to get to. And since then we worked together, she was at the time 35, I was 15. I thought there is no way she would give me a chance. So this is all like a kind of a long way to say, do it and chase it and people are actually very open to help you. Yeah. And having been a young founder and a young just builder in so many of these different spaces, now speaking about like the 30 under 30 crowd, what does being young and in business mean to you? What does being in the 30 under 30 community look like in your eyes? I think the reason it is special is we, like, used to look up to people that are stern and, uh, fit certain demographics and categories. And I think Forbes 30 under 30 is always the leading indicator of people, what are the future leaders look like. So I'm proud to be representing one of them because I truly believe we are not like, like the age of leaders that are stern and top-down and are just managers have changed. Um, and I like to lead from within, do things myself, be with the team design, engineer and sell day-to-day, which is still I do, like, I every day design, I, like, review the PRs and, like, I'm in most sales calls and on a tech basis with most of our customers. And I think that's the future of leadership and, yeah, being part of Forbes 30 under 30 is really being part of that the change that's happening. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for joining me today. This was so great to hear more about you and your many, many lives that you've lived to this point. Thank you for having me. I, I feel very special to be here and yes, excited for what's more to come. Me too.
