GoPago LIVE: Pioneering “Solution as a Service” in Commerce

Pictured above from left to right: David Herzog, VP of Partnerships and Alliances; Martina Plaza, Office Manager;  Leo Rocco, Founder & CEO; Kelsey Mitchell, Program Manager; and Steve Elefent, Chief Strategy Officer A year ago yesterday, Tech Republic published an article about an emerging trend, Solution as a Service, which could take over the other SaaS (Software as a Service). The article pointed to this new trend as a “revolution in a revolution” and as something that “would start with traditional Internet-related problems (such as search or content distribution)” and later move to other verticals. While attending the Electronic Transaction Association Expo these last few days, it became evident that there is evolution from Software as a Service to a Solution as a Service approach in the payments space. GoPago LIVE, our total commerce in the cloud product suite, is a comprehensive, bundled solution that stretches beyond software. It integrates all the hardware, software, and internet connectivity, while providing customer service that is both predictive for the merchant (eliminating system downtime) and proactive for future needs. Leo Rocco, GoPago Founder and CEO, stated, “There’s a big idea of evolving the paradigm of ‘Software as a Service’ to ‘Solution as a Service.’ The solution includes hardware, software, 4G data connectivity and best in class customer service; that’s our package and I believe that’s where the industry needs to go.” This change means that merchants will no longer have to invest large upfront licensing and maintenance fees for software from one company and pay additional large upfront costs in hardware from another company. An upfront licensing fee for POS software can...

Steve Elefant: A Pioneer in Payments, Point of Sale and Electronic Commerce Joins GoPago to Lead Strategy

Steve Elefant brings more than 25 years of experience to GoPago as Chief Strategy Officer. Steve Elefant joins GoPago, Inc. to lead the growth in new channels and further develop GoPago LIVE, an all-in-one cloud POS with an integrated mobile payments platform. Previously, Mr. Elefant was a Senior Strategic Consultant at Google, Inc. in the Payments group.  Mr. Elefant has over 25 years experience in overall company strategy, products, end to end encryption, mobile, business development and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Elefant is a serial entrepreneur having founded seven startups, including a large ISO, and is a former venture capitalist. “For more than two decades, Steve Elefant has been a leader in the payments industry. We are excited to have him leading our strategy and ISO partnerships as we build the best-in-class total cloud commerce solution,” said Leo Rocco, GoPago Founder and CEO. “Steve’s experience, knowledge and vision are exactly in line with the future of GoPago. Steve and I will work on the most robust suite of products including an mPOS, ecommerce and an open (SDK) platform.” Steve Elefant said, “I have looked at all of the solutions and without a doubt, GoPago has the most robust cloud-based commerce, point-of-sale and mobile ordering platform on the market today. I look forward to working with the team as we lead this payments and Point of Sale revolution and roll out an even more comprehensive solution!” Mr. Elefant has a proven track record of strategic focus for new opportunities and enhancing existing technologies. He joined Heartland Payment Systems as a consultant, helping them bring its Software as a Service (SaaS)...

GoPago LIVE at the 2013 PYMNTS.com Innovator Awards

Innovations in the payment industry are so widespread right now that Leo Rocco, our CEO and Founder, compares it to the credit card revolution a half century ago. It’s exciting to be in the company with others like LevelUp, Leaf, PayPal and ShopKeep; together, with GoPago LIVE, we are revolutionizing how business and customers interact and transact. Remember when we mentioned GoPago LIVE was nominated for the Best POS Transformation award at the 2013 PYMNTS.com Innovator Awards? Well, we took home the Bronze during the awards ceremony! PYMNTS.com is a real thought leader in this category who documents the revolution, facilitates discussions and just last week they brought together the biggest industry leaders for the Innovation Project 2013 and the Innovator Awards. Two of our innovators, Leo Rocco and David Herzog, VP of Partnerships and Alliances, attended the two day conference at Harvard University. While at the conference they had lunch with Rosie Rios, Treasurer of the United States. If you aren’t familiar with her, check your dollar bills. Another key (pun always intended) person in attendance was James Goodfellow, the man who invented the PIN in 1968. Some of the key learnings from the conference that we will take with us came from a panel with Don Kingsborough, VP of Retail and Prepaid Services for PayPal and Steve Levitt, author of Freakonomics. Kingsborough shared that open platforms win and ubiquity requires multi-pronged approaches, partnerships and collaboration. We feel fortunate to have such strong partnerships with JPMorgan Chase and Verizon Wireless as we work to make GoPago LIVE the leading cloud-based POS solution. The always thought-provoking economist, Steve Levitt, stated that people don’t change behavior unless you...

$3.60 Burritos at 360 Gourmet Burritos Crocker Galleria

Did you ever think to yourself, “I would definitely eat a burrito everyday if they were less than $6 each”? Well, you stumbled upon the right blog post! 360 Gourmet Burritos at Crocker Galleria is giving  you the opportunity to stuff your face with multiple burritos. Get ready to travel around the world without leaving your comfy little apartment in San Francisco. 360 Gourmet Burrito Crocker Galleria is bringing  you a different flavored $3.60 burrito everyday this week, exclusively on GoPago.  Take your taste buds to places like Japan, Thailand or even India if you please. From now until this Saturday (2/16/2013), the Cajun, Chipotle, Curry, Teriyaki, and Thai burritos will all be available for $3.60 each on different days of the week Here’s the schedule: (TODAY) Tuesday, 2/12: Cajun burrito Wedneday, 2/13: Chipotle burrito Thursday, 2/14: Curry burrito (get one for your lover too!) Friday, 2/15: Thai burrito Saturday, 2/16: Teriyaki burrito Check out the “Specials” tab and get ordering, jet-setter!      ...

Sweet and #Sourhearts Valentine’s Day Contest

Roses are red, violets are blue, lemons are sour and so are you! Actually, we don’t know if you are bitter, but if you are, we have a cure that comes in the form of 30 truffles and a bouquet of fresh local flowers. Valentine’s Day is supposedly the day of sweethearts, that’s cute and all, but we want the funny. We believe that sourhearts are the source of great humor and we want to see it. Create your own sourheart (template below) and share it with us by posting it on our Facebook wall, or tagging us (@GoPago) on Instagram and/or Twitter with hashtag #Sourhearts. The winner will be chosen at 5 p.m. PST on Valentine’s Day and will receive a special Valentine’s bouquet from Not Just Flowers and 30-pieces of gourmet truffles in a heart box from Five Star Truffles. We also have exclusive deals to make your Valentine’s Day sweet and affordable. Not Just Flowers is offering the Valentine’s Mix Bouquet using only the freshest flowers from local green farms in Half Moon Bay and Napa for a discounted price of $40 through GoPago. This special is for pick-up only and does not include the vase. However, it does include the best things blooming that have been artfully arranged to make your Valentine’s heart beat a little faster. Five Star Truffles serves up a variety of gourmet truffles in unique flavors including earl grey, cayenne dark, banana, cognac to many more. You can order gift boxes including 20, 30, 40 or 80 piece truffles. Also, with any gift box order you get a free hot chocolate...