English translation of the Portuguese original. The audio is in Portuguese.
In the /root episode with Gabriel Porto, who was CMO of Sem Parar when the episode was published in 2023, I went back to the early days of the internet and asked whether he had ever imagined that one day we would have an app for Sem Parar.
Looking back at how things evolved since the early days of the internet, did you imagine that today we would have an app for Sem Parar?
Gabriel’s answer — summary
Gabriel started at the beginning. Sem Parar was born as an automatic payment method dedicated to tolls, to solve the queues that formed mainly on holidays and weekends, on the way out and back from trips. Drivers only had to slow down for the vehicle to be identified and charged.
Over a little more than 20 years, he said, the business kept expanding. First, strongly into parking, at shopping centers, medical offices and restaurants that accept the payment. Then into fueling, which he described as the fastest-growing use case, driven by the pandemic and by investment in the technology, with growth close to 50% a year. Drive-thru, through partnerships with fast-food chains, was another strong and growing use.
The biggest challenge, in his view, was behavior change. People used to paying with cash or cards need an incentive to try it, and after using it once, twice, three times, they do not want to go back, because it is so convenient. To help with that decision, the company combined technology with benefit programs, such as cashback on fuel.
The figures and programs mentioned are those from that 2023 conversation.
A reflection for today
Looking back at this conversation today, what stays with me is the weight of the first time. In payments, when the experience is convenient, repeat use tends to follow; the hardest work usually lies in giving customers a good reason to try. With any new product, it is worth asking what we are doing to make that first transaction simple.
The full episode is available on YouTube.
Credits: /root — O Podstech da Celcoin. Hosts: Adriano Meirinho and Thiago Zaninotti. Guest: Gabriel Porto. Episode 8: E-Commerce e Pagamentos Contactless, published in 2023. Question at 1:34–1:44; summarized answer at 1:46–3:44.