Yaser Masoudnia, CEO of Linqpal, told Efma’s Boris Plantier about his company’s tailor-made payment system for on-the-go contractors and their material suppliers. What led to the creation of LinqPal? Coming from a family with over 30 years in the industry, and as a contractor myself, I have experienced firsthand the disadvantages that small businesses face. The construction industry is predominantly small businesses that haven’t adopted new technology due to having limited or no office workers to manage it (over 82% of these businesses have less than 10 employees). Therefore, the payment system in the industry can greatly benefit from the introduction of an easy-to-use platform that is designed to solve their specific problems without requiring a back-office operation. Small businesses in the construction industry are often considered too risky, leaving them neglected by banks and traditional financial institutions. This has significantly limited SMBs from being able to access working capital or financing options. 2020 was a challenging year for many of those small companies and the construction industry, as most of them were harshly hit by the pandemic restrictions. Thus, the timing was right to bring my experience in the startup world and my knowledge in technology to serve my community. I co-founded LinqPal, which helps contractors pay for materials over time and helps suppliers get paid faster, as a starting point to connect the supply chain in the industry and start providing a user-friendly solution to their needs. I have been working alongside LinqPal’s CTO, Venkat Motupalli, and COO, Patrick Gannon, to use their technological, financial, and operational expertise to create a tool equipped to aid those small businesses. This tool will further allow for a more efficient payment solution that mutually benefits contractors and suppliers, enabling them to access the working capital they need in order to expand. Could you present LinqPal’s offer? LinqPal offers contractors an easy-to-use and intuitive payment platform to select their preferred payment method, including LinqPal financing. LinqPal has been designed for mobile use, considering most workers in the industry are usually on the go. LinqPal flexible financing allows builders and contractors to pay for materials over time, rather than upfront. They will be able to get their materials when they need them and pay later. It gives them the flexibility to focus on getting more projects and delivering on time. With LinqPal, construction suppliers can offer their clients financing options, manage their outstanding payments with ease, and get paid faster. It allows payment reminders, notifications, and transactions to be done with haste and ease. Material suppliers have to deal with overdue payments frequently. They can use LinqPal to automate payment reminders sent to their customers while enjoying a better payment collection experience. Our platform organizes payment information, history, and transactions to heighten a user’s experience while also helping material suppliers increase customer satisfaction. What’s coming next for LinqPal? We are just getting started by simplifying payments management for both material suppliers and contractors/builders that buy from them. At LinqPal, our goal is to provide fast payment for contractors and suppliers alike. Having access to materials and receiving payment for these materials should be an easy process, not a burdensome one. Next, we plan to increase credit accessibility so that construction businesses can focus on taking on more projects and moving forward. We are also expanding our lending and financing platform to other parts of the construction supply chain. We want to make it easy for businesses to use LinqPal to pay for different expenses and solve their cash flow problem while building a cohesive community of Pals. We are investing our resources to create a trusted community of construction businesses, bringing together the different players along the supply chain in the industry. We will be an invisible force in the community that streamlines how they order and make payments. See the original article here. LinqPal has been rebranded as BlueTape.