It started with an unexpected phone call.
Patricia Montesi, a business executive with a background in finance, sales, and marketing, received a message from a stranger who had stumbled across her résumé on an old job site. The caller was the founder of a payments startup, but he wasn’t looking for industry veterans—he wanted outsiders, fresh thinkers unshaped by conventional wisdom. Montesi fit the bill, and that call would mark the beginning of a transformative career journey in fintech.
Now the co-founder and CEO of Qolo, Montesi remembers her introduction to the payments industry started with a mix of curiosity and hesitation. The company that had reached out was WildCard Systems, the first built-for-purpose open-loop prepaid platform.
At the time, Montesi had just left a stable role in the corporate world, transitioning out of the car rental industry, where she had spent years navigating acquisitions and leadership roles at Alamo and National. Now, she was being asked to take a leap into the unknown, joining a 200-person startup with no industry experience.
She took the job.
"At first, I thought they were nuts," Montesi shared. "I went from a 40,000-person global company to a small startup, most of whom worked in a call center."
With no prior experience in payments, Montesi dedicated countless hours to understanding the four-party payment model and the mechanics of transactions—both moving forward and reversing. "It was overwhelming," she said.
Montesi: ‘That experience ignited my passion for startups’
Determined to prove herself, she immersed herself in learning the payments landscape. But the pressure was relentless. She spent long nights studying transaction flows and industry mechanics. The stress was so intense that she developed TMJ from grinding her teeth in her sleep.
"My dentist told me I was under extreme stress," she explained. "And he wasn’t wrong."
Despite the steep learning curve, Montesi thrived. Within two years, WildCard Systems was acquired. Two years later, it was acquired again.
"That experience ignited my passion for startups," she said. "I saw firsthand what it was like to build and create something from scratch and how rewarding it could be."
However, as WildCard Systems became absorbed into larger entities, Montesi realized she craved the creativity and challenge of the startup world. So, she walked away from the corporate security of big business and returned to startups.
That decision would eventually lead to the founding of Qolo. Today, she serves as co-founder and CEO of a company that has revolutionized the world of payments.
"I knew I had the juice—I just needed the right opportunity to prove it," Montesi said.
Since its launch in 2018, Qolo has secured $15 million in Series A funding and earned recognition as one of the 2022 Best Tech Startups in Fort Lauderdale by The Tech Tribune. Qolo was also recognized as a Great Place to Work—an achievement that reflects its strong company culture. The company continues to push the boundaries of innovation and scalability in the payments industry.
The birth of Qolo
By 2018, Montesi was consulting for a Fortune 100 company that needed a complex payments solution. As she analyzed the market, she saw a major gap: businesses were forced to stitch together multiple payment products and suppliers just to create a functional system. That inefficiency sparked an idea.
She reached out to her founding team—former colleagues from WildCard Systems—asking a simple but powerful question: "Is there a platform that can bring all of this together so businesses don’t have to struggle with integrating multiple suppliers?"
The answer was no, and Montesi knew they had a massive opportunity.
Soon, Qolo was born. Its mission was simple yet ambitious: remove the burden of fragmented payment systems by offering a unified, cloud-based infrastructure.
Montesi and her team were also the first to build a payments platform with a fully integrated card issuing and banking core infrastructure from the start. "Investors didn’t believe we had built as much as we did," Montesi recalled. "They thought it was too much, that no one could build a platform this comprehensive—but we did it." This early skepticism fueled Qolo’s determination to prove its capabilities in the market. Its mission was simple yet ambitious: remove the burden of fragmented payment systems by offering a unified, cloud-based infrastructure.
"Companies shouldn’t need to create an entire payments ecosystem themselves," Montesi explained. "We architected a system that would unify multiple payment modalities, digital wallets, and treasury management functions under one platform."
Montesi and her co-founders named the company Qolo, short for "Quality of Life Organization." The name reflected their commitment to building a company culture where employees could thrive while also delivering exceptional service to clients.
"We didn’t choose the name because we were striving for a perfect work-life balance," Montesi said. "Startups move fast. But we did want to create a place where people respected each other, trusted each other, and enjoyed working together. That, to us, is quality of life."
Navigating the early challenges
Building a company from scratch is never easy, and Qolo’s early days were no exception.
"We bootstrapped for the first year while also consulting on the side to pay the bills," Montesi said. "We had a clear vision, but positioning it in the market was a different challenge."
Funding was another learning curve. "It was my first time navigating the VC world, and I made plenty of mistakes along the way," Montesi admitted. But they secured their seed funding in late 2019 and officially launched their platform by mid-2020.
Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. "We had just secured funding, hired engineers, and started building. Then suddenly, the world changed overnight," she said. Transitioning to a fully remote model while recruiting talent and pitching to VCs over Zoom added new layers of complexity. Despite these challenges, Qolo pressed forward, securing clients and proving its model worked.
Winning over the first client is a pivotal moment for any startup, and for Qolo, that moment came just before the pandemic. Their first client, Wolfe Inc., was led by industry veteran Jason Wolfe, who had sold multiple businesses and was looking for an issuing processor. Initially, he split his business between Qolo and a competitor.
"A few weeks later, he called me and said, ‘Your competition is moving too slow. I need to be live quickly.’ So, he gave us 100% of his business," Montesi recalled. "Three months later, we had him live. That early bet on us paid off for both sides, and he’s still a client today."
Key strategies for growth
As Qolo scaled, Montesi and her team focused on three key strategies to sustain revenue growth and financial health. The first was shifting from a "grow at all costs" mentality to a mindful, profitability-driven approach. "We had to move from growth at all costs to a clear line of sight to profitability," Montesi explains. "It wasn’t just about expansion anymore—it was about sustainable growth."
The second strategy involved refining Qolo’s go-to-market (GTM) approach. "Even though our platform could support any number of use cases, we had to sharpen our focus," Montesi says. "We needed to determine the verticals where we had the strongest right to win and could monetize the quickest."
The final piece was a disciplined client selection process. Instead of signing every potential client, Qolo became more selective. "We had to be more intentional about the businesses we partnered with. If a company didn’t align with our GTM focus or had uncertain funding prospects, we walked away," she says. "That was a tough but necessary shift."
This disciplined strategy led Qolo to secure major partnerships, including two top 25 banks in the last year. One of the most significant early success stories for Qolo was its partnership with KeyBank.
"KeyBank was instrumental in our growth," Montesi explained. "They took a chance on us and saw the potential in our technology. Their support not only validated what we were building but also helped us gain credibility in the banking industry."
This collaboration allowed Qolo to refine its banking solutions and demonstrate the power of its platform to financial institutions nationwide. "Our banking partnerships have been a game-changer," Montesi said. "We’re not just another fintech—we’re helping banks modernize their infrastructure in ways our competitors can’t."
Balancing leadership and personal life
Beyond her role as CEO, Montesi is a devoted wife and mother to a 16-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter. Balancing leadership and family life has been one of her greatest challenges.
"When you commit to running a startup, you’re making a choice—one that sometimes means sacrificing time with your family," she shared. "But I also know that I’m setting an example for my kids. They see me stretching my brain, pushing my limits, and taking on challenges every day."
Despite her demanding schedule, Montesi makes sure to prioritize her family. "My non-negotiable is being a good mom first," she said. "That means when I’m on vacation, I truly unplug. My time with my kids is sacred."
She also embraces flexibility, working from home when possible and sharing responsibilities with her husband. "We have a balanced life. He takes care of the morning routine, and I pick up the kids from school," she says. "It’s about integrating work and family in a way that works for us."
Looking ahead, Montesi remains committed to both her professional and personal mission. "I love what I do, and I love my family. Finding harmony between the two is the challenge—but it’s one I embrace every day."
The state of Qolo today
Qolo has evolved into a powerhouse in the fintech space, with a robust platform that continues to attract top-tier clients across banking and corporate industries. The company’s ability to adapt to market changes, refine its focus, and secure high-value partnerships has positioned it as a leader in payments infrastructure.
The platform supports a diverse portfolio of clients, including late-stage startups, established financial institutions, and two of the top 25 banks in the country. The company has expanded its capabilities, offering seamless integrations for commercial payments, corporate expense management, and real-time banking solutions. With a scalable model and a strong foundation in compliance and security, the company is uniquely equipped to handle the complexities of the evolving financial landscape.
"We’ve built something truly special," Montesi says. "Our focus has always been on delivering best-in-class infrastructure that empowers businesses to move money efficiently, securely, and in real-time. We’ve moved billions of dollars on behalf of our customers, and we’re just getting started."
Interested in partnering with Qolo?
Are you looking for a seamless, scalable payment infrastructure to support your business?
Qolo is revolutionizing the fintech space with its cutting-edge platform designed for efficiency and innovation. Whether you are a fintech company, bank, or enterprise, Qolo provides the solutions you need to simplify and optimize your financial operations.
Join the future of payments today. Visit Qolo's website or contact their team to learn how they can help your business grow. To follow Patricia (Mellett) Montesi on LinkedIn, click here.
.svg)
