On the TechTO stage ×2
Michael Back of HonkMobile presents Payment Isn't The Problem
Watch on YouTube ↗
Michael Back of Honk presents In the Beginning
Watch on YouTube ↗First seen on the TechTO stage in 2015. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Michael ↗
In their words
People think payment is the problem. Payment isn't the problem — confusion, trust and convenience are the problems.
A lot of people think innovation equals technology. I would argue innovation does not equal technology — technology is an enabler of innovation, it is not the innovation itself.
The business really took off when we saw that, hey — we're not a payment app, we're really the last mile for a mapping app.
Around the web ×1
Quick answers
What is Michael Back known for?
Founding HONK in 2013 and running it since — the app and platform for finding and paying for parking, now used across North America. Before HONK he spent 12 years in credit card processing, building a company that handled $1.8 billion in transactions for 16,000 customers.
How did Michael Back sell the same company twice?
He sold his credit card processing business to Heartland Payment Systems in 2008. Six months later Heartland was the victim of the largest credit card security breach of the time, which let him take the company back. He grew it through the crash and sold it again, to U.S. Bank, in 2013 — then left after four months.
How did HONK start?
With a baseball game. Back has said the idea came from an afternoon in 2013 when he was rushing to get to a game and parking was such a hassle he decided there had to be a better way. He funded roughly $800,000 of it himself before raising a $3 million seed round in October 2015.