My co-founder, Dave Lemley, and I worked together for the better part of 10 years in security and payments software companies. From startups companies such as Wholesecurity (founded by my college roommate, Tony Alagna) and later Symantec post-acquisition of Wholesecurity to, just prior to starting Tabbedout, collaborating with Tony and the Sosa brothers of Netspend fame at MPower Labs/Rev where we developed an international pre-paid debit issuing platform. Indeed, it was this background that bolstered Dave and me as we embarked on the vision to change the way people pay in hospitality and beyond; however, the knowledge of how mobile payments could be attacked, made for some tense discussions as we were developing the game plan for Tabbedout – ignorance would have been bliss yet we would have been slaughtered without this background. Ultimately, Dave settled on a novel approach that modeled a consumers physical wallet in that all data stayed (and still does) with the user only encrypted and password protected directly on the phone. Rather than store payment info alongside millions of other cards, we agreed that the security was much better and an attack much less appealing if the data was spread across all of our users. This was until we began partnering with PayPal and Google these past couple of years.

Today’s (5.15.13) Google I/O announcement that Google Wallet is available at all Tabbedout locations (Android version 3.1.2+) as an alternative to storing your cards in the Tabbedout wallet particularly opens up an exciting new platform for offline commerce and we are excited to be early benefactors. Of course, if you prefer, you can still store cards in our app as that feature remains and is secure as ever, but when you combine Google’s Single-Sign-On (SS) enrollment with the new Google Wallet, our Android users are truly 3 clicks from drinking a beer on a tab that can be viewed in real-time and paid for from the Uber ride on the way home – all the while protecting the merchant from the dreaded dine and dash.

Having spent the bulk of my career in product management, consumer delight is very important and something the team and I have worked hard to deliver. Honestly, the new user experience on Android is about as simple and seamless as it gets when it comes to registering and opening a tab at your favorite haunt or restaurant. Admittedly, I am biased but check it out and let us know what you like/dislike. We realize we don’t have it all figured out just yet but I think this release is going to be very well received.

Beyond the user experience, the security of Google Wallet is a big leap in the right direction for mobile payments. When you add Google Wallet as a payment source with Tabbedout, any card you store online or within Google Wallet from the app is available wherever you go.

Are you a die-hard Amex points freak? Get annoyed when you go to a place that doesn’t take Amex? Not to worry, if that card is in your Google Wallet, you can seamlessly open a tab at any Tabbedout location – EVEN IF THEY DON’T ACCEPT AMEX. What? Yep, that’s the cool part and why I love this model as a security and payments geek. Google Wallet essentially converts your Amex to a one time use Mastercard which Tabbedout sends to the bar – everyone takes Mastercard right? Close the tab using Tabbedout and the transaction magically shows up on your Amex statement as you would expect, proudly processed by your favorite Tabbedout bar as usual. So rather than hand your credit card to a stranger you can store it in Tabbedout and keep it safe or, even better, just use Google Wallet and the venue never sees your card – not event electronically…too cool!

Here’s Google’s blog post from today if you are interesting the other early partners accepting this cool new payment method for Android users:

http://googlecommerce.blogspot.com/2013/05/fast-and-easy-checkout-for-android-apps.html?m=1

http://www.google.com/wallet/buy-online/

What does it all mean? Well, with this, we will have the largest network in the space and Tabbedout is in the catbird seat. Put more simply, we’ve gone plaid!

Sure, there’s a ton of work to do for our little startup and, oh yeah, we need millions of users to follow on top of this network but this is a big inflection point. And it further validates the vision Dave Lemley and I had for the company 4 years ago when we founded the company..

Dave has since moved on to do new things, we have new DNA working to make us a household name and a lot has changed in the industry but in my opinion, our model is what will ultimately reshape how we pay at bars and restaurants when it’s all said and done.

Question is, how long will it take? Not as long if you tell your friends !

Read more here:

press release

My progress here:

https://fathomless-forest-3048.herokuapp.com/

Running our Professional Servies activities and attached at the hip to sales at the time (Circa 2003 – 2004), I was privy to a front row view of a great technical product manager personified in Oliver.  Simply put, Oliver had this great way about him of listening to challenges presented from the field, from sales, from engineering and senior management, processing the issues and coming up with a well thought out plan that would satisfy all constituents that he a) heard their needs b) understood the issues and opportunities and c) that he would get it done – and he always did.

My time working with Oliver continued after Symantec acquired Wholesecurity in October of 2005 when he and I were brought in to help pull Wholesecurity’s detection technology into a number of Norton products.  I learned a lot from Oliver during this period of time and genuinely enjoyed our trips out to Symantec in Santa Monica whether it was grabbing a Kirin and sushi at Chaya Venice, reflecting on the ridiculous hours we’d logged in preparation for the launch of Norton Confidential or just chatting over coffee in Austin about technology, for which he had a passion like few I’ve ever met.

Oliver was always in the know when it came to the newest most stealth startups, new tech trends and especially new features/products from our competition – he loved it it and was a great asset to all of the companies he worked for.

When I recently decided to go out on my own, Oliver was among my first 5 emails asking to grab a coffee and to provide a sanity check (if he wasn’t working for our mutual friend and mentor, Peter Norwood, at the time, I would have asked him to come join Dave and me in the adventure).  Oliver responded immediately and happily met for coffee that week.  As I had seen him do a hundred times before, he listened to my ideas and thoughts about how we’d approach Tabbedout from a business and technology perspective.  He interrupted only to ask for quick clarification so as to not distract from my pitch and, when I was finished, he calmly responded, in that way anyone who knew him will remember always,  with a retort that humbly challenged a couple some assumptions but, and this was perhaps his best trait, came with an idea about what the solution might be rather than just pooping on it which so many ‘Devil’s Advocates’ are prone to do when hearing new ideas.

Oliver was a great connector in Austin as well – always putting interesting and helpful people in touch with one another which he helped me with on numerous occasions during the past few years.

Finally, as a friend, father and husband, the best word I can think of to describe Oliver is genuine.  Those who worked with him witnessed his true interest in you – not himself and what he was busy with – and what he could do to help.  His personality made him approachable on virtually any topic and during our travels I asked him about Lacey and Ryder a lot – specifically, what it was like to balance his entrepreneurial spirit and work ethic with a healthily home life.  Much like in his career, Oliver seemed to excel at perfectly prioritizing his personal life amongst his work life for both of which he passionately pursued success.

As I reflect on the passing of my friend and former colleague, I am deeply sorry for Lacey and Ryder’s loss.  I pray that God helps them through this and blesses them with the support they need from family, friends and the community.  The suddenness of Oliver’s death (believed to be a blood infection as I understand) is a stark reminder of how brittle this life is and the importance of keeping our priorities in order.  A mutual friend and Wholesecurity co-founder, Mark Obrecht, many times said, ‘Oliver loves lists’, referring to his commitment to setting a path, prioritizing and staying the course.  I like to think that even though he has left us far too early, Oliver’s ‘list’ was such that his family, friends and colleagues knew of their individual importance to him and that he wouldn’t regret his approach to his 38 years in any way.

I had a great respect for Oliver Schmelzle and thought of him as honorable, hard working, highly intelligent and, of course, a friend.  The Austin Technology and Startup community has lost a great contributor and we should think of a way to honor him.

Oliver’s remembrance services will be on October 21st at 5pm at the Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, Lamar location, and at 11am on October 22nd at Tarrytown United Methodist Church.

Circa 2002 I was at a local Austin Mexican food restaurant with a few folks from the Wholesecurity team. The food was great as was the service until the end of the meal when it took close to 55 minutes to get the server to come off break, run my card and allow us to leave legally – huge pain point for all involved. Born from this experience though was the idea – that has evolved into what Tabbedout is today – that there simply has to be better way to pay.

During the years that followed, I discussed the idea with only a select few very close friends and one colleague named Dave Lemley with whom I have now worked with almost contiguously for 10 years. Dave, although his modesty would never allow him to say it, is a bloody genius when it comes to hardware (he actually created a working pin pad for an ATM from a picture frame and old calculator one weekend), security software, card payments, compliance and technology architecture – I/we truly owe so much to him for giving us the foundation to build a business from. It was through conversations with Dave that the idea evolved from a hardware device we would place on the table to allow guests to pay their check to a mobile device that would allow guests to open, view, split and pay tabs from their smartphone. We looked at taking the vibrating light-up coaster and throwing a screen and card swipe on it to the Compaq iPaq when it was all the rage – I still own one in fact.

It wasn’t until January of 2009 at my then girlfriend now wife’s apartment that I realized the smartphone and particularly the iPhone was finally that missing ingredient to perhaps make mobile payment for hospitality possible with our model.

Fast forward to August 2009…Far-Field Mobile Payment is born….

What we determined is that for merchants to adopt a new way to pay, it had to be stupid simple for them from a justification standpoint.

• Obvious way to increase their revenue.
• No new hardware.
• No new financial account or changes to their existing accounting processes.
• No walked checks.
• No reduction in tips.
• No compliance issues.
• No unhappy customers.