Around 12 years ago, I was just getting started and trying to figure things out.

I was based in Uzbekistan, and one of the biggest challenges I faced early on was something very fundamental—how to receive payments from abroad. At that time, the financial system simply wasn’t designed for people outside of the US or Europe, and most providers didn’t even consider onboarding users from markets like mine.

And then I came across Payoneer.

They onboarded me when very few others would and even issued me my first international account and card. And for the first time, I felt like I had real access to the global economy.

That experience went far beyond just having a payment account. It changed how I thought about opportunities, and what was realistically achievable from where I was.

At that point, I never imagined anything beyond using the product to solve an immediate problem.

Fast forward to today and I find myself sitting down with John Caplan, the CEO of Payoneer, on my podcast.

And it genuinely made me pause for a moment.

From being a user in an emerging market trying to access global payments infrastructure…

to having a conversation about scaling a billion-dollar financial operating system powering cross-border commerce.

It’s one of those full-circle moments that you don’t plan, but you deeply appreciate when it happens.

Payoneer did that for millions of entrepreneurs globally. I just happened to be one of them.

Curious—what was the first product or company that made you feel truly “global”?

#fintech #payments