About David Lauber
David Lauber, President and Chief Strategy Officer at Shift4 Payments, discussed the company's growth and consumer trends in a September 2023 interview. He stated that Shift4's guidance, which included 40% year-over-year volume growth at the low end, accounted for a possible mild recession, but added that based on data, "things are still good" and "consumers are healthy and spending." Lauber noted that Shift4 historically focused on in-person experiences like restaurants and hotels, and in the past year and a half expanded into travel, leisure, and gaming, leading to a partnership with PayPal. He described international expansion, including into Europe, Canada, and the Caribbean, as a key part of the company's next evolution.
Lauber also commented on the space economy, identifying himself as a space enthusiast who had been in orbit. He expressed excitement about possibilities in low-earth orbit and beyond, including new energy sources and a future space economy. However, he noted that the shift from a zero-risk capital environment in 2020 to higher Treasury rates made "moon shot bets" more difficult, and predicted a "correction" that would thin out the landscape of space companies.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from David Lauber's recent appearances.
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Transcript (8 segments)
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Interviewer0:01
Joins us now, also a billionaire and a space flight commander, partly from space. Space flight commander. It's good to speak with you today and have you on the show. I want to start with Shift4 and specifically the fact you had this strong guide for the new year. Do you see the economy slowing right now, especially given the fact you have this read on hotels and casinos and restaurants and concerts and other things that are very discretionary in terms of spending?
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David Lauber0:31
Good question, Morgan. Thanks for having me back on. I think our guide is much more about our confidence to continue to win share across all the verticals that we're in right now, which is restaurants, hotels, travel and leisure, not to mention we're expanding internationally. At the low end of our guide, which still represents 40% year-over-year volume growth, that takes into account a possible mild recession. From all the data we're seeing, things are still good. Consumers are healthy and spending, but we put out guidance to cover a range of possibilities from recession to things as usual.
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Interviewer1:09
Talk to me about the partnership with PayPal and how it speaks to the way you're expanding into the payments universe in a bigger way and how that is driving growth.
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David Lauber1:18
For sure. So, throughout our 24-year history, you would find Shift4 in restaurants, hotels, stadiums, basically a lot of in-person experiences where you don't see a lot of PayPal or alternative payment methods. In the last year and a half, we've moved into travel and leisure, gaming, what we call sexy commerce customers all over the world. When you move into that arena, you want to partner with the best. PayPal was one. But as we continue moving into new markets, whether that's Europe, Central and South America, Asia, you'll hear of different alternative payment methods we'll make available to our customers.
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Interviewer2:03
You mentioned Europe. International expansion is a big focus for the company to drive growth going forward. How much does the acquisition being approved and closing hinge on that story?
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David Lauber2:13
Yeah. I mean, Pena is one piece of the puzzle. A lot of our success where we're at today delivering year-over-year growth came to integrated payments, Congress enabling software in payments. It made us a leader in so many different verticals. The next evolution is the 3.0, able to do that all over the world. Europe is a key part of that. It allows us to serve the EU, Israel, parts of Eastern Europe, Hong Kong. But this is just one piece of the puzzle. We're organically expanding into Canada, the Caribbean, looking at inorganic opportunities that will take us to other continents as well. We're focusing on the critical mass. It's just one really important part of that story.
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Interviewer3:08
Of course I'm going to shift gears and ask you about space, especially since you have Virgin Galactic results a few moments ago. Your thoughts on this, for lack of a better term, commercial space moment and this race we're in. Virgin is focused on suborbital space tourism, looking to launch its service this year. Are we at a moment this is finally becoming more mainstream?
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David Lauber3:34
As a space enthusiast, I want to see investments across the spectrum. Having been in orbit for a couple days, I'm excited about the possibilities of what exists in low-Earth orbit and beyond. It's exciting. Maybe new forms of energy source. There will be a space economy. But you'll also have a big pendulum swing. In 2020, you had a huge influx of capital during a zero-risk environment where it was encouraged. When you have Treasury at 5%, it's really hard to make some truly moonshot bets on some of these. I think there will be a little bit of a correction there. Hopefully some of the technology that's developed by some of these companies can make their way into new and exciting companies. But the landscape will thin out, and frankly I think it will come.
