We all know that Santa Cruz is a magnet for creative people who seek challenging careers balanced with outdoor activities and lifestyle. Santa Cruz Works was excited to meet our newest community member: Allison Steitz who has been hired by PayStand.

SCW: Where do you hail from?

Allison: I was born and spent most of my childhood in New York. When I was 10, my parents moved us to San Diego where I spent the next 10 years enjoying being bi-coastal.

SCW: And then…

Allison: I went back to the east coast to study political science and math at Wellesley College.  I studied and worked abroad in Cape Town, South Africa, where I was inspired by impact investing.  I could see how investing into companies and organizations focusing on social good are essential for my generation and the next.  After graduating, I worked for Quona Capital, a venture firm investing in growth-stage financial technology startups in emerging markets.  2 years later, I moved to San Francisco to work for BlueRun, which is the Series A lead investor in Paystand. I also volunteered as a board member for Oakland-based Zoo Labs, which empowers artists to be capable entrepreneurs by directing resources towards their ventures. In 2020, I moved to Mexico to help bootstrap an ultrasound education technology startup, which has since evolved to Daisies, a telemedicine platform for women in Mexico & Latin America. 

SCW: How did the PayStand door open for you?

Allison: At BlueRun, I was inspired by how consistently Paystand delivered on its ambitious goals. I met Jeremy, the co-founder and CEO, and could see how his leadership style, which balances ambition and vision with humility and love for life, has gotten the company to where it is today. Jeremy called me one day and invited me to join and solve some growth problems for the company.  In June 2021, I moved to Santa Cruz. 

SCW: What do you think of Santa Cruz?

Allison: Working at PayStand has been fantastic. Living in Santa Cruz was a huge bonus that I did not expect. The beauty of the ocean, the coastal mountains, the community is more than I could imagine.

SCW: What is it like to work at PayStand?

Allison: Fun and challenging, two of my favorite combos in life :).  I love working for a company that is focused on reinventing commercial financial infrastructure to give businesses radically better economics. Paystand’s core product is focused on helping businesses realize their revenue in a faster, cheaper and more scalable way. I’ve had the privilege of working on Paystand’s DeFi Corporate Card, which is a business expense card that offers next-gen spend management tools and rewards exclusively in crypto. We’re helping businesses earn and use bitcoin everyday in a low-risk environment, while also getting tighter control over their corporate spend.  

SCW: What do you have planned for the next 30 days?

Allison: I’m onboarding new businesses every day onto DeFi Corporate Card, and hoping to get a few local Santa Cruz companies to try it out. The product enables you to instantly provision virtual and physical cards, restrict spend with advanced controls, track expenses in real time, and earn 1% back in bitcoin on every purchase. We are running a promotion with DeFi Corporate Card where we’re doubling the bitcoin rewards for anyone who signs up and spends more than $10K in the next 30 days. If you're interested, you can learn more here and sign up here. In addition to this, I’ll also be surfing, hiking and trying to find ways to help Santa Cruz Works as much as I can :)