In this excerpt from the My First Million podcast, host Sam Parr recounts how he signed up for a Brex business credit card and received a credit limit of $300‑$400 k within about 12 hours, a stark contrast to the months‑long, paperwork‑heavy process he endured with a traditional bank to raise a limit from $30 k to $80 k. He explains that Brex differentiates itself by offering generous rewards, while the newly launched competitor Ramp (based in New York) focuses on analyzing a company’s card spend to identify duplicate subscriptions and other waste, positioning itself as a cost‑saving tool. Parr speculates on Brex’s revenue model, suggesting the company captures a portion of the 4 % merchant interchange fee that Mastercard collects, using that margin to fund credit extensions and rewards. Throughout, he expresses enthusiasm for the emerging business‑card space and optimism about the potential for tools that help companies save money on recurring expenses.
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I signed up to Brex and I got 3 or 400, some hundreds of thousands of dollars in like 12 hours.
Yeah.
Capital, right?
Ramp. Uh, what's— it's Ramp something. It's based out of New York. It's Brex, but from New York, right? Yeah.
I'm into it. It launched today. Okay. So I went, my company, we do, let's say 8 figures a year in revenue. We have 7 figures in cash. I have been using one big bank for a long time, and to get us to raise our credit card limit from $30,000 to $80,000 was a nightmare.
Oh my God.
A nightmare. Yeah. I had to go meet them in person 2 or 3 times. I had to show them my personal Sam Parr's tax returns. It was stupid. I signed up to Brex and I got 3 or 400,000, some hundreds of thousands of dollars in like 12 hours. Yeah. Awesome. And I told these guys and like, yeah, we can't compete with that. They basically admitted it. And I go, okay, well, this conversation is over. Thank you. So I really like this new business credit card space and I'll explain how I think they're making money. But Ramp just launched and what they're going to do, what they said they're going to do is they're going to analyze all your credit card spending and they'll tell you where repetitive purchases are coming through. And I actually mentioned this on the podcast. 3 months ago, I was like, I'm telling you that businesses are wasting so much money by buying multiple subscriptions of things. And I think something amazing can be built by helping you save a little bit of money. Right. That's what this is.
That's like a side feature they have. That's not like the main feature is the same like Brex, right? Like it's like, here's a business credit card.
Well, that's how they're differentiating. Brex's advertising says we will get you better rewards, right?
And this is we'll save you money. Yeah.
And I think it's cool and I'm really bullish on those things. And I think the way they work is whenever a, whenever a customer, when I have my credit card and I go and buy something, the merchant pays a 4% fee. And what Brex does is they go to Mastercard and they go, hey, you guys are getting 4% fee for all this stuff. Give us a cut of that and we'll create more credit card users. Right. And I think that's how they're making money. I'd imagine.
I think so. I don't know. I don't know for certain, but
