GrowthMatters › Lawrence Tepperman
Who you’re actually hiringLawrence
Tepperman
CEO of Berkeley Payments. Founder of GrowthMatters. Two nine-figure exits, more than $100M raised across ventures, and twenty-five years selling into the United States. The full record, the writing and the press live at lawrencetepperman.com — this page is the short version and why it matters to a company entering America.
Most people selling U.S. go-to-market advice have never personally carried a U.S. number. I have built companies, scaled them into the United States, and sold two of them for nine figures — and I still run one today, which means I am selling into the American market this quarter rather than remembering what it was like.
The record
Berkeley Payments — Chief Executive Officer, current
A North American fintech-as-a-service platform powering branded payment programs: prepaid and virtual cards, real-time disbursements, and embedded money movement across the United States and Canada. Named by Forbes in 2023 as “The Best-Kept Secret in the $245 Billion Fintech Sector.”
K2 Digital — Founder & CEO, exited
Founded and scaled to $30M in annual revenue and more than 100 employees, then sold. Built from zero, largely on U.S. and cross-border demand — which is where I learned that the American market is not a single market, and that the cost of learning it late is measured in years rather than dollars.
80/20 Solutions — President & CEO, exited
Taken from six employees to a private-equity exit. A second full cycle: find the wedge, build the motion, prove it repeats, and sell to a buyer who underwrites the repeatability rather than the story.
Isratech Capital Partners — Founder & Board Member, current
Backs growth-stage technology companies expanding into North America. It means I see the U.S.-entry problem from the investor’s side of the table too — including exactly how a board reads a company that raised on a U.S. plan and has not yet delivered one.
Why I do this at all
I am not looking for consulting work. I run a payments company, I sit on boards, and I invest. GrowthMatters exists because U.S. market entry is the problem I have spent my career solving, and I would rather help a few Israeli companies get it right — without spending a fortune to learn it the hard way — than write about it.
That is also why the number is two or three companies at a time and not ten. Berkeley is my day job and stays my first priority. It works because Berkeley already runs on North American hours and so do I: I made Aliyah in 2022 and Israel is home, but my working day is built around the time zones your American buyers sit in. The hours I put into your U.S. motion are the hours that market is open.
And you get me — not an engagement manager, not analysts with a template, not a partner who appears at the kickoff and the readout. The person who built and sold the companies is the person in your weekly meeting.
Earlier, and education
BMO Financial Group, Capgemini Ernst & Young, Deloitte Consulting, SAS Institute. MBA in Finance & Strategy, Schulich School of Business (York University); BA in Finance & Economics, Western University. Canadian-born; made Aliyah in 2022; based in Israel and working North American hours.
This is the short version, kept here because it is relevant to a company deciding whether to enter the United States. The complete professional record, the press, and everything I write are at lawrencetepperman.com.
One firm rule
I do not work with companies that compete with Berkeley Payments — branded payment programs, prepaid or virtual card issuing, or embedded disbursements in North America. If that is you, I will say so in the first conversation. Anyone who holds an operating role while advising should draw that line, and draw it out loud.