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Let me start with full transparency—I’ve never used tools like Gong, 6sense, or AI-powered chatbots in my day-to-day sales work.

Not because I wasn’t interested, but because my career path never demanded it. I’ve been fortunate to lead sales and business teams across Southeast Asia, working on exciting projects in issuing, acquiring, loyalty, and alternative payments. Yet, until now, AI hasn’t been a core part of my sales approach.

But that’s changing.

I’m not writing this as an AI expert—far from it. Instead, I’m sharing my early thoughts as someone eager to learn, hoping this might resonate with fellow leaders who are also just starting to explore AI’s potential in sales.

1. I Started with Questions, Not Tools

There’s no shortage of flashy platforms and software out there. But before diving into demos or buzzwords, I took a step back and asked: What sales challenges am I actually trying to solve?

• Could we qualify leads more effectively?
• Are we missing subtle buying signals in conversations?
• Could structured insights help us coach our team better?

Only after clarifying the why did I begin exploring which tools might help. For instance, I learned that Gong isn’t just a call recorder—it uncovers insights across hundreds of conversations. 6sense can identify accounts actively researching solutions before they even reach out. I’m still wrapping my head around these concepts, but the possibilities are exciting.

2. I’m Not Mastering the Tech—Just the Benefits

I’ll be honest: I don’t understand how these tools work under the hood. I can’t explain the algorithms. But I do want to grasp how they fit into real-world sales.

Right now, my mindset is simple:

→ What insights can these tools provide that I don’t already have?
→ How can they help my team sell smarter, faster, or more effectively?
→ Can they free up time so we focus less on admin and more on strategy?

I don’t need to be fluent in AI—just in how it benefits my business.

3. I Started Talking to the Right People (Finally!)

Turns out, many people in organizations are already experimenting with AI—RevOps teams, sales enablement specialists, even marketers. Once I started asking around, I realized I didn’t have to figure this out alone.

I also learned that starting small—like piloting a tool with one region or a single sales stage—is completely okay. Not everything has to be a full-scale digital transformation from Day 1.

4. I Gave Myself Permission to Be a Learner Again

This has been the most rewarding part.

Once I let go of the pressure to “know it all,” I rediscovered the joy of learning. Now, I:

• Follow insightful sales and AI voices on LinkedIn
• Read newsletters and blogs from sales tech communities
• Watch short webinars with zero expectations—just curiosity

I even set aside 30 minutes each week for unstructured learning—no pressure, no deliverables, just exploration.

5. My Mindset Is Shifting

I used to think: “AI is for someone else.”

Now I think: “If this can help me and my team grow, why wouldn’t I explore it?”

The truth is, AI isn’t about replacing people—it’s about enabling better outcomes. For leaders like me, that means staying open to new ways of thinking, selling, and engaging.

And if you’re a leader still figuring it out—I’m right there with you.

In Closing

I don’t have all the answers. I’m not even sure I’ve asked all the right questions yet.

But I do know this: Staying curious, humble, and open to learning is the best approach I can take.

There’s a quiet revolution happening in payments—and for once, it’s not coming from Silicon Valley.

London-based Curve Pay has officially stepped into the wallet wars, offering a multi-card, fee-free alternative to Apple Pay. It’s launching first on Android in the UK and Europe (with iOS coming soon), but this isn’t just another digital wallet. It’s a signal—one that could reshape pricing, payment rails, and power dynamics far beyond Europe, especially here in APAC.

So, what’s really at stake? Let’s break it down.

1. The Real Disruption: Pricing Power Shifts

For years, wallet providers like Apple Pay and Google Pay have dominated with pricing models that aren’t exactly transparent. Merchants pay blended merchant discount rates (MDRs), often with little clarity on how much goes to issuers, acquirers, or the wallet itself.

But Curve Pay is shaking things up. By pushing for fee-free NFC access (already approved in the EU, under review in the UK), it’s opening the door to more transparent—and potentially lower—costs for merchants. If more wallets can bypass toll fees and connect directly to hardware, pricing innovation will follow.

And that could force schemes and acquirers to rethink their fee structures. The days of relying on gatekeepers for protection might be numbered.

2. The Rise of Domestic Rails: RuPay, PromptPay & Local QR Codes

In APAC, where domestic payment rails like RuPay (India), PromptPay (Thailand), DuitNow (Malaysia), and Napas (Vietnam) are already thriving, Curve’s model is a wake-up call.

These local systems already offer lower interchange fees and are gaining traction in SME, transit, and government payments. But Curve’s flexibility—letting users assign smart rules or even switch payment methods after a transaction—could inspire these domestic networks to become more modular and interoperable.

Imagine a RuPay card sitting inside a Curve-like layer that works seamlessly with UPI rails. Or national QR ecosystems integrating with a wallet that adds rewards, smart spending rules, or even crypto. The possibilities are intriguing.

3. Schemes: From Control to Collaboration?

Visa and Mastercard have spent decades building secure, scalable payment rails. But with new wallets disrupting the interface layer—and governments backing local alternatives—their pricing and positioning are under scrutiny.

They now face a critical question:

• Do they double down on proprietary rails?
• Or do they partner with fintechs and regulators, offering open APIs and co-developed wallet ecosystems?

Ironically, Curve’s model—which doesn’t issue cards but relies on users’ existing ones—could actually increase scheme-backed card usage. But it would happen outside the schemes’ own apps or experiences, forcing them to adapt.

4. A New Idea: An “Interoperable Wallet Layer” for Closed & Open Loop Systems

Here’s a thought I haven’t seen explored much:

What if we had a universal wallet interface—brand-agnostic—that could integrate not just open-loop cards (Visa, Mastercard, RuPay), but also closed-loop programs, loyalty points, vouchers, local QR balances, and even stablecoins?

A system where:

• Merchants decide the order of payment acceptance (e.g., points first, QR second, card last).
• Consumers set their preferred funding sources (e.g., wallet balance first, stablecoin next, RuPay card last).

This wallet wouldn’t issue anything—it would orchestrate everything. The UX and operational gains for both merchants and consumers could be massive.

Final Thoughts

Right now, Curve Pay is a UK and Europe story. But its implications are global. As fee models open up, domestic networks evolve, and wallet layers gain traction, APAC is uniquely positioned to leapfrog with more inclusive, locally relevant innovations.

The future of payments isn’t just Big Tech vs. banks.
It’s modular, multi-rail, and merchant-first.