Rebuilding the deal desk for strategic embedded finance deals
A global fintech enterprise rebuilt its strategic deal desk so sellers could prioritize the right accounts and deliver consistent, executive-ready proposals across embedded finance products.
Starting point
The embedded finance business inside a global fintech enterprise offered a broad set of capabilities, including card issuing, lending, money movement, embedded wallets, and Pay by Bank. Enterprise interest was strong, but deal execution was inconsistent. Strategic accounts were pursued in pockets, discovery varied by seller, executive decks lacked a common standard, and critical operating model questions, including ownership of KYC/KYB, onboarding, underwriting, billing, fraud, and reporting, landed differently from one opportunity to the next. Sales and product leaders wanted a repeatable way to focus effort on the right accounts and translate complex, multi-product pursuits into clear proposals that leadership teams could trust.
Approach
The client built a practical deal desk operating model spanning account selection, vertical positioning, pitch structure, and internal governance. The effort was led by Bhuvan Maingi in his prior operator role, before founding Strathen Group.
First, the team clarified which opportunities deserved dedicated deal desk support. A deal qualification rubric scored target accounts on a small set of decision-grade factors: vertical and use-case clarity, fit across issuing, money movement, wallets, and Pay by Bank, risk and regulatory posture, access to senior decision makers, and a credible launch window. A complementary lens assessed design-partner value: reference potential, roadmap influence, and pace. The output was a tiered account list with explicit expectations for research depth, executive attention, and cross-functional resourcing.
Next, the team built the materials sellers and product leads needed to execute consistently. Vertical playbooks were created for priority sectors, translating strategy into usable field guidance: ideal customer profiles, buyer roles, common pain points, and practical jobs to be done across product, treasury, finance, compliance, and engineering stakeholders. Each playbook codified a small set of repeatable solution patterns that showed how the platform worked in practice, such as faster payouts and virtual cards for gig workforces, Pay by Bank and wallets for high-frequency billers, and combined card-plus-wallet structures for healthcare-adjacent payment scenarios. Competitive angles and talk tracks helped teams position credibly against specialist providers without overpromising.
To reduce build time and raise quality, the team standardized the sales flow and the pitch spine. Research, discovery, solution shaping, commercials, and the executive pitch were defined as a short sequence with explicit outputs at each step. A standardized deck template became the default starting point for any significant pursuit. It covered client context, the problem to solve, the proposed solution, the operating model, implementation sequencing, and commercial shape. Modular inserts supported vertical nuances, product specifics, and common commercial patterns, so deal teams could tailor quickly and spend time improving the narrative and economics rather than rebuilding slides.
Finally, governance made the model stick. A weekly strategic account session brought sales, product, pricing, legal, and marketing together to review active pursuits, resolve open questions, and agree next actions. Win and loss reviews focused on where the story, operating model explanation, or pricing posture failed to land. Updates flowed directly back into the playbooks, talk tracks, and pitch modules so learning compounded over time.
A disciplined qualification rubric and a shared pitch spine turned strategic embedded finance support into practical, repeatable sales enablement.
Outcome
The embedded finance business gained a more consistent way to direct effort and present a coherent story to major prospects. Over 30 strategic opportunities were supported with structured research, clearer solution framing, and executive-ready decks built from the same standardized spine and modular inserts. Together, these pursuits represented roughly US$10 million in potential first-year revenue across embedded finance programs that combined card issuing, money movement, embedded wallets, and Pay by Bank.
Leaders saw a more even standard of quality across deals and regions because teams were anchored in common materials and decision points. Deal teams reduced rework by starting from a strong base rather than a blank page, and cross-functional alignment improved because ownership and control questions were surfaced earlier and handled in a consistent forum.
Sales enablement creates the most value when it narrows focus to the right accounts and gives teams tools they will use weekly.
At Strathen Group, we think about strategic deal enablement as an operating system: a defensible account lens, a standardized pitch spine for mid-market pursuits, an enterprise pitch that is tailored and executive-grade, and a cadence that compounds learning.
