Zūm Rails is reshaping how businesses handle payments, and co-founder and CEO Miles Schwartz has been at the centre of its story from day one. From early viral posts on LinkedIn to high-profile US partnerships, the company’s marketing has evolved alongside its growth.
What started as storytelling about milestones and founder struggles has matured into a mix of product showcases, PR and market validation, helping Zūm Rails build credibility, attract enterprise clients and establish a foothold in the US.
It’s a lesson in how marketing can grow with a business, blending human stories with real-world impact.
The power of narrative
Schwartz notes that Zūm Rails’ marketing initially centred on storytelling, an approach he stumbled upon quite accidentally after a LinkedIn post went viral.
The post attracted hundreds of thousands of views and widespread praise, prompting Schwartz to double down on sharing the journey of building Zūm Rails, including the successes, milestones and the underdog story that resonated so strongly with audiences.
“I became very active on LinkedIn. People were reaching out left, right and centre saying they couldn’t believe how well we were doing,” he recalls.
“I know now, in 2026, storytelling is very common but in 2020/2021 nobody was doing it,” he adds. “I was sharing every part of the journey, every success, every hurdle, things I’ve learned before it was a mainstream thing to do.”
That focus on storytelling proved powerful, generating dozens of inbound leads every month and helping propel the company to its current position.
However, as Zūm Rails has grown, hwartz says the strategy has shifted. The company no longer seeks dozens of small inbound leads each month, instead focusing on enterprise deals and ISV partners.
The reason is practical because integrating twenty smaller deals is far more resource-intensive than handling one or two larger agreements
“You would think integrating a client that’s smaller would be easier, but it’s not. They have much less experience. The developers are less experienced. Their integrations teams are less experienced. So we were actually had an opposite problem,” he explains.
From storytelling to showcasing
As a result of this growth, Zūm Rails has entered the next stage, with Schwartz now focused on showcasing the company’s work.
“We do PR and talk about our large brand deals and use cases. We’re actually rebranding the marketing and the LinkedIn story because instead of being the underdog, which inspires a bunch of smaller companies and startups to reach out, we’re now rebranding to talk about milestones and also videos of how the product works with the use case and really showing the platform,” he explains.
He stresses that this new strategy doesn’t replace storytelling but builds on it by celebrating milestones on LinkedIn while also demonstrating the product in action.
He notes that maintaining storytelling is important because it humanises the company, though striking the right balance is key.
“If it’s just the product, it’s too niche and you don’t get people’s attention. If it’s only storytelling and talking about the founder, people ask ‘what do you guys do?’ They care what’s in it for them,” he explains.
Schwartz describes the approach as a “perfect balance of doing all of it together.” In the beginning, it was pure storytelling focused on hyping the company and validating its existence.
That foundation is now established, so the focus has shifted. “Now it’s like, why would someone want to use the product? What’s going to motivate them to buy it? It’s not just about eyes or rally anymore. Now it’s about really showcasing the product,” he says.
Evolving for the US market
This focus on PR and showcasing the product has supported Zūm Rails’ growth not just in size, but also during its expansion into the US.
Schwartz notes that, drawing on his experience from a previous venture, once the proposition was built, initial success was expected. The challenge, he says, was building trust in a new market.
Another hurdle was perception. Schwartz didn’t want Zūm Rails to be seen as a Canadian company trying to enter the US; instead, it needed to be viewed as a US-based company that understands customers’ pain points and is there to solve them.
This commitment even extends to his personal life. Schwartz and his co-founder moved to Miami a year and a half ago, raising their families in the US and fully embracing American life.
“We’re boots on the ground so we’re not positioning ourselves anymore as the Canadian company,” he says. “Our focus is the US, we understand the opportunity in the US and we don’t want to be the Canadians trying to launch in the US.”
PR has been a key tool in achieving this. As Zūm Rails partners with well-established US companies, its PR strategy ensures these stories reach US publications.
For example, when Zūm Rails partnered with Mastercard to become a card issuer, the approach generated multiple news stories, dozens of client inquiries, and two dozen sign-ups.
This traction is helping the company gain market validation. Consumers are recognising the brand because they see it partnering with some of the largest players in the industry.
From its early days of viral storytelling to a more balanced focus on showcasing the product and celebrating milestones, Zūm Rails has evolved its marketing to match the company’s growth. Strategic PR and partnerships have strengthened credibility, particularly in the US market, while maintaining the human element that first captured attention.
Together, these approaches have helped the company build trust, attract enterprise clients and position itself for sustainable expansion, demonstrating that storytelling and substance can work hand in hand to fuel long-term success.