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Who's Who: Frank Capan Jr.

From diet cookies to outdoor advertising, Frank Capan Jr.'s entrepreneurial drive has taken him down many roads. With the recent announcement that Access Cash International, the ISO he helped establish, would be sold to eFunds for approximately $43.9 million in cash, it seems safe to say he has arrived.

October 25, 2001

In fact, he became co-owner and chief executive officer ofAccess Cash International, one of the largest non-bank deployers of ATMs in the U.S., partially because of the cyclic nature of business.

Managing an outdoor advertising company in the late 1980s with Roth, he watched the economy become more and more soft. During that time, Sky-Tracker Promotions downsized from 14 offices to just two. The friends and partners were looking for another opportunity. "We learned business in a manner like taking a drink of water through a firehose," Capan said. "We knew we had a job and an opportunity, but we knew it would be short-lived and that within a year or so we needed to find alternatives. It was the most difficult time I've experienced in my life." But Capan's resilience was always strong, according to Roth, who remembers those trying times all too well. "When something bad happened, he was one of those guys who would make things happen so we could bounce back," Roth said. "I was more conservative. He was sales motivated, and I was about bringing the rest along. He was the sizzle, and I was the steak." Capan took his first close look at an ATM while at a trade show (which he attended to try to sell off equipment from Sky-Tracker). Intrigued, he and Roth began researching the ATM industry.

In late 1993, they bought their first few machines -- then something strange happened. The company's first ATM salesman and technician got lost on their way to install one of those initial machines, so they stopped off at a convenience store to ask directions. The store manager immediately asked how he could get an ATM installed too.

In July, Access Cash announced a branding agreement under which it offers surcharge-free access to 6,500 of its 8,500 ATMs to cardholders of the Ontario, Calif.-based Co-Op Network. Weeks later, Access Cash agreed to sell its operation toeFunds, a processor that had been a close business partner since 1999, for approximately $43.9 million in cash. Last year, eFunds had paid $20 million in cash for a minority stake in Access Cash. Sell the business he'd worked so hard to build? Why? "We agreed to it," Capan said, "because it made the most sense in today's economy and marketplace, and eFunds is well positioned to take advantage of what has been built during the last eight years." Perhaps it's just the end – or beginning – of another cycle. It wasn't all that long ago that Capan and his advertising business were on the ropes, looking for a way out. And there was a time it was even worse than that. Roth remembered what he called "the diet cookie episode" nearly 10 years ago. "It was one of those multi-level marketing things," he said. "You would eat them and fill up and wouldn't want to eat any more. I still have cases of those things in my garage. I made the mistake of leaving one in the sink one day. It expanded to about the size of a pizza." That was one of many failed ventures. So how did things ultimately go Capan's way?