- Commercial card rewards incentives like cash back statement credit or revenue share can give startups a helpful revenue stream to offset rising costs as they navigate growth.
- Redeeming corporate card rewards for business travel can make it more affordable to attend industry events with more of your team to strengthen your company’s presence.
- Using rewards points for merchandise or gift cards can equip new hires, support remote work, and fund employee perks without tapping cash flow.
When companies think about commercial card rewards (spend-based incentives, such as redeemable points), they often focus on cash back. That’s a compelling perk. Yet, as startups and serial entrepreneurs gear toward Series A and beyond, they can also capture value using other reward redemption options as a strategic lever to navigate growth. For example, redeeming points for office equipment, business travel or gift cards can help offset costs and provide support for a small, hard-working team.
Here are some real-world examples I’ve seen of how innovation economy companies put corporate card rewards to work:
Add a revenue stream with cash back rewards or revenue share
Redeeming commercial card rewards as cash back statement credit can be a growth hack for startups. Similarly, some fast-growing companies negotiate monthly revenue share with their card program. These returns on your company spend can help offset costs to meet evolving needs (like more SaaS subscriptions, lab supplies or advertising) with less impact on your burn rate.
One startup client using the SVB Innovator Card highlighted the value like this:
Put more business travel within reach using corporate card rewards
Many of us are familiar with using card rewards points to get free flights and hotel stays. Those cost-savings are critical for a growing business, especially when you need a strong presence at industry events. Some conferences now charge over $3K just for a badge. Redeeming corporate card rewards points for flights, hotels and rental cars can help defray the travel costs, so you have more team members attend the show.
At SVB, we partner with Expedia, so clients can use a familiar travel portal for bookings using rewards points.
As a reminder, rewards aren’t the only way to capture savings for business travel. Think about the productivity cost of manual expense reporting and reconciliation. With SVB’s spend management platform, you can automate away the hassles. Your teams can book travel right in the platform, which means the finance team immediately gets purchase data to track spend, with no expense reports needed. You can also auto-enforce policies, such as allowing booking only with approved vendors and for pre-approved amounts.
On the go, employees (with or without a company card) can use the platform’s mobile app to submit expenses and receipts for other travel costs to automate expense reporting. For staff using their personal card on business travel, the system can also automate reimbursements.
And of course, you’ll earn rewards points for all the travel spend on your corporate card.
Equip your teams by redeeming rewards for merchandise
Another strategy I want to highlight is redeeming commercial card rewards for merchandise from top brands. It’s an effective way to equip new hires with laptops, noise-cancelling headphones and other productivity tools without pulling from your cash budget. For startups scaling quickly, this approach can help offset onboarding costs.
Using card rewards points is also a helpful way to boost inventory to ensure remote and hybrid workers use company-approved devices at home. Redeeming points can also fund seasonal or project-based equipment needs.
As a side note: SVB card clients can also lower operating costs with discounts on business solutions for cloud infrastructure, project management software and more.
Reward your teams with gift cards
Providing gift cards as incentives and perks for your employees is also a great way to use corporate card rewards. It makes a nice thank you after a hard push for a product launch or new release. Or you could stack rewards value onto a single gift card to cover the cost of a team dinner at an offsite. Maybe even create a team-building contest with gift cards for the winners.
The point is, your startup can get creative with how you use corporate card rewards. It evolves your card from just a commodity into a strategic tool to support a growing business.
Keep an eye out for a special rewards bonus offer coming soon! In the meantime, learn more about our commercial cards.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are smart ways to use corporate card rewards for a startup team?
Startups can use corporate card rewards as a strategic tool to support hiring, retention, and productivity. You can redeem points for office equipment like laptops, or get gift cards to provide team incentives, or fund meals at team offsites. And redeeming rewards for business travel (flights, hotels, rental cars) can make it more affordable to attend industry events.
How can commercial card rewards help us stretch runway?
Commercial card rewards incentives can offset everyday operating costs by returning monthly cash back statement credit or revenue share from card spend. Or startups might redeem rewards points for merchandise or business travel to help cover necessary expenses without a cash outlay.
How are cash back rewards different from points?
Cash back business card rewards deliver direct savings as statement credit, giving a lift to your available purchasing power and cash flow. Reward points can help offset operating costs with redemption options to meet growth needs like business travel, office equipment, and gift cards as employee perks.
What should we prioritize when using commercial card rewards?
Startups should prioritize reward redemption options that reduce real business costs or support growth, such as essential tools (like laptops for new hires), business travel (to attend key events), or employee support, rather than one-off extras.
When should we use cash back rewards instead of points?
Cash back corporate card rewards may be best when you need an added revenue stream to offset operating expenses and a rising burn rate as you grow.
