An ATM business built on big ideas — and brotherhood

Brothers Tim, Burt, Jeff, Spencer and Chris Matthews credit their success in business to the work ethic, entrepreneurial spirit and communication fostered in them by their parents.

In a family with eight siblings — five brothers and three sisters — anyone who wanted a vacation, toy or treat had to work to achieve that goal. The brothers took this lesson to heart in creating Grant Victor, today the parent company of ATMequipment.com, OptConnect, TetraLink and eGlobal.

"At an early age we had to learn how to share and work together," said Burt Matthews, a Grant Victor co-founder and board member. "But what was instilled in us more than anything else was hard work and good communication. That's the secret to our success."

Burt and Tim Matthews both owned convenience stores in the mid-1990s. In 1997, they purchased their first ATM, a Triton 9600. Before long, some of their fellow convenience store owners reached out to them about placing ATMs in their stores as well, so Burt and Tim began selling the machines. Eventually, they sold their stores and formed eGlobal to focus on ATM placement.

The brothers quickly discovered that one of the biggest pain points for ATM operators was the lack of a one-stop shop for ATMs, parts, repairs, paper and technical support. In 2003, they decided to fill that gap, opening ATMequipment.com, a company that offered everything an ATM operator could need all in a single online store.

The company catered to all — even customers without a processing contract — and allowed purchases via credit card. Within a few years, ATMequipment became the largest ATM distributor in the United States.

The brothers saw yet another opportunity with the introduction of wireless communications for ATMs. Several solutions were available, but they were expensive and generally unreliable. So, in 2010 the Matthews' launched OptConnect with their own solution created specifically for ATMs.

Through all of this growth, the Matthews family continued to believe in the importance of family values — both inside and outside of the business. The company culture has always revolved around six core principles:

• Commitment to each other's future
• Honesty
• Safety
• A passion for customer service
• An eye for opportunity and innovation with precision
• Getting things done right

"Because we are siblings working together, we always remember that family comes first and strive to keep in mind that 90 employees and their families are counting on us to make the business a success," said Spencer Matthews, who serves as president of ATMequipment.com.

"We work hard to respect the fact that everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, working with each other and our employees to leverage individual skills and talents," said Jeff Matthews, CEO of Grant Victor.

As an extension of its values, the company launched "Grant Victor Cares," a foundation with the mission of providing help to the people of Africa.

Each year, the business takes a contingent of employees across the Atlantic to help build housing and provide equipment and furniture for African villagers.

They foundation recently expanded its scope to assist with hurricane relief efforts in Mexico and Puerto Rico, using much of what has been learned in Africa to provide storm victims with solar lighting, water filtration systems and more.

Today ATMequipment is one of the top distributors of ATMs for retail placement, and with the addition of TetraLink in 2011, the company now assists financial institutions with their placements as well.

Grant Victor has been awarded the "Best Place to Work in Utah" award for the past seven years running.

"I have often been told that the easiest way to ruin a family relationship is to work together," said Tim Matthews, Grant Victor co-founder and board member. "But I did it anyway and I have no regrets."

Editor's note: Today's feature is the final entry in a year-long series profiling just a few of the dedicated business people who have helped to build and support the ATM industry. The series, sponsored by the ATM Industry Association and written by Alicia Blanda of Blanda Marketing, has been collected in a free e-book, which is now available for download at the ATMIA website.