Peter Damato

Business Intelligence
Scaling Ecommerce Growth

Family man, founder, inventor and investor, building and exiting businesses at the intersection of online payments, and digital marketing since the early days of e-commerce as Internet Marketing Executive at Microsoft Sidewalk.com in 1996, First Data Corporation's Internet Commerce Group in 1999 and later founder of Deluxe Corporation's data business in 2016 at Deluxe.com.

What I'm Building Book Meeting

Peter Damato in a navy blazer and white open-collar shirt, smiling

The Stack

Seven Years of Deterministic Identity.
Three Phases of Innovation.

Persistent pairs payments data from Merchant Resource, identity resolution from IntentWave and consent management from ConsentWave, with AI agents that turn Meta and TikTok ads into conversions.

Phase 1

Identity at scale

Emerging from Deluxe Corporation, Persistent.id linked cookies to hashed emails across publishers into one consented graph.

Phase 2

Direct merchant access

Persistent then invested in ecommerce and WordPress platforms with direct merchant ties, sharpening accuracy and reach.

Phase 3

Owned conversion data

Through IntentWave and its DaaS products, Persistent works directly with merchants, capturing conversion data at every stage.

Persistent ID Graph

One buyer profile per person, ready to activate

289M+ U.S. Consumers
50K+ Merchant Relationships Across Our Network
12.1M Conversion Signals Processed Daily

Past & Current Ventures

Over the course of his career, Peter has built, co-founded, and invested in companies spanning ecommerce, payments, and digital marketing – many resulting in successful acquisitions, including Cardservice International's NetCommerce Group, AmeriMerchant (which lent over $1B to small businesses), iPayment USA, and AcceptSafe. Today his focus is Persistent, where he's pioneering privacy-first marketing through ConsentWave and IntentWave – his most exciting venture yet.

1998

Merchant Resource Group

Spawned from Peter's days at Microsoft's original web design team at Sidewalk.com, Merchant Resource Group (MRG) was founded on the simple principle to help online business succeed: Mission : Help online businesses be more successful with increased site traffic and improved sales conversions… delivered by a world class team with the best in class products and services
1998

Cardservice Online

Co-Founded Cardservice International's NetCommerce Group, acquired by iPayment in 2002.
1999

Capify (formerly AmeriMerchant)

Co-Founded AmeriMerchant, the largest cash advance payments company lending over $1B to small business since its inception. Acquired by Capify in 2003.
1999

FiServ

Started with Cardservice International (now FiServ) as an Agent, Co-founded of Net Commerce Group, President’s Club 10 years consecutively via Authorize.Net, WordPress Hosts and Shopping Cart Platforms thus pioneering what became the future of the bankcard distribution model… Integrated Service Vendors (ISV’s).
2007

iPayment USA

Founded iPayment USA, acquired by PaySafe.
2012

AcceptSafe

Launched AcceptSafe, acquired by UnitedWeb.
2018

Deluxe Corporation

Joint venture with Deluxe Corporation building a $10M+ book of business within 2 years.
2020

Persistent

Introduces ConsentWave/IntentWave, shepherding a new era of 100% permission based email marketing, built on a privacy-friendly consent management platform.
2025

ConsentWave

In a sea of sketchy clicks, ConsentWave is your ship and your anchor—the first platform to unite privacy compliance and permission-based marketing.
2025

IntentWave

IntentWave is the only Google and Meta advertising solution that converts traffic into consented email + SMS contacts. Transform unknown traffic into verified, compliant leads ready to convert and buy.

Investments & Exits

From 1999-2020

Investments including Klickly.com, Convesio, AcceptSafe and several exits, but none as exciting as what we’re working on now!

About Peter Damato

I’m a founder, operator, investor, and U.S. Navy veteran, and for more than twenty five years I’ve had the privilege of building companies at the intersection of ecommerce, payments, and digital marketing. My career started back in the early days of the internet on Microsoft’s original web design team at Sidewalk.com, and from there I went on to found and help build a number of businesses, several of which were eventually acquired.

If all these years have taught me anything, it’s that there is always more to learn….

Success & Experience

30+ Years
10+ Successful ventures
Navy Veteran

Peter in Paris, in front of the Eiffel Tower

Peter and family by the Thames at night, Big Ben behind them

Peter on a water taxi under the Rialto Bridge in Venice

The Persistent team on a boat at sunset — The Persistent Team2025

Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Navy seal

United States Navy Veteran

Peter began his career serving in the United States Navy aboard the USS America with the Sixth Fleet, where he worked within the Judge Advocate General’s office. His service earned him Commendations from Admiral of the Sixth Fleet during Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, which instilled a lasting sense of discipline and accountability.

Peter has a deep respect for the United States values this country stands for—principles that continue to shape his leadership today.

Chairman, ABCD Boston Celtics Hoop Dreams

Event proceeds support ABCD youth programs, which includes programs that provide a paid job, career development, and mentoring to help under-resourced young people build a better future.