As payments companies go looking for capital in a difficult climate, they’re facing difficult headwinds. Pivoting toward profitability means building and scaling new products and features that can fatten the bottom line.

The struggles of FIS (which opted to spin off Worldpay, an acquisition it made to much fanfare four years ago), Stripe (which is seeking money at a greatly reduced valuation), and Afterpay (which abandoned a buy now, pay later market amid tough regulatory conditions) underscore the difficulty of the current environment and show why payments firms need to focus on flexibility and smart partnerships to weather the storm.