August 4, 2010

When Divya Gugnani (Cardmember since 1995) started her culinary media company, Behind the Burner, in November 2008, she realized that funding was scarce and that being fortunate enough to obtain it, she would need to manage it very carefully.  

She was better prepared than many, given her previous career as a venture capitalist and having advised numerous other start-ups.  Still, she admits “Going in, I thought I knew a lot about owning and running a small business from advising other companies.  It turns, out, there was so much I didn’t know and I had to figure it out quickly!”  

What she learned are some amazing lessons that may help even more experienced entrepreneurs:

• Don’t be afraid to ask: “Being an entrepreneur is a very humbling experience, but it’s the most exciting thing ever.  Erase your ego. If you don’t know something, just pick up the phone and ask someone.  I’m constantly asking and learning from other CEOs, partners and customers about how we can do better.” 

• Be flexible.  “A mentor told me that whatever I’d start out doing, it would turn out to be nothing like that.  He was right.  You have to be able to cut cords and make tough decisions.”

• Focus on results. “As a venture capitalist, I focused on numbers. There are metrics for everything, you just have to find them.  I tell my staff – I don’t pay for effort, I pay for results.  And we’re constantly testing and refining.  This not only keeps my business running, it keeps it exciting.   It’s like being a kid, and every day I get a report card.”

• Focus on cash flow.  “I watch our spending very carefully. So I need a tool that is not only inexpensive to use, but can allow me to check regularly where we’re at in terms of payments received.  About a month ago, we switched to AcceptPay because it gave us all that.  Plus, it’s all online.  With our accounting team in India, I needed something that would be easy to use and could be accessible to a global team.” 

Knowing that she tried other solutions before, I asked why she switched to AcceptPay, and she offered the following reasons:

• Trust in the brand.  “You have to really trust the product and the company behind it before you’re willing to share your financial information, and I was much more willing to do that with American Express.” 

• Easy to use.  “With some of the others we tried, you needed to be either a programmer or accountant to use it.  I have small team and people fill a lot of roles.  No one has time to learn complicated software.  With AcceptPay, we were up and running in less than a day.”

• Expedites payments.  “You can choose a due date for customers and then set reminders, and then easily check the system to see who hasn’t paid.  All of this has helped us get paid faster – by about 14 days on average.”

• Eco-friendly.  “We want to use less paper, and you can be almost completely digital with AcceptPay.  This also helps us save on other printing and shipping supplies, as well.”

• It works. “More than anything else I’d want to say – and this may sound very simple – it works.  You’d be surprised how many tools you can try that just don’t work.  We’ve tried other tools that were too complicated or just didn’t work.  AcceptPay works.”

I thank Divya for sharing her insights with OPEN Forum and congratulate her on her success.  Divya has appeared on NBC, The Huffinton Post, and has online syndication deals with 50 media properties.  Her book, Sexy Women Eat: How to Love Food & Look Fabulous will be available July 2010.

You can learn more about Divya and Behind the Burner at

BehindtheBurner.com.

AcceptPay is provided by PaySimple.  PaySimple, a registered ISO/MSP in association with First National Bank of Omaha, Omaha, NE is offering all non-American Express payment services. American Express is not providing or acting as an Agent for the solicitation of any product for or on behalf of First National Bank of Omaha.

Related keywords