We invited Deepak Dabhi, CEO of Paykun, for an interview with Most Popular Stories. Let’s get to know about his entrepreneurial journey.
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey as an Entrepreneur
Along with being one of the five co-founders and director, I am the Chief Executive Officer at PayKun and managing the overall operations and resources of a company, I have pursued a diploma in Computer Science.
I am currently living my dream and a part of the amazing product – PayKun Payment Gateway. While graduating we always dreamed of owning a business. Today after more than 2 years we have reached where we are now. We have been providing powerful payment processing solutions for domestic and international Indian businesses at the lowest rates.
Like it is truly said it is more about enjoying the journey than reaching the destination and the next level demands a better you. I can describe my journey as an adventure with a lot of risks in the path. But it becomes all worthy when the best results for all the hard-work is achieved. It is a lot of continuous learning and improvising as per the situation, events and time period. We keep the short term and long term goals before us and accordingly plan and implement our actions to make sure that we achieve them.
2. Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
I never intended to go for employment. Even when I was doing my diploma I had always wished to follow my dreams of starting a business. I knew what my future looks like, I have always seen myself as a businessman. We, the five PayKun founders & directors – Deepak Dabhi, Nikunj Yadav, Vijay Yadav, Prashant Kambad and Nirav Solanki – had started with our first freelancing venture, soon after we graduated in our respective fields. And it also resulted in the inception of the idea for PayKun.
All five of us were having different skill sets, so we entered into the business together; strongly believing that we would succeed and take it to great heights. Fortunately, we all had the same mindset and none of us wanted to take up a monotonous job. This is because we believe that we can get far better freedom of work, the flexibility of time and exploring different things at our own venture than when we are employed as a third-party. It sure is full of a lot more struggles and difficulties, but the beauty lies in these challenges. I was ready for both the good and the worst of being an entrepreneur, and that is the reason I viewed it as an adventure.
3. What was the vision behind it?
Firstly, I wanted to provide a platform for the emerging talent to achieve their dreams. So, they can have the opportunity to grow in their desired field. If I have my own company I could make this possible. We also make sure that our Paykun team gets the same convenience and flexibility that we would expect to have.
Secondly, we have always believed that it is important to contribute to society in any way possible. We faced a lot of issues in getting a payment gateway ourselves for our freelancing business. So, we decided to provide ease of access for the payment processing for the startups and small businesses along with the other types of businesses of India including Education, Healthcare, eCommerce, e-commerce, Service-based, etc. We intend to render the complete package of the products and features related to online payment processing at the most affordable and lowest possible rates.
PayKun aims to bring every Indian merchant under the roof of PayKun. All types of Indian businesses would be able to accept digital payments in the easiest way with all the preferred options that their customers wish to pay with.
4. Describe the services that you offer to your customers and in what way your service is unique?
PayKun Payment Gateway enables the various types of Indian merchants to accept easy, safe and secure online payments through multiple payment options. The merchants can collect both domestic as well as international payments. Paykun Partner Program can be signed up by the developers, bloggers, etc and they can earn lucrative commissions by just referring PayKun to their clients.
It is Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) Level 1 compliant; thus the funds and data are safely transmitted through it. It gives 120+ online payment method options including Debit/Credit cards, Net Banking, Wallets, UPI/BHIM, QR Code, etc. It can be integrated with the website and mobile application supporting all the major platforms like PHP, Magento, Android, iOS, WordPress, Ruby, Python, .Net, Node JS, Java, WHMCS, Prestashop, Opencart, etc. PayKun provides robust APIs and a fast checkout process. It also gives the reason for the failed transactions. There is also the payment retry option.
The PayKun Payment Links and Master Links can be used if the merchant does not use the website or app to accept payments. Also, another option is that a payment button can be integrated on the website or blog. Further, with the PayKun merchant dashboard, it is possible to track and manage the business payments. It comprises the statistics and analytics of transactions, payment methods and modes. Refunds, Payment Links, Settlements, Customers, Reports, settings, etc can be managed and functioned from the dashboard itself. PayKun has a fair dispute team for the buyer and seller protection. The support services for the merchant and their customers are available through emails, live chats, Whatsapp and calls with the soonest resolutions.
PayKun is unique in terms of its transaction rates (TDR) and best customer services. It is giving strong competition in a short period of time. The most important achievement or a unique feature of PayKun is that it has successfully developed in a tier 3 city. It has gained its reputation and is chosen by the various merchants in a short span of time. It is among the cheapest payment gateways and does not charge any extra fees such as set up, maintenance or any hidden charges. It has the highest successful transaction rate of 95% in the market.
5. What difficulties which you have faced or you are facing?
In the inception stage of establishing PayKun, we faced many challenges. The main reason for this was that we commenced PayKun in a tier 3 city – Bhavnagar. So we faced a lack of workforce required to build the payment gateway technology. We hired a team of 15 but it was too small for building this huge setup. And we intended to do all the minor-major tasks inhouse.
The bigger challenge was none of us had any know-how about the Fintech field. First 6 months we only spend on the research of everything. We studied about the technical, legal, banking, RBI and security requirements. Then we started implementing them and gradually overcame the obstacles. It took almost two years for the development of the technology of the payment gateway, RBI compliances, Security Compliances, Server Setups, Legal Requirements, etc. Even in the present time, the development goes on and we are facing different challenges; but the thing is, we have learned a lot and it has become a lot easier now.
6. How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
I always take pressure as a challenge for myself and also an opportunity for new learnings. I try my best to manage it with ease and not to get stressed over anything. I check the intensity of the pressure and how much it is worth worrying about and focus on the solution to solve it rather than stressing about it. Because I believe that wasting energy in worrying will not solve my problems and will only distract me from taking necessary actions.
I always try to look on the brighter side of things. All our hard work has resulted in the growth and development of PayKun. The night shifts, the deadlines, conflicts, everything has given the best results.
7. How do you market your business?
It is necessary to keep up with the trends, thus our marketing strategies include a mix of everything. We reach the targeted group through channels like social media & addressing the queries and concerns from the people on the same, through influencers, sharing the experiences of our live clients, creating a consistent brand and building it, create valuable content on various platforms, marketing through Google Pay Per Click ads and Facebook ads, Email marketing, Official blog posts and Guest blogging is a great way of providing the information to the people and also creating a space in their thoughts. Also, our 10000+ clients add to our brand and there is no better way to advertise than to reach people through our clients who have experienced our services.
8. How many hours a day do you work on average & can you describe/outline your typical day?
I work as much as possible. Flexibility to work in my case from the business point of view is to contribute as much as possible and more than required. There is no particular timing that I have set for myself. But yes, I work flexible hours which leads me to do multiple things at the same time simultaneously.
9. In your opinion what are the keys to success?
I always say this and have implemented it in my life too – Keep Calm and Carry On. Patience is the key to success. If you believe in it, it will happen. The required ingredients are hard work, dedication, and persistence.
10. What advice would you give to someone starting out as an aspiring Entrepreneur?
I would give this message to the new entrepreneurs that things might look impossible or very difficult initially but working on it makes it solvable. You will be able to achieve it if you work hard on your dream. Patience and focus are the keys. Learning never stops but that is where the reason lies. Lastly, starting with and building a strong good team will give you eventual success.
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