50 Fastest Growing Companies of the Year 2023

Fighting Chargebacks the Smart Way: Chargeback Gurus

The Silicon Review

The Chargeback Gurus co-founders have been entrepreneurs for more than seventeen years and have run multiple successful business ventures. One of the first ventures they started was an international customer service and sales call center. They faced their first chargeback when a business client disputed payments for several months of service. Despite limited available information on fighting chargebacks, they took the time to educate themselves and won every single dispute. With the knowledge gained, they started helping their clients fight and win chargebacks as well. The company’s co-founders saw the tremendous need among merchants for a service that would solve their chargeback problems—that’s what led them to start Chargeback Gurus in 2014.

In addition to helping clients prevent and fight chargebacks, Chargeback Gurus continues to be dedicated to educating all merchants about the complexities of the dispute process, helping them succeed on their own terms.

In conversation with Tim Tynan, CEO of Chargeback Gurus

Q. Can you explain about your services in brief?

Chargeback Gurus is a global, tech-enabled company helping businesses prevent and fight chargebacks to protect and recover their revenue. As merchant advocates, we work for the best interests of our clients, helping them find the solutions that provide the best ROI for their business. We’ve won numerous awards and accolades for our work, including a Stevie Award, and ranking among the Inc 5000 Fastest-Growing US Companies three times.

Q. How do you leverage new technologies to improve customer experience?

Innovation isn’t about pursuing the Holy Grail. It’s about creating and delivering real solutions that provide value to your clients and stakeholders. As the payments landscape has changed, we’ve introduced new tech-enabled solutions that help merchants understand their customers while taking the pain out of chargeback management.

Q. Cybersecurity is the top priority of any financial services company. How do you secure your client’s data without increasing the complexity of the financial activities?

Cybersecurity and privacy are embedded in every decision we make as a company. First and foremost, we only collect the minimum information necessary to provide our services, and all key data elements are encrypted at rest and in transit. Furthermore, CBG adheres to strict security and privacy standards such as PCI DSS and GDPR. Cybersecurity is an ever-evolving space, so we’re constantly assessing our security to ensure it’s capable of defending against the latest threats.

Q. How do you gain sustainability, speed and cost out in order to expand in payments sector—particularly with the small-to-medium enterprise (SME) segment?

CBG grew as a company that supported the small to medium enterprise, and we’ve never forgotten where we came from. As the company has grown, we’ve taken on more large enterprise clients, but we still serve many SMEs, as well. Our biggest advantage has been our commitment to the success of our clients. We respond to their needs, incorporate their feedback, and invest in research and development to expand and improve our products.

Q. What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful leader?

First, the best leaders understand that it’s never about them. Their responsibility is to serve the clients, the organization, and its stakeholders. To do that, you need to have a process in place for gathering input to ensure you always have the best information available.

Secondly, leaders need to make decisions with authority. That requires having the trust of your team and delegating authority in a way that helps them accomplish their goals. It’s also important for leaders to never make a decision that compromises good values. There are times when a decision may have negative effects, but as long as the values are there—integrity, honesty, responsibility—the outcome will ultimately be a win/win for clients and partners. There have been times when we have lost money due to a decision that was right for the client or right for the employees, but we stand by those decisions.

Finally, leaders need to be able respond to new information. They need to know they are going to make mistakes and be able to quickly pivot when they see a mistake happening. One of the major lessons I’ve learned is to be able to adapt quickly, change fast, and to prioritize. To compete and thrive at CBG, we’ve created a culture where both our tech and our people can swiftly adapt to our client needs.

Q. About adaptability, how do you stay relevant to the people’s interests and needs in this highly volatile market?

Many newcomers in the chargeback management business come to the business with the sole purpose of disputing chargebacks. However, the real expertise lies in how well a chargeback company can solve the many payment challenges faced by businesses. You must understand the payments industry as well as the client’s specific problems and provide solutions to overcome these challenges. Businesses rely on us to keep them up to date on the latest industry trends and mandates, and to account for those changes when developing a chargeback management strategy for them.

Q. Do you have any new services ready to be launched?

Chargeback Gurus is always evolving and paying attention on how we can best serve our existing and potential clients. As such, we are constantly re-assessing our product portfolio to ensure we can satisfy our client’s needs, either going alone or through partnerships. CBG will soon be making announcements on new products that complement our current set.

Q. What does the future hold for your company and its customers? Are exciting things on the way?

Chargeback Gurus will continue to drive innovation for our clients with our technology-enabled products and services. We will continue to empower our in-house, world-class industry analysts with the tools they need to be successful. One of these tools includes FPROne, which is our new, enhanced data science tool that provides rich analytics and insights to help win more chargebacks. We’ve invested millions to build a best-in-class platform, and we’ll continue that investment into the future.

Meet the leader behind the success of Chargeback Gurus

Tim Tynan is a seasoned senior executive and business leader with extensive experience delivering financial and operational results across the payments, financial services, and technology industries. Tim currently serves as CEO for Chargeback Gurus, a leader in chargeback prevention and recovery services for e-commerce payments. Tim is the former CEO of Bank of America Merchant Services, one of the largest payments and FinTech organizations in the United States. Prior to Bank of America Merchant Services, Tim was at Citigroup, where he served as the COO of the Global Transaction Banking business, which included payments treasury solutions. Before Citigroup, Tim held management positions and various leadership roles at IBM. Tynan has worked with various non-profit organizations and is currently on the boards of Borough of Manhattan Community College, A Chance in Life, and is the Co-Chairman of the New York Hall of Science. Tim serves on the Board of Directors for Brink’s Inc., and Engage fi, and is the former President and Chairman of the Electronic Transactions Association.