Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Advisor Spotlight: Supriya Shanbhag

Posted by christian.aniciete | Start the discussion

Every business owner’s journey is different, but Portland Community College Small Business Development Center (PCC SBDC) Business Advisor, Supriya Shanbhag, believes one thing remains constant: business owners don’t have to figure it all out alone. In this Q&A, she reflects on her own path from software engineer to business advisor, shares the trends she’s seeing across the small business landscape, and offers practical advice for entrepreneurs looking to build resilient, thriving businesses.

Tell us about your journey in small business and how it shapes your advising style.

I started my career 25 years ago as a software engineer, aspiring to build user-friendly technology. In 2005, I built a software accounting application for small businesses that is an alternative to Quickbooks. I partnered with small businesses from different industries who shared their business needs and goals and partnered with me to help create this user-friendly app that is still being used by more than 500 businesses.

I discovered my passion for collaborative systems design, strategic problem solving and the commitment to assisting businesses to become successful. The software app helped in breaking the barriers to understanding business financials, enabling business owners to become organized and hugely improved their strategic decision making. The impact of those projects inspired me to learn all about communities, collaborative problem solving, business systems, administration, financial analysis and access to capital.

Over a span of 20 years, I have advised numerous entrepreneurs working in various industries and facing all kinds of challenges. I discovered the exceptional grit, courage and perseverance of entrepreneurs combined with strategic advising and relevant education was the key to sustained success. My advising style is about collaborative partnership with the business owner, bringing my inter-disciplinary knowledge and experience to advising, education evolving with market needs and the commitment to learning and excellence in whatever we do.

What’s a common challenge you see small business owners face and how do you help them push through it?

Small business owners possess a grit and stamina that is built through incredible hard work, numerous sacrifices of time, energy and resources and commitment to self, family and to their employees. A common challenge is the lack of strategic advising and support to make the right decision at the opportune time. Due to the sheer weight of tackling numerous tasks within their business and getting it all done, the business owner faces the challenge of burn out and not being able to objectively assess the financial and operational health of the business. This often leads to lack of timely decision making, decisions based on insufficient information or worse decisions based on incorrect data. All of these lead to fractures and losses to the business or worse – failure to thrive.

Through objective and in-depth assessment of the business, I assist businesses to see the current reality of their business – strengths and challenges and guide them to create strategic plans on strengthening what is working well and addressing the challenge areas. Through regular advising, education and sustained commitment from the business owner, I see the implementation of the plans yielding success in many areas in the business and the owners come back with measurable outcomes such as increase in sales, cost control, increase in recruitment and retention of customers, organized accounting and financial management, improved operations and enhanced decision making.

What’s one piece of advice you wish every entrepreneur would hear early on?

Know your strengths and limitations well! Stay rooted in your strengths and reach out to experts to help you with the challenge areas. Don’t wait for problems to get big, reach out for help at the first sign of a problem. Collaboration and cooperation create lasting success.

How do you stay sharp and keep your advising relevant?

Listening keenly to what business owners tell me and what they are not telling me but needs to be heard! Continuous education of evolving needs of the business owners, customers and economic landscape. Collaborating with partners and creating a strong economic landscape together.

Let’s talk about this year. What have been some small business highlights and/or challenges you’ve encountered as an advisor?

As it happens every year, I love every bit of working with business owners. This year, I have been seeing a huge increase in startups in Washington County, many of which are tech-based, manufacturing, import-export and AI-enabled businesses. The layoffs in our area have created a big opportunity for highly skilled individuals from the high-tech sector to find entrepreneurial opportunities in many industries. As an advisor, it has been very exciting to work with individuals who are subject matter experts and ready to take it to the next level. The challenge that we face with such a huge influx of startups is the necessity for business owners to work with business foundations and consistent grounding in market reality. At the SBDC, all our advisors are trained in maintaining focus and efforts on building long-term sustainability and growth that will prove useful to entrepreneurs in this trend.

Another trend I have been seeing is many young people out of community college or while attending PCC, are creating entrepreneurship opportunities using AI and tech-enabled apps. Many of these startups have very little overhead as most of the operations can be done virtually and with use of virtual assistants. To integrate advising with the evolving market need of AI, I undertook AI upskilling education and am learning the safe and ethical use of AI for entrepreneurs. AI is a rapidly evolving technology so we are witnessing an unprecedented movement in the entrepreneurial landscape. As an advisor, I focus on learning the new technologies and integrating these evolving models into our robust foundation that focuses on long-term sustainability and growth.

Due to market shifts and increased supply chain costs, many businesses are facing hardship. This is an opportunity to stabilize and reassess core strategies and as an advisor I am helping small business owners pivot and be creative in adopting strategies that can help them ride the market shifts and control their costs. Not all businesses were able to sustain themselves and some of them had to close down and we worked on enabling a constructive exit.

Outside of advising, what lights you up and brings you joy?

I am deeply spiritual and seek to understand who we are, why we are here and what is life all about. I love my children who are my joy and my labor of love! I love music and experience great joy in singing and dancing. I love plants and animals. It brings me great joy to make this world a better place and to see all beings thrive.

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