Diana Birsan
Cofounder, CEO
Diana is the co-founder of Downpay, a Shopify app that brings flexible payment options, like deferred and
partial payments, to high-value, made-to-order products such as custom furniture, jewelry, and home
goods. Before launching Downpay, she was a product manager at Shopify, where she helped build the very
payment infrastructure that Downpay now runs on.
After a brief detour from eCommerce, she reunited with fellow Shopify alum Denis Zgonjanin to co-found
Downpay in 2022. Backed by her three patents on partial payment management systems she acquired for
Shopify, they bootstrapped the company with no external funding and hit $50M in processed merchant
GMV within 12 months of launch in 2023. Today, Downpay is a team of 7, serving over 1,000 merchants
and processing more than $80M in GMV.
Diana is also a frequent speaker at conferences on entrepreneurship, women in tech, and product
management.
Former Shopify Employee is Disrupting Preorders: Why Full Price Up Front is Killing Your Sales w/ Diana Birsan Co-Founder @ Downpay
You’re not losing sales on Shopify because your product is too expensive. You’re losing them because you’re asking for full payment upfront. One Shopify merchant increased conversions by 47% simply by letting customers pay a deposit instead of the full amount. (*Not Buy Now Pay Pater) Flexible payments aren’t just nice to have, they’re a growth lever.