JustPaid’s mission is to democratize and simplify the professional lives of company operators with their continuous audit between the contracts and bills to pay and allow business operators to receive and track payments, understand their finances with analytics, and identify opportunities. With a focus on ease of use, security, and speed, JustPaid.io’s platform supports businesses across various industries in optimizing their financial operations.
Before conceptualizing the idea for JustPaid, Anelya Grant started out in the accounting space and, with the support of her team, managed hundreds of startups with a collective funding of billions of dollars. Her main goal in her work is to set up processes and systems to help her clients scale fast with no issues on the accounting side, and that’s where the idea of JustPaid was born.
A second-time founder who built a successful tech-focused accounting firm, Grant created JustPaid out of her frustrations when running her own business. JustPaid has since grown and launched into an AI-powered financial controller that automates bill pay and checks invoices against contractual pricing to ensure companies are not being overcharged, a problem that costs companies $12B per year. Companies then save money by continuous AI auditing, receiving insights, real-time contract reviews, and reducing payment errors.
Tell me about your background – what were you doing before joining JustPaid as a co-founder?
Before co-founding JustPaid.ai, I spent over a decade building and running AG Accounting, a boutique accounting firm I founded in Silicon Valley to serve venture-backed startups. It was a wild ride—we grew alongside some of the most innovative companies in the ecosystem, helping them navigate the financial chaos of scaling. I started that journey 21 years ago when I immigrated to the U.S. from Kazakhstan with just $1,000 and no English skills. Through grit, caffeine, and a lot of spreadsheets, I turned that into a thriving business. But as our clients grew, I kept seeing the same pain point: Accounts Receivable (AR) was a mess—unstructured, manual, and a silent killer for cash flow. That frustration, combined with my love for solving operational puzzles, led me to step away from AG Accounting and co-found JustPaid.ai to tackle AR head-on.
What is your specific role at JustPaid?
As Chief Product Officer at JustPaid.ai, I’m the one obsessing over how our platform can make revenue workflows painless for FP&A, RevOps, and CFO teams. My role is all about bridging the gap between customer pain points and product solutions—think of me as the voice of the user inside our company. I work closely with our team to design, refine, and roll out features that automate and streamline AR processes, from invoicing to collections. It’s a mix of strategy, user empathy, and a little bit of nerding out over SaaS workflows, which I love.
What do you like best about your role?
What I love most is seeing the ‘aha’ moment when a customer realizes they don’t have to drown in AR chaos anymore. There’s something incredibly satisfying about taking a problem I lived through myself—those late nights chasing invoices or untangling revenue data—and turning it into a solution that saves others time and stress. Plus, I get to work with an amazing team, including co-founders like Daniel Kivatinos, whose brilliance keeps us all on our toes. It’s the perfect blend of creativity, problem-solving, and impact.
What can we expect for the future of JustPaid, especially in an ever-changing AI landscape?
The future of JustPaid.ai is about making revenue operations smarter, faster, and more predictive—not just reactive. With AI evolving at lightning speed, we’re doubling down on using it to automate the grunt work of AR while giving teams actionable insights to optimize cash flow and forecast revenue with precision. Think intelligent invoice matching, real-time risk detection for late payments, and integrations that tie AR seamlessly into the broader financial stack. The AI landscape is a goldmine for us—it’s not about replacing people but empowering them to focus on strategy over spreadsheets. We’re building JustPaid to be the go-to revenue platform for startups and scale-ups, and I’m excited to see how far we can push the boundaries of what’s possible.
Anything else to add?
I’d just say this: I’ve been the immigrant hustling with $1,000, the founder scaling a service firm, and now the co-founder betting big on a SaaS solution. Every step taught me that chaos is just an opportunity in disguise. At JustPaid.ai, we’re here to turn AR chaos into clarity for every growing business.
