Saturday Startup Spotlight: TaxTaker
Capital Factory’s Saturday Startup Spotlight series, where we chat with an exciting new startup and get to know their story, returns this week with the co-founder and CEO of TaxTaker: Ari Palmer.
With extensive industry knowledge and experience serving hundreds of Certified Public Accountant (CPA) firms and clients nationwide, TaxTaker can provide your firm or startup with a reliable research and development (R&D) Tax Credit program.
Learn more about how their software and built-in support can save you much needed time and money along the way.
Can you pitch your company to us?
Our mission is to empower CPA practices for growth. In doing so, we also aim to improve startups business’s financial health. We do that through our first product, which automates research and development tax credits (R&D credits are our government’s way of rewarding businesses with a dollar for dollar offset against their tax liabilities). I come from this space where it’s a very manual and laborious process— basically designed for Fortune companies and the big CPA firms that service them.
However, when legislation changed a few years ago, it made it possible for startup companies to take advantage of these credits against their payroll tax liabilities. It’s now the #1 non-dilutive source of capital for businesses to continue to grow and scale, but it’s highly overlooked. Billions are left on the table by companies every year. By leveraging our TaxTaker software, we’re able to capture all the data necessary to compute, generate, and substantiate these claims in as little as an hour (versus the weeks or months it typically can take).
We’re also productizing some other business tools that are in the works, but we’re really excited to help accountants help their startups extend their runway the most.
What is the current goal you’re aiming to achieve?
Our biggest goal to date has been to drive more revenue and connect with startup companies, but our primary channel is actually focused on serving accounting firms. We have a private label and license model for those folks so that they can offer our technology to all of their clients, and build a profit center for their own practice.
We want to connect with as many accounting firms and startups as possible. We’re also fundraising so that we can hire a bigger team to serve this large market of accounting professionals. We have closed on angel investments and are now raising a Seed to execute on our product roadmap and win more business.
As a startup founder, what challenges are you facing as you navigate the entrepreneurial world?
Wearing a lot of hats is probably the biggest challenge because you constantly have competing priorities. It can often feel like one task doesn’t get completed by the time another one lands on your desk that seems equally or just as important.
I’ve been very lucky with my team. We’re able to get a lot of things done and I can lean on them, but I’m really excited about hiring more people so we can divide and conquer. The companies and founders we work with are often feeling the same pain points, and joining this community has been exciting because we identify with the same stages of our clients.
What connections are you looking for at Capital Factory? Who would you like to meet?
I want to connect with mentors that have a fintech background or connections in the space because we’re so focused on connecting with accountants and their clients. Also, mentors that have insight on sales and marketing strategies— that always helps.
Mentors that may be willing to join our fundraising round or know an investor who is interested are always welcome. I would love, as a woman founder, to have more women on my team and bring in more women advisors to our company.
What do you want our community to know about TaxTaker?
We’re probably the only company here that puts money into companies’ pockets. In our first 90 days, we’ve helped startups claim almost a million dollars in capital that are going to extend their runways and their financial health. We’re looking to accelerate that value for as many companies as possible, and build profit centers for the accountants that serve them.
Thank you for chatting with us, Ari!
Does Ari’s passion for fintech resonate with you? Are you interested in expanding your team to further your business prospects?
Learn more about our VIP Accelerator program and how to apply.
