Looking for a cofounder to replace finance ERPs
I don’t check HN at all but a friend suggested I post here.

I’m looking to find a technical co-founder to replace finance ERPs – starting with accounting for founders of VC-backed companies.

The problem
- Companies have to report financial results every month (revenue, expenses, cash, etc.)
- The requirement increases as funding stage progresses, for both timing and accuracy
- To do this for the prior month, accountants start on the 1st after and have time pressure to deliver quickly
- The average accountant uses 10 tools today to do this
- Context switching under pressure sucks
- Require a ton of resources to manage tools
- Results are late (2+ weeks)
- Results are inaccurate (~80%)
- All this leads to poor decision making

The ideal solution (that won’t work today)
- A better data aggregator won’t work
1. ERP (Quickbooks, Netsuite, etc.) already collects the data, but it sucks
2. No one will sign up for a new or better aggregator. Switching cost is high and accountants are late-adopters

The way in
- A 10x better product for early-stage VC-backed founders. They currently use Quickbooks and outsourced bookkeepers
- Bookkeepers lack business context, aren’t CPAs. All they do is categorize transactions for you (most personal CC/banking tools do this automatically)
- Bookkeepers manage Quickbooks for you because…
- Quickbooks is primarily built for bookkeepers that serve small businesses

Why now
- Easier to build fintech tools today. One can launch virtual cards in 3-6 months
- This is bad: accountants are constantly being introduced to new point solutions without considering the implicit cost it adds to reporting monthly results
- This is good: providing a connected financial data platform will solve the problem, and it’s easier to build today
- Data-driven decisions are increasingly important – making it timelier and more accurate is invaluable
- Accountants and finance professionals are no longer the “budget police”, they’re starting to become strategic business partners that empower the business

Why me
- I joined 3 VC-backed Startups as their first finance hire, taking over outsourced bookkeeping by doing it manually. Built out teams, scaled companies, raised funding.
- I have a strong network of early-stage founders, VCs, accountants, CFOs
- I’ve investigated every part of the accounting and finance stack, for both US and Canada for the past few years
- I’ve spoke with 100+ potential cofounders, and no one wants to touch accounting… :’)

Progress (since I quit two weeks ago)
- 30+ customer interviews
- Landed a handful of paying early adopters
- Received interest for pre-seed funding from a few people
- No website, no product, but I can do what customers need efficiently

My next steps
- Will keep building with or without a cofounder, posting here to give it a shot
- Launch landing page with signup form
- Build with airtable and bubble.io
- Continue to setup calls with potential customers
- Only accept the niche set that I will build 10x better for today
- Apply for YC

About me
- Friends describe me as: intense, passionate, driven, analytical, creative, make things happen
- My Gallup top 5: restorative, strategic, analytical, activator, learner
- I communicate directly, concisely, transparently, and compassionately

About you
- Must: strong communication skills
- Must: don’t hate accounting
- Must: basic technical skills and ability to learn
- Must: ready to commit full-time
- Nice: knowledge in accounting and finance
- Nice: full-stack and can get things done
- Nice: recruiting and leadership experience

Next steps
If you made it this far and are interested to learn more about each other, leave your info here: https://forms.gle/uD4gRcn6qFhFa7MA8

Thanks!