It is the golden age of accounting technology. Never in the history of the industry have there been so many tech companies building software for accounting firms. Not in-house accountants, but firms. It’s amazing.
The reason for this is more nuanced than it might seem. Before I started Ping Assistant (one of those tech companies for firms), I was a partner at a venture capital (VC) fund I started here in Utah. We raised $100m to invest in early-stage software.
It gave me a lot of insight into the dynamics of running a software company.
Here is an overly simple breakdown of what VCs looked for 4 years ago:
VCs need to find businesses that can achieve 100x returns on their money in 7-10 years.
So how does this relate to accounting tech?
VCs weren’t looking to invest in tech for accounting firms. It wasn’t a “big” enough problem. On top of that, accountants as a whole tend to require a software to be in the market for 2-3 years before they even begin to trust it.
That is incredibly hard to underwrite as a VC, so founders with good ideas wouldn’t get money. Either they had to bootstrap or pivot to a fintech tool.
That’s why you’ll notice some of the best accounting firm-specific software are bootstrapped. Truss and Financial Cents are two that come to mind. The other tools that raised money, like Double, are insanely powerful for an accounting firm, but they were able to raise money since they are servicing internal finance teams as well.
Then AI development came, and everything changed.
What would have required a team of 5-10 engineers only needed 1-3 engineers, and building software got a lot cheaper. Founders could raise less money and build faster, opening markets that were never seen as feasible to build in.
Now, a founder who has an idea can make it a reality at a fraction of the cost and twice the speed. This was my story of starting Ping.
When I first started Ping, I vibe-coded my vision of Ping. Nothing worked, but I could click around on a demo, and it looked really good. I started talking to all my accounting friends, showed them my new app, and listened to things they wanted to see in the product.
After each meeting, I would vibe code their feedback into Ping and talk to the next person. What normally would have taken a minimum of 6 months and $60k took me $20 and two weeks.
Once I got the app to a state I felt firms would want to buy, I found co-founder Chad Holmes, who could actually build the software, and we were off to the races. With our two skill sets, we didn’t need to go raise a monster round of funding. It’s a type of flexibility we’ve never seen before.
Stories like ours are becoming more common in the industry, which is great news. This influx of tech-founders is giving firms more options than they’ve ever had before.
What has traditionally been a more stagnant industry of legacy players dominating the market is having a renaissance of new players working tirelessly to build products that firms want to buy.
I’ve been working as a tech guy in the accounting industry for the last 8 years. And something I’ve noticed is that firms are often unwilling to change. A large number of firms have been operating with the mindset of “it works.” While traditionally that mindset has merit, I believe it breaks down with such a large step change as AI.
Entire business models are being challenged, and firms that would have been uninterested in new technologies are now actively exploring what is out in the market.
Clearly, I am biased, but outside of my motivations, I am seeing firms evolve. Firms that would have historically told me to kick rocks are now embracing new technologies and wanting to figure out how to future-proof their firm.
The continued growth of groups like Woodard is indicative of the market and how firms are excited to embrace this new wave of technology.
All of this to say, it’s a great time to be a tech-forward accountant. You have more people building software for you than ever before. Enjoy!
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