Ask YC: Who Are the Startup Friendly Accounting Firms?

bootload · on March 3, 2008

"... I've heard PG say one key element of Viaweb getting acquired was that they had a top brand accounting firm which gave great credibility to their books. ..."

Where did you 'hear' that? Have you mixed this up with Viaweb engaging a top "PR" firm [0] to get better exposure? [1] It's still a good question though.

[0] "... When we started our startup in 1995, the first three were our biggest expenses. We had to pay $5000 for the Netscape Commerce Server, the only software that then supported secure http connections. We paid $3000 for a server with a 90 MHz processor and 32 meg of memory. And we paid a PR firm about $30,000 to promote our launch. ..." ~ http://www.paulgraham.com/vcsqueeze.html

[1] "... Our startup spent its entire marketing budget on PR: at a time when we were assembling our own computers to save money, we were paying a PR firm $16,000 a month ... Our PR firm was one of the best in the business. In 18 months, they got press hits in over 60 different publications" ~ http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

pg · on March 3, 2008

We did have one of the big accounting firms (forget which) so I might have said in a talk somewhere that this helped us seem legit.

bootload · on March 4, 2008

"... We did have one of the big accounting firms ... I might have said in a talk somewhere that this helped us seem legit ..."

Thanks for the confirmation. I'd never come across the accounting angle before. Was this later in the startup process where some recognition of Viaweb, introduction or wads of cash like the PR firm?

No stone unturned hey. Didn't think you would have to work that hard at it :)

whycombo · on March 4, 2008

I heard it at Startup School '06 - I think at the mixer the night before. I'm curious if any have the flexibility in financing the work that some of the law firms will extend. Thought one of the big four might be in that niche.

bootload · on March 4, 2008

"... I heard it at Startup School '06 - I think at the mixer the night before. ..."

Excellent, thanks. Shows there's a bit more in the talks than the writing , mp3's etc.

skmurphy · on March 3, 2008

If you are pre-funded neither PWC nor EY, who do most of the tech accounting in Silicon Valley, will want to engage. There are a number of part-time, interim, and "rent a CFO" firms who are more appropriate for early stage startups.

Very early on you are better off selecting a small firm to help you with the basics of bookkeeping and taxes until you either raise a real A round (e.g. $4M or more) or have significant revenue. Ask your attorney for a "due diligence" checklist: both funding and acquisition teams tend to look for the same documents and disclosures. The more you can keep all of that straight and documented from the beginning (e.g. purchase agreements, license agreements, major supplier contracts, ...) the easier it is later on.

ojbyrne · on March 3, 2008

Random guess - one of the "Big Five" http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/3003864?f=search

jyu · on March 3, 2008

I was thinking the same. Although now it's the "big 4" because of the Arthur Andersen/Enron fiasco. Viaweb had revenues and was starting to get profit when it was acquired [http://www.paulgraham.com/vwfaq.html]. Perhaps the auditing firm made the due diligence process for Yahoo faster?

fallentimes · on March 3, 2008

But the Big 4 are also notorious for very high fees. I'm guessing it's someone who is affordable enough for a startup, but who has the clout, capacity and expertise to help ensure a successful acquisition or IPO.