Vanessa Kruze, CPA
Our clients have secured over half a billion dollars in seed and venture funding in the past 12 months. Top tier VCs trust our clients’ books, and Kruze knows how to prepare startups’ financials for VC due diligence. Our clients know that they’ll be ready for their next round.
On average, one to two of our clients are acquired every month. Our team has experience producing accounting and tax due diligence requests for the biggest public companies. Every month we help founders navigate the most important transaction of their life.
Right now, our clients are saving almost $5 millions in cash expenses from our R&D tax credit work. Our startup tax experts know how to help startups navigate taxes to reduce their burn. Hundreds of funded startups trust Kruze to deliver the right advice, on time, at a reasonable price.
Kruze only works with funded startups - we know what it takes to raise that next round, and we'll help you get there.
Monthly costs vary based on your needs and company expenses.
Ideal for angel funded companies
Starting at $275 per month
Great for busy founders
Starting at $350 per month
Ideal for high-growth, well-funded businesses
| Staff Accountant | $85 |
| Senior Staff Accountant | $110 |
| Controller | $140 |
| Financial Modeling | $300 |
| Venture Debt | $300 |
| CFO | $300 |
| Tax Advisory | $395 |
Kruze's calculator tells you how much it will cost to prepare your startup's tax return.
Save on payroll taxes this year
We charge a fixed fee of 15% of the anticipated captured credit amount with a minimum fee of $2,000
| Seed | $1,500 |
| Seed A | $2,000 |
| Seed B | $2,500 |
| Seed C | $3,000 |
Interim CFO
Raising capital or beginning hyper-growth? Our CFOs provide valuable guidance.
Bookkeeping
Professional CPA's & Automated Systems deliver books that you and your investors can trust.
Financial Modeling
We build financial models that have been used to close venture rounds with top investors.
409A Valuation
High speed, low-cost valuations for pricing stock options.
VC Support
We'll help you be prepared for your next Venture Capital round.
R&D Tax Credits
Cut your burn with a R&D Tax Credit study.
Tax Compliance
Yearly tax returns, ongoing tax & compliance for seed and venture funded companies.
Human
Resources
We'll help you set up essential HR and payroll systems so you can scale from 1-100 employees.
Our clients are saving almost $5 millions in payroll taxes this year due to our tax team’s R&D tax credit work.
Unprofitable startups can seriously reduce their burn rate - up to $250,000 per year.
Is your early-stage company ready to work with a tax expert?
The Kruze Consulting R&D Tax Credit Calculator is designed to estimate your R&D tax credit using Federal Form 6765
We've put together this calculator to help you estimate the cost of preparing your startup's return.
This calculator is designed to estimate your Delaware franchise tax.
Over 200 early-stage focused Q&A, 180+ blog posts and research reports and over 100 podcasts with venture capitalists, founders, attorneys and more!
Kruze's Top Blog Posts for Startups about Accounting, Finance, HR and Tax:
Kruze answers every Accounting, Finance, HR and Tax Question faced by early-stage companies.
Concerned about your 2020 Tax Deadlines?
We've done the work for you with these 2020 Tax Compliance Calendars.
Check our 2020 Tax Deadlines For C-Corp Startups or Click for your customized compliance calendar by city
It’s not just about getting the books right. As a registered CPA firm 100% focused on serving funded startups, we provide the advice our CEOs need.
96%
* Data for prior month
We're huge fans of Vanessa and the folks at Kruze Consulting. They set up our books, finances, and other operations, and are constantly organized and on top of things. As a startup, you have to focus on your product and customers, and Kruze takes care of everything else (which is a massive sigh of relief). I highly highly highly recommend working with Vanessa and her team.
Kruze's financial infrastructure empowers me to focus on my team, our products, and our customers. As an entrepreneur I couldn't be happier.
Avochato has been growing rapidly in the past year – in fact, too quickly for us to keep up with books, taxes, and budgeting for growth. Partnering with Kruze Consulting has been fantastic to manage, track, and analyze our finances while we continue focusing on building our customer base. Kruze’s team knows what startups need.
I had a great experience working with Kruze Consulting when we raised Series A. They know what VCs need to see, and how to present a startup’s books and finances. If you are going to raise venture capital, you need experts like Kruze.
Kruze Consulting is the perfect Accounting, Finance and Tax partner for Los Angeles Startups. Kruze delivers exceptional monthly reporting and financial projections. When we need help with benefits or payroll, Kruze solves our problems. Kruze does our taxes for a fraction of what previous accountants have charged. Thank you Kruze for being a great partner.
Being a repeat tech entrepreneur, I know how challenging it is to find the ideal CFO - not only is it often expensive to find the right one, but CFOs who combine expertise with scrappiness, market vision and perspective with detail orientation and 'roll up your sleeves' execution is near impossible for an early stage company. So I've been thrilled to work with Kruze Consulting, who not only provide all the ideal characteristics of a top-tier tech CFO, but also live and breathe entrepreneurship themselves. I've known Scott and Vanessa for many years and their deep personal integrity and strong reputation in the industry and made it an easy decision to work with them again.
NIH, NSF, and SBIR grant compliance can add a lot of overhead for a start-up. The Kruze team makes it easy, so we can spend our time growing the business instead of shoveling paperwork.
As a startup, it’s incredibly important to keep track of where our money is coming from and where it’s being spent. Kruze Consulting really helps keep our books and taxes in order so that we can focus on the core business. Extremely responsive and very professional, the accountants at Kruze Consulting are a pleasure to work with. We’d highly recommend their services.
Deloitte Alum
Former Startup Controller
Lover of bad reality TV
Kellogg MBA
Former VC Partner and Investment Banker
Espresso junkie
University of Maryland
CPA. KPMG and Oracle alumnus. I've lived in three countries, 10 states and the District of Columbia.
Loves cooking, swimming, scuba diving and yoga
USC MBA (go Trojans!)
Former North American Head of Finance @ Xero, Former Corp. Controller @ NASDAQ listed company
I've climbed to the top of Mt. Olympus
Dartmouth, Wharton
Atlas Venture, Summit Partners, Sunrun
Pizza lover
Clemson University
Avid Triathlete
Tuskegee Univesity (under) Mills College, MBA (Grad)
IRS Enrolled Agent, Deloitte Alum, Intuit Alum, Former SFSU Adjunct Instructor
Loves strong coffee
Gonzaga University
Former Startup Controller
Travel aficionado
PhD - University of Texas, Austin
USAF Veteran
Emoji practitioner
CCTU (EU) Foreign Languages Graduate
Non-Profit and Project Management experience
Loves short stories writing and appreciates good tea
Kruze has helped hundreds of fast-growing companies find part-time CFO help, and we have a network of finance professionals that we can refer into your company. And, once we are comfortable with a CFO’s qualifications and experience, we add the “Kruze Certified” designation!
Looking for an outsourced CFO for your startup? Check out our startup CFO network today!
Startups are our niche, and our passion. Our clients have raised over half a billion in venture capital financing in the past 12 months. We are one of only a few accounting firms that specialize in funded early-stage companies - we only offer financial and tax services to fast growing startups in the Seed, Series A, Series B and Series C stages.
We know how to de-risk your startup’s next venture capital round. Our team makes sure you are ready to fly through your next VC’s accounting, HR and tax due diligence. And when you use us as your bookkeeper, we set up and keep up-to-date a due diligence folder so you can get that next round of fundraising.
Our practice is built on best of breed cloud accounting software like QuickBooks, Xero, Netsuite, Gusto, Zenefits, Expensify, Avalara, Brex iand Bill.com. Technology makes us more efficient, saving our clients money and letting us offer higher value services like FP&A modeling, 409A valuation and venture debt consulting. Startups deserve to work with CPAs using modern software.
Top angel investors and VCs refer Kruze because they trust us to give the right advice. Our clients are portfolio companies of top technology and Silicon Valley investors, including Y-Combinator, Kleiner, Sequoia, Khsola, Launch, Techstars and more. With us, your books and taxes are in order when it’s time to raise another round of venture financing.
Kruze Consulting works with a variety of funded Delaware C-Corps, but the majority of our companies have secured Seed, Series A, Series B and Series C. We look to partner with our clients, going beyond the typical accounting relationship and seeking to provide a higher level advisory role. We feel honored to be a part of making the world a better place, even if it’s one debit and credit at a time.
Startup CFO services, startup accounting and bookkeeping services, startup annual taxes, expense reports, payroll, benefits: we've got you covered. Custom tailored dashboards can be provided weekly or monthly, depending on your preference and plan. Founders are often so busy building their company that they don’t have time to take care of their finances. Traditionally, these companies have had to work with a basket of people to get their work done, including bookkeepers, accountants, AP clerks, CFOs, consultants, and tax accountants. At Kruze Consulting, our founders have one point person, saving time and money.
We are privileged to serve so many exciting, early-stage clients. As accountants and advisors to these high-growth companies, we need to share values such as innovation and kaizen - while staying true to the standards of the accounting profession.
We hope that Kruze Consulting’s values align with your company’s, and look forward to collaborating with you during your entrepreneurial journey!
We promote the continuous improvement of our teammates, our clients, and our firm.
We seek to overcome challenges through unique and innovative solutions.
We communicate and collaborate with our teammates and clients in a respectful and clear way, while not forgetting to have some fun along the way.
We conduct our work with openness, honesty, and integrity.
We seek to establish processes and systems that are clean, intuitive, nimble, and scalable.
