Solid financials help de-risk your startup's next venture capital round. Work with a startup expert.
Vanessa Kruze
Kruze Consulting Founder
Former Startup Controller
Kruze Consulting is 100% focused on helping seed and venture funded startups, and one of our key services is accurate and affordable bookkeeping. Companies that have raised capital from professional investors require a specialized level of bookkeeping and accounting. Investor updates, board meetings, being prepared for that next venture round or the unexpected M&A interest - we know what the top venture capitalists and public company M&A teams what to see, and make sure our clients' books are solid.
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
We've created an all-in-one bookkeeping and back office solution for VC backed businesses using best in class accounting automation. Even more importantly, our team loves what we do and we care deeply about your startup's success. We've got the systems, experience and the people to scale with your business from one person to hundreds, from a half a million in seed financing to your $100 million Series D round.
Our clients have collective raised over $2 billion in venture and seed financing, and one to three of our clients are acquired each and every month. We know what it takes to be ready for the next fund raise - and how to navigate the due diligence public companies conduct when they acquire a venture backed company. Your books will be ready!
Startups need more than a robot to reconcile the accounts, they need a trusted advisor who is in tune with their unique growth path. Kruze's finance and bookkeeping team combines experienced startup accountants with the best off the shelf, and custom built, accounting software. We automate everything but have our experts keep an eye on your financials to catch the mistakes the systems make. As pioneers in cloud accounting, Kruze has been an Intuit Firm of the Future Finalist, an Expensify Emerging Partner of the Year, and is a Gusto Gold Partner.
Venture capitalists don't like it when their portfolio companies' numbers change, and you don't want your numbers to be squirrely during an acquisition. Because we are totally focused on startup business models, we understand the nuances required to get the numbers right. And because we are one of the leaders in accounting automation, we've seen the mistakes the automated systems make. If you are aiming for your early-stage company to become a unicorn, you need accurate books!
Startup decisions are made on tight timeframes. We know that your company is burning cash, and understand how important it is to get the financial data you need to make critical decisions. Kruze's bookkeepers will work with you to find the financial delivery date that works for your needs.
Startup CEO's don't have time to proof their books. Our team conducts multiple reviews on every client's financials - every month. And because we are familiar with early-stage companies' business models, we understand the complexities (and importance) of issues like revenue recognition, ARR, capitalized vs. non-capitalized development costs and more.
Our team loves working with early-stage companies, and we've got the experience to help you make critical financial decisions. And our advice can grow with your company, from simple bookkeeping to part-time CFOs. We have former VC's on staff to help prepare you for your next funding round, and former IRS agents on hand to assist you as you think through the tax ramifications of selling your company. And we have one more critical advantages - we care more!
CEOs of early-stage companies have a tremendous number of things to accomplish. Managing the books shouldn't be one of them! Kruze's bookkeeping team strives to handle all the minutia so you can focus on growing your business, achieving product-market fit, advancing your R&D, hiring, etc. We understand the pressure of running a hyper-growth business, and want to make your financials as easy as possible.
Early-stage companies are rightfully price sensitive. Kruze offers a variety of pricing plans to help startups afford accurate bookkeeping services. Check out our pricing page to learn more.
Ready to work with the early-stage bookkeeping experts at Kruze?
Kruze bookkeepers will help your startup have accurate, up-to-date financial statements that you can use to manage your business’ growth and cash flow. The basic tasks we will handle are the same as what any other quality bookkeeping provider would do - except that we have developed highly automated systems, and our team is experienced handling the nuances of early-stage, venture funded companies.
We think Bookkeepers should provide the following services to early-stage, VC backed companies:
Recording financial transactions - When revenue or expenses happen, it’s your bookkeeper’s job to record these into your company’s accounting system. This probably involves categorizing the “transaction” in a way that makes sense, say a payment to your payroll provider as a payroll expense. Traditionally this work was all done manually, but Kruze is a pioneer is using automated systems to make this process faster (and cheaper for our clients!) By using a combination of off-the-shelf accounting solutions like Expensify and Bill.com, plus custom built software, Kruze can quickly and accurately record the vast majority of your company’s transactions without you or your Kruze bookkeeper having to do anything. However, automation is not enough. Early-stage companies move quickly, and you need an experienced bookkeeper or accountant to review your books to make sure that the automated systems haven’t made any errors. There are particular moments when automated systems are likely to introduce mistakes, such as when employee benefits are changed. Our team is trained to look for specific errors based on your company’s stage.
Revenue recognition - Many companies raise their next round of venture capital based on their revenue growth. Many early-stage CEOs use a variety of dashboards to visualize their revenue. Smart VCs will check to see what the difference is between the CEO’s revenue number and the actual financial statements recognized revenue. Making the accounting statements correctly mirror these dashboards is not as simple as it sounds! Kruze uses automated systems to record the revenue. But, correct accounting relies on more than just data feeds, and our team knows the questions to ask our CEOs for the information needed to produce GAAP revenue. Incorrect revenue recognition is one of the biggest reasons startups switch to Kruze as their bookkeeper.
Reconciling accounts - Companies that raise venture capital need to have accurate books - in fact, a company’s executives typically promise recurring delivery of accurate books to venture investors in the funding documents. Reconciliation is an important step in bookkeeping. This is when your bookkeeper makes sure that the different records balance, and that the money leaving an account (like your company’s bank account) matches the actual money spent. Reconciliation is an especially important part of bookkeeping for funded companies, since investors (and potential acquirer) expect accrual accounting and financials that are close to GAAP. Kruze helps set up connected, automated systems that help do much of this work automatically. Plus, our experienced team does several levels of reviews to help catch anything that the automated systems might miss.
Managing bill pay - Early-stage companies need to carefully manage their burn, and best in class bill pay helps give founders the controls they need to preserve cash. Kruze clients use bill.com, which is a leading provider of accounts payable for companies of all sizes. An automated bill pay system also integrates directly into accounting software, minimizing the amount of data entry.
Preparing financial statements - Investors, board members and experienced founders want to see three important financial statements, usually every month: the income statement, cash flow statement and balance sheet. Bookkeepers have been preparing these financial packets for ages, but modern bookkeepers like Kruze use automated systems. However, not all founders are trained finance professionals, so Kruze’s team knows how to explain what financial statements mean and how important metrics impact a startup’s strategy.
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'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.
| 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 |