Managing the company’s finances is one of the biggest — and, often, most daunting — to-dos for any founder. Fortunately, financial technology (fintech, for short) makes this a lot easier. It can automate time-consuming tasks, streamline reporting to generate insights you can use, and build in compliance.
The problem, though, is that finding the right fintech solution might feel as challenging as manually doing the financial work. A seemingly endless sea of options exist in 2025. How do you know which one(s) will be a good fit for your company and its unique needs?
We can help. We specialize in supporting tech company founders, and we’ve helped numerous companies build their fintech stacks.
Here are a few things we recommend all founders take into consideration:
Stack size
Fintech stack is the umbrella term for all of the different financial platforms you use (an easy tip to remember this: the platforms are “stacked” together). The size of that stack should be reflective of the stage of your company.
Seed-stage startups, for example, usually only need a few tools. We always recommend starting with a base accounting software. Operating with QuickBooks Online might be enough in your early days, for example. As an alternative to QuickBooks, you can explore other options like Xero, FreshBooks, and NetSuite. For bootstrapping startups, we’ve seen some companies use Wave, which has a freemium product that can help keep companies organized.
As you grow, your stack should scale with you. You might implement a solution to help manage A/P and A/R (like BILL) and one to make payroll easier (like Gusto). The right tools to add depend on your finance function’s needs. Your outside accounting firm or any in-house people you hire should be able to guide you here.
By the time you get to your Series A round of fundraising, you’ll probably outgrow QuickBooks or another one of the basic accounting software providers. You might need multi-entity reporting or other more sophisticated, segmented-based functionality. Here, we recommend looking at options like Rillet and Campfire.
There’s one other core fintech component that companies at any stage should have: business accounts. Everyone from major banks to new players in the game (like Mercury) offers tech tools to accompany checking, savings, and credit card accounts. That might include an app so you can deposit checks and track transactions on the go, for example.
Implementation
As you add tools to your tech stack, it’s important to think through implementation. This means getting that solution up and running at your business.
A lot of software providers promise out-of-the-box plug-and-play functionality. That doesn’t mean you should fire it up and walk away, though. Good implementation means taking the time to train your team on how to use the solution’s full suite of features. This way, you’re not paying for aspects that lie dormant.
As you’re vetting software options, talk with that company’s sales team about what kind of implementation services they offer. Some companies call it training, others call it enablement. Whatever it’s named, you’ll be best served by choosing a solution that your team will know how to adopt.
You should also ask about the ability to tailor the solution to your needs.
If the fintech provider doesn’t offer what you need in terms of training or customization, you can hire a consultancy to help you here. That means investing more on the front end, but it can mean the difference between a highly useful tool and one your team abandons over time.
Integration
The bigger your stack gets, the more integration matters.
Integrations mean that the solutions play nicely together. If you have a business checking account that can’t integrate with your base accounting software, you’ll miss out on the ability to pull transactional data in where you need it. Similarly, if your payroll tool can’t feed data back to your other software, you risk that key part of your finances getting siloed.
Fortunately, a lot of the most notable fintech tools know the importance of integration. In many cases, it will already be built in. QuickBooks, for example, has a pre-built integration with Gusto.
If the integration doesn’t exist already, look at the tech tool’s application programming interface (API) offering. An API requires a bit of work from your developers (or developers at the software provider, if they offer this service). But it can help data flow the way you need between the tools in your fintech stack.
More direction: Software for every stage
As you explore implementing and integrating new tools to develop the right fintech stack for your company, sorting through the wide array of software solutions can feel daunting. Fortunately, Akshay Shrimanker, our Founder & President, has some recommendations for you. These are based on what he’s seen work for tech companies at each stage of their growth.
Pre-seed
Implementing the right fintech tools in your early days sets you up for success and scalability. Consider the following options for your various needs:
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- Bookkeeping: Quickbooks Online Essentials, Wave Accounting, Puzzle
- Banking: Mercury
- Payroll: Gusto
- Cap Table: Carta
- Sales Tax: Work with your CPA, as using a platform may work out to be too expensive
Seed stage and/or pre-seed with revenue:
In this phase, it’s time to add a solution that allows your company to spend.
You might also start to hire international employees. Once you do, a more sophisticated payroll provider like Rippling or Deel can help you manage the many considerations that come with global hiring.
Shrimanker has some recommendations in that category.
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- Bookkeeping: Quickbooks Online, Puzzle
- Banking: Mercury, Rho
- Treasury/Cash Management: JPMorgan Chase, Rho, Meow
- Spend Management: Rho, Ramp, Brex, BILL
- Payroll: Gusto, Rippling, Justworks — or, if your workforce is now global: Deel, Rippling
- Cap Table: Carta
- Sales Tax: Anrok, Avalara, Taxwire, Numeral
Series-A and beyond:
As you get bigger, you can keep a lot of the same fintech solutions in place. But you might need to add to your stack to make it easier to recognize revenue and pay bills. In this stage, we recommend the following tools:
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- Bookkeeping: QuickBooks Online, Campfire, Rillet
- Banking: Mercury, Rho, JPMorgan Chase
- Treasury/Cash Management: JPMorgan Chase, Rho, Meow
- Spend Management: Rho, Ramp, Brex, BILL
- Revenue Recognition: Tabs, ChargeBee, Stripe Rev Recognition Module
- Payroll: Justworks, Niural, Trinet — or, if your workforce is now global: Deel, Rippling
- Sales Tax: Anrok, Avalara, Taxwire, Numeral
If you didn’t go global with your team during your seed stage, you might start hiring internationally now. Again, Rippling and Deel are good options once you have staff across borders.
Once your team nears or reaches 50 people, payroll and human resources (HR) become more demanding. You might need to think through a more robust benefits package that includes healthcare plans and family-focused perks. Your fintech stack can help here, too.
At any stage, getting the right guidance can make a huge difference when establishing your fintech stack. Our team has experience with all of the above solutions. In fact, we’ve specifically partnered with many of them. That means we can help you explore what they can do for your startup based on your current stage, your business model, and more.
Here at ShayCPA, we’ve partnered with all of the following companies:
- Anrok
- Avalara
- Betterment
- BILL
- Brex
- CorpNet
- Deel
- Gusto
- Justworks
- Mercury
- Numeral
- Puzzle
- Ramp
- Rho
- Rillet
- Rippling
- Snyder
- Tabs
- Taxwire
- TriNet
We’ve synced with all of these brands because we’ve seen how their solutions can make life easier and make work more efficient for startups. If you have questions about any of these options, our team would be more than happy to discuss them with you. Get in touch with us whenever you’re ready to explore building or fine-tuning your fintech stack.
Disclaimer:
The content provided on this blog is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute professional accounting, tax, or legal advice. Reading or accessing this material does not create a CPA-client relationship, nor should it be construed as a substitute for individualized guidance from a qualified professional. While we strive for accuracy, Shay CPA PC makes no warranties—express or implied—about the completeness, reliability, or timeliness of the information, and we expressly disclaim liability for any errors or omissions. You should not act or refrain from acting based on any blog content without seeking the advice of a qualified CPA or other professional who can address your specific circumstances. Links to external resources are provided for convenience only and do not imply endorsement. Shay CPA PC is under no obligation to update this content and disclaims responsibility for decisions made in reliance on it.