Neo.Tax is an AI-powered platform automating R&D tax credits and modernizing tax operations for startups.
Prior to starting Neo.Tax, I cofounded a CFO-app-for-SMB startup and then was a PM for QuickBooks Accountant. And it was increasingly obvious that computers are fundamentally advantaged over our feeble human brains at (1) rules and (2) numbers, which constitute much of accounting and tax. So it seemed inevitable that AI (or machine learning, at the time) would automate tax. So, we set out to be that company.
Our AI is for enterprise tax departments—though it works exceptionally well for any company, larger enterprises are "desperate for our unique advantage" (a definition of product-market fit that I love and run the company by). Companies like Adobe, Block, CapitalOne, and Databricks -- and that's just the first few letters of the alphabet (we're just getting started!).
We've started automating taxes by taking on the R&D Tax Credit first. It is one of three perfect fit use cases for AI, where the contours of the particular tax problem(s) fundamentally lend themselves well to the set of things AI is particularly advantaged at solving, taking full advantage of LLMs, agentic AI, and generative AI (see how I used all the buzz words in one breath?) The R&D Tax Credit is a rare case where there really are no tradeoffs — this new AI methodology of ours is superior to the traditional method along every single dimension: speed, time, risk, credit amount, provision, audit, cost, R&D time. We think it's likely that this will soon be the only way the IRS accepts an R&D Tax Credit. And we often hear that we're (1) the only AI use case in Tax and (2) the only AI that works!
The coolest thing about this job is that the learnings never end -- and that is addicting.
I always thought of myself as a product person (and a damn good one!) almost at the expense of being commercially-oriented or distribution-minded. This is entirely bullshit. Every CEO has to sell and be world-class at it. In fact, I would bet against any startup whose CEO isn't selling the first few million of ARR. There are advantages to selling -- and more importantly, to finding and sharpening product-market fit -- that emerge only, necessarily, and strictly out of the CEO herself selling. (Maybe this is obvious to everyone else). Related to that: you are never one magical hire away from solving any of your (major) problems. And this is especially true if you... think you are.
There are many things they do that I am extremely grateful for, but only one thing matters for the business, and that is closing customers, so I will say: introducing us to customers.
AI will automate tax -- and by having the only real AI product in market, we're en route to being the clear market winners. Customers are "desperate for our unique advantage," which establishes trust (and an MSA). And many of them are asking us to automate all of their taxes, which is the Neo.Tax vision!
