Each week in the New Tech Newsletter we feature a Spotlight Q&A with founders, angels, New Tech alumni presenters, and other people or companies in our community we believe you’d like to learn about. Reach out if you’d like to recommend a startup, founder, angel, accelerator, or New Tech alumni presenter for us to spotlight for the PNW tech community!
This week we spoke with Addison Parker, Business Advisor for Fortis Accounting Solutions.
Mission
At Fortis, we strive to partner with business owners and entrepreneurs and allow them to grow and focus on what matters. Our commitment to exceptional service comes from understanding as fellow business owners that in order to accomplish your goals, you need partners that are responsive problem solvers working with you to get the financial information you need.
Why do you do what you do for a living?
Ever since I was a kid trading baseball cards with my friends, I’ve been entrepreneurial, so now I love to use my knowledge to help other business owners grow their business. I love my role in accounting because it lets me learn about all different kinds of businesses and help answer different questions for founders every day.
What is a highlight of how your work has impacted companies in our tech community? We help tech founders and companies by giving them time back to focus on helping their companies grow and not worrying about their finances. Having experts behind them allows them to feel confident in the numbers and make strategic decisions with conviction.
Why has your firm created a very unique blend of services including a fund?
We created a unique blend of services within the firm to give us a wide range of knowledge and experience that we could call upon to provide great service to our clients. Our firm has accountants, investors, and founders each giving their unique perspectives so we can see past the numbers and provide practical solutions to other founder’s needs.
What unexpected financial insights or advice can you share to help tech founders avoid pitfalls you’ve seen others experience?
One piece of advice I would give to founders is to not ignore your books/accounting until you feel like it’s absolutely necessary. Accounting isn’t the fun/exciting aspect of the business that most founders are passionate about. However, if you wait to tackle those issues or investors are asking questions, it can be time consuming and costly to unwind previous errors and get the books accurate.
What is something interesting and unexpected that people would be surprised to learn about you?
Something interesting about me is that I’ve always gone by my middle name Addison, but my legal name is Corban.
