September 11, 2025 • 34 mins
AI isn’t coming for accounting, it’s already here. And it’s quietly rewriting who wins and who falls behind.
In this episode, Daniel Moshe, CEO of TechGuru, breaks down how smart firms are already using AI, cybersecurity, and modern tech stacks to:
• Attract better-fit clients (and actually land them)
• Add capacity without burning out staff
• Win more proposals by proving security and compliance
• Automate the admin, elevate the advisory
You’ll also hear Daniel’s bold predictions for where AI-driven client acquisition is headed and why peer groups and human trust will matter more than ever.
💻 Learn more at: www.techguruit.com
🔗 Connect with Daniel on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/danielmoshe
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
AI isn't coming.
It's already here and it'srewriting the playbook for
accounting firms.
The ones who master how toblend human expertise with AI
will win more clients, delivermore value and run leaner than
ever before.
My guest today is Daniel Moshi,founder and CEO of TechGuru,
the managed technology servicefirm that's helping accounting
leaders do exactly that.
(00:21):
His team builds future-prooftech stacks, integrates AI into
daily workflows and locks downcybersecurity so firms can grow
with confidence.
Daniel's not just keeping firmsrunning.
He's turning their technologyinto a competitive advantage.
They can market to attracthigher paying clients.
Today we're diving into how youcan use AI in the right tech
stack to stand out more businessand scale without burning out.
(00:45):
Daniel, welcome to the show.
I'm so excited to have you here.
I would love to start off byhearing you know you've built
Tech Guru specifically foraccounting firms.
Why this niche and what gap didyou see in the market?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Okay, I don't know what happened, but half of that
got cut off.
By the way, I heard you untilyou said welcome to the show.
I'm excited to have you.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
And then, Okay, can you hear me now?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, and it came back just as you finished.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Okay, all good, all right, we'll restart it then.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Sorry, I don't know what happened.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Daniel, it's so good to have you on the show.
I'm really looking forward tothis one.
I want to dive straight intothings.
You've built TechGuruspecifically for accounting
firms.
Why?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
this niche and what gap did you see in the market?
James, thank you.
I've been looking forward tothis as well and glad to have
this conversation with you, andso it was a fun journey deciding
to work with accounting firms.
I'll take you kind of the walkdown memory lane.
(01:56):
I developed TechGuru as an ITmanaged service provider,
initially started the firm outof my college dorm room and then
over the years, found that Ijust love working with
businesses and I really love thefinance and accounting aspects
of businesses and I lovetechnology.
So it kind of made perfectsense to start focusing on
working with just accountingfirms.
At the time that we made thatdecision, as a business, we had
(02:20):
exactly two accounting firmclients, and so it was a bit of
a bold move and we made a detour.
Before deciding to work withaccounting firms, we knew we
wanted to specialize.
We knew we wanted to go intoniche.
Accounting firms was number two, and before that we decided we
were going to work and be IT fordentists of all things.
(02:43):
So that turned out to be a bigmistake and wasn't a good fit.
So we quickly pivoted to oursecond choice.
I'm so glad that we did so.
I like working with accountingfirms because I think it
multiplies our impact in theworld.
My purpose is to change livesfor the better, and then I think
that I'm helping givetechnology to the right to two
(03:05):
accounting firms and accountingfirm leaders and accounting
professionals and financeprofessionals.
They're, in turn, helping otherentrepreneurs and other people
with their finances, helpingthem live their best lives, and
I'm just helping them with greattools to be able to do that and
secure and compliant systems tobe set up for success.
(03:25):
So, long story short, that'swhy we focus on accounting firms
.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah, very cool.
It sounds like there's a verybig ripple effect that's taking
place from what you guys offer,who you offer to, and then all
the lives that are touched fromthe clients you work with.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
That's the idea, yeah .
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Awesome.
So you mentioned there.
You said your mission is tomake people's lives a little bit
better.
How does that come through inthe way you serve your clients?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
So it's woven into our core values, which are woven
into how we do all of ourhiring.
So it's woven into all of ourprocesses and our service
offerings.
We're actually an EOS company.
We run on the entrepreneurialoperating system and that just
shows how much that we care,First starting about with our
team, showing a great degree ofcare and love with our team.
(04:15):
That resonates out to ourclients and really from
everything that we do isdesigned to create the ideal
technology experience foraccounting firms, and that's
another reason that we decidedto focus on accounting firms.
It was too hard to be great atIT for lawyers and IT for
(04:41):
realtors and IT for projectconstruction.
It was just too difficult andwe couldn't really give everyone
the great experience that Iknew they deserved.
And I knew that was an issuebecause they would ask like, hey
, what software should we usefor this and what software we
can do for that?
And now I can confidently saylike, hey, I think it's time to
move to Canopy or Carbon orFirm360 and from whatever
(05:05):
software you're using right nowfrom your spreadsheets you know,
and so that's just one of manyways that, with our 24-7, you
know support, with the fact thatbefore we meet, we meet every
single quarter with every one ofour clients, before we do that,
all of our team gets together,we come up with ideas and
(05:25):
insights and recommendations toprepare, to present to those
clients.
So those are just a couple ofways that we do that, okay
perfect.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Appreciate you sharing that.
And when you talk aboutreimagining firms as human
augmented AI, what does thatmean in real world terms?
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, great, I'm actually also.
I mean, I think, frankly, mostbusinesses are becoming going to
become, especially those with,you know, thought, thought, you
know knowledge workers are goingto become human augmented AI.
You know it's from marketing to,I mean, our business.
We have virtual technicians thatwe are starting to utilize, and
(06:07):
so what I think that means inthe real world for accounts and
also for us at Tech Guru, isidentifying software tools that
incorporate AI into them, andthen the thing that we do, the
magic that we create, is byconfiguring them and setting up
the automations to do andprovide and create the outcomes
(06:30):
that we're trying to create, theexperience we're trying to
create, and monitoring theoutput for quality, and then
spending more time focused onhigher level, more strategic
things with our clients.
This has been something that's,I think, a trend that's been
happening for years and years.
Right, if you think about it,it used to be that things were
(06:51):
done, you know, very manually inpaper, then they were automated
with technology, with computers, and now it's like that next
level of knowledge work isgetting automated, freeing us to
have even more higher impact,human connection with those that
we serve and care about, andless of the you know like tactic
, tactical uh ticky, tacky, uhthings that have to have to get
(07:15):
done yeah, it's interesting theprogression, though.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Like you're talking about going from paper to
computers and and now we'regoing from computers to like
supercomputers doing all thethings that humans once did.
It's a pretty wild time.
How can firms, how canaccounting firms and bookkeeping
firms and any tax professionalposition, ai capabilities in
their marketing to differentiatefrom their competitors?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
you know there's a couple different, and so this is
me just looking from theoutside in.
So my humble you know, probablywrong opinion.
I think, ultimately, theirclients don't care whether
they're using AR or not.
It's what is the experiencethat they're going to be
providing and receiving.
(08:04):
So it's like, hey, we can giveyou a better understanding of
your business, your cash flow,or we can run a thousand
different scenarios and get youexactly the right tax
optimization strategy for yourexact circumstances that no
human would ever.
It would not be feasible for us,a particular human, to go and
(08:25):
spend the time doing this.
We're going to find the exact,we're going to better identify
fraud, erroneous transactions,and we're going to spend more
time putting you in control ofyour business and your life and
your finances by leveraging thebest that technology has to
offer.
So, yeah, all of that is, ofcourse, ai-driven, but it's a
(08:48):
value that you're creating byharnessing these amazing new
tools in achieving that.
By the way, we're going to makeit easier for you to connect
with us and exchange files withus, because it's all going to be
automated, and we're going tomake again dashboards and data
visualization like you've neverseen before and be able to
(09:11):
answer questions that you mayhave had, but didn't even bother
asking because you didn't thinkit was feasible to get an
answer to that question.
So AI enables and, I think,empowers all of that, and so
that's how I think, from amarketing differentiation, it's
putting forth that thoseadditional value that you can
(09:32):
create in the world by the waythat you are uniquely harnessing
, configuring and utilizing youknow these, you know these, you
know all these tools do youthink too many businesses,
especially when it comes totheir marketing, or too many
firms and they're looking forthe new solution are getting
(09:52):
caught up with the ai buzzwordsnow?
Speaker 1 (09:55):
and I don't.
It just seems like every adthat's out there and every firm
is interested in ai, but they'rebecause it sounds new and
exciting, but not because of theapplication behind it and, like
you said, people don't reallycare how it's getting done.
Still, they're interested inthe outcome.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah.
I don't I don't know how toanswer the question I'm, I'm not
, I'm not watching too close.
I mean, okay, for whateverreason on on social media.
The advertisements that targetme for whatever reason are
social media.
The advertisements that targetme for whatever reason are like
business and accounting services, and I do see those focused
again more on kind of aiautomation and it's very
(10:34):
interesting to see all thedifferent ways that it's being
presented and how it seems likethere's like a new breed of
accounting firm that's like aiand technology first and then
it's like human kind of behindnew breed of accounting firm
that's like AI and technologyfirst and then it's like human
kind of behind the scenes andthere, if you need us, and it'll
be interesting to see how thatplays out, I think for some, you
know, maybe very early stageentrepreneurs they may be oh,
(10:56):
that's exactly what I want.
You know, I don't want to talkto, even to a human.
I just want it to work, but Ithink too many different
scenarios exist.
I'm helping with my partnerwith his accounting.
He's got an e-commerce business.
He made a game, a tabletopboard game, called the Publisher
Parish Game and he's got allthese kind of complex accounting
(11:17):
issues and I've been helpinghim get it all set up.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
I'm like, ooh, this would be tough to get, not to
have a have a human involvedhelping get this going yeah,
very cool, there's still, yeah,at the end of the day, the human
still needs to drive some ofthe ai to a certain degree,
depending on what theapplication is, but that's where
a lot of people, I think, whoare not as involved in it, they
(11:44):
they're not catching on, likethere still needs to be someone
prompting the AI to to do thething that we need to get done.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
And like you're only getting what you put out or you
only get out what you put in,right.
So like I've been trying toteach my team, I'm like I don't
just do one or two line promptsIf I'm using, like chat, gpt
version five is really sweet, bythe way.
It's been really cool.
We can talk about that later ifyou want.
I put in these like one and twoparagraph long prompts with a
(12:12):
lot of detail about what I'mlooking for.
And I'm now the realization Ihad yesterday.
I was like I need to teach.
I need to stop making ChachiPToutput for people and I need to
teach them how.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah, that's so important touching on that
because it is truly what you putinto it is what you will get,
and we've been in the same boatas well, just teaching team
members and clients how to usethis tool, because everyone has
the same tool, but it's what youput into it that really makes
all the magic happen.
Yeah, for sure.
Have you seen cases where techupgrades directly led to winning
(12:48):
a high value client?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Hard to say.
In particular, I can tell youhow we have actually helped our
clients win bigger accountsbecause we're helping them be
compliant and secure.
Like, for example, we recentlyachieved our SOC 2.
Like we got audited for SOC 2and I think we're just we've
(13:15):
actually got our final type 2report and we're just getting a
final signatures on it, andthrough that we've been helping
our clients implement good,sound best practices.
Written information securityplans then actually like do the
things in the writteninformation security plan, and
so in that way I've seen acouple of cases where our
clients are able to comply withand thus obtain the business of
(13:38):
these, these larger accounts.
And of course, all that comesthrough sort of tech, tech
upgrades and security.
You know securityimplementations I've not yet
seen it, but I'm excited to seethat happen.
The kind of conversations we'rehaving in our quarterly
strategic plannings with each ofour accounting firm clients are
around a lot of times how newcapabilities that they can add
(14:02):
to their firm that support amonthly recurring business model
which have greater margins andget them out of the selling
trading you know time fordollars and how they can, you
know, create additional valuefor their clients to maybe even
helping them set up some of this.
You know continuous closeautomation.
(14:22):
Or you know automated moreautomations, more
reconciliations, betterworkflows, better processes and
turn that into another.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
You know profit center what's one of the the
most common pains that all ofyour accounting firm clients
experience either before workingwith you, or is there a common
theme that comes up even whenthey're working with you, that
that you guys are looking tosolve for outside of the AI
(14:51):
solutions?
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Oh, yeah, yeah Right, I've been having almost a
conversation with a client everyday about this, which is
offshore staffing.
You know, the fact is there'samazingly talented people all
over the world and why limitourselves to just, you know,
working with team members in theUS, especially when in the US
there's a dramatic shortage ofthis type of talent and
(15:18):
unfortunately, I've seen myclients sell their firms because
, frankly, there's workcompression, they can't find the
staff when they need it andit's just creating tremendous
amount of burnout and stress andanxiety, which breaks my heart.
So we're seeing our clientsstart to explore and hire their
(15:40):
first and then expand their nextoverseas talent.
So the question is how do we dothat in a secure way?
And so we're having theconversation around if you work
with an agency or if you workwith, if you hire direct, and
the two different modelsensuring that they treat you
know, and they go through thehiring process, they vet those
team members to exactly the waythey would for somebody, you
(16:01):
know, in the US backgroundchecks and everything.
We also have a global team, sowe're well versed in it, and we
found ways to get computerordered and delivered to
somebody in Guatemala and everyother country you can imagine,
because we still think the bestway to know that they're working
in a secure environment isstill to manage and secure the
(16:23):
endpoint, the computer itself.
So those are a coupleconversations that we're having
a lot, and the rest of it isjust like how do we move?
The second one would be movingto a browser-based application
stack, so one by one, shiftingfrom windows legacy applications
that are, you know, have to behosted on a windows server, and
(16:43):
kind of our hassle to manage andhave to log in and it's a
separate kind of desktop.
Moving to, you know, thingslike ProConnect and other tools
like that that also open thedoor to stronger API
integrations and AI.
You know functionality as well.
So I'd say those are kind ofthe two of the bigger themes.
(17:05):
And then the third theme isjust like, constantly about
cybersecurity.
I just did a webinar last weekon, you know, three specific
case studies of things that wehad actually seen ourselves, not
to be fear mongering oranything like that, but just to
create awareness, stay vigilantand hopefully put those threat
actors out of business.
That's my, that's my other,that's my other.
(17:28):
Like purpose in life is keepclients money in their pockets.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
Thank you for sharing that.
If, if a firm wants to landmore clients in the next 90 days
using tech as a lever, what'sstep one for them?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I think tech is is the lever when it when it comes
to accounting firms.
I'm not a marketing expert.
I'm truly trying to even figurethis out for my own, my own
world but I think what unlockedour growth because we went from
(18:12):
two accounting firm clients tolike 60 in just a matter of a
couple of years, and a lot of itwas through peer groups and
networks.
But if we had not specializedin a niche, I don't think we
would have gotten, we would nothave experienced that growth.
We doubled our business in apretty short period of time and
never done that that fast beforegrowth.
We doubled our business in apretty short period of time and
never done that that fast before.
So I think the clients that Ihave that are doing the best and
(18:35):
are thriving, have a specialtyand a niche focus and I'm sure
that we've heard it a milliontimes it is scary I'm speaking
from experience to go from beinga generalist and kind of taking
business from anywhere andanyone to going and specializing
in a particular industry or aparticular aspect of accounting.
I've got one client that allthey do is this particular type
(18:58):
of analysis for business, likevaluations.
I forget the technicalterminology.
So that would be.
I think step one is, if youhaven't already, find your niche
and then figure out where thosepeople hang out what platforms
do they use, what are theyreading, what are they listening
to and what conferences arethey attending and get in front
(19:20):
of them and figure out an offer.
And I will just tell you in thebeginning we totally just faked
it.
Just faked it.
We're like we're IT foraccounting firms.
Truly, we didn't do anythingreally different other than we
were just focusing our marketingand all of our energy and
efforts on working with andfocusing on accounting firms.
We at the time didn't haveanything really unique or
special, but over the years, allI do all day long is talk to
(19:43):
accounting firm leaders.
Well, I know now all the insand outs.
I've been to all theseaccounting firm conferences
Thompson, I've been to PASBA,I've been to Synergy, I've been
to a lot of these conferences.
We've been to a lot and that iswhere we find we're able to
connect with a lot of clients.
Even if it's a little bit oldschool, it works really well.
(20:03):
But all of that has been madepossible by the fact that we've
picked a niche, specialized init and are just going into and
having those conversations withthat specialty.
So anyway, that would be mystep.
One suggestion orrecommendation.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Okay, awesome, and what's working really well for
you in terms of marketingmarketing, I know you mentioned,
uh, trade shows, conferences,but is there anything else that
you guys have implemented ormaybe you've shared with your
other accounting clients thatthat has worked really well and
it's kind of like a you guys canknock it out of the water or
(20:41):
knock it out of the park everytime when it comes to like, all
right, we need to bring on a newclient uh, good question, not,
not?
Speaker 2 (20:48):
um, no silver bullets , no magic pills here.
I think our number onemarketing is the day-to-day
doing a great job for ourclients and creating a product
and a service experience thatthey love and can't help
themselves.
But talk about got one clientrecently that referred three
(21:15):
other of his friends from a peergroup.
Uh, and they are, by the timethey talk to us, they're already
like ready to work with us.
It's like is that?
It's like it's not a salesprocess, just a sign-up process,
and the because we're wespecialize, we're getting more
of what are the same clients.
So they they're like hey, justdo for us what you did for them.
I'm like okay, you got it.
(21:37):
Um, anyway, so that'd be thefirst thing I could tell you we
just have given up on coldcalling.
It just seemed like it justisn't working.
Um, the number of outrightoutreaches to actual like
results was so low it justdidn't make any sense to keep
doing it and I was just worriedwe were annoying people.
So, honestly, the best sourceof leads continues to be showing
(22:02):
up in the community and theform of conferences and events
and and what's great is, myfavorite thing actually is when
you know a client comes by, sayshi, and there's another person
that's thinking about talking.
You know working with us andand I'm just like hey, you talk
to them and uh, that's magic um,and then we're.
(22:23):
You know everything else.
We're here.
Uh is just we.
You know we have some umcommunity.
You knowASPA is a good one,where we've been involved with
that organization for severalyears.
I think it does just takepersistence and continuity to
show that you're not just afly-by-night organization.
We're here for the long run andwe care and we do truly have a
(22:47):
special way that we approach,working with approach, working
with you and going to createsome, some real value.
So those are the couple thingsthat I would that's been working
for for us and well, I guessalso what hasn't been working.
So, yeah, it's just a lot ofnoise out there.
We're going to start playingwith some top of the funnel
(23:08):
marketing tools, like somesocial media advertising, and
we've also done a couple ofwebinars.
Those have been well attendedand I think they're not what I
would call like you know, peoplelike fall over themselves at
the end of the webinar to signup, but it's usually half
clients that show up and thenhalf people that are potentially
like looking to work with us,and so it just showcases our
(23:30):
thought leadership and positionsus in a different, not just as
a vendor, but as a you know, apotential strategic resource.
So those are just a couple ofthings that we've been working
on right now.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Nice, that's cool.
Daniel, what's your boldestprediction for how AI will
change client acquisition forfirms in the next three to five
years?
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Boldest prediction for how AI will help client
acquisition over the next threeto five?
Yeah, I think I think all thetraditional ways that that
people find you know great,great partners, uh, is probably
(24:14):
going to be through the humanconnection and through um.
I think the biggest change thatwe'll see is, you know, like,
frankly, me, I've been looking,I've been doing a getting a home
turned over and turned intolike an Airbnb, um, and I, like
you know what, I'm going to justgeneral contract this thing
myself.
And so I'm working withChachapiti and managing the
(24:34):
whole project and I'm like youknow what, I'm going to just
general contract this thingmyself.
And so I'm working with ChatGPTand managing the whole project
and I'm like, okay, recommendfive vendors who should I work
with?
And I actually called thosepeople and then they asked me
how did I find them?
I'm like, oh, chatgpt.
I'm like what they know what itis.
(24:56):
But they're like surprised thatthat's how I, yeah, or I like
chat gpt taught, taught me howto, or I learned how to like
pull like a list of contract um,license electricians, and then
I had it process that data andrecommend five that I should go
from that list, you know, to tryto find contractors that are,
you know, uh, more independent.
So there's just a couple ofexamples.
So, but I got to tell you it'slike I think, as the noise
(25:17):
increases because it's, thebarriers to creating content is
so low nowadays I think it'sjust going to become more and
more noise.
I think video and real humanconnection is going to be that
much more valuable and moreimportant, and things like peer
groups and industryorganizations are going to.
Frankly, in my humble opinion,my prediction will be even more
(25:42):
important.
I love your opinion on that too.
Frankly.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yeah, it's interesting.
I think you'll almost see.
Everything goes in cycles.
I think there's so much coldoutreach now from ai.
There's now voice agentsanswering phone calls, making
outbound calls, which I find issuper annoying.
I keep getting super annoyingthe same voice agents all the
(26:06):
time from something I neveropted in from and it's like just
stop.
But a lot of people are usingthat and I think what will work
really well will be more or lessthe old school touch points and
the in-person, like you said,the in-person events and getting
around whatever looks like it'sAI and just being more
(26:27):
authentic with the messages andhaving a real.
Even if you're sending a videoto someone, it's not ai with
replacements, and it's actuallyyou sending a personalized video
to the prospect you're lookingto speak to, or sending a very
personalized email, not theblasting of 2000 with you know a
name replacement yeah, you'reright, it's just, it is so
obvious.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
I I was like, oh, when I got that first call that
I knew was ai phone, like voice,I was, wow, it's finally, it's
finally started.
I just don't, I just don't know, like, are you going to go hire
some service because some AIcold called you?
No, I don't know, I'm not.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Yeah, we, we tested it for some clients and it just
didn't.
It just didn't work that well,like pretty quickly and the
voice sounded really good.
It was hard to tell it was AI,but it would get hung up on
certain questions, just likeyou're speaking about earlier in
another example, and thenquickly the recipients on the
(27:30):
other end of the phone eithersound like it was AI or the bot.
Couldn't, you know, go throughthe thought path to get to where
it needed to go and the calljust didn't work.
So we have our team answeringthe calls on behalf of all of
our firms we work with and thatjust works way better.
Just the human element, I think, is going to be hard to beat
yeah regardless how good ai gets.
They're just.
(27:51):
They're going to be in twodifferent areas, all right.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Now I think sales okay, plus on everything you
just said, I think salesenablement tools are going to be
much stronger, like, forexample, like using AI analytics
to say like, hey, this personyou know clicked on this, open
this da-da-da-da, go call thisperson right now.
You know this person is engaged.
That, I think, is gonna bepowerful and so I think it is a
(28:19):
human augmented future.
But, like it's still likehumans want to want to talk to
humans and engage with now, witha robot, now, once in a while,
that support, you know, aidriven, like support chat, built
into some of the apps that Iuse, like rippling or whatever.
Like that that's actually prettygood and it saves me time and
I'd rather do that thansometimes the human is actually
(28:40):
not as good.
So I don't know.
I also like challenge myself tosay you know what?
I think that these things aregetting better so fast that
eventually it will be betterthan a human on the, on the
phone as well.
So we'll see.
We're testing a lot of stuff aswell.
We're going to roll our AIsupport agent chatbot also in
(29:03):
due time, probably in the nextcouple months, so we'll see how
people like it.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
That's exciting.
So two more questions for you,then.
What's one tech tool that you,personally, can't live without?
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Well, it's kind of funny that it's a tech tool
because it's actually prettykind of low tech, but it's my
Remarkable.
I have a tablet, remarkabletablet.
It's a kind of a passivedisplay.
It doesn't have any email orinternet connection.
I mean it can back it up overWi-Fi, but that's it, no
notifications, and I use thatfor thinking and reflecting and
planning and journaling, notetaking and meetings, and I don't
(29:41):
know why I like, I find that Ilove handwriting and drawing and
it's better than having a pieceof paper or something like that
ends up getting lost.
And so, anyway, that's myfavorite uh tech, tech gadget
right now?
Speaker 1 (29:56):
awesome.
And if you weren't running techguru, what would you be doing
instead?
Speaker 2 (30:01):
I really uh, I'm a pilot and I really love uh
flying, so my other thing wouldbe um, I want to be island
hopping, uh flights, uh peopletaking people from tropical
island to tropical island.
Um, that that's if my kids arealready gone to high school.
I have two kids at 12 and 14,and otherwise it's uh working
(30:24):
with them and our go-kart,go-kart racing team.
So that's uh, those are the twothings I'm doing when I'm not
flying and go-kart racing.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Amazing.
Well, if you're needing to filla plane with passengers, please
keep me in mind.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
I will.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Jumping between islands in the Caribbean sounds
right up my alley.
Yeah, so I guess I lied.
I said two last questions.
This is the last one for you,daniel.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
Yeah, just my dad.
At a very early age, you know,he said if you want something,
you got to just go and get it.
And to me that means bepersistent and be bold and not
wait for you know, not wait forsomebody else and essentially,
live your best life.
(31:13):
So take ownership for doingthat.
So that'd be something I liveby and try to pass on to my kids
and to others that I work withas well.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Awesome.
Thank you so much for coming onthe show, daniel.
Really appreciate all theinsights.
You shared the knowledge.
It's awesome what you guys aredoing with AI and I'm sure your
partners appreciate all of it.
How can people get in touchwith you if they want to
continue the conversation?
Speaker 2 (31:35):
I'm sure your partners appreciate all of it.
How can people get in touchwith you if they want to
continue the conversation?
Yeah, definitely check me up onLinkedIn and connect with me
there.
That's probably the easiest wayto find me, or I'm sure you'll
put in the show notes contactinformation as well.
You can learn more about us attechguruitcom.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Absolutely, daniel Maché from Tech Guru.
Thank you so much.
Thanks, james, appreciate it.
Thanks for tuning in to thisepisode of CFO Chronicles the
secrets behind success.
I hope you found value intoday's conversation.
As we wrap up, I'd love for youto do two things.
First, make sure to subscribeto this podcast so you don't
miss any future episodes.
(32:12):
If you enjoyed today'sdiscussion, please rate and
review the show.
It helps others discover theinsights we share here.
Second, if you're ready to takeyour business to the next level
and attract the high-endclients you deserve, head over
to accountingleadsnowcom orclick the link in the show notes
to book your strategy.
Call it's time to positionyourself as the advisor your
clients need.
(32:32):
And strategy call it's time toposition yourself as the advisor
your clients need.
And don't forget, you canconnect with me on LinkedIn to
stay up to date on what'shappening in the world of
accounting and financial growth.
We've got exciting topicscoming up, so stay tuned for the
next episode of CFO Chronicles.
Until then, keep pushingforward.
Your growth is just onestrategic move away.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Thanks for listening to CFO Chronicles the secrets
behind success.
We hope today's episodeprovided valuable strategies to
help you attract morehigh-paying clients.
Be sure to subscribe, followand share with fellow
professionals.
Connect with us on LinkedIn andleave a review or comment to
join the conversation.
Your feedback helps us bringyou the best insights in finance
(33:14):
and marketing.
Until next time, keep strivingfor success and unlocking your
business's potential.
AI isn't coming.
It's already here and it'srewriting the playbook for
accounting firms.
The ones who master how toblend human expertise with AI
will win more clients, delivermore value and run leaner than
ever before.
My guest today is Daniel Moshi,founder and CEO of TechGuru,
the managed technology servicefirm that's helping accounting
leaders do exactly that.
(00:21):
His team builds future-prooftech stacks, integrates AI into
daily workflows and locks downcybersecurity so firms can grow
with confidence.
Daniel's not just keeping firmsrunning.
He's turning their technologyinto a competitive advantage.
They can market to attracthigher paying clients.
Today we're diving into how youcan use AI in the right tech
stack to stand out more businessand scale without burning out.
(00:45):
Daniel, welcome to the show.
I'm so excited to have you here.
I would love to start off byhearing you know you've built
Tech Guru specifically foraccounting firms.
Why this niche and what gap didyou see in the market?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Okay, I don't know what happened, but half of that
got cut off.
By the way, I heard you untilyou said welcome to the show.
I'm excited to have you.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
And then, Okay, can you hear me now?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, and it came back just as you finished.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Okay, all good, all right, we'll restart it then.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Sorry, I don't know what happened.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Daniel, it's so good to have you on the show.
I'm really looking forward tothis one.
I want to dive straight intothings.
You've built TechGuruspecifically for accounting
firms.
Why?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
this niche and what gap did you see in the market?
James, thank you.
I've been looking forward tothis as well and glad to have
this conversation with you, andso it was a fun journey deciding
to work with accounting firms.
I'll take you kind of the walkdown memory lane.
(01:56):
I developed TechGuru as an ITmanaged service provider,
initially started the firm outof my college dorm room and then
over the years, found that Ijust love working with
businesses and I really love thefinance and accounting aspects
of businesses and I lovetechnology.
So it kind of made perfectsense to start focusing on
working with just accountingfirms.
At the time that we made thatdecision, as a business, we had
(02:20):
exactly two accounting firmclients, and so it was a bit of
a bold move and we made a detour.
Before deciding to work withaccounting firms, we knew we
wanted to specialize.
We knew we wanted to go intoniche.
Accounting firms was number two, and before that we decided we
were going to work and be IT fordentists of all things.
(02:43):
So that turned out to be a bigmistake and wasn't a good fit.
So we quickly pivoted to oursecond choice.
I'm so glad that we did so.
I like working with accountingfirms because I think it
multiplies our impact in theworld.
My purpose is to change livesfor the better, and then I think
that I'm helping givetechnology to the right to two
(03:05):
accounting firms and accountingfirm leaders and accounting
professionals and financeprofessionals.
They're, in turn, helping otherentrepreneurs and other people
with their finances, helpingthem live their best lives, and
I'm just helping them with greattools to be able to do that and
secure and compliant systems tobe set up for success.
(03:25):
So, long story short, that'swhy we focus on accounting firms
.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah, very cool.
It sounds like there's a verybig ripple effect that's taking
place from what you guys offer,who you offer to, and then all
the lives that are touched fromthe clients you work with.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
That's the idea, yeah .
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Awesome.
So you mentioned there.
You said your mission is tomake people's lives a little bit
better.
How does that come through inthe way you serve your clients?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
So it's woven into our core values, which are woven
into how we do all of ourhiring.
So it's woven into all of ourprocesses and our service
offerings.
We're actually an EOS company.
We run on the entrepreneurialoperating system and that just
shows how much that we care,First starting about with our
team, showing a great degree ofcare and love with our team.
(04:15):
That resonates out to ourclients and really from
everything that we do isdesigned to create the ideal
technology experience foraccounting firms, and that's
another reason that we decidedto focus on accounting firms.
It was too hard to be great atIT for lawyers and IT for
(04:41):
realtors and IT for projectconstruction.
It was just too difficult andwe couldn't really give everyone
the great experience that Iknew they deserved.
And I knew that was an issuebecause they would ask like, hey
, what software should we usefor this and what software we
can do for that?
And now I can confidently saylike, hey, I think it's time to
move to Canopy or Carbon orFirm360 and from whatever
(05:05):
software you're using right nowfrom your spreadsheets you know,
and so that's just one of manyways that, with our 24-7, you
know support, with the fact thatbefore we meet, we meet every
single quarter with every one ofour clients, before we do that,
all of our team gets together,we come up with ideas and
(05:25):
insights and recommendations toprepare, to present to those
clients.
So those are just a couple ofways that we do that, okay
perfect.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Appreciate you sharing that.
And when you talk aboutreimagining firms as human
augmented AI, what does thatmean in real world terms?
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, great, I'm actually also.
I mean, I think, frankly, mostbusinesses are becoming going to
become, especially those with,you know, thought, thought, you
know knowledge workers are goingto become human augmented AI.
You know it's from marketing to,I mean, our business.
We have virtual technicians thatwe are starting to utilize, and
(06:07):
so what I think that means inthe real world for accounts and
also for us at Tech Guru, isidentifying software tools that
incorporate AI into them, andthen the thing that we do, the
magic that we create, is byconfiguring them and setting up
the automations to do andprovide and create the outcomes
(06:30):
that we're trying to create, theexperience we're trying to
create, and monitoring theoutput for quality, and then
spending more time focused onhigher level, more strategic
things with our clients.
This has been something that's,I think, a trend that's been
happening for years and years.
Right, if you think about it,it used to be that things were
(06:51):
done, you know, very manually inpaper, then they were automated
with technology, with computers, and now it's like that next
level of knowledge work isgetting automated, freeing us to
have even more higher impact,human connection with those that
we serve and care about, andless of the you know like tactic
, tactical uh ticky, tacky, uhthings that have to have to get
(07:15):
done yeah, it's interesting theprogression, though.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Like you're talking about going from paper to
computers and and now we'regoing from computers to like
supercomputers doing all thethings that humans once did.
It's a pretty wild time.
How can firms, how canaccounting firms and bookkeeping
firms and any tax professionalposition, ai capabilities in
their marketing to differentiatefrom their competitors?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
you know there's a couple different, and so this is
me just looking from theoutside in.
So my humble you know, probablywrong opinion.
I think, ultimately, theirclients don't care whether
they're using AR or not.
It's what is the experiencethat they're going to be
providing and receiving.
(08:04):
So it's like, hey, we can giveyou a better understanding of
your business, your cash flow,or we can run a thousand
different scenarios and get youexactly the right tax
optimization strategy for yourexact circumstances that no
human would ever.
It would not be feasible for us,a particular human, to go and
(08:25):
spend the time doing this.
We're going to find the exact,we're going to better identify
fraud, erroneous transactions,and we're going to spend more
time putting you in control ofyour business and your life and
your finances by leveraging thebest that technology has to
offer.
So, yeah, all of that is, ofcourse, ai-driven, but it's a
(08:48):
value that you're creating byharnessing these amazing new
tools in achieving that.
By the way, we're going to makeit easier for you to connect
with us and exchange files withus, because it's all going to be
automated, and we're going tomake again dashboards and data
visualization like you've neverseen before and be able to
(09:11):
answer questions that you mayhave had, but didn't even bother
asking because you didn't thinkit was feasible to get an
answer to that question.
So AI enables and, I think,empowers all of that, and so
that's how I think, from amarketing differentiation, it's
putting forth that thoseadditional value that you can
(09:32):
create in the world by the waythat you are uniquely harnessing
, configuring and utilizing youknow these, you know these, you
know all these tools do youthink too many businesses,
especially when it comes totheir marketing, or too many
firms and they're looking forthe new solution are getting
(09:52):
caught up with the ai buzzwordsnow?
Speaker 1 (09:55):
and I don't.
It just seems like every adthat's out there and every firm
is interested in ai, but they'rebecause it sounds new and
exciting, but not because of theapplication behind it and, like
you said, people don't reallycare how it's getting done.
Still, they're interested inthe outcome.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah.
I don't I don't know how toanswer the question I'm, I'm not
, I'm not watching too close.
I mean, okay, for whateverreason on on social media.
The advertisements that targetme for whatever reason are
social media.
The advertisements that targetme for whatever reason are like
business and accounting services, and I do see those focused
again more on kind of aiautomation and it's very
(10:34):
interesting to see all thedifferent ways that it's being
presented and how it seems likethere's like a new breed of
accounting firm that's like aiand technology first and then
it's like human kind of behindnew breed of accounting firm
that's like AI and technologyfirst and then it's like human
kind of behind the scenes andthere, if you need us, and it'll
be interesting to see how thatplays out, I think for some, you
know, maybe very early stageentrepreneurs they may be oh,
(10:56):
that's exactly what I want.
You know, I don't want to talkto, even to a human.
I just want it to work, but Ithink too many different
scenarios exist.
I'm helping with my partnerwith his accounting.
He's got an e-commerce business.
He made a game, a tabletopboard game, called the Publisher
Parish Game and he's got allthese kind of complex accounting
(11:17):
issues and I've been helpinghim get it all set up.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
I'm like, ooh, this would be tough to get, not to
have a have a human involvedhelping get this going yeah,
very cool, there's still, yeah,at the end of the day, the human
still needs to drive some ofthe ai to a certain degree,
depending on what theapplication is, but that's where
a lot of people, I think, whoare not as involved in it, they
(11:44):
they're not catching on, likethere still needs to be someone
prompting the AI to to do thething that we need to get done.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
And like you're only getting what you put out or you
only get out what you put in,right.
So like I've been trying toteach my team, I'm like I don't
just do one or two line promptsIf I'm using, like chat, gpt
version five is really sweet, bythe way.
It's been really cool.
We can talk about that later ifyou want.
I put in these like one and twoparagraph long prompts with a
(12:12):
lot of detail about what I'mlooking for.
And I'm now the realization Ihad yesterday.
I was like I need to teach.
I need to stop making ChachiPToutput for people and I need to
teach them how.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah, that's so important touching on that
because it is truly what you putinto it is what you will get,
and we've been in the same boatas well, just teaching team
members and clients how to usethis tool, because everyone has
the same tool, but it's what youput into it that really makes
all the magic happen.
Yeah, for sure.
Have you seen cases where techupgrades directly led to winning
(12:48):
a high value client?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Hard to say.
In particular, I can tell youhow we have actually helped our
clients win bigger accountsbecause we're helping them be
compliant and secure.
Like, for example, we recentlyachieved our SOC 2.
Like we got audited for SOC 2and I think we're just we've
(13:15):
actually got our final type 2report and we're just getting a
final signatures on it, andthrough that we've been helping
our clients implement good,sound best practices.
Written information securityplans then actually like do the
things in the writteninformation security plan, and
so in that way I've seen acouple of cases where our
clients are able to comply withand thus obtain the business of
(13:38):
these, these larger accounts.
And of course, all that comesthrough sort of tech, tech
upgrades and security.
You know securityimplementations I've not yet
seen it, but I'm excited to seethat happen.
The kind of conversations we'rehaving in our quarterly
strategic plannings with each ofour accounting firm clients are
around a lot of times how newcapabilities that they can add
(14:02):
to their firm that support amonthly recurring business model
which have greater margins andget them out of the selling
trading you know time fordollars and how they can, you
know, create additional valuefor their clients to maybe even
helping them set up some of this.
You know continuous closeautomation.
(14:22):
Or you know automated moreautomations, more
reconciliations, betterworkflows, better processes and
turn that into another.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
You know profit center what's one of the the
most common pains that all ofyour accounting firm clients
experience either before workingwith you, or is there a common
theme that comes up even whenthey're working with you, that
that you guys are looking tosolve for outside of the AI
(14:51):
solutions?
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Oh, yeah, yeah Right, I've been having almost a
conversation with a client everyday about this, which is
offshore staffing.
You know, the fact is there'samazingly talented people all
over the world and why limitourselves to just, you know,
working with team members in theUS, especially when in the US
there's a dramatic shortage ofthis type of talent and
(15:18):
unfortunately, I've seen myclients sell their firms because
, frankly, there's workcompression, they can't find the
staff when they need it andit's just creating tremendous
amount of burnout and stress andanxiety, which breaks my heart.
So we're seeing our clientsstart to explore and hire their
(15:40):
first and then expand their nextoverseas talent.
So the question is how do we dothat in a secure way?
And so we're having theconversation around if you work
with an agency or if you workwith, if you hire direct, and
the two different modelsensuring that they treat you
know, and they go through thehiring process, they vet those
team members to exactly the waythey would for somebody, you
(16:01):
know, in the US backgroundchecks and everything.
We also have a global team, sowe're well versed in it, and we
found ways to get computerordered and delivered to
somebody in Guatemala and everyother country you can imagine,
because we still think the bestway to know that they're working
in a secure environment isstill to manage and secure the
(16:23):
endpoint, the computer itself.
So those are a coupleconversations that we're having
a lot, and the rest of it isjust like how do we move?
The second one would be movingto a browser-based application
stack, so one by one, shiftingfrom windows legacy applications
that are, you know, have to behosted on a windows server, and
(16:43):
kind of our hassle to manage andhave to log in and it's a
separate kind of desktop.
Moving to, you know, thingslike ProConnect and other tools
like that that also open thedoor to stronger API
integrations and AI.
You know functionality as well.
So I'd say those are kind ofthe two of the bigger themes.
(17:05):
And then the third theme isjust like, constantly about
cybersecurity.
I just did a webinar last weekon, you know, three specific
case studies of things that wehad actually seen ourselves, not
to be fear mongering oranything like that, but just to
create awareness, stay vigilantand hopefully put those threat
actors out of business.
That's my, that's my other,that's my other.
(17:28):
Like purpose in life is keepclients money in their pockets.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
Thank you for sharing that.
If, if a firm wants to landmore clients in the next 90 days
using tech as a lever, what'sstep one for them?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I think tech is is the lever when it when it comes
to accounting firms.
I'm not a marketing expert.
I'm truly trying to even figurethis out for my own, my own
world but I think what unlockedour growth because we went from
(18:12):
two accounting firm clients tolike 60 in just a matter of a
couple of years, and a lot of itwas through peer groups and
networks.
But if we had not specializedin a niche, I don't think we
would have gotten, we would nothave experienced that growth.
We doubled our business in apretty short period of time and
never done that that fast beforegrowth.
We doubled our business in apretty short period of time and
never done that that fast before.
So I think the clients that Ihave that are doing the best and
(18:35):
are thriving, have a specialtyand a niche focus and I'm sure
that we've heard it a milliontimes it is scary I'm speaking
from experience to go from beinga generalist and kind of taking
business from anywhere andanyone to going and specializing
in a particular industry or aparticular aspect of accounting.
I've got one client that allthey do is this particular type
(18:58):
of analysis for business, likevaluations.
I forget the technicalterminology.
So that would be.
I think step one is, if youhaven't already, find your niche
and then figure out where thosepeople hang out what platforms
do they use, what are theyreading, what are they listening
to and what conferences arethey attending and get in front
(19:20):
of them and figure out an offer.
And I will just tell you in thebeginning we totally just faked
it.
Just faked it.
We're like we're IT foraccounting firms.
Truly, we didn't do anythingreally different other than we
were just focusing our marketingand all of our energy and
efforts on working with andfocusing on accounting firms.
We at the time didn't haveanything really unique or
special, but over the years, allI do all day long is talk to
(19:43):
accounting firm leaders.
Well, I know now all the insand outs.
I've been to all theseaccounting firm conferences
Thompson, I've been to PASBA,I've been to Synergy, I've been
to a lot of these conferences.
We've been to a lot and that iswhere we find we're able to
connect with a lot of clients.
Even if it's a little bit oldschool, it works really well.
(20:03):
But all of that has been madepossible by the fact that we've
picked a niche, specialized init and are just going into and
having those conversations withthat specialty.
So anyway, that would be mystep.
One suggestion orrecommendation.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Okay, awesome, and what's working really well for
you in terms of marketingmarketing, I know you mentioned,
uh, trade shows, conferences,but is there anything else that
you guys have implemented ormaybe you've shared with your
other accounting clients thatthat has worked really well and
it's kind of like a you guys canknock it out of the water or
(20:41):
knock it out of the park everytime when it comes to like, all
right, we need to bring on a newclient uh, good question, not,
not?
Speaker 2 (20:48):
um, no silver bullets , no magic pills here.
I think our number onemarketing is the day-to-day
doing a great job for ourclients and creating a product
and a service experience thatthey love and can't help
themselves.
But talk about got one clientrecently that referred three
(21:15):
other of his friends from a peergroup.
Uh, and they are, by the timethey talk to us, they're already
like ready to work with us.
It's like is that?
It's like it's not a salesprocess, just a sign-up process,
and the because we're wespecialize, we're getting more
of what are the same clients.
So they they're like hey, justdo for us what you did for them.
I'm like okay, you got it.
(21:37):
Um, anyway, so that'd be thefirst thing I could tell you we
just have given up on coldcalling.
It just seemed like it justisn't working.
Um, the number of outrightoutreaches to actual like
results was so low it justdidn't make any sense to keep
doing it and I was just worriedwe were annoying people.
So, honestly, the best sourceof leads continues to be showing
(22:02):
up in the community and theform of conferences and events
and and what's great is, myfavorite thing actually is when
you know a client comes by, sayshi, and there's another person
that's thinking about talking.
You know working with us andand I'm just like hey, you talk
to them and uh, that's magic um,and then we're.
(22:23):
You know everything else.
We're here.
Uh is just we.
You know we have some umcommunity.
You knowASPA is a good one,where we've been involved with
that organization for severalyears.
I think it does just takepersistence and continuity to
show that you're not just afly-by-night organization.
We're here for the long run andwe care and we do truly have a
(22:47):
special way that we approach,working with approach, working
with you and going to createsome, some real value.
So those are the couple thingsthat I would that's been working
for for us and well, I guessalso what hasn't been working.
So, yeah, it's just a lot ofnoise out there.
We're going to start playingwith some top of the funnel
(23:08):
marketing tools, like somesocial media advertising, and
we've also done a couple ofwebinars.
Those have been well attendedand I think they're not what I
would call like you know, peoplelike fall over themselves at
the end of the webinar to signup, but it's usually half
clients that show up and thenhalf people that are potentially
like looking to work with us,and so it just showcases our
(23:30):
thought leadership and positionsus in a different, not just as
a vendor, but as a you know, apotential strategic resource.
So those are just a couple ofthings that we've been working
on right now.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Nice, that's cool.
Daniel, what's your boldestprediction for how AI will
change client acquisition forfirms in the next three to five
years?
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Boldest prediction for how AI will help client
acquisition over the next threeto five?
Yeah, I think I think all thetraditional ways that that
people find you know great,great partners, uh, is probably
(24:14):
going to be through the humanconnection and through um.
I think the biggest change thatwe'll see is, you know, like,
frankly, me, I've been looking,I've been doing a getting a home
turned over and turned intolike an Airbnb, um, and I, like
you know what, I'm going to justgeneral contract this thing
myself.
And so I'm working withChachapiti and managing the
(24:34):
whole project and I'm like youknow what, I'm going to just
general contract this thingmyself.
And so I'm working with ChatGPTand managing the whole project
and I'm like, okay, recommendfive vendors who should I work
with?
And I actually called thosepeople and then they asked me
how did I find them?
I'm like, oh, chatgpt.
I'm like what they know what itis.
(24:56):
But they're like surprised thatthat's how I, yeah, or I like
chat gpt taught, taught me howto, or I learned how to like
pull like a list of contract um,license electricians, and then
I had it process that data andrecommend five that I should go
from that list, you know, to tryto find contractors that are,
you know, uh, more independent.
So there's just a couple ofexamples.
So, but I got to tell you it'slike I think, as the noise
(25:17):
increases because it's, thebarriers to creating content is
so low nowadays I think it'sjust going to become more and
more noise.
I think video and real humanconnection is going to be that
much more valuable and moreimportant, and things like peer
groups and industryorganizations are going to.
Frankly, in my humble opinion,my prediction will be even more
(25:42):
important.
I love your opinion on that too.
Frankly.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yeah, it's interesting.
I think you'll almost see.
Everything goes in cycles.
I think there's so much coldoutreach now from ai.
There's now voice agentsanswering phone calls, making
outbound calls, which I find issuper annoying.
I keep getting super annoyingthe same voice agents all the
(26:06):
time from something I neveropted in from and it's like just
stop.
But a lot of people are usingthat and I think what will work
really well will be more or lessthe old school touch points and
the in-person, like you said,the in-person events and getting
around whatever looks like it'sAI and just being more
(26:27):
authentic with the messages andhaving a real.
Even if you're sending a videoto someone, it's not ai with
replacements, and it's actuallyyou sending a personalized video
to the prospect you're lookingto speak to, or sending a very
personalized email, not theblasting of 2000 with you know a
name replacement yeah, you'reright, it's just, it is so
obvious.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
I I was like, oh, when I got that first call that
I knew was ai phone, like voice,I was, wow, it's finally, it's
finally started.
I just don't, I just don't know, like, are you going to go hire
some service because some AIcold called you?
No, I don't know, I'm not.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Yeah, we, we tested it for some clients and it just
didn't.
It just didn't work that well,like pretty quickly and the
voice sounded really good.
It was hard to tell it was AI,but it would get hung up on
certain questions, just likeyou're speaking about earlier in
another example, and thenquickly the recipients on the
(27:30):
other end of the phone eithersound like it was AI or the bot.
Couldn't, you know, go throughthe thought path to get to where
it needed to go and the calljust didn't work.
So we have our team answeringthe calls on behalf of all of
our firms we work with and thatjust works way better.
Just the human element, I think, is going to be hard to beat
yeah regardless how good ai gets.
They're just.
(27:51):
They're going to be in twodifferent areas, all right.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Now I think sales okay, plus on everything you
just said, I think salesenablement tools are going to be
much stronger, like, forexample, like using AI analytics
to say like, hey, this personyou know clicked on this, open
this da-da-da-da, go call thisperson right now.
You know this person is engaged.
That, I think, is gonna bepowerful and so I think it is a
(28:19):
human augmented future.
But, like it's still likehumans want to want to talk to
humans and engage with now, witha robot, now, once in a while,
that support, you know, aidriven, like support chat, built
into some of the apps that Iuse, like rippling or whatever.
Like that that's actually prettygood and it saves me time and
I'd rather do that thansometimes the human is actually
(28:40):
not as good.
So I don't know.
I also like challenge myself tosay you know what?
I think that these things aregetting better so fast that
eventually it will be betterthan a human on the, on the
phone as well.
So we'll see.
We're testing a lot of stuff aswell.
We're going to roll our AIsupport agent chatbot also in
(29:03):
due time, probably in the nextcouple months, so we'll see how
people like it.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
That's exciting.
So two more questions for you,then.
What's one tech tool that you,personally, can't live without?
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Well, it's kind of funny that it's a tech tool
because it's actually prettykind of low tech, but it's my
Remarkable.
I have a tablet, remarkabletablet.
It's a kind of a passivedisplay.
It doesn't have any email orinternet connection.
I mean it can back it up overWi-Fi, but that's it, no
notifications, and I use thatfor thinking and reflecting and
planning and journaling, notetaking and meetings, and I don't
(29:41):
know why I like, I find that Ilove handwriting and drawing and
it's better than having a pieceof paper or something like that
ends up getting lost.
And so, anyway, that's myfavorite uh tech, tech gadget
right now?
Speaker 1 (29:56):
awesome.
And if you weren't running techguru, what would you be doing
instead?
Speaker 2 (30:01):
I really uh, I'm a pilot and I really love uh
flying, so my other thing wouldbe um, I want to be island
hopping, uh flights, uh peopletaking people from tropical
island to tropical island.
Um, that that's if my kids arealready gone to high school.
I have two kids at 12 and 14,and otherwise it's uh working
(30:24):
with them and our go-kart,go-kart racing team.
So that's uh, those are the twothings I'm doing when I'm not
flying and go-kart racing.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Amazing.
Well, if you're needing to filla plane with passengers, please
keep me in mind.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
I will.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Jumping between islands in the Caribbean sounds
right up my alley.
Yeah, so I guess I lied.
I said two last questions.
This is the last one for you,daniel.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
Yeah, just my dad.
At a very early age, you know,he said if you want something,
you got to just go and get it.
And to me that means bepersistent and be bold and not
wait for you know, not wait forsomebody else and essentially,
live your best life.
(31:13):
So take ownership for doingthat.
So that'd be something I liveby and try to pass on to my kids
and to others that I work withas well.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Awesome.
Thank you so much for coming onthe show, daniel.
Really appreciate all theinsights.
You shared the knowledge.
It's awesome what you guys aredoing with AI and I'm sure your
partners appreciate all of it.
How can people get in touchwith you if they want to
continue the conversation?
Speaker 2 (31:35):
I'm sure your partners appreciate all of it.
How can people get in touchwith you if they want to
continue the conversation?
Yeah, definitely check me up onLinkedIn and connect with me
there.
That's probably the easiest wayto find me, or I'm sure you'll
put in the show notes contactinformation as well.
You can learn more about us attechguruitcom.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Absolutely, daniel Maché from Tech Guru.
Thank you so much.
Thanks, james, appreciate it.
Thanks for tuning in to thisepisode of CFO Chronicles the
secrets behind success.
I hope you found value intoday's conversation.
As we wrap up, I'd love for youto do two things.
First, make sure to subscribeto this podcast so you don't
miss any future episodes.
(32:12):
If you enjoyed today'sdiscussion, please rate and
review the show.
It helps others discover theinsights we share here.
Second, if you're ready to takeyour business to the next level
and attract the high-endclients you deserve, head over
to accountingleadsnowcom orclick the link in the show notes
to book your strategy.
Call it's time to positionyourself as the advisor your
clients need.
(32:32):
And strategy call it's time toposition yourself as the advisor
your clients need.
And don't forget, you canconnect with me on LinkedIn to
stay up to date on what'shappening in the world of
accounting and financial growth.
We've got exciting topicscoming up, so stay tuned for the
next episode of CFO Chronicles.
Until then, keep pushingforward.
Your growth is just onestrategic move away.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Thanks for listening to CFO Chronicles the secrets
behind success.
We hope today's episodeprovided valuable strategies to
help you attract morehigh-paying clients.
Be sure to subscribe, followand share with fellow
professionals.
Connect with us on LinkedIn andleave a review or comment to
join the conversation.
Your feedback helps us bringyou the best insights in finance
(33:14):
and marketing.
Until next time, keep strivingfor success and unlocking your
business's potential.
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