Drive More Enterprise Value E114
The Tycoons welcomed Chase Birky, CEO of Dark Horse CPAs to the show. After a few existential crises early on in his career, Chase developed the idea of the Dark Horse platform. Chase is breaking the mold of a typical CPA firm and is offering an unparalleled service. The platform allows business owners to focus on building their revenue without being sidetracked by everything not related to client service.
It’s safe to say that Chase hit it out of the park with Dark Horse CPAs. Platform members are a part of a collaborative community that contributes to the growth of the enterprise, which drives more value. They genuinely want to provide resources to your success. This idea was born out of the personal struggles Chase faced as a business owner and he wants to share the Dark Horse solution with you. 
Dark Horse is a platform CPA firm that has created the infrastructure, resources, technology, staffing, coaching, marketing and administration that accountants need to be able to build and scale a profitable accounting practice that doesn’t run their lives and allows them to focus on their core strength of client service.
Regarding client service, Dark Horse CPAs provide integrated tax, accounting and CFO services to small businesses and individuals across the U.S. Their mission is to save small businesses (and their owners) from subpar accounting and tax services and subpar client experiences.
These small businesses are Dark Horses among their larger and more well-known competition. Being a Dark Horse CPA means advocating for small businesses by bringing to them the tax strategies and accounting insights previously reserved for big business.
Chase Birky grew up in the gloomy Pacific Northwest before being lured to sunny southern California for his undergrad studies at Point Loma Nazarene University.
Originally making this move to advance his baseball career, he soon realized the improbability of making it to the big leagues and so began to focus on gearing himself up for his business career. With a proclivity towards numbers, he was encouraged to declare a major in accounting.
Back in 2008, jobs for recent college graduates were difficult to come by so accounting felt like a safe haven. Thus, Chase began his career at Deloitte working as an auditor where he earned his CPA license.
Desiring to work for a smaller firm with clients in the areas of tax and client accounting services, he left Deloitte to join a boutique, local San Diego firm working with small businesses and individuals as opposed to large, public corporations.
Fast forward a few years later and he founded his own firm, Dark Horse CPAs, that would serve small businesses, individuals, and CPAs in unprecedented ways which created a sense of purpose for him that few accountants experience. It is giving other CPAs this same opportunity to self-actualize that has become his mission in life.
Connect with Chase on LinkedIn and Twitter.
About the Show
Tycoons of Small Biz spotlights the true backbone of the American economy, the true tycoons of business in America… the owners, founders and CEO’s of small businesses. Join hosts, Austin L Peterson, Landon Mance and the featured tycoons LIVE every Tuesday at 1 pm, right here on Business RadioX and your favorite podcast platform.
About Your Hosts
Austin Peterson is a Comprehensive Financial Planner and co-founder of Backbone Planning Partners in Scottsdale, AZ. Austin is a registered rep and investment advisor representative with Lincoln Financial Advisors. Prior to joining Lincoln Financial Advisors, Austin worked in a variety of roles in the financial services industry.
He began his career in financial services in the year 2000 as a personal financial advisor with Independent Capital Management in Santa Ana, CA. Austin then joined Pacific Life Insurance Company as an internal wholesaler for their variable annuity and mutual fund products. After Pacific Life, Austin formed his own financial planning company in Southern California that he built and ran for 6 years and eventually sold when he moved his family to Salt Lake City to pursue his MBA.
After he completed his MBA, Austin joined Crump Life Insurance where he filled a couple of different sales roles and eventually a management role throughout the five years he was with Crump. Most recently before joining Lincoln Financial Advisors in February 2015, Austin spent 2 years as a life insurance field wholesaler with Symetra Life Insurance Company. Austin is a Certified Financial Planner Professional and Chartered Life Underwriter. In 2021, Austin became a Certified Business Exit Consultant® (CBEC®) to help entrepreneurs plan to exit their businesses.
Austin and his wife of 23 years, Robin, have two children, AJ (21) and Ella (18) and they reside in Gilbert, Arizona. He is a graduate of California State University, Fullerton with a Bachelor of Arts in French and of Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management with a Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in sales and entrepreneurship.
Connect with Austin on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Landon Mance is a Financial Planner and co-founder of Backbone Planning Partners out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He rebranded his practice in 2020 to focus on serving small business owners after operating as Mance Wealth Management since 2015 when Landon broke off from a major bank and started his own “shop.”
Landon comes from a family of successful entrepreneurs and has a passion and excitement for serving the business community. This passion is what brought about the growth of Backbone Planning Partners to help business owners and their families. At Backbone Planning, we believe small business owners’ personal and business goals are intertwined, so we work with our clients to design a financial plan to support all aspects of their lives.
In 2019, Landon obtained the Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) designation through the Exit Planning Institute. With this certification, Backbone Planning Partners assists business owners through an ownership transition while focusing on a positive outcome for their employees and meeting the business owner’s goals. Landon is also a member of the Business Intelligence Institute (BII) which is a collaborative group that shares tools, resources and personnel, and offers advanced level training and technical support to specifically serve business owners. In 2021, Landon became a Certified Business Exit Consultant® (CBEC®) to help entrepreneurs plan to exit their businesses by counseling owners about exit options, estimating the value of the business, preparing the business for exit and tax considerations.
Landon enjoys spending time with his beautiful wife, stepson, and new baby twins. He grew up in sunny San Diego and loves visiting his family, playing a round of golf with friends, and many other outdoor activities. Landon tries to make a difference in the lives of children in Las Vegas as a part of the leadership team for a local non-profit. He regularly visits the children that we work with to remind himself of why it’s so important to, “be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
Landon received his B.S. from California State University Long Beach in business marketing and gets the rest of his education through the school of hard knocks via his business owner clients.
Connect with Landon on LinkedIn.
Gary Braun is a Founder and co-owner of Pivotal Advisors. In his role at Pivotal, Gary is primarily responsible for business development but, he’ll gladly take on few clients in a consulting role. Gary speaks with and partners with other firms that help drive top-line growth.
Gary, helps organizations define where growth is coming from, helps them hire and/or develop the sales team, identify ideal clients and markets, and leverage true differentiators (even in commodity markets). He also implements sales processes, targets specific KPIs, increases activity, creates and applies sales compensation plans, and develops sales leadership skills.
Pivotal Advisors LLC is dedicated to creating a community of people who strive for excellence in sales and leadership. A Sales Operating System is the model for how to achieve excellence. Leadership is the First Factor of success in any sales organization. Therefore, building and developing leaders responsible for generating revenue is critical for growth.
Follow Pivotal Advisors on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
Austin Peterson and Landon Mance are registered representatives of Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp. Gary Braun and Pivotal Advisors are separate from and not affiliated with Backbone Planning Partners/Lincoln Financial Advisors.
Securities and investment advisory services offered through Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp., a broker/dealer (member SIPC) and registered investment advisor. Insurance offered through Lincoln affiliates and other fine companies. Backbone Planning Partners is a marketing name for registered representatives of Lincoln Financial Advisors.
Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp. and its representatives do not provide legal or tax advice. You may want to consult a legal or tax advisor regarding any legal or tax information as it relates to your personal circumstances.
The content presented is for informational and educational purposes. The information covered and posted are views and opinions of the guests and not necessarily those of Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp.
Business RadioX® is a separate entity not affiliated with Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp.
Scott Phelan has over 20 years of financial advising and planning experience. As Executive Vice President/Wealth Management, Financial Advisor, his focus is helping build wealth for high net worth individuals and corporate clients. His core competencies include estate, retirement, insurance and income tax planning strategies. Scott has a long and distinguished career in the financial services industry having held leadership positions at Edward Jones, The Hartford, and New England Financial. Most recently, he was a Senior Vice President, Wealth Management, Financial Advisor/Senior Portfolio Management Director at Morgan Stanley. Scott began his career at the New England Financial Group where he developed and implemented employee 401(k) programs.
