About
Built by an operator who has sat in your seat.
Cabot is the AI finance and ops firm for venture-backed startups, seed to Series C.
Agents do the routine work. An accountant reviews it and signs off.
15+ years
in finance, most as an early-stage operator
4 companies
as the first finance and operations executive
$160M+
raised in venture capital
$25M+
recovered in first-time R&D credit claims
Why Cabot exists
You shouldn’t have to choose
Startups have had two choices for outsourced finance. Firms that move the work offshore to cut costs, and quality drops. Or AI tools that do the work fast, with no one checking whether it’s right.
Cabot is built so you don’t have to choose. Agents do the routine work. Experienced accountants check it, make the judgment calls and sign off. You get the speed of AI and the judgment of someone who’s accountable for every number.
The founder
Jennifer Williams, CPA
Jennifer has spent 15+ years in finance, most of it as an early-stage operator running finance, operations and revenue inside VC-backed startups. She was the first finance and operations executive at four companies, from pre-revenue to $50M+ in revenue, and took two of them through acquisition.
Along the way she has raised more than $160M in venture capital, run first audits, taken books from cash to accrual, filed first-time R&D credit claims that recovered more than $25M, and built the board reporting that got companies through diligence.
A Canadian from Nova Scotia who has built companies in New York for a decade, Jennifer has spent her career on cross-border finance. At TMX Group, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s parent company, she worked across Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Europe and APAC. She ran finance for a Canadian startup with a U.S. subsidiary, and for a U.K.-parented company with its U.S. operations in New York. She knows the questions Cabot’s clients face: more than one set of books, more than one tax system, and one board.
She holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting from McGill University and a Master of Science in Accountancy from Baruch College, with coursework at Copenhagen Business School.
Why I started Cabot
More than once, I’ve joined startups where an outside accounting firm had been keeping the books, and had to spend my first months fixing them. Nobody had tracked ARR. Nobody could explain why the numbers were what they were. Every month I lost hours cleaning up work we were paying someone else to do.
I’ve been the one rebuilding the books at midnight before a board meeting. I’ve been the one chasing the state registration nobody knew about until the notice arrived.
I started Cabot so founders get numbers they can explain, from people who’ll tell you why, and so the person running finance doesn’t spend their month cleaning up after the firm.
— Jennifer Williams, Founder
What we believe
Three things we hold to
01
A named person is accountable for every number.
02
Finance and operations belong to one team, on one ledger.
03
Startups shouldn’t have to choose between software speed and professional judgment.
Who we’re right for
And who we’re not
Right for you if
- You’ve raised venture capital, or are about to
- You want your books, taxes, payroll and board reporting run by one team
- You operate in the U.S. or Canada, or you’re a European company opening in the U.S.
Not right for you if
- You haven’t raised yet — start with the pre-raise checklist
- You want the cheapest bookkeeping available
- You’re past Series C with a full in-house finance team
The name
Why Cabot
Venice, 1494: Luca Pacioli publishes the first printed account of double-entry bookkeeping. Every debit has a credit, and both sides have to balance. More than five hundred years later, every company’s books still run on it, including yours (we hope!).
Good systems outlast the people who build them. We’d like to build a few.
In 1497, another Venetian resident named Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot to the English) crosses the Atlantic and makes landfall somewhere on the coast of what’s now Atlantic Canada. Exactly where is still argued. Newfoundlanders say Bonavista. Nova Scotians say Cape Breton, where the Cabot Trail now loops around the top of the island. Our founder, Jennifer, grew up in Nova Scotia, so we know which answer she was raised on.
Cabot had a compass. What he didn’t have was a map: he went to his grave believing he’d reached Asia. Most early-stage companies are in the same spot. You know which direction you’re heading. What you need is to know exactly where you are, and a team that’s made the crossing before.
Talk to the founder
Book a 15-minute call. You’ll speak with Jennifer, not a sales team.