Learn how this AI-powered grading platform — backed by YC — slashed time spent on manual bookkeeping tasks while gaining real-time visibility into its financial position with Puzzle.
Within two years of founding VibeGrade, an AI-powered essay grading platform for educators, Daniel Martinez had already secured pre-seed funding from Y Combinator, been featured in Forbes, and cultivated a significant customer base. His next goal was to scale VibeGrade’s platform into a market-defining solution used by educators worldwide.
However, one operational bottleneck kept pulling him away from this plan — VibeGrade’s bookkeeping and accounting workflows. Initially, Daniel took the common early-stage founder approach of managing VibeGrade's books in Google Sheets — a method he quickly found unsustainable. The daily grind of exporting Stripe transactions, entering financial data from Rho, and manually categorizing expenses not only consumed hours of his time but was also error-prone.
On top of these hurdles, spreadsheets weren’t practical for tracking startup-focused metrics like burn, ARR/MRR, and runway in real time. Having these numbers on hand was necessary to build investor confidence and make informed decisions surrounding VibeGrade's pre-seed capital.
Daniel knew there had to be a more efficient way to manage VibeGrade’s bookkeeping and reclaim time for product development. However, Daniel needed on-demand access to comprehensive financial insights before bringing on dedicated accounting support, requiring a solution that could scale with the company.
During his search for a solution, Daniel met Dasha Shunina, Head of Community at Puzzle. After learning more about the company's accounting software, Daniel realized it could deliver real-time financial insights and streamline VibeGrade's bookkeeping workflows in one fell swoop.
“Any early-stage founder will agree that running your accounting in spreadsheets is not sustainable. We needed a solution that could streamline our bookkeeping workflows and prepare us to work effectively with accounting professionals as we scale.”
Integrating Puzzle into VibeGrade's fintech stack (encompassing Stripe, Brex, and Rho) was a breeze. The process took just minutes to complete, and the Puzzle team offered hands-on support every step of the way to ensure Daniel could navigate the platform with confidence on day one.
With VibeGrade’s financial data centralized within Puzzle, Daniel uses the platform to automate critical bookkeeping tasks, such as expense categorization and reconciliation. Now, once a transaction lands on VibeGrade's books, it's instantly categorized, providing a complete view of the company's spending across different categories at a glance. These tasks that once took hours to complete now take minutes, empowering Daniel to allocate more time to expanding the use cases surrounding VibeGrade's platform and courting more users.
Beyond this productivity boost, the Puzzle Dashboard provides Daniel with full visibility into crucial startup metrics like runway, MRR, and burn so he can confidently answer investor questions. With this visibility, he can enter meetings confident that he has the most up-to-date information surrounding the company's financial position.
But what truly impressed Daniel was Puzzle’s ability to support him during tax season. With a single click, Puzzle’s Tax Package gives him all the documents he needs, helping him handle VibeGrade's filing requirements without any specialized accounting knowledge. As a result, he has the peace of mind to focus on what matters most — building and refining VibeGrade's platform.
“The Puzzle dashboard is perfectly tailored toward startups. All the information I need is right there at a glance, from runway and burn to MRR and ARR. Having those insights at your fingertips is priceless."
By integrating Puzzle, VibeGrade replaced manual bookkeeping processes with an automated system that delivers on-demand financial visibility and saves time for growth-oriented priorities.
As VibeGrade enters its next growth phase post-YC, Daniel knows that Puzzle’s AI-powered workflows and insights will be essential for sustainable scale and future fundraising. He's particularly excited to have access to Puzzle's network of accounting professionals should he decide to outsource the company's more intricate bookkeeping functions in the near future.
“As a fast-moving startup, you want your accounting software provider to grow with you. Puzzle has shown this at every step of our journey, from their onboarding support to providing accounting features tailored for early-stage companies.”
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