Phin Security provides a comprehensive security awareness training and phishing simulation platform that helps organizations mitigate human risk. As a fast-growing startup preparing for Series A funding, the company needed scalable solutions that wouldn't drain their lean team's limited resources. Working with their accounting partner, FinStrat Management, they found a solution that transformed their approach to sales tax compliance.
Tax compliance overwhelms limited resources
As Phin Security grew, the company was reaching economic nexus thresholds in multiple states, potentially triggering penalties. As the person responsible for finance, operations, and HR, Director of Operations Will Hea recognized he couldn't afford to spend valuable time on sales tax compliance while managing so many other critical functions for the startup.
"Before Anrok, we faced this significant sales tax issue where we didn't even know how much we owed, or which states we owed," explains Will. "We didn't know where our customers were located, so the scale of our tax liability could have been very large, or it could have been very small."
The uncertainty created an ominous cloud over the business. Sales tax compliance was consuming a staggering 20% of Will’s time, while FinStrat was spending 50% of their time on compliance-related tasks. With no dedicated finance function and limited engineering resources, Phin Security needed a solution that would require minimal ongoing attention while ensuring complete compliance.
A swift tax decision with lasting impacts
When exploring solutions, Will did his homework. While competitors like Avalara were frequently recommended, he asked ChatGPT for alternatives and discovered Anrok.
Within 5 minutes of demoing Anrok, Will knew it was the right choice. "It was clear that Anrok is a software first and service second company, whereas Avalara is a service first and software second company," he explains.
The implementation process was remarkably efficient, taking just one hour of active work. Working with FinStrat, Phin Security established proper processes for billing addresses and reseller certificate management, creating a comprehensive compliance framework that automated their tax obligations across multiple states.
Reclaiming strategic time via automation
The transformation was immediate. Sales tax compliance went from being a significant time drain to what Will calls "compliance without thinking"—a completely automated background process.
"With Anrok, [tax compliance] went from something that was taking up about 20% of my time to never requiring my attention," Will reports. "I haven't looked at Anrok in probably a month or two."
The partnership between Anrok and FinStrat created a powerful combination. Anrok's software automation handled the tax calculations and nexus monitoring, while FinStrat managed the reseller certificates and validated reports, reducing their tax-related workload from 50% to just 5%, an estimated time saving of 10 hours per week.
With the time saved, Phin Security was able to focus on strategic priorities. "We got board decks. We got a financial model. We got a ton of value as a result of getting [tax automation] done," Will explains.
For FinStrat Management, the partnership with Anrok has also been beneficial, allowing them to provide higher-value advisory services to their client without getting bogged down in manual compliance tasks.
When reaching out for reseller certificates, their largest customers responded positively, viewing the professional approach as a sign of reliability. "This really was a do it once, do it right, done forever type of thing," Will reflects. The partnership delivered what he calls "confidence and competence"—automated compliance that works invisibly while enhancing their professional reputation.
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