Episodes

As a founder, it can be challenging to know when to make the shift from pouring every dollar you have into getting your startup off the ground to taking a few chips off the table to eventually paying yourself first. However, every business owner should begin to separate their own personal finances from the business as soon as possible for a few different reasons. In this episode, Malcolm Ethridge sits down to discuss best financial practices for founders and how to know when it is time to begin...

For startups, investors often put a lot of emphasis on cap tables. They want to see a diluted picture of equity ownership among you as a founder, any co-founders or partners, early investors, and key employees before they’ll seriously consider handing over a check to invest themselves in your company. That’s because a healthy cap table illustrates not only your business’s potential for growth in the future, but also communicates to your investors just how solid your judgment is as a CEO. In thi...

Though it may seem like a very distant and high-class problem that only the super-wealthy among us will ever have to contend with, for many tech workers who have accumulated a significant sized stake in their employer, it is not unlikely that estate taxes are something they will have to consider as a part of their overall financial plan. In fact, with the number of bills currently floating around the halls of Congress with the intention to increase tax revenue by lowering the estate and gift tax...

As anyone who has ever bought and sold any sort of digital asset in the last couple years can attest, the rules and regulations around reporting those transactions to the IRS can be very fuzzy. Coupled with the lack of information made available by the IRS itself, and the lack of general knowledge and adoption of crypto by the accounting community, it can be very tough for investors to make heads or tails of it all. At best, you manage to stumble across a couple of really helpful twitter posts ...

A stock option is the right to buy a specific number of shares of either a stock or an index at a preset price. These options allow traders to speculate on the directional performance of a stock or index without owning the shares outright. For better or worse, options trading has now been democratized and made available to just about anyone, regardless of their individual risk tolerance, risk capacity, and overall understanding of the inner workings of options contracts. In this episode, Malcol...

In the simplest terms, a mentor is anyone who possesses more experience and knowledge than you in a given industry. They have skills you want to master in order to thrive. And you’d rather lean on their experience and expertise and learn from their mistakes, rather than having to go and make those same mistakes on your own. Entrepreneurs need mentors especially, and perhaps more than other professionals, simply because it is nearly impossible to formally teach entrepreneurship in any controlled...

We’ve all heard the popular saying “it’s not what you know, but who you know.” But when you hear the word “networking,” how many of the feelings that start to bubble up are negative ones, such as anxiety, discomfort, and maybe even fear? And that word can be especially triggering for those who consider themselves introverts. And while there have been several social media platforms and other tech tools built over the last couple decades designed to help make networking and building relationships...

Historically, gold and other precious metals have been how we trade with one another across borders and globally. Gold bars were the original store value before there was such a thing as the US dollar. The gold standard was so consistent in its ability to maintain its value through varying economic cycles that we backed up our dollars with it. Incorporating precious metals into a diversified portfolio as a hedge against the volatility in both the stock and bond markets sounds like a good idea. ...

One of the biggest problems that need to be solved almost immediately after launch is making some noise to let the public know you and your product or service exist. If not, no matter how good that product or service is, you likely won’t be in business for very long. And as daunting as it might sound, blitzscaling your content creation can be done; especially with the use of social media. In this episode, Malcolm Ethridge sits down with Mark Lachance, CEO of Maxy Media, and author of “The Lucky...

For those who have thought of an idea for a tech startup in a crowded space, it can be tempting to think that your idea must be completely brand new and inventive. Especially when you consider the seemingly ubiquitous announcements that so-and-so big name venture capital investor has chosen to back so-and-so startup looking to go where no one has gone before, which tend to dominate the headlines. However, if done right, there can also be room for those who have built a better mouse trap to enter...

The banking and payments industry is in a period of rapid change, with new technologies and services emerging all the time. It can be hard to keep up. In this episode, Malcolm Ethridge speaks with Aaron Wollner, the Chief Marketing Officer of Quontic. They discuss how Quontic is changing the narrative of traditional banking by … Continue reading 53. The Evolution Of Contactless Payments With Aaron Wollner → Mentioned in this episode: Capital Area Tax Consultants - www.capgllc.com Capital Area ...

While they may sound like the same thing to those outside of the financial services profession, there are several key differences between the terms tax planning, and tax preparation. In short, one takes place once per year and is more transactional in nature, while the other likely happens multiple times each year in stages and … Continue reading 52. Tax Planning vs Tax Preparation with Christina Lael → Mentioned in this episode: Capital Area Tax Consultants - www.capgllc.com Capital Area Tax ...

Women in tech often face unique financial planning challenges that are not usually taken into account by traditional financial advice firms or FinTech solutions. For women working in tech, it can be hard to find a financial planner who understands the nuances of the gender pay gap and its limits on taking risks, the need … Continue reading 51. Managing Your Finances as a Woman Working in Tech with Danika Waddell → Mentioned in this episode: Capital Area Tax Consultants - www.capgllc.com Capita...

If you are a person who is paid in restricted stock units each year, it’s important that you develop a plan for how and when you will convert those shares into actual dollars well before they actually vest. Doing so will help to ensure that no matter what direction the markets move over time, you … Continue reading 50. Creating A Plan For Your Restricted Stock Units → Mentioned in this episode: Capital Area Tax Consultants - www.capgllc.com Capital Area Tax Consultants - www.capgllc.com Learn...

A donor advised fund is simply a type of brokerage account, where contributions to it are specifically earmarked for charitable giving. And in exchange, the IRS allows you to realize the entirety of the donation in the year it is made; regardless of how many years it might take you to actually distribute those dollars … Continue reading 49. Using Technology To Improve Charitable Giving With Adam Nash → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How many times have you had an idea for something that you thought should exist in the world, but never actually pursued the thought much further than that initial moment of inspiration, only to see someone else promoting that very same product on Instagram a few months later, and all you could do was kick … Continue reading 48. Protecting and Profiting from Your Intellectual Property with Toni Moore → Mentioned in this episode: Capital Area Tax Consultants - www.capgllc.com Capital Area Tax C...

If there’s one thing we all have in common, regardless of age, gender, profession, or socio-economic status, it’s a good deal. And one thing many of us love to be able to say that we got a good deal on is travel. In fact, some of us love to brag about the deal we received … Continue reading 47. Using Technology to Land Travel Deals on a Budget with Alex Simon → Mentioned in this episode: Capital Area Tax Consultants - www.capgllc.com Capital Area Tax Consultants - www.capgllc.com Learn more a...

Receiving a financial windfall, such as winning the lottery, may seem glamorous to those of us who never have. Still, even if half of the news articles or TV shows covering lottery winners are accurate, it may not be all that it’s cracked up to be. While winning the lottery is a bit of a … Continue reading 46. How to Plan for a Financial Windfall with Susan Bradley → Mentioned in this episode: Capital Area Tax Consultants - www.capgllc.com Capital Area Tax Consultants - www.capgllc.com Learn ...

The Great Resignation may have tipped the scales, but the underlying sentiment of dissatisfaction among workers of all ages and demographics, representing companies and industries across the board, had been brewing underneath the surface for some time. Whether it’s the multiple attempts to unionize, rallies and protests outside of corporate headquarters, or the class action … Continue reading 45. The Positives Of The Great Resignation with Matthieu Silberstein → Mentioned in this episode: Capit...

You’ll often hear about companies and their founders who made the decision to pivot from their initial big idea that wasn’t quite working right, to something else that ended up being the best thing that ever happened to them. Take Facebook for instance, which got its start as a silly website used by college kids … Continue reading 44. How To Know When To Pivot With Donald Boone → Mentioned in this episode: Capital Area Tax Consultants - www.capgllc.com Capital Area Tax Consultants - www.capgll...