Canopy, a cloud-based practice management platform for tax professionals, today announced seasoned Silicon Slopes technology executive Davis Bell as its new CEO, succeeding founder Kurt Avarell who served in the role since 2014.
Canopy also announced a $13 million investment, led by NewView Capital, Pelion Venture Partners and Tenaya Capital. The round, comprised of $8 million in funding and $5 million in debt financing, brings Canopy’s total funding raised to date to $85 million.
Davis Bell, CEO of Canopy
Davis_Bell
“I am thrilled to join Canopy, instantly attracted to its mission, its team and its solution set. I have focused my career on successfully scaling great companies and have already dug in with the team,” said Bell. “We are energized by our expanded leadership bench and refined product vision and are thrilled that our investors continue to support us as we transform the work of accountants across the country every day with digital solutions that empower them to work smarter.”
Bell’s arrival comes in tandem with a refined product vision, led by Larry Furr who joined as Canopy’s vice president of product earlier this year. After listening to the needs of its thousands of customers across the country, the company is focusing on its Practice Management and Tax Resolution solutions, which will entail moving its Tax Prep solution to private beta, for public release in the near future.
Larry Furr, VP of Product at Canopy
“The demands on accountants are more pressing and are evolving more rapidly than ever before, and technology will play a critical role in this dynamic,” said Chad Packard, partner, Pelion. “As digital transformation takes hold in accounting, Canopy is well positioned to lead this charge. We are excited to have Davis on board and will continue to collaborate with Canopy’s leadership and board in this mission.”
Bell has held critical leadership roles in operations, product, sales, strategy and finance at several fast-growth companies including Instructure, Sales Rabbit and Imagine Learning. Most recently, he served as head of the Utah office for Peek.com, where he led the customer onboarding, customer success, product support, HR and company culture functions.
During a short interview with Insightful Accountant, Davis Bell told me that he and Canopy were committed to accelerating the roadmap for their Practice Management Product on a short-term basis. A majority of Canopy's current customers came to the company looking for a solution that would help them run their practices concisely and they found that solution in the Practice Management module which provides centralized Client Management, Document Management, Project Management and Time & Billing.
Larry Furr then told me that many of those customers are still asking for more, "they see one feature or another feature in some other product..." (like at trade show) "and ask us if we can add that to Canopy's Practice Management"? So, they are excited about the fact that we will now be putting additional resources into this central hub of our product line.
I also asked Mr. Bell about the 2nd product in the Canopy trilogy, as I had called it in one of my earlier articles, the Tax Resolution module designed to provide support for issues the IRS may throw at a client with features geared toward the needs of tax resolution specialists. Both Bell and Furr confirmed that this product will also undergo additional investment because it has seen substantial customer acceptance especially in terms of the transcripts and notices tool.
Of course, I then had to move to the 3rd product in the Canopy trilogy and the one associated with so much controversy of late, Tax Prep which Canopy recently withdrew from their active line-up and returned to 'private Beta status'. Mr. Bell addressed the issues surrounding Tax Prep this way, "we wanted to make certain that we had a product that was absolutely 100% when released, a tax prep product must be that way, for the short-term we simply are not there yet. But Tax Prep is definitely still part of Canopy's 'long-term vision', in fact, Murph, I think I may steal your terminology, it will be part of our trilogy." I joked with him that he was to be commended for insuring that Tax Prep, when it would finally be released, would not be like that thing they advertise on television as 'Just OK', everyone on the call got a giggle out of that.
Lastly, I asked Mr. Bell about investor commitment. He told me that "our (Canopy's) Investor Group is onboard with both the newly revised short-term and long-term visions for products and the Company."
So, despite what you have read in social media, the 'boogie man is not lurking in the dark recesses at Canopy', 'the plug has not been pulled on the product line', and 'the lights have not been turned out.' To the contrary, there is a bright vision for a future that enhances the best of what they are offering, while at the same time still reflecting the excitement and commitment toward innovation to meet the long-term needs of tax professionals.