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First Year as a Startup Founder: Lessons Learned from Waves CPAs CEO
What really happens in the first year of launching a startup?
In this episode of The Growth Department, Chelsey sits down with Marcus Rien, a CFO and CPA turned tech founder and the brains behind Waves CPAs. We'll unpack the messy, high-stakes, and deeply rewarding reality of going from corporate life to taking the entrepreneurial leap.
Waves CPAs is a tech-driven platform helping businesses find fractional finance talent AND helping entrepreneurial CPAs build flexible, meaningful careers. Marcus shares how his background in corporate finance and accounting led to spotting a major gap in the market, and why solving it required launching a startup of his own.
They dive into:
- What to expect in your first year as a founder
- How to grow a marketplace business from scratch
- The value of fractional CFOs and controllers for small and midsize businesses
- Why perfection kills momentum (and what to focus on instead)
- Lessons from sales, moonlighting, bootstrapping, and burnout
- Why the future of CPA work is flexible, remote, and founder-led
- Plus: How golf, springboard diving, and startup life actually overlap
Whether you're a CPA considering entrepreneurship, a founder building your first platform, or a business owner wondering if fractional finance support is right for you, this episode is packed with real-world insights you won't find in a startup playbook.
About Marcus Rien:
Marcus is the founder of Waves CPAs, a marketplace connecting companies with experienced, independent CPAs for fractional finance work. He's also a scratch golfer, former controller, and lifelong learner with a legacy brick outside U.S. Bank Stadium that reads: Belief Inspires Success.
Resources Mentioned:
- Connect with Marcus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusrien
- Learn more about Waves CPAs: https://www.wavescpas.com
Growth Department slows the conversation down so founders and business leaders can go further, faster.
If this episode helped you think differently, follow the show and share it with someone building alongside you.
View all episodes
By Chelsey Reynolds
5
66 ratings
What really happens in the first year of launching a startup?
In this episode of The Growth Department, Chelsey sits down with Marcus Rien, a CFO and CPA turned tech founder and the brains behind Waves CPAs. We'll unpack the messy, high-stakes, and deeply rewarding reality of going from corporate life to taking the entrepreneurial leap.
Waves CPAs is a tech-driven platform helping businesses find fractional finance talent AND helping entrepreneurial CPAs build flexible, meaningful careers. Marcus shares how his background in corporate finance and accounting led to spotting a major gap in the market, and why solving it required launching a startup of his own.
They dive into:
- What to expect in your first year as a founder
- How to grow a marketplace business from scratch
- The value of fractional CFOs and controllers for small and midsize businesses
- Why perfection kills momentum (and what to focus on instead)
- Lessons from sales, moonlighting, bootstrapping, and burnout
- Why the future of CPA work is flexible, remote, and founder-led
- Plus: How golf, springboard diving, and startup life actually overlap
Whether you're a CPA considering entrepreneurship, a founder building your first platform, or a business owner wondering if fractional finance support is right for you, this episode is packed with real-world insights you won't find in a startup playbook.
About Marcus Rien:
Marcus is the founder of Waves CPAs, a marketplace connecting companies with experienced, independent CPAs for fractional finance work. He's also a scratch golfer, former controller, and lifelong learner with a legacy brick outside U.S. Bank Stadium that reads: Belief Inspires Success.
Resources Mentioned:
- Connect with Marcus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusrien
- Learn more about Waves CPAs: https://www.wavescpas.com
Growth Department slows the conversation down so founders and business leaders can go further, faster.
If this episode helped you think differently, follow the show and share it with someone building alongside you.