What happens to trust when AI can do the work but the client still needs to believe in the person doing it?

This episode is a founder series conversation with Thomas Shelley, co founder of Magnetic, and Anderson Petergeorge, co founder of Quanto. Thomas built his career through Zynga, and Keeper Tax before starting Magnetic, an AI tax preparer built on a multi agent system with EAs and CPAs reviewing every return before it reaches the firm. Anderson's path ran through auditing, private equity before he built a bookkeeping firm and eventually pivoted Quanto into helping accounting firms grow through their personal brand.

Together they explore why automating the operational side of tax prep does not eliminate the need for humans, it just moves them to where the value actually is. They talk through the shift from the Big Four model and small firm owners building their own client bases the way consumer founders build audiences. They also get into why so many firm owners are choosing to buy or start small practices right now, even without a tax background, and what that means for the next few years of the industry.

Thomas talks through the actual mechanics of scanning documents, delegating to sub agents, and running quality control loops that free up reviewers to focus on judgment calls instead of data entry. Anderson breaks down how he coaches accountants who have never posted online to find the story already sitting in their meeting notes. Tune in for a conversation about where the human stays essential once the software gets good enough to do almost everything else.