She Had People Do AI's Work: Helen Hastings of Quanta

TL;DR: Helen Hastings, a software engineer who built financial ledgers at Affirm through IPO, founded Quanta to replace QuickBooks for software and services companies. She shadowed bookkeeping firms, did extensive LinkedIn outreach for user research, and started with a human+AI hybrid model where humans bridged edge cases while automation was built. Quanta focuses specifically on software/SaaS companies (no physical inventory), integrating with their modern financial stack. She raised $20M including a recently announced Series A, differentiating by building the ledger from scratch with continuous reconciliation rather than building on QuickBooks.

Key Insights

Had humans do AI's work first - used human bookkeepers to handle edge cases while building automation, progressively replacing manual work
Only accepted customers whose business model fit the automation already built - said no to many prospects to maintain quality
Differentiated from failed competitors (Bench, Pilot) by building own ledger from scratch instead of hiring humans to use QuickBooks
Focused narrowly on software/SaaS companies (no physical inventory) to ensure deep automation before expanding
Extensive user research via LinkedIn cold outreach and warm introductions, shadowing bookkeeping firms before writing code

Actionable Takeaways

Shadow practitioners doing the work you want to automate before building any software
Use LinkedIn mutual connections to get warm introductions for user research, then ask each person who to talk to next
Start with human+AI hybrid to bridge edge cases, then progressively automate the manual parts
Only accept customers that fit your current automation - say no to preserve quality even when it hurts
Send monthly investor updates via email to reduce need for synchronous fundraising conversations

Principles Validated (7)

Distribution

Defining who is NOT your customer helps focus distribution efforts

Helen Hastings (Quanta)

Send regular written investor updates to reduce need for synchronous fundraising conversations

Helen Hastings (Quanta)

Network effects in B2B outreach - ask every call who else to talk to

Helen Hastings (Quanta)

Founder Mindset

Own growth personally before hiring - delegation is a slow way to learn

Helen Hastings (Quanta)

Market Selection

Start with smaller customer segments where requirements are consistent, then expand like layers of an onion

Helen Hastings (Quanta)

Product Strategy

Tack to win. Build a fundamentally different product, not a better version of the leaders

Helen Hastings (Quanta)

Use human operators to simulate AI capabilities while building automation, progressively replacing manual work

Helen Hastings (Quanta)

Read full article on mixergy.comAdded Feb 15, 2026