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# The FirmLever Weekly Roundup: Issue #49
- URL: https://www.firmlever.com/blog/the-firmlever-weekly-roundup-issue-49/
- Published: 2026-04-25T14:27:46.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-25T14:54:40.000Z
- Description: The "More Money, Less Hours" Edition
- Author: Marc Howard
- Tags: Weekly Roundup, newsletter, weekly-roundup

This week's newsletter is jam-packed. So I'm going to kick this off with a little poll I ran this week.

71% of voting members in this week's FirmLever Pulse said their 2025 tax season was more profitable than 2024--with the *same or fewer hours worked*.

That number stuck with me. So I went looking for what the firms outpacing the room actually did differently.

One model kept showing up: a U.S. partner out front, a vetted offshore prep team in the back, the client never sees the seam. Margin on a $650 return moves from 22% to 52%. Same fee, same client experience, double the take-home. Across 900 returns a season, that's $175K of margin you didn't earn by working harder.

I wrote a full take here: [**Why the White-Label Tax Prep Model Is Eating the Midmarket**](https://www.firmlever.com/blog/white-label-tax-prep-offshore-model-margins/). Short version: the firms making more this April aren't tax-season heroes. They built a back office that doesn't need them in it.

### This Week's Numbers (the [FirmLever Network](https://app.firmlever.com/?ref=firmlever.com))

- **301** admitted member firms on the platform to date
- **212** firms still pending on the active waitlist
- **43 states** represented
- **$122.6M** in combined member-firm revenue
- **98** firm-to-firm connections (8 new this past week)

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/54/db/54db9529-7fe6-4497-b492-d106a4029bd7/content/images/2026/04/image-18.png)](https://app.firmlever.com/?ref=firmlever.com)

Members in the FirmLever Network since launching a month ago

### What's New

Quick context if you're new: the [FirmLever Network](https://app.firmlever.com/?ref=firmlever.com) is a private network where vetted accounting firms, CPAs, fractional CFOs, and now RIA Wealth Partners refer, buy, sell, and trade clients with each other. No brokers. No success fees. No six-month exclusives. Members post what they want; the platform auto-matches based on what each firm actually does.

#### 1\. Pulse – what your peers just said

We introduced FirmLever Pulse, a tap-once, anonymous, realtime poll across our membership. Two Pulse questions closed this week:

![FirmLever Pulse results: 71% of voting members more profitable in tax season 2025 with same or fewer hours; 50% see technology disruption as the biggest 2026 risk.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/54/db/54db9529-7fe6-4497-b492-d106a4029bd7/content/images/2026/04/pulse-results.png)

The first question is the engine behind the lead piece above--71% more profitable with same or fewer hours, and the article walks through why. The second one stood out. Two years ago this conversation would have been mostly talent. Now **79% of you say tech-driven risk** (disruption + commoditization) is the biggest 2026 threat. Talent dropped to 21%. Regulatory at zero (I'm guessing not too many auditors participated).

The next Pulse drops Monday. You only see how the room voted if you participate. → [**Vote in the next one**](https://app.firmlever.com/?ref=firmlever.com)

#### 2\. Wealth referrals are now operational

The wealth-referral side of the marketplace went live this week with vetted **RIA Wealth Partners** on the receiving end--and the first match is unfolding right now. A CAS firm posted a referral. A Wealth Partner picked it up as their first match in the network. End-to-end flow live.

For CPAs and CFOs: the next time a $4M business-sale or estate-planning client walks through your door, you don't have to Google a wealth advisor anymore. Post the referral. There's auto-match infrastructure on the other side now--and RIAs who refer back (tax, bookkeeping, CFO work) rise faster in the algorithm. Two-way flow by design. → [**Post a wealth referral**](https://app.firmlever.com/?ref=firmlever.com)

For RIAs reading this: we're admitting a few each week → [**Apply at firmlever.com/ria**](https://firmlever.com/ria?ref=firmlever.com)

#### 3\. 13 specialty seats just opened. Most are still wide open.

Until last week, niche specialty referrals depended on whoever you knew personally. That's what *"know a guy"* means. We just shipped 13 vetted, auto-matched specialty seats so it doesn't have to:

- Quality of Earnings (QoE)
- Cost Segregation
- 1031 Exchanges
- RSU & Stock Compensation
- R&D Tax Credits
- Real Estate Tax Strategy
- SALT (State & Local Tax)
- Forensic Accounting
- Business Exit Planning
- Retirement Plan Design
- High-Tech Compensation
- Entity Structuring
- Nonprofit & Tax-Exempt

**Most specialty seats currently have fewer than 5 firms claimed.** If one is genuinely yours, you'll be one of the first names that auto-matches when a referral lands. If you're a generalist (most of us are), you finally have vetted specialists who get auto-matched to the work you don't do. → [**Claim your specialty**](https://app.firmlever.com/?ref=firmlever.com)

#### 4\. Full-firm buy/sell beta – spots filling

About **1 in 8 Network members** told us during onboarding that selling their entire firm in the next 1-3 years is the plan. So we decided to move forward with a way to help firms achieve this--without brokers, success fees or retainers.

The beta is first come, first served. If you're considering buying or selling a firm in the next 1-3 years **reply *"buy/sell beta"*** and you're in. (No fee. No commitment to transact--just early access to the matching layer when it goes live.)

### Deal Flow Spotlight

Three interesting listings members are competing on right now:

1. **One QoE specialist's referral** – 16 firms expressing interest. *This is the proof of what claiming a specialty seat actually does. One post. 16 potential referral partners.*
2. **$200K/yr PE fund admin client** – 6 firms want it. Alt-credits strategy: needs fund admin, portfolio management software, and bank/workflow automation.
3. **$100K/yr High-Tech Comp tax block** – 5 firms in. RSU-heavy clients--a niche that just got its own seat in the new specialty list above.

The above are still open as of this posting. 

### In Other News

Other pieces my team and I published since Issue #48:

- [**Effective Hourly Rate and Utilization**](https://www.firmlever.com/blog/effective-hourly-rate-valuation-metric/). How to hack your firm's productivity and valuation--a special playbook.
- [**Juno Just Raised $12M to Automate 90% of Tax Prep**](https://www.firmlever.com/blog/juno-12m-tax-automation-what-it-means-for-your-firm/). My personal reaction to this news and how to **make more money** with 1040s while **doing less work**.
- [**Guest piece: The Founder's Guide to Buyer Landmines**](https://www.firmlever.com/blog/the-founders-guide-to-buyer-landmines-11-questions-to-ask-before-you-sell/). Mike, a self-funded buyer hunting for a $700K+ profit firm offered to give Firmlever members access to his personal playbook.

### Coming next Saturday

Next week's newsletter will have the biggest announcement of the year to date.

I'll just say this: when we asked FirmLever Network members during onboarding what they'd most want help fixing, **about 62% picked the same thing.** So I've spent the last few months building specifically for it.

More next Saturday. You'll know it when you see it.

### One ask

If any of the above is useful, forward this to one peer who'd want it. Email me at [marc@firmlever.com](mailto:marc@firmlever.com) if you have something interesting that our members would find helpful and get it in front of over a thousand firm owners who read this weekly.

And if you're reading this from a forward and not in the Network yet--line skip works the same way. Get invited by a current member, or [**apply directly**](https://app.firmlever.com/?ref=firmlever.com).

That's it for week 49.

**Marc**  
*Founder, FirmLever*

**P.S.** – Reply *"buy/sell beta"* if you want a seat in the full-firm beta. First come, first served.

**P.P.S.** – One thing I keep hearing from members: *"I would've claimed \[X specialty\] but I didn't know we offered it."* That's why I listed all 13 above. → [**Claim it**](https://app.firmlever.com/?ref=firmlever.com)