“We needed to up our reporting game”—Go-Parts needed quick answers to one-off expense questions.
They got a team of financial experts—With Pilot, they get a bookkeeper, controller, and CFO as needed.
They gained an edge in a tough market—Auto parts is about scale, cost discipline, margins, and the insights to win a few extra points.
They have a partner who’s always innovating—When Pilot implemented AI, it saved them even more time. Pilot keeps them on the forefront.
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“I cannot stress how much frustration this saves us. Just that convenience, it’s blown me away. Choosing Pilot has given us such a huge advantage.”
Dan is a programmer who runs a business selling auto parts, but to him, the parts are incidental. “Growing up as a Russian immigrant in California, I was surrounded by people who worked on cars,” says Dan. “I wasn’t necessarily a car guy, but I realized I like the complex problem-solving around suppliers, fitments, and supply chains—I fell in love with that aspect.”
When Dan hired Sean as a consultant to grow the business, the two of them ran their calculations and ideas by their longtime bookkeeper and realized they needed more of a financial expert. The bookkeeper was overwhelmed by all their questions. Further, they needed that bookkeeper to be answering questions daily.
They found Pilot, for both bookkeeping and CFO Services. Now, they keep the Pilot tab open all day to answer on-the-fly questions about transactions. This has helped Go-Parts be far more data-driven and competitive. “I feel like we’re finally set up to scale,” says Sean.
The auto aftermarket is huge and presents a big opportunity. “Look around any city street and cars are everywhere,” says Sean. “And it doesn’t matter the economy, booming or receding, everyone needs auto parts.” Cars are highly personal—“people have their ‘65 Mustang with a story, or beloved family car”—and the market for them is very inefficient. People often can’t find what they need. There are over 7,000 car models, each made up of 30,000 or so components with countless third-party manufacturers.
The automotive aftermarket is $535B—almost as large as the automotive industry itself, $635B. - Automotive Aftermarket
“At the same time, you really have to be a bit crazy to get into this market,” says Sean. “It is highly commoditized. Every point counts. It's all about scale, unit economics, cost discipline, pricing dynamics, and market dynamics.”
Because of the size of the catalog and volume of transactions, Dan and Sean’s accountants were having trouble keeping up. Dan and Sean were asking questions faster than their bookkeeper, coding transactions one by one, could possibly answer.
Dan and Sean believed that to succeed in selling auto parts online, they had to be more data-driven than the competition. They needed to visualize that data in ways that told useful stories so they could test pricing and recommendations. “Numbers are just numbers on a page until you’re an experienced enough business owner that you start to see scenarios in your financial documents,” says Sean. “Eventually, you no longer see dollar amounts, you see successful initiatives or areas that require attention.”
For all that, QuickBooks just wasn’t offering enough insight. The data was there, but it was difficult to read, and the reporting was slow. Even Dan and Sean’s accountants knew it was time for them to graduate.
“Our bookkeepers said, ‘You’ve outgrown us, this is just beyond our scope,’” says Dan. “‘Like, you gotta find somebody else.’”
Dan searched for better software. Several peers recommended Pilot. He showed Pilot to Sean, and they got into a disagreement because Sean wasn’t sure they needed more tech. “Don’t get mesmerized by software,” Sean said. “Bookkeeping is just bookkeeping.” But Dan was convinced it wasn’t and that Pilot could give them a real edge.
Dan wanted Pilot because:
1. Pilot’s software could give them answers on the fly
Whereas before, they might email their bookkeeper and wait, Pilot had a full financial portal. Sean and Dan could look at cash flow and pull reports based on what actually mattered to Go-Parts. And the cells in the Pilot ledger would light up if a number had changed, making it easy to scan.
2. They’d get an expert human team
From one expert point of contact, they could access a CFO, a tax preparer, an operations expert, and more—a whole finance team in one. All those people would know their business. They could step in when needed.
3. Pilot was built to scale
Pilot was sure to keep up as Go-Parts grew. It integrated with all the other software they used, and the Pilot team seemed obsessed with helping Go-Parts find a competitive edge in their financial data.
Sean trusted Dan. They deployed Pilot. Now they feel it was one of the best decisions they could have made because shortly after, the world plunged into a pandemic.
“Pilot got all our books straightened out just in time for COVID. Things got really chaotic. There were shutdowns, revenue plummeted, then you had stimulus revenue and it rose, and supply chains were clogged up. All of this was unexpected,” says Dan. “Pivoting providers on the supply chain side to get stock reordered was super important. In that environment, you cannot wait months to get your books because then it's too late to make a good decision. And that’s where I really fell in love with Pilot.”
In a fast-paced environment, you cannot wait months to get your books because then it's too late to make a good decision. And that’s where I really fell in love with Pilot. - Dan
Pilot helped Dan and Sean get the information they needed as fast as possible. That helped them make strategic decisions—replace this supplier, swap out those SKUs—to navigate the chaos.
Over time, Pilot has only continued to improve its product.
“When we onboarded with Pilot, it was apparent right away that we were dealing with something else. Something that felt much more like a platform,” says Sean. “My days of hunting and pecking my way through QuickBooks were over. Any time I had questions about transactions sliding into a new month, they responded instantly. The software has developed in exactly the way we hoped it would. These guys at Pilot are really tech-savvy. When AI entered the scene, they implemented it right away. I was like, ‘This is great!’ Now I can ask the AI, ‘Send an executive summary,’ and it just does it, and it’s right.”
“The things Pilot AI does for me are things I used to spend hours on, just to get something presentable. Now it's instant,” says Sean. “We were on a call this morning where someone asked about a specific transaction in the books, and I always have Pilot open as one of my tabs. I went into the AI feature and said, ‘What was the date of this transaction?’ Immediately it pulls it, and you see your line items and the totals. I cannot stress how much frustration that saves. Just that convenience, it’s just blown me away. It’s such a huge advantage, choosing Pilot.”
The things Pilot AI does for me are things I used to spend hours on, just to get something presentable. Now it's instant. I can just ask the Pilot AI. - Sean
Dan and Sean bet early on being a tech-forward ecommerce company. Initially, that had downsides—it was expensive. They’d have conversations like, “Have we over-built?” But now, with AI and all types of commerce speeding up, Go-Parts is perfectly built for this moment. And with Pilot embedded to handle their back office, they can focus on growing everything else and reaching higher tiers of profit and scale.
“We're a smaller company, and Pilot fits for us. Yet I can already envision scenarios where we grow exponentially, and Pilot still fits,” says Sean. “It's just that à la carte nature where we get a fractional CFO, a controller, or bookkeeper, and we can add those professionals or financial teams rather than having to go and hunt for somebody. It feels like having a team of 10. For us, time is precious and time is money, and Pilot saves us heaps of both. It's one less thing to worry about as we grow.”
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Go-Parts is a leading online auto parts supplier that’s helped 1 million drivers get back on the road, and racecar drivers outfit their vehicles, since the company opened in 2007.
Dan is a programmer who runs a business selling auto parts, but to him, the parts are incidental. “Growing up as a Russian immigrant in California, I was surrounded by people who worked on cars,” says Dan. “I wasn’t necessarily a car guy, but I realized I like the complex problem-solving around suppliers, fitments, and supply chains—I fell in love with that aspect.”
When Dan hired Sean as a consultant to grow the business, the two of them ran their calculations and ideas by their longtime bookkeeper and realized they needed more of a financial expert. The bookkeeper was overwhelmed by all their questions. Further, they needed that bookkeeper to be answering questions daily.
They found Pilot, for both bookkeeping and CFO Services. Now, they keep the Pilot tab open all day to answer on-the-fly questions about transactions. This has helped Go-Parts be far more data-driven and competitive. “I feel like we’re finally set up to scale,” says Sean.
The auto aftermarket is huge and presents a big opportunity. “Look around any city street and cars are everywhere,” says Sean. “And it doesn’t matter the economy, booming or receding, everyone needs auto parts.” Cars are highly personal—“people have their ‘65 Mustang with a story, or beloved family car”—and the market for them is very inefficient. People often can’t find what they need. There are over 7,000 car models, each made up of 30,000 or so components with countless third-party manufacturers.
The automotive aftermarket is $535B—almost as large as the automotive industry itself, $635B. - Automotive Aftermarket
“At the same time, you really have to be a bit crazy to get into this market,” says Sean. “It is highly commoditized. Every point counts. It's all about scale, unit economics, cost discipline, pricing dynamics, and market dynamics.”
Because of the size of the catalog and volume of transactions, Dan and Sean’s accountants were having trouble keeping up. Dan and Sean were asking questions faster than their bookkeeper, coding transactions one by one, could possibly answer.
Dan and Sean believed that to succeed in selling auto parts online, they had to be more data-driven than the competition. They needed to visualize that data in ways that told useful stories so they could test pricing and recommendations. “Numbers are just numbers on a page until you’re an experienced enough business owner that you start to see scenarios in your financial documents,” says Sean. “Eventually, you no longer see dollar amounts, you see successful initiatives or areas that require attention.”
For all that, QuickBooks just wasn’t offering enough insight. The data was there, but it was difficult to read, and the reporting was slow. Even Dan and Sean’s accountants knew it was time for them to graduate.
“Our bookkeepers said, ‘You’ve outgrown us, this is just beyond our scope,’” says Dan. “‘Like, you gotta find somebody else.’”
Dan searched for better software. Several peers recommended Pilot. He showed Pilot to Sean, and they got into a disagreement because Sean wasn’t sure they needed more tech. “Don’t get mesmerized by software,” Sean said. “Bookkeeping is just bookkeeping.” But Dan was convinced it wasn’t and that Pilot could give them a real edge.
Dan wanted Pilot because:
1. Pilot’s software could give them answers on the fly
Whereas before, they might email their bookkeeper and wait, Pilot had a full financial portal. Sean and Dan could look at cash flow and pull reports based on what actually mattered to Go-Parts. And the cells in the Pilot ledger would light up if a number had changed, making it easy to scan.
2. They’d get an expert human team
From one expert point of contact, they could access a CFO, a tax preparer, an operations expert, and more—a whole finance team in one. All those people would know their business. They could step in when needed.
3. Pilot was built to scale
Pilot was sure to keep up as Go-Parts grew. It integrated with all the other software they used, and the Pilot team seemed obsessed with helping Go-Parts find a competitive edge in their financial data.
Sean trusted Dan. They deployed Pilot. Now they feel it was one of the best decisions they could have made because shortly after, the world plunged into a pandemic.
“Pilot got all our books straightened out just in time for COVID. Things got really chaotic. There were shutdowns, revenue plummeted, then you had stimulus revenue and it rose, and supply chains were clogged up. All of this was unexpected,” says Dan. “Pivoting providers on the supply chain side to get stock reordered was super important. In that environment, you cannot wait months to get your books because then it's too late to make a good decision. And that’s where I really fell in love with Pilot.”
In a fast-paced environment, you cannot wait months to get your books because then it's too late to make a good decision. And that’s where I really fell in love with Pilot. - Dan
Pilot helped Dan and Sean get the information they needed as fast as possible. That helped them make strategic decisions—replace this supplier, swap out those SKUs—to navigate the chaos.
Over time, Pilot has only continued to improve its product.
“When we onboarded with Pilot, it was apparent right away that we were dealing with something else. Something that felt much more like a platform,” says Sean. “My days of hunting and pecking my way through QuickBooks were over. Any time I had questions about transactions sliding into a new month, they responded instantly. The software has developed in exactly the way we hoped it would. These guys at Pilot are really tech-savvy. When AI entered the scene, they implemented it right away. I was like, ‘This is great!’ Now I can ask the AI, ‘Send an executive summary,’ and it just does it, and it’s right.”
“The things Pilot AI does for me are things I used to spend hours on, just to get something presentable. Now it's instant,” says Sean. “We were on a call this morning where someone asked about a specific transaction in the books, and I always have Pilot open as one of my tabs. I went into the AI feature and said, ‘What was the date of this transaction?’ Immediately it pulls it, and you see your line items and the totals. I cannot stress how much frustration that saves. Just that convenience, it’s just blown me away. It’s such a huge advantage, choosing Pilot.”
The things Pilot AI does for me are things I used to spend hours on, just to get something presentable. Now it's instant. I can just ask the Pilot AI. - Sean
Dan and Sean bet early on being a tech-forward ecommerce company. Initially, that had downsides—it was expensive. They’d have conversations like, “Have we over-built?” But now, with AI and all types of commerce speeding up, Go-Parts is perfectly built for this moment. And with Pilot embedded to handle their back office, they can focus on growing everything else and reaching higher tiers of profit and scale.
“We're a smaller company, and Pilot fits for us. Yet I can already envision scenarios where we grow exponentially, and Pilot still fits,” says Sean. “It's just that à la carte nature where we get a fractional CFO, a controller, or bookkeeper, and we can add those professionals or financial teams rather than having to go and hunt for somebody. It feels like having a team of 10. For us, time is precious and time is money, and Pilot saves us heaps of both. It's one less thing to worry about as we grow.”
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