© Red Bike Advisors / ETA Street montage
At age 45, Gretchen Roberts was a Senior Director at the tech company Alteryx, earning between $200k and $500k in compensation package. Her days were consumed by Zoom meetings, business travel, and building slidedecks for executives.
"I realized I didn't want to spend the next 20 years climbing the C-Suite ladder," Roberts shared in an appearance on the SMB Deal Hunter Podcast. "I want control of my schedule."
Most people in her position might buy a rental property or consult in their field. But Roberts did something radically different: despite having zero experience in finance and not being a CPA, she acquired a tax and accounting firm, which she rebranded to Red Bike Advisors.
The Search: Why Not Marketing?
Roberts began her search by casting a wide net. She utilized cold outreach strategies, sending over 1,000 emails to business owners in the Southeast. She looked at everything from landscaping to garbage routes.
Given her background, a marketing agency seemed like the logical target. She even got close to submitting an LOI on one. However, a moment of clarity stopped her.
"I remember sitting in the hot tub with my husband... and realized that if I bought a marketing firm, I would never have time freedom because I know how to do marketing," she explains.
She realized she would inevitably get sucked into the "production" of the business.
She then shifted her criteria to find a business where she couldn't do the technical work, forcing her to work on the business rather than in it.
With this new focus, she landed on accounting firms because they fit:
Recession Resistant: The IRS isn't going anywhere.
Recurring Revenue: Sticky client base.
High Margins: Typically 20% to 40%.
Potential to Modernize: An antiquated industry ripe for tech and process improvements.
"Non-CPA" Hurdles
Buying a professional practice without the credentials is difficult. Roberts faced immediate friction. Many brokers refused to speak with her. One bank even pulled its funding offer after a committee meeting because she wasn't an accountant.
However, Roberts turned this liability into her pitch.
She told the seller and the team, "I am your business Avatar. I am a small business owner, and I don't even necessarily care about [chart of accounts] stuff. I want proactive financial planning," Roberts recounts.
By positioning herself as the voice of the customer, she offered a perspective the accountants lacked. She wasn't there to check tax returns; she was there to improve operations, marketing, and the client experience.
The Deal Anatomy
In June 2023, Roberts closed on Adam Shay CPA (later rebranded as Red Bike Advisors), a firm based in Wilmington, NC, with approximately $2M in revenue and 16 employees.
The Structure:
Valuation: Roughly 1x Revenue (Standard for the accounting industry).
Financing: 70% SBA Loan, 20% Seller Note, 10% Equity injection.
Seller Role: The seller, Adam, stayed on to lead the new "Virtual CFO" advisory division, transitioning from owner to a high-level contributor.
Operational Shifts: From Compliance to Advisory
Roberts' goal was to move the firm away from the "billable hour" grind and toward value-based pricing. She introduced a monthly subscription model called the "Business Owner's Breakthrough," which bundles tax, bookkeeping, and advisory services.
"We were really heavy on the tax side. I wanted to offer accounting first, build on that with tax strategy, then build on that with advisory," she notes.
She also implemented corporate-style management practices that were foreign to the accounting world, such as:
Retrospectives: Post-tax season "post-mortems" to discuss what went well and what didn't.
Departmental P&Ls: Breaking down labor costs by department to identify efficiency gaps.
Remote-First Culture: Roberts manages the firm from Tennessee, proving that physical presence isn't required for leadership.
The Hard Lessons
The transition wasn't flawless. Roberts admits to "learning the hard way" about the sacred rhythms of an accounting firm.
The Tax Season Blackout: During her first extension season, Roberts continued pushing for software changes and new client onboarding processes. The team pushed back. She learned that during tax season, the CEO must step back and let the producers produce. "Don't ask the tax team to do anything until after October 16th," she joked on Acquiring Minds Podcast.
The Talent Crunch: The industry is facing a massive talent shortage. Roberts lost several tax team members during her first busy season due to a gap in recruiting a tax manager. To combat this, she is building a recruiting funnel that targets part-time professionals (parents or semi-retired accountants) who want intellectual work without the 70-hour weeks typical of the industry.
10-Year Vision
Roberts views this acquisition not as a flip, but as a decade-long play. Her goal is to grow Red Bike Advisors to $10M–$20M in revenue within 10 years through a mix of organic growth and strategic roll-ups.
Here’s her advice to other corporate refugees looking to buy:
"I buy opportunities not problems, I buy history not potential, I buy profitability not turnarounds," Roberts says, quoting a mentor. She stresses that buying a stable business is hard enough; there is no need to buy a distressed one just to get a deal.
