Small Business is really really hard.
We get it.
Partner with people who know what it's actually like to start and run a Small Business. Get advice from people who have actually taken entrepreneurial risks and made hard decisions. Rely on people who know that a tiny mistake or delay can have a huge impact.
Our approach
Accuracy, reliability, efficiency, accessibility, availability, empathy.
Traditional Business Services are broken. They're inefficient, slow, uncommunicative, expensive and confusing. So we fixed it with technology, monthly fixed-price plans, single services at affordable prices, unlimited business support and simple at-a-glance data reporting with integrated Financial Services.
Our approach has always been to take our experiences in running Small Businesses, and ask ourselves - and our customers - how can we make this easier? How can we make it higher value? How can we make work for everyone?
That's one reason why at huumans we don't charge you every time you ask a question or make a request - free, unlimited support is the backbone of how we work, and we see it as the key to making Small Businesses successful through shared knowledge.
Our Team
We're dedicated to your business
At huumans, we're all approachable and deeply involved - the chances are, if you choose huumans to help your business, you'll end up speaking to most of our team at some point. From Finance to Operations, to Product, Data and Tax - we're a team that's there to support you and your business, no matter what happens.
Paula Festas
CEO, Co-Founder
Paula is known as a highly experienced business leader, driving global brands and organizations towards new successful and strong, profitable partnerships.
Ryan Ackers
Co-founder (MBA)
With a strong career in wealth management and financial services, Ryan knows what's important to Small Business owners and their employees.
Christopher Wong
CFO (CPA, MBA)
Chris has a long and successful history working with wide variety of early stage and small businesses across Canada as both CFO and finance advisor.
Rob Boynes
CPO, Co-Founder
A veteran of both technology startups and household-name brands, Rob is a known leader in creating accessible products that solve real problems.
Ashleigh Berger
Operations Director (MBA)
Ashleigh has spent her career solving complex problems and successfully building companies of all sizes across Travel, Real Estate and Rideshare.
Christian Chiari Manni
Customer Success Director
Christian has overseen support, strategy and operations teams at well known cloud accounting products.
Adam Clarke
Accountancy Manager (CPA)
Adam has a strong background in complex Accountancy, Property and Tax from his career in big accountancy firms.
Bill Murphy
Advisor (CPA)
Founder of Wagepoint and Ledgers, Bill knows more than a thing or two about small business accounting and the technology that powers it.
Richard Landzaat
Advisor (CPA)
Richard worked with Bill to get Wagepoint off the ground and then went on to start and seed numerous other businesses.
Our mission
Let's make running a successful Small Business as accessible to as many people as possible
Small Business is incredibly hard work. It's stressful. It's often long hours. It forces you to master a diverse set of skills, often overnight. But few people can say they took the risk to go out there and start something new.
No matter who you are, starting and owning a Small Business can sometimes feel like an impossible task. But not everyone has the background, support or experience to start and own a Small Business from day one, and for those people the odds can feel like they're stacked against them even more.
We started huumans not from a position of 'how can we make money from Small Business?', but from a position of 'how can we help Small Business owners?'. That's because we're a team of people who have tried, failed, tried again, built, then scaled real-life Small Businesses. We're a team of people who's dealt with endless banks, predatory services and sub-standard offerings and decided to try to build the opposite of that.
From Business Services to Financial Services, Data and Knowledge, we're building a one-stop ecosystem for Small Business which is accessible, cost-effective, supportive, reliable and truthful. Because running a Small Business is hard enough.
Our Advisors
Strength through shared knowledge
At huumans we've built an advisory board that can help us navigate volatile markets and provide us with deep insight into growing ecosystem of Business, Financial and Data Services. Each person on our advisory board has been chosen through their proven history of supporting Small Business, and their knowledge of the challenges of owning and maintaining a Small Business.
Sarah Miller-Wright
Advisor (MBA, ICD.D)
Executive in Residence, Innovia
COO, Manulife Canada
Mary Moran
Advisor (MBS, ICD.D)
CEO, Calgary Economic Development
Chair, Kudos
Jake Hirsch-Allen
Advisor (LLB)
NA Workforce & HE Lead, Linkedin
Founder, Partner, Lighthouse Labs
Frances Zomer
Advisor (CPA)
Founder, CEO Pascal WealthTech
President, Numeric Answers
Josh Malate
Advisor (MBA)
Executive in Residence, Thin Air Labs
COO, CFO, Co-Founder, Athennian
Nina Hill
Advisor
Corporate Partnerships, Plug & Play
Business Analyst, Athennian
Yes we do. Sole-Traders, Corporations, Partnerships, Non-Profits, and beyond, we support every type of business.
It really depends. We have a dedicated onboarding team who is used to making sure everything is as simple and straightforward as it can be. Ultimately it comes down to how organized your business is - if you have everything filed, categorized and ready to go, migration can take under a week!
We do support Quebecois business, however we communicate in English. We are also limited in providing some services relating to Tax and Finance due to provincial laws.
Our basecamp is in Calgary, Alberta. While we're based in the prairies, we have staff and teams nation-wide across Canada who have a deep understanding of the many differing provincial requirements local businesses face.
Yes, all our staff are accredited to the required level and have displayed the high level of experience required to work directly with our customers. We take this very seriously, because at huumans, you get direct access to our staff for day to day support. This means we invest heavily in training our staff and making sure they stay up-to-date with any provincial or federal changes.
We get asked this question a lot, and with so many software vendors out there it can be confusing for everyone. At huumans we use tried and tested cloud accountancy solutions which offer the best range of integrations. If you have a certain software in your business that is critical to you, we can usually support it. Before you join huumans, we go through every aspect of your business, including the software you use, and work with you to find a solution.
We recognize that online payments, POS and e-commerce platforms are now an integral part of any Small Business. We'll work with you to make sure that the systems you have in place are supported.
No! We'll pay the bill for you.
Yes, if you're happy for us to help you migrate to a future-proof platform. We don't charge for this migration and it usually only takes a few weeks to complete.
No, you always own it, and you can decide to take it anywhere you like whenever you like. All of our monthly plans have free cancellation, and we'll make sure everything is up to date before we hand it over.