John McGowan has visited Nashville many times. Things changed when Nashville money found him in Virginia.
At his rapidly growing startup, McGowan was interviewing a former official from the former Confirmation.com, which sold a few years ago for one of the highest known sums on record for a Nashville-born technology business.
What happened next is straight from the playbook that local startup boosters strive to follow, one that plays out much more often in cities with larger and more mature tech sectors.
That former executive is an investor with Nashville Capital Network. He connected McGowan — who was soliciting funding at the time — with the group's CEO, Sid Chambless. Everything clicked: Nashville Capital Network led a Series A round of about $5.4 million that closed this month. McGowan is moving to Nashville and opening an office in the city, with a priority on hiring locally. He is hiring that former Confirmation.com executive and is adding that company's president and co-founder, Brian Fox, as a board adviser.
"Nashville has a really vibrant tech and entrepreneur scene, and we're excited to be a part of it," McGowan said in an interview. "We've grown up during the pandemic, and we're a technology company, so it's always about finding access to talent. If we can hire in Nashville first, we want to do that."
McGowan is founder and CEO of HubSync Co., a software platform that automates tax returns and other accounting processes. He has 52 employees and contractors working for him now and expects to add about 15 jobs or so in the months ahead, particularly around sales. He expects to more than double annual revenue this year, noting that some of the 20 largest accounting firms in the nation are now HubSync clients.
He said HubSync will develop a more obvious Nashville presence in 2024, though he's already hired Brentwood-based recruiting giant Vaco to help find talent. HubSync will join a quickly growing roster of financial technology companies in Nashville, a slice of the tech economy that's gaining more attention with the rise of certain companies and investors already here.
Before founding HubSync in Alexandria, Virginia, McGowan was partner-in-charge of tax technology at Deloitte. The role brought him to Deloitte's office and data center in Hermitage many times.
"[Relocating] was on our minds prior to this," McGowan said, "and this was just another plus [Nashville Capital Network], the fact that they were there. We really felt a natural connection."
